Your mate’s been going on about his homebrew for months, you fancy giving it a go, but every kit you find online is £80 or £120 or comes with so many bits you don’t know where to start. You don’t want to spend a fortune on a hobby you might abandon after one batch. Fair enough.
The good news: you can brew properly drinkable beer for well under £50. Not “drinkable if you squint” — proper beer that you’d happily hand to someone without an apology. The trick is knowing which budget kits deliver real value and which ones cut corners in ways that ruin your first brew. I’ve tried more of these than I’d like to admit, so here’s what’s actually worth your money.
In This Article
- What to Expect from a Kit Under £50
- Best Budget Homebrew Kits Under £50
- What Every Budget Kit Should Include
- What Budget Kits Leave Out (And What to Add)
- Extract Kits vs All-Grain at This Price
- Your First Brew Day: What to Expect
- Common Budget Kit Mistakes
- Upgrading Later: Where to Spend First
- Frequently Asked Questions
What to Expect from a Kit Under £50
Let’s set expectations. A sub-£50 kit won’t give you the same results as a full all-grain setup with temperature-controlled fermentation. But it will give you:
- A complete first brew — everything you need to produce 20-40 pints of beer or wine
- The fundamentals — fermentation bucket, airlock, siphon, hydrometer, and an ingredient kit
- Enough experience to decide if brewing is for you before investing more
What you won’t get: precision temperature control, stainless steel equipment, or anything that could pass as a microbrewery. And that’s perfectly fine for a first kit. Nobody buys a £2,000 road bike before they’ve learned to ride.
How Budget Kits Compare to Premium Ones
The main differences between a £35 kit and a £120 kit come down to three things:
- Vessel quality — budget kits use thin plastic fermenters, premium kits use thick-walled or stainless options
- Ingredient quality — cheaper kits include basic malt extracts, while premium kits use branded hopped extracts with more complex flavour profiles
- Accessories — premium kits include thermometers, bottling wands, and sometimes bottles. Budget kits stick to the bare minimum
For your first batch, none of these differences matter as much as technique. A well-made beer from a £40 kit will beat a poorly made beer from a £150 setup every time.
Best Budget Homebrew Kits Under £50
Wilko Homebrew Beer Starter Kit — Best for Absolute Beginners
About £25–30 from Wilko stores or online. This is the kit I recommend to anyone who’s never brewed anything before. It includes a 25-litre fermenter with lid and airlock, a siphon tube, and a can of hopped malt extract — everything you need for approximately 40 pints.
The fermenter is thin plastic and won’t last forever, but it’s functional and the right size. The included malt extract makes a decent bitter — nothing award-winning, but clean-tasting and perfectly drinkable. The instructions are clear enough that even someone who’s never seen a fermenter can follow them.
Why we rate it: Lowest barrier to entry. If you’re the type who learns by doing, spend £25 and brew something this weekend.
Woodforde’s Wherry Real Ale Kit — Best Tasting Under £30
About £22–28 from Amazon UK or homebrew shops. This doesn’t include equipment — it’s an ingredient kit only — but the beer it produces is a cut above most budget offerings. Wherry is a proper Norfolk bitter with genuine malt character and hop flavour, not the generic “bitter” taste from cheap extract kits.
You’ll need a fermenter, airlock, and siphon separately (about £15 from any homebrew supplier), but the total still comes in well under £50. If you already have basic equipment from a previous kit, this is where you should start spending your ingredient money.
Why we rate it: The beer actually tastes good. Wherry has won CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain, and the homebrew version gets close to the real thing.
BrewBuddy Starter Kit — Best All-In-One Under £40
About £35–40 from Amazon UK. Comes with a 5-gallon fermenter, airlock, tap, siphon, thermometer strip, steriliser, and a Bitter ingredient kit. It’s the most complete package at this price point — you literally open the box and have everything except bottles.
The fermenter is better quality than the Wilko option, with a proper tap fitted at the bottom for easy bottling. The thermometer strip on the side is a nice touch — knowing your fermentation temperature without opening the lid is genuinely useful. The included bitter kit produces about 40 pints of a standard English bitter.
Why we rate it: Best value complete package. The tap and thermometer strip are upgrades you’d otherwise buy separately.
Muntons Gold Continental Lager Kit — Best for Lager Lovers
About £18–24 from Amazon UK or The Malt Miller (ingredient kit only). If your go-to drink is a lager rather than a bitter, most budget ale kits will disappoint you — the flavour profile is completely different. This Muntons Gold kit is designed specifically for a clean, crisp Continental-style lager.
