How has lockdown impacted your homebrewing? We ask our Brew Crew.

Stephen Horsfall

I have several kegged beers and the unthinkable has happened. I have run out of gas! I use 60 litre Sodastream cylinders as they are a reasonable size to handle and will easily gas over 2 Corny kegs. They are expensive to buy, but I have a solution. I have just bought a commercial CO2 bottle to Sodastream adapter for £14.49 online. A homebrew buddy says I can fill my cylinders from his commercial CO2 bottle as they seem to last for at least 2 years.

Christopher Annandale 

In terms of lockdown brewing, my first was yesterday, but I was able to get my hands on some ingredients and have a series of SMaSH beers lined up, and a couple of brew kits for porters and stouts. I’d also like to have a go at a fruited sour beer to have ready for the summer. My next brew will be as soon as the demijohn is free (I shortsightedly only bought one...) however, I am using kveik yeast so it should only be a couple of days. I did make a 2L starter to build up some yeast I already had so I didn’t have to worry about finding any more online.

I am looking into upgrading from a pot on the hob to something like the Brewzilla so this may not be an issue going forwards.

Damian Roebuck 

Lockdown has really ramped up my output. And judging by the online suppliers and their stock levels, so has everyone else. I work Monday to Friday so I normally only brew on weekends. Having two young girls (Edith 9 and Audrey 7) my weekends are often filled with swimming lessons, birthday parties and other distractions, so it’s a constant battle to find the time. With lockdown in place, all of these activities have vanished, meaning my time is all my own. As a result, in the 4 weeks of lockdown (at the time of writing) I have brewed 6 times. I even did a Saturday and a Sunday on the bounce! A less healthy side effect is that I appear to be meeting this increase in supply with an increase in consumption. But then, what else is there to do if the pubs are all shut and we aren’t allowed to leave the house?

Robert Poulson

The lockdown has made me think twice about unnecessary spending - with already having a decent stock of Perfect Draft kegs, wine and spirits, this has been ample to keep us going! I did brew the A(alternative)PA earlier this month with a random mashup of ingredients that I have in the garage - currently chilling in a Dark Farm keg in the fridge. A cloudy, hoppy sipper that came in at 7.2% - although you can’t tell!