How I do it

I've been making beer on and off for quite a few years. In fact I started at university, making two gallon batches in the bin of my room, in halls. It was okay too (well, I thought so at the time).

Each time I return to the brewing thing I do it a bit differently. The last couple of years I've been doing what's called a full mash - which basically means you start with the raw materials - mostly crushed malt grain and hops. You soak the malt in hot water - at a prescribed temperature, then you strain off the liquor and boil it with the hops. That gets you to a stage that's equivalent to what you get out of a can when you buy a beer kit - in about four hours!

That may seem a big waste of time, but there's lots of reasons to do this. First off, its cheaper. I can make a batch of full-on beer for about £10 (UK pounds) because the malt is cheaper in the raw state. The real advantages though are taste (like the best beer you ever tasted) and flexibility. There are literally dozens of ways of doing a full mash - and they all produce a slightly different product. Add to that a thousand combinations of different hops, malts, adjuncts (i.e. other random stuff) and you have a hundred lifetimes worth of combinations to try. What I'm into is brewing stuff I can't buy. Continental ale styles like Düsseldorf Altbier, Antwerp Pale Ale, Belgian Abbey styles... American craft beer styles, defunct heirloom styles  You can create them all in your own garage. I'm obsessed with Altbier at the moment - the sad thing is, I've never tasted a real one - only my own (sobs).

Can't wait for the next brew day (but I need to find some more bottles as all mine are FULL OF BEER!)