About the Bigfoot Brewery

Why am I teaching people how to brew craft beer?  Well, it’s a logical next step for me… since I’ve been brewing at home for the last 20+ years (7 years full-mash brewing), I figured I should share the knowledge.

I’ve helped countless friends get started, and apparently inspired far more (over beer-festival or pub conversations).  Why shouldn’t everyone be able to brew craft beer (or real ale) easily, at home?

On a mission to brew craft beer from the age of 2

My passion for brewing started when I helped my dad out (from about 2 years old), sparging the kitchen floor, throwing hops into the mash and generally making a mess of otherwise well-brewed beer.

It wasn’t long before he’d taught me that hops actually only go in the boil (or later), you sparge the wort (not the floor, or even the cat), and how to syphon without imbibing 5 pints.

How to brew craft beer using a kit

I let things slip in my early teens, but started brewing again as a student.  Producing beer at 30p a pint, rather than paying £1 a can, had a predictable appeal I suppose.

Before long, I was trying to tailor the taste of the kits to match some of the more exciting craft beer flavours I’d found in Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or English Pale Ales like Hopback Summer Lightening.  It seemed that hops were the key.

Eventually I needed to start buying more to bolster the tame hop flavours of homebrew kits available then.  However, brewing craft beer using a kit back then wasn’t easy!

Hops, hops and more hops

Buying extra hops and modifying the simple kit brewing process got me thinking – how difficult could it be get back into full mash brewing again (as I’d experienced as a kid)?

It turned out that a modest investment in kit, a lot of trial and error and a few handy notes (or brewing guides) put me on track.

Craft Beer – at home

From the early days of full-mash brewing, to perfecting how I wanted to brew craft beer, took a good few years.  I learned a LOT, tipped a few mistakes away, and drunk perhaps a bit more than I should.

But thankfully now I’m able to taste a beer at a festival, pub or bar… come home and make a passable clone of it.  Better than this, I know the flavours of craft beer I aspire to brew, what I love the taste of, and set out to create new and interesting craft beers each month.  You’ll find some examples in the Craft Beer Recipes page.

Learn how to brew craft beer at home

So now I’m sharing my knowledge in this homebrewing course, come and learn from someone who’s made all the mistakes for you.  I’ll show you how to brew craft beer at home for just 30p a pint.

Design credits: pint glass by Nick Kinling from the Noun Project, Tag by İsmail Nural from the Noun Project