Err, its all gone slightly crazy. First the Times then the BBC, I've had more emails and phone calls over three days than, well, I can care to remember. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to get in contact, even the cheap insults count, I guess.
I fell foul of my new non-branded things twice yesterday, causing my therapist to wonder if I was taking things too far. First of all I twisted my foot on the new non-branded plimsolls causing me to limp around town like an extra from Dawn Of The Dead. Secondly, the plastic bag I had replaced my regular North Face holdall with (until I get a new non-branded equivalent) split on me and I lost my (Sony) dictaphone. Yeah yeah, boo hoo, it's no big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it does go to show that brands can indeed deliver a certain standard of quality (Sainsbury's carrier bags are the strongest I find).
Talking of Dawn Of The Dead (the 1978 version, that is), I've always liked the subtext of that film; the zombies roaming an abandoned shopping mall mirroring the number one leisure pastime of our age. When there's no more room in hell, the dead shall walk TK Maxx.
The majority of my leisure time in life has been spent roaming shopping centres. Some of my earliest memories are of long weekends being dragged around clothes shops, furniture shops, bathroom shops (I grew up amidst the DIY boom); I remember Marks & Spencer being the most deadly boring of stores to play in, but the ultimate in tedium has to be carpet stores. No wait, mattress shops.
I overcame my aversion to shopping in my early teens, once I got my £10 per week income (paper round, car washing, pocket money) and the newly built Bexleyheath Mall became a home from home for my friends and I. Late night Thursday shopping was our chance to meet girls, maintain turf wars with boys and slip into Top Man to try on Farah trousers. We would return on Saturday morning and spend the entire day flitting from McDonalds to Our Price to Woolworths, browsing, dosing and very occasionaly buying. I remember Sundays were extremely boring, because back then, the shops didn't open on the day of rest.
We hung around shops because there wasn't really much else to do with our time. We were too old for youth clubs, too young for the pub, and banned from hanging around local parks; the mall was one of the few public spaces where we felt welcome, and boy has it rubbed off on me now. My generation, among the first to have been sold to almost from birth, could find no leisure pursuit beyond window-shopping. I think we were let down.
One of my key talking points in my book is going to be the way in which we teach our children to value material things; a good place to start might be to offer them alternatives to shopping as leisure on their Saturday afternoons, no?
49 Comments:
Hi Neil,
I heard you interviewed on the ABC radio news this morning here in Sydney Australia. I was very interested and amused at what you had to say. I have spent many years recycling my old clothes and those of my husband and three children by giving them away to friends, family and charity. I have also benefitted very much from the generosity of others by receiving second hand clothing for my children. Although I understand your desire to make a big show of burning all your designer label and branded clothing, I cant help but think of all the people who could benefit from having that clothing donated to them, people who are struggling to put food on the table each night let alone clothes on their back. Could I repectfully suggest that you have some type of symbolic burning of brands and then go ahead and donate the actual items to a charity or refugee shelter? I actually think you would have a much better feeling of letting go if you knew that other people were able to use your clothes, not because of the stupid labels they were wearing, but because they were decent clothes that stopped them from being cold at night! You sound like a very interesting and humourous person and I hope that you are able to free yourself from the burden you carry.
All the very best with what ever you decide to do.
Amazing response to the latest entry innit? I naively assumed people who read and/or write blogs would be of realtively intelligent or at least open minded, but the amount of people who go down the knee-jerk give-it-to-charity/you selfish bastard route is staggering.
All the venomous entries lead me to believe that you need to get this into the Daily Mail or the Telegraph mate - if you don't mind all the brickbats, becoming public Enemy number one would do wonders for the sales and the project. It worked for the KLF, NWA, Sex Pistols and all the others.
For someone (claiming to be) trying to kick a brand addiction you certainly seem awfully obsessed by brands still. You're comparing everything unbranded to your past, branded equivalent. Fair enough I suppose, that's the premise of the book you're touting, but if you're actually interested in going brand-free you ought to start simply being happy with the things around you and ignoring the marketeers messages.
Living without brands isn't about buying things without logos, it's about taking time to notice the things around you. You shouldn't need to be told about them by some advertising guru with floppy hair, you should be interested enough anyway.
In essence, make your own decisions, don't just follow the crowd. Buy what you like the most, not what has the prettiest brand image. Live your own life, not the life the media wants you to live.
Why don't you donate the stuff to charity?
dear anonymous
if you read back on my blog, you'll see that I have indeed been trying to disconnect from the marketing messages, and start to take pleasure in the more simple things around me. I couldn't agree more... as a personal journey, I very much hope that this leads me to that point. One step at a time I guess.
