In a cramped flat in England, far away from the watchful eye of my mother, my brother is brewing up his own beer.

While he assures me that he will soon be a master brewer, his tips on making your own beer were somewhat limited.

Basically, they amounted to the following. The key ingredient is patience. Without this your beer is nothing ? do the relevant checks, but otherwise "just let the beer do its thing" and make sure that your equipment is sterile or your beer will end up smelling "eggy".

Ah, very important technical tips, but I still don't know how you actually make the beer. I mean, what actually goes into the wort (the beer mixture) and how do you put it all together?

Chris Barnard, founder of Boston Breweries, explains the process of making beer and the ins and outs of owning a microbrewery.

Barley, hops and yeast?

Firstly, you need to crush the malted barley so that the goodness can be removed. You then stir the crushed barley into warm water, so that the sweetness can be extracted from the grain. This mixture is called the 'stepped mash'. Hot water is sprayed onto and filtered through the mash.

The sweet liquor which is removed is the wort (pronounced wert). The wort is brought to the boil and just before the end, the hops are added. The wort is cooled and yeast is added. Once the fermentation process is complete (I suspect that this is where the patience comes in), the beer is filtered to remove any yeast.

Pretty simple really. Okay, maybe not. Chris says: "It took about 10 months to get the recipe right. A lot of trial and error, I think I lost a few friends along the way. The ones that stuck out the testing months, however, haven?t paid for a beer since!"

The business in brewery

Chris' beer brewing operation is slightly bigger than my brother's. Boston Breweries, which was registered officially in 2000, currently has a brewing capacity of 32 000 litres per month.

He has to deal with all the financial complications of the business and the time consuming job of obtaining special brewing licences. He even has a marketing company to deal with the brand's artwork and promotional ventures

However he says that still enjoys making beer as much as he did when he started out.

"Brewing is a passion. Yes, we are trying to make money, but the pleasure you have in seeing people enjoying your beer, and recommending it to their friends is what it's really about."

Boston Breweries is one of at least 27 microbreweries in South Africa. This suggests that there is clearly a move towards microbreweries as an alternative to the established beer giants.

"Over the next few years there will be more micro-breweries starting up. People's attitude towards trying different beer is changing," says Chris.

"A few years ago if I asked someone which beer they drank, the answer would be a single brand. If you'd asked them what wine they drank, the response would be 'many different vineyards'.

Not only that, but red wine would be for cool evenings and white wine with certain foods. Ask the same person why they drank so many different types of wine and only one brand of beer and you would get a very confused look with the answer 'Gee, I'm not sure'. '

"This attitude is changing and people are realising that beer is similar to wine. Many different types for different temperatures and different foods."

Beer benefits

Chris started brewing his own beer because, after a trip to Europe, he decided that he was not particularly happy with what South African beer had to offer. I suspect that my brother brews his own beer because he thinks it is cheaper. So, are there really benefits in brewing your own beer?

"From each batch of beer I produce, 10 litres is put aside for testing. This takes care of my personal consumption. On rugby days, however, I have to take a 50-litre keg or two home for my friends. I am still convinced they come for my good company!" says Chris.

Mmm? so it seems the benefits of home-brewing are threefold ? you get to drink the beer you like, it's cheap, and you'll always have lots of friends!

  • More about brewing your own beer on the next page