Ever wanted to learn to make beer like the pros? Our Jack did. Imagine how happy he was when he discovered that a bearded man in an Clapton industrial estate would be up for teaching him! Interested in learning about home-brew OR commercial beer making? Take a look at what we make of Brew Club (and what we make AT Brew Club…)
Rating:
What is it?
Brew Club’s ‘All Grain Beginner’s Class’
A two day, weekend intensive course that teaches you how to make beer (choose from a range that encompasses IPA, APA, bitter and stout).
To be fair, it’s really more one day and a quarter, as the bottling on the second day is a lot shorter than the brewing and hopping. And yes you’ll probably need transport to haul all those bottles home…
You and a small group of others get your own Braumeister, and under your host Jo’s expert instruction, you are taught how to make a beer using it. All the way from start to finish (i.e from adding the malt to bottling)
Check the calendar for class availability: https://www.brewclub.uk.com/product/brew-station/
How much does it cost?
£120 (but you can bring a friend (or friends) for an extra £20 and split the cost)
Where is it available?
Brew Club, it takes place at their warehouse in Clapton
Appeals to:
Home-brew acolytes and veterans – I met a doctor who’d been home brewing for years, and a bunch of folks (like me) who’s brewing experience was mostly limited to tea.
Beer lovers, curious to find out more about their favourite drink. Stay curious…
Those in search of a novel/delicious gift or occasion. One of the groups of people I met at Brew Club were making a beer for their wedding next year! How cool is that?
In a Word:
Satisfying
HomeBrew Homeboy Has Alcohol Adventures in Clapton
Beer making seems to have come back into fashion over the last few years. Perhaps in the wake of what appears to be a greater number and a greater trend towards craft brewing.
Brew Club have created an experience that’s probably closer to operating your own microbrewery than making home brew (based on the setting and equipment you end up using). The process itself eventually yields about 40 bottles of beer (at 500ml each).
The Steps
Making the mash
Hopping
Sanitising and cooling
Water treatment
Sampling: Testing Original Gravity & ABV
Once you’re done with this, you leave it for about 2 weeks more to ferment – before returning to bottle it.
Bottling (second day)
The Taproom
Brew Club also have their own, minimalistic and beer focused bar called The Taproom. It’s open over the weekend and every month it showcases a range of beers from a local brewery. When I am here they are spreading the love for Siren Brewery.
All this means you can enjoy a beer whilst you make a beer. Heavenly…
The Good:
You actually end up making a beer (and keeping it). 40odd bottles worth! The process is immensely satisfying and appeals to the nerd inside of all of us. Or most of us.
They have some really high tech equipment that just works. It also doesn’t require a master’s in biochemistry to operate.
Your host, Jo, is everything you want in a host – patient, friendly and very knowledgable
Drinking beer as you make beer. Nuff said.
The Bad:
The equipment they teach you on is pretty expensive and high end (as in, professional brewers use this stuff to experiment with small batches). It’s hard to reproduce all the steps they have here with a lower end home brew kit.
There’s only 4 beers and recipes to choose from. To be fair, the whole point of a recipe is that it’s tried and tested to work. Deviate greatly at your peril
Depending on group size you may end up waiting to be seen, or to get your hands on the hops
No custom labels for bottling. If you want that, you have to make your own.
Hauling the beer home was nightmare fuel – two words: ‘Blackwall Tunnel’.
The Verdict:
So much fun!
I guess it’s everything I expected and hoped for in learning about brewing. I’m not going to lie and say that I’m going to go home and immediately start brewing (if anything, for space concerns and the fact that I already have too much beer).
But I will say that I feel very comfortable with the idea of making my own beer, and can certainly see this happening in future, oh yes. Not for the sake of trying to make money, but just because the process itself is inherently fascinating and rewarding. I’d imagine this is how bakers feel about their craft (since I don’t bake)
I hope my oatmeal stout is as good as my brain has made it out to be. But time will tell…
The Details:
Brew Club
Unit 9,
The Tram Depot,
38-40 Upper Clapton Road,
E5 8BQ