Is there anywhere I can go to brew beer in the UK? I saw some on holiday over in the US and wonder if we have the same? you know the sort of place you pay to use their kit, so you can brew some beer with some mates.

There used to be a few places like this, years back. Think they all folded though.

http://londonfieldsbrewery.co.uk/brewery-school/

Worth seeing if/when they’re going to run this again.

Stewart Brewery just outside of Edinburgh do this.

Elsewhere on that London Fields Brewery website they also do classes in proper (all-grain) brewing which IMO is so simple there’s really no point starting off with anything else. They seem to have some coming up in November in fact.

However for the cost of a gang of mates signing up to that you could just get some advice off the internet, some proper kit, a load of takeaway and just figure it out yourselves! Or start small with something like the Massive Brewery kit for £100.

Join up on a forum like jims beer kit forum
and ask if there is any one in your area where you can watch a brew being done
chances are the guy who says yes will help you out
if you are near Skipton then I am happy to oblige

I do a brew-in-a-bag demo day at my LHBS every couple of months if you’re anywhere near Leeds. Next one second Sunday in November if not already full.

I don’t think the OP is after an educational event, he wants to use a “brew it yourself” facility to make some beer on day #1 and then rock up at day #15 or whatever and take the finished beer away. These places used to be popular in the late 90’s (over the pond) and there’s a guy on Jim’s forum who used to run one over here.

There is one near Edinburgh. 80pint keg and 80pint bottles didn’t seem expensive. If you fancied a encorporating into a longer holiday.

cheap enough to buy your own gear TBH.

to brew in 19-23L batches you’ll need the following:

stove top steel boiling pan £65
Fermenting vessel £10
big long plastic spoon £5
mashing bag £9
siphon tubing & little bottler £10-15
ingredients max £20 per batch. less than £10 if it’s a simple recipe

everything else is useful but not essential

John, kit in a box here,

http://www.massivebrewery.com

Not as big, volume, but excellent to get started.

There is a new bar/brewery in glasgow where you can rent the equipment and brew your own. they will even help you with the recipe design.

drygate.com

yeah I’ve seen the Massive Brewery kit in a box. It’s a good alternative if you don’t mind doing smaller batches, and everything’s included for a good price. If I didn’t already have everything, I’d certainly consider it.

I started with a 32L stove top pan & mashing bag – I already had the spoon, siphon tubing, fermenters etc from brewing from kits. I did a few brews no-chill, then bought an immersion chiller to speed things up.
Then an electric boiler with digital control as I was basically turfed out of the kitchen 😉 and a new mashing bag to go with it.
Then the immersion chiller kept springing leaks so I bought a counterflow plate chiller…
I think I have everything I need but the time now 😉