From bedroom to brewery: How home brewing has become London’s new hobby

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As regular readers will know, we’re all about better living in London’s small spaces. This week our roving reporter, Em Kuntze, set out for the Old Kent Rd Brewery to discover how a hobby that started in a bedroom is fast becoming a way to make a living.

36 new breweries opened in London in 2015 – a 24% increase as compared with 2014, according to a report out earlier in the year. That’s 116 new breweries which have set up shop in the capital since 2011. That’s a lot of beer and a lot of brewers. These businesses aren’t large – or, dare we say, stella – in scale, but part of the artisan, craft brewing scene which seems to be flourishing on both sides of the Atlantic.

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There’s something quite democratic about the brewing process: the components are simple, the process relatively straightforward, though of course the results vary wildly, as anyone forced to sample Uncle Roger’s latest brew over the festive season will undoubtedly attest. We spoke to David Clack, a journalist and editor by day and craft brewer by night, to find out a little more.

The last few years have seen a renewed interest in home brewing, and also in small scale, micro-breweries. Why do you think this has been? It wasn’t that long ago that the CAMRA set were – let’s face it – of a certain ‘type’, was it….?

Beer has had a bit of an image overhaul, which has helped boost interest among younger people. Packaging and marketing of craft beer is easily as important as the quality of the beer itself. I also think that drinkers are tired of the same old mass-produced muck, and willing to pay a little more for something that’s got a bit of soul to it. A lot of London breweries have a taproom where you can often see the brewery your pint is brewed in, and meet the people who made it. So sure, craft beer costs more, but you get more for your money.

Why did you want to learn to make your own beer?

Initially, simply because I wanted a cheap source of good beer! I found some recipes for a well-known pale ale, copied it and was pleased with the results. From there, my interest in beer grew – I learned more about what I liked, how to brew other styles, and how to achieve consistency. I’m still learning, and for me that’s half the pleasure – I feel like I’m doing something educational and productive. Hitting 30 and having no other discernible hobbies may also have been a factor.

How did you go about learning?

I became a member at Ubrew – a shared space in Bermondsey where you pay a monthly fee in exchange for access to small-scale brewing kits. They hand-hold members through their first brew, and from there I just experimented, learning from my mistakes as to what works and what definitely doesn’t. Meeting head brewers from London’s most successful breweries has definitely helped – they’re always doing ‘meet the brewer’ events at pubs around town. There’s also a huge brewing community online, where people share recipes, tips and so on.

Is learning to brew a relatively straightforward process?

Learning to brew a simple, drinkable beer is certainly straightforward, but, as with anything, the more involved you get, the more there is to learn. I’m at the stage now where I’m starting to think about water chemistry and yeast nutrition, which I didn’t think about at all when I started out. But now we’re selling our beer, we need to focus on consistency, which means getting ridiculously nerdy!

So, you’ve gone from hobbyist to Brewer! That’s exciting! Do tell us more…

Old Kent Rd Brewery was the name we gave ourselves when we registered as a commercial brewery at the start of the year. We officially ‘launched’ at Craft Beer Rising 2016, a big trade/consumer show on Brick Lane. We still brew at Ubrew but are now at the stage of seeking out our own premises.

What advice would you give someone wanting to have a go at brewing?
Start in your kitchen – find a recipe online, boil up some malt extract in your biggest cooking pot and see what you can come up with. But pay attention to the finer details – a degree celsius here or there really matters, and cleanliness is everything. Nobody wants to start off by brewing a spoilt batch. Also, take notes whenever you find a beer you really like, follow the brewer on Twitter and go and meet them in person when they’re doing events. Brewers are the most oddly accommodating and patient people I’ve ever met, and also incredibly open to giving advice to amateurs.

We’re all about Better Living in Small Spaces here at Boxman, so whether you’re keen to clear out some space to make room for an entry-level home brewing kit or just need to store some of your prized possessions away for a little while, we can help. As London’s self-storage company with a difference, we’ll deliver our sturdy boxes straight to your front door, and return to collect them when you’re ready. You can keep track of your boxes – and their contents – digitally, so when you need something back, it can all be done at the flick of a switch (or touch of a button).

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