At the top of your blog, there's a little "TM" at the side of the word "Blogger"
I take it that now this has been brought to your attention, all your future diary entries will be made with a pen on a piece of paper?
As of next week, i'll be transferring the blog away from Blogger TM.
Rather than pick hoes in the basics of ths idea, shall we get on to the wider implications of this project... starting with the fact that a brand-free life is virtually impossible, as so many of the people posting have pointed out.
Hello Neil,
Please, please, please don't be dishearten by the negative responses to your current mission of a nonbrand lifestyle.
The fact that so many people took time out busy or not very busy life, to write anything all is something to be proud of!
I wonder how many other journalist or columist of the Sunday Style would of incite an immense response during and after a bank holiday. To what some claim as futile venture. But they still wrote such long and detailed responses. Just shows you have some thought provoking issues. What more could can writer ask for.
Take all this all in your nonbranded stride that you are on the path to a new and better life.
To make a mark on this world sometimes you have to be the Martyr!!
I fully support you wish all the best!
Nyree
Hi Neil,
People just don't get your blog at all do they? Talk about get wrong idea!! They think this a no logo anti brand bandwaggon.
When all your trying to do is, give us a detailed account on how you personally gave up brands.
To all the people who are not listening properly he is not trying to savbe the world. Just himself!! and showing us how he does it.
Bless you and go forth with new life!
Natx
neil said -
"As of next week, i'll be transferring the blog away from Blogger TM."
Why not now Neil? Why wait a week? Why didn't you do it before?
How ironic that you feel compelled to sell your "ideals" out to one brand in order to get publicity for your rant against other brands.
Blogger are owned by Google for crying out loud.
The "label" obsession you refer to in your profile isn't the issue here Neil. It's got nothing to do with labels or brands.
There's only one thing you're obsessed with. And it's patently obvious what that one thing is.
Hello Neil
Congratulations on what you're doing; I for one heartily applaud it. I went through something similar a few years ago - in fact I believe that many people of our generation either have had or will have a moment rather like this, where they see through the advertising and realise that it is just advertising and that products are just products. It's tempting to believe the oft-quoted view that we are powerless against these mighty brands, but really I think that people have more resources than the media give us credit for - as you in fact are now proving.
I personally came to the conclusion that not all brands are bad. As a broad rule of thumb, if the advertising actually mentions a specific product and extols its advantages, then I will give it a chance (Dell Computer comes to mind). If on the other hand the advertising sells only the lifestyle associated with the product, and beyond showing the logo hardly mentions the product at all (examples: Coke, Nike, thousands of others) then that's a very bad sign and I'll stay away from it (unless there's a sale on).
Have you checked out the Adbusters website (www.adbusters.org)? They have a very nice line in spoof ads that take the mickey out of famous brands.
Best wishes for your venture. I only wish I could be there, but I'm in Italy.
Coiln
many thanks for such a positive comment. You know, I agree that branding as such is not inherently a bad idea. Like you, it is the emotion and aspiration attached to the things that I take issue with. Unfortunately, I've been manipulated to the extent that I feel the only solution is to dispense with the lot.
What a shame you are in Italy, I would buy you a (locally produced non branded) beer if you were.
Thanks for all the other positive meassges posted today.
phentermine - health insurance - debt consolidation - home equity loans Nice comment.. I ll come back for sure :]
SAINSBURRY'S BAGS?!!!
It's not hard to find bags without a logo or brand advertising on the side.
Must try harder.
Fucking hell, I haven't read the blog in a few days and it's exploded! Lots of anonymous posters complaining about not giving your stuff to charity and also about damaging the environment by burning them. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Get a life losers, don't you value the grand gesture anymore? It's like the Wicker Man (original) but with Neil's brands screaming 'Oh Jesus Christ!'
By the way Neill, great work and keep the faith.
> Why don't you donate the stuff to charity?
Because that won't sell books, obviously.
edinburghsloth666 said...
Get a life losers, don't you value the grand gesture anymore?
Burning things that could help others is less a gesture, and more idiocy. I can understand that Neil The Brand Whore, his view of the world blighted by years of selfishness trying to buy into the happiness advertisers so desperately push our way, might not understand the futility of his bonfire, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to agree with his message. He is wrong to burn these things. His message is not going to be that he wants to live without brands, it's that he doesn't want anyone to be better off from a simple selfless action on his part. Perhaps he's incapable of putting his message aside and helping others. That's a pretty sad situation if it's true.
Or perhaps the bonfire will never actually happen, Neil will keep the things he substitutes for happiness, and he'll Photoshop a picture together to 'prove' he did it.
Fuck gestures, try being nice.
To the negatives bloggers,
Neil bought all his stuff with his own money, he can do what he like's with it! We do live in a democratic society.