The catch: lager needs cooler fermentation temperatures (10–14°C) than ale (18–22°C), which means finding a cool spot in your house. A garage or shed in spring or autumn works well for most UK brewers. Our guide to the best homebrew temperature controllers covers options if you want more precision, but a consistently cool room will do for your first attempt.
Why we rate it: One of the few budget kits that produces a convincing lager. You’ll need equipment separately, but the quality-to-price ratio is excellent.
Geordie Bitter Kit — Best Under £15
About £12–15 from homebrew shops. This is as cheap as beer kits get, and there’s a reason it’s been around for decades — it works. You won’t be blown away by complex hop character or subtle malt notes, but you’ll get 40 pints of drinkable session bitter from a single can of hopped extract.
Add 1kg of brewing sugar (about £3) or, better yet, spray-dried malt extract (about £5–7 from homebrew shops) to hit the target gravity. Using malt extract instead of sugar gives a much better body and flavour — it’s the single biggest upgrade you can make with any budget kit.
Why we rate it: Proven over decades. At £15 plus sugar, you’re brewing beer for roughly 40p a pint.
What Every Budget Kit Should Include
Before buying, check the box includes these essentials. If any are missing, factor in the cost of buying them separately:
- Fermenter (minimum 25 litres) — needs a lid that seals and a hole for the airlock
- Airlock and grommet — lets CO2 escape without letting air in. About £1–2 if buying separately
- Siphon or bottling tube — for transferring beer from fermenter to bottles without disturbing the sediment
- Sanitiser — at minimum, a sachet of no-rinse sanitiser. If the kit doesn’t include this, buy a tub of sodium metabisulphite (about £3) or VWP powder
- Ingredient kit — either a can of hopped malt extract (just-add-water style) or separate malt, hops, and yeast
What’s Worth Paying a Bit Extra For
If you’re choosing between two similarly priced kits, go for the one that includes:
- A tap on the fermenter — saves the hassle of siphoning for every bottle
- A hydrometer — essential for knowing when fermentation is finished. Without one, you’re guessing, and guessing leads to bottle bombs. Our hydrometer guide walks you through using one properly
- A thermometer strip — sticks to the outside of the fermenter and shows temperature at a glance
What Budget Kits Leave Out (And What to Add)
No kit under £50 includes everything you’ll eventually want. Here’s what you’ll need to source separately, roughly in order of importance:
Bottles (Essential — Day One)
You need about 40 × 500ml bottles per batch. Options:
- Save your empties — brown glass bottles with pry-off crown caps. Ask friends and family. Free is hard to beat
- Plastic PET bottles — about £10 for 40 from Wilko or Amazon. Reusable for 3–4 batches
- New glass bottles — about £20–25 for a crate of 40 from homebrew shops
Crown caps cost about £3 for 100, and a basic capper is about £8. Or use flip-top bottles (like Grolsch-style) and skip the capper entirely.
Better Sanitiser (Important — Batch Two)
Most kit sanitisers are basic. Switch to StarSan (about £8 for 237ml, makes 47 litres of solution) for proper no-rinse sanitising. It’s what every serious homebrewer uses, and one bottle lasts months. Check our cleaning and sanitising guide for the full process.
Brewing Sugar vs Malt Extract (Immediate Upgrade)
If your kit says “add 1kg sugar,” swap it for spray-dried malt extract instead. It costs £3–4 more but transforms the flavour — less thin, less cidery, more body. This is the single best upgrade any budget brewer can make.
Extract Kits vs All-Grain at This Price
At under £50, you’re buying extract kits — and that’s the right choice for a beginner. Here’s why:
Why Extract Works for Beginners
- Simpler process — no mashing, no sparging, no 6-hour brew days
- Fewer things to go wrong — the malt extraction is already done for you
- Lower equipment needs — no mash tun, no hot liquor tank, no grain bag
- Consistent results — extract is manufactured to a precise specification
Our comparison of extract vs all-grain brewing covers the full picture, but the summary is: extract teaches you fermentation without overwhelming you with variables. Move to all-grain when you’ve got 3–4 batches under your belt and want more control.
When to Consider All-Grain on a Budget
If you’re experienced and want to try all-grain cheaply, the “brew in a bag” (BIAB) method needs just a large pot and a grain bag — potentially under £50 total. But it requires more knowledge, longer brew days, and more things that can go wrong. Save it for batch five or six.
