Backyard brew catches on

By Justin Robertson
IAN Graham turned to making his own beer because he couldn’t cop the cost of a slab.
The Pakenham resident started buying a homebrew kit six years ago, and now pays 20 cents to bottle and make his own pale ale.
“It’s a lot cheaper for me now,” he said.
“I can make about 60 stubbies of one batch, and to be honest it’s not a bad drop.”
Melbourne Brewers Association president Andrew Davison said after talking to stores that sell the homebrew kit, the amount of people producing “backyard beers” is up more than 30 per cent from last year.
“We are experiencing a huge uplift in home brewing, and part of that is from an economic perspective certainly,” he said.
“People who want to save money will go out and purchase a supermarket kit, bang it together and get a product out of it.”
Even with the growth of local brewers and microbrews Mr Davison said it did not necessarily equate to a decline of beer being bought at bottle shops.
“We are seeing beers that are being purchased are more varied – boutique and home brewed – and we are experiencing an increase in those varied beers.
Mr Davison said the American Pale Ale – made popular by Western Australia’s Little Creatures – was most popular among home brewers, and indicated that there were a variety of reasons why someone would make their own beer.
“Of course, there is the economic reason, it’s simply cheaper,” he said.
“But also, the people who are going to a home brew store, getting the grain and making changes to what they are producing, that’s more from a flavour perspective.”
Pakenham’s Jamie Haysom has been brewing spirits and beer for the past three years, and dabbles in producing quality European beer, like Becks, Coopers and any type of German beer.
“It’s not hard to make – just time consuming,” he said.
“If you happen to have any errors, you need to look back and fix your mistakes.”
Mr Haysom said economically, to make a slab of Coopers Pale Ale – which can sell for about $45 – works out to be $30 cheaper.
“It’s definitely cheaper,” he said.
“I got into making my own because I wanted to dispel the myth of homebrew, people think they can pretty rough and nasty.”
And who says, you can’t make a little extra money on the side?
“One person tried my beer and now she wants me to continually make batches for her and buy it from me,” he said.
“It’s great having a crack at making your own beer and it’s definitely more than a hobby for me.”