Brewing From Kits
The best approach for the novice home brewer is to start by brewing from a kit. Modern homebrew kits have reached great heights in quality and sophistication since their introduction in the 1970s. Nobody should feel ashamed to brew from a kit as opposed to whole grain, I think it’s possible to get a skewed sense that you might be cheating. Really, kits are good!
I remember when I was an early teenager during the 1970s my friend and I bought a Tom Caxton kit from Boots chemist with our pocket money. Our effort turned out to be virtually unpalatable and most of the lemonade bottles we used to put the brew into exploded in our parents food cupboards before we even got to taste them!
Today there are a multitude of kits manufactured under a wide variety of brand names, the choice can be bewildering. Even Tom Caxton, the guy who started it all continues to make very respectable kits which are available through the most popular outlets including high street shops such as Wilkinson and Tesco. On that note it is worth mentioning that high street outlets always seem to supply old and well established brands like Tom Caxton, Geordie and John Bull. These products may not be to everybody’s taste, in which case one should investigate the wider choice of (often superior quality) products available through dedicated homebrew shops online.