Your First Brew Day: What to Expect
Your first brew will take about 90 minutes from unboxing to sealed fermenter. Here’s the honest timeline:
The Short Version
- Sanitise everything — fermenter, lid, airlock, spoon, anything that touches the beer
- Warm the malt extract can in hot water for 10 minutes (makes it pour easier)
- Pour the extract into the fermenter, add the sugar or malt extract
- Add hot water to dissolve everything, then top up with cold water to the target volume
- Check the temperature — you want 18–24°C for ale yeast
- Sprinkle the yeast on top, seal the fermenter, fit the airlock
- Put it somewhere warm and dark, then leave it alone for 7–14 days
What Actually Happens Next
The airlock will start bubbling within 12–48 hours. This is the yeast converting sugar to alcohol and CO2. It’ll bubble vigorously for 2–3 days, then slow down over the next week.
After 7 days, take a gravity reading. Take another 48 hours later. If both readings match, fermentation is done. If the second is lower, wait and test again.
Bottling adds another 45 minutes: add priming sugar (about half a teaspoon per 500ml bottle), siphon the beer in, cap, and store at room temperature for 2 weeks. Then refrigerate and drink.
Common Budget Kit Mistakes
These cost nothing to avoid but ruin a lot of first batches.
Not Sanitising Properly
This is the number one cause of bad homebrew. Every surface that touches your beer after the boil must be sanitised — not just rinsed, properly sanitised. A single unwashed spoon can introduce bacteria that turn your beer sour or give it a band-aid flavour. The NHS food safety guidance on hygiene applies to brewing just as much as cooking.
Fermenting Too Warm
Most UK kitchens sit at 20–22°C, which is fine for ale yeast. But next to a radiator or in direct sunlight, temperatures climb above 25°C and the yeast produces harsh off-flavours — fusels that taste like cheap spirits. Find the coolest, most consistent spot in your home.
Bottling Too Early
If fermentation isn’t completely finished when you bottle, the remaining sugar produces excess CO2 in a sealed bottle. At best, you get fountains of foam when you open them. At worst, bottles explode. The Health and Safety Executive classifies pressurised containers as a genuine safety risk — take your gravity readings seriously.
Using Table Sugar Instead of Malt Extract
Granulated sugar ferments completely, leaving behind a thin, cidery, characterless beer. It’s technically alcohol, but it’s not enjoyable. Swap for spray-dried malt extract or, at minimum, use brewing sugar (dextrose) which produces a cleaner result than granulated.
Giving Up After One Batch
First batches are rarely great. They’re drinkable, they’re yours, but they’re probably not the best beer you’ve ever had. The second batch is always better. The third is where you start impressing people. Stick with it.
Upgrading Later: Where to Spend First
Once you’ve brewed 2–3 batches and know you want to continue, here’s where your next money should go — in order of impact:
- Temperature control — even a £20 heat belt makes a noticeable difference in consistency
- Better ingredient kits — step up from basic extracts to premium kits from Muntons Gold, Woodforde’s, or Mangrove Jack’s
- A proper hydrometer — if your kit didn’t include one. About £5 from our best hydrometers guide
- An auto-siphon — replaces the basic tube with a one-pump start. About £8 and worth every penny
- A bottling wand — fills bottles cleanly without spillage. About £4
Don’t rush to buy a full all-grain setup. Get your extract technique perfect first, then make the jump when you understand what each stage of the process is doing to your beer.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pints does a typical budget kit make? Most standard kits produce 36–40 pints (about 23 litres). Some smaller kits make 20 pints. The cost per pint from a budget kit works out at roughly 30p–50p, which is hard to argue with compared to pub prices.
How long does homebrew take from start to finish? About 4–6 weeks total. Brew day takes 1–2 hours, then 7–14 days fermenting, 45 minutes bottling, then 2 weeks bottle conditioning. The waiting is the hardest part — the actual hands-on time is surprisingly short.
Does cheap homebrew taste bad? Not if you follow the process properly. The biggest factors in homebrew quality are sanitation, temperature control, and patience — none of which depend on how much you spent on the kit. A £30 kit brewed well beats a £100 kit brewed carelessly.
Can I reuse the equipment from a budget kit? The fermenter, airlock, siphon, and tap are all reusable. You’ll just need new ingredient kits for each batch — typically £15–25 per batch. The ongoing cost of homebrew is remarkably low once you own the basic equipment.
Is homebrew legal in the UK? Yes — brewing beer, cider, and wine at home for personal consumption is completely legal in the UK with no licence needed. You cannot sell it without a licence from HMRC, but drinking your own creations and sharing with friends is perfectly fine.