Top 10 Christmas Gift Ideas for the Home Brewer

young's christmas pudding ale Christmas Gifts are always hard to choose, especially when buying for men I am told! However, if you are trying to think of a christmas present for someone who likes beer and perhaps is thinking about, or already is interested in homebrewing, then we have some great ideas here at beerinthemaking.

Whether they are already a keen homebrewer or are thinking of starting out in this fascinating and rewarding hobby, then you will find something here whatever your budget.

1. Homebrew starter kit.

So let's start with the newcomer to homebrew. This one's an easy one. There are some great homebrew starter kits on the market which offer absolutely everything you need to get you going, including all of the equipment and the ingredients needed to start that first batch of home made beer. You can choose a starter kit to make bitter, real ale, lager, cider and even wine. My personal favourite is the Woodforde's Wherry Microbrewery kit. This is going to set you back just over £60 but will make 40 pints of excellent real ale and so you are getting your beer for about £1.50 a pint and you still have all of the equipment for your next batch as well. The next ingredients kit should cost less than £20, and so in future you beer is less than 50p per pint. You can read a complete review of this and other kits on our homebrew starter kits page or order the real ale kit featured here ... Buy Woodfordes Micro Brewery now from Home Brew Online.

2. Homebrew bottle tree.

If you are buying for a homebrew fan who already has the basics, then there are quite a few good ideas depending on your budget. Like most hobbies, there are bits about it you love and bits you hate. I think most home brewers will agree with me that bottling is the bit we hate and so let's make life easier here. This looks like something from Doctor Who but is in fact a bottle tree or bottle drainer. Normally you have to wash and sterilise all of your bottles, rinse them under a tap and then wait for the domino effect as they all start to fall over. This handy device holds all of your bottles upside down while they drain. You can then simply take them one at a time, fill them and cap them. It really does make life so much easier. It is available from Home Brew Online in either a 45 bottle of 80 bottle version for under £20. Bottle Tree

3. Homebrew bottle rinser.

OK, that's easier but we can go one better yet. What if we could rinse the bottles in steriliser, drain them and use them all from one place, leaving the sink free and making life even simpler. Well now we can. Simply take one of these handy bottle rinser gadgets, clip it to the top of the tree, fill with sterilising solution and go. Just push an inverted bottle onto the plunger on the top of the rinser. Steriliser squirts up inside the bottle covering all inner surfaces. Two or three presses and then place you bottle on the drainer tree. Now life's getting much easier. These handy rinsers are only about £15 and save ages. Bottle Rinser

4. Little bottler.

Great, so the bottles are ready to use, now just to get the beer into them. Syphon tubes with stop valves are one way to do it but a little awkward to use. I prefer always to use a "little bottler". This handy device clips straight onto the tap on the side of your fermenting bin and is a rigid tube about the length of a 1 litre PET bottle or a wine bottle. When the tap is opened, offer a bottle up over the tube. As the needle valve in the end of the bottler touches the bottom of the bottle, beer flows freely. As soon as you start to move the bottle away, the flow stops. No more mess. You can see a review of the little bottler here. If you would like to buy a little bottler from Home Brew Online they are only about £7. If you want a slightly more expensive gift, maybe consider combining ideas 2, 3 an 4. A complete bottling solution for about £42.

5. Beer Kits.

For someone who has all the equipment needed, then a beer kit is perhaps the answer. This means the ingredients for a batch of beer for someone who has all of the equipment. The are some really great beer kit refills around. For someone who perhaps would normally stick to a budget kit, maybe treat them to something a little bit different. A Christmas Beer is always a nice touch and there are a few around. They tend to be a little stronger than most and have a distinctly seasonal flavour. You can see some of these in my article on Christmas Beers. Another idea is to go for a Continental Beer kit. These are rather unusual and again a bit stronger than many other beers. The kits are more reasonably priced as they make less beer, but taste great. You can see all the beer kits at Home Brew Online here.

6. Heaters.

Brewing beer during the colder months can occasionally present a bit of a problem. Beer needs a constant temperature to ferment well and even with central heating, it does cool down at night. Airing cupboards are usually much too hot and that can kill off the yeast. The solution is a heater. There are three types on the market; a brewbelt which wraps around the fermenting vessel (around £17), a heated tray(£20 - £30) or an immersion heater (around £20). I personally use a brew belt and have written an article here called How To Use A Brew Belt. To see the brewbelt and some of the other homebrew heating solutions available see this page on homebrew heaters.

7. Bottles.

For those who prefer to store their beer in bottles rather than barrels, you can never have too many. The choices are PET screwcap bottles, glass crown cap bottles, swing top bottles (Grolsch style) or the new crown cap PET bottles. I think a great idea for a Christmas gift would be a box or two of these new crown cap PET bottles (£8 for 20, £13 for 40), maybe coupled with a crown capper (£9) and a bag of 100 spare crown caps (£2) . If you know that your homebrew fan prefers glass bottles then that's also a good combination gift, just swap the bottles, or maybe go for a box or two of the superb Grolsch style swing top bottles (about £18 for 12). Whatever style you choose, I'm sure they'll be pleased. You can see the various styles of homebrew bottles here.

8. Books.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a book or two and for the homebrewer there are quite a few from which to choose. The book pictured left takes homebrewing beyond the kits and explains the further ingredients available and how to use them in your own beer recipes. Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy is an excellent little book for under a tenner!

The Dummies Guide also comes in at under a tenner. This familiar range of books are usually very informative and Homebrewing For Dummies is no exception. Watch out though as it is an American book and uses American pints and gallons so you will need your conversion hat on.

Then finally, one you can't go wrong with in the UK, Brew Your Own British Real Ale. Produced by CAMRA, again for around £10, another great book which always gets rave reviews from real ale fans everywhere.

9. Syphons.

Another budget gift idea here is an Auto Syphon. The Auto Syphon is a popular, cleaner and much easier alternative to using standard syphon tube.

Simple to use, the Auto Syphon effortlessly transfers beer from one container to another by pumping the inner tube to start the transfer.

The large syphon is suitable for Fermenting Vessels, Buckets, Demijohns, Carboys etc. Perfect for all sizes of fermenting vessels up to large 23 litre containers, such as those supplied with the complete starter kits above. There is also a smaller version available for 1 gallon Demijohns and smaller Fermenting Vessels.

The Auto Syphon will cost around £12 for the large model.

10. Stocking Fillers.

Home Brew Online have loads of smaller bits and pieces that would make ideal stocking fillers. Here are a few suggestions: -

I hope that has given you some good ideas. If you haven't seen what you are looking for here, then why not have a look over at Home Brew Online for more ideas. Good luck and have a great Christmas whatever you are drinking.