The headline of the book does say "bonfire of brands", not "give away brands".
Don't feel guilty or pressured to give it charity Neil!!
Neil
I think your idea is great. It is a concern (more environmental than anything else) that this stuff is being burned, but I do appreciate the symbolism of the act. Would like to attend, please keep us informed.
I know you've spoken about how your attitude changed towards branding and your sense of identity, but was there an exact event which triggered this change of thinking? Very curious to find out.
Good luck!
Hello!
I'm writing you from Colima, México. I've read about you in BBC and then read more in your blog. I think is quite amazing what you are doing. From my personal experience, when I was a kid my parents didn't have a lot of money, so we were taught to ask only for things we really need, and not to buy something just because it was "of brand"... I think that it was very important for us, because even now (I'm 24 now) "I do not need things", and I can throw them without any problems. We buy only what we need, and we don't care much about the brand.
Well, I just wanted to say hi and tell you how great I think is the decision you've made!
Greetings from Mexico!
Lulú
Anonymous said...
Neil bought all his stuff with his own money, he can do what he like's with it! We do live in a democratic society.
Noone is saying he can't have a bonfire, many people are saying he shouldn't have a bonfire. If I pop down to Sainsburys and buy £50,000 worth of perfectly good food, and then chuck it all in the bin that is wrong. If I want to get rid of it all then it is better to give it to people who need it instead, especially considering it'd require no more effort than a phone call to a charity to organise.
In fact, not using this opportunity to highlight one of the charities Neil supports (I assume he does support at least one, although the evidence seems to suggest otherwise) is actually more of a wasted opportunity than giving away the things he's intend on burning.
I think it's sad, and at the same time typically reflective of today's society, that people are willing to defend a grossly selfish and irresponsible act. I'm suprised a publisher such as Canongate would be willing to back something like this .. I can foresee it reflecting very, very badly on them.
Good luck Neil .... burn the stuff, try the non branded life, write the book, get the money and if you really feel the need then go out and purchase all the branded stuff again. At least you saw the light, tried the life and then made your own decisions.
Dear edinburghsloth666
see what I've created? I'm sensing rancour. In future, could anyone who posts the argument about charity please divulge the amount they themselves give to charity each year. A name and an email address would be nice too; its rather easy to throw stones when your hiding behind a wall of anonymity is it not?
Dear Pierre
I think the turning point was during my time working at lifestyle magazines… once I started talking to brand managers (particularly sportswear), I came to understand how manipulative they can be. Some of the people who work there are really do live the dream… I talk about being brainwashed myself, but those guys would rather kill than be near a rival brand. I guess I saw myself turning into one of those people and decided to put the breaks on the whole thing.
The other pivotal moment was reading the following books over the summer last year:
Ways Of Seeing: John Berger
Status Anxiety: Alain De Botton
The Hidden Persuaders: Vance Packard
Techniques Of Persuasion: AC Brown
Culture Jamming: Kalle Lasn
Thanks for posting.
I have to say Neil, I agree with the last anonymous comment. I was interested to read what you had to say and why you are doing what you are doing. However, surely it would be more of a cathartic experience to put these items to good use by donating them to the disadvantaged? Wouldn't it be more soul-cleansing to know that you were cancelling out years of funding the corporations who take advantage of people, by giving your things to people with absolutely nothing? Not to mention, surely there would be serious environmental issues with burning your things? Would it not be more fufilling to have started something positive in the ending of something you percieve as negative, rather than ending it with a mere grand gesture?
Neil Boorman said...
In future, could anyone who posts the argument about charity please divulge the amount they themselves give to charity each year.
I don't give anything to charity. I would give £10 a month, but instead I take a £10 note and I burn it.
Just like you.
Hi Neil,
Here's an idea to apease negative and postive bloggers.
Why don't you burn the stuff that your allowed to and give the stuff that can't be ie LCD tv, to charity instead of using a sledge hammer. Sound like a good truce??
I give money to homeless on monthy basis at tube stations aroung £5-10.
Maybe even get the charity to collect the stuff at the burning so TV camera's catch the footage.
Not a bad idea. I might just take you up on that.
I don't give anything to charity. I would give £10 a month, but instead I take a £10 note and I burn it.
Just like you.
LOL!
I really couldn't care what you do with your possessions Neil but your exercise in the private sector/brand/marketing liberation seems quite pointless, futile and half-hearted.
You can't live in the first world and not be subject to the very beast that drives it.
Enjoy yourself though. I look forward to some Monty Python witch style burning.... BURN THEM!!!!
Dear Nathan - oops! - Neil,
I bet this anti-brand "epiphany" lasts until about 0.00001 seconds after your book gets remaindered.
Keep it chopped out, yeah?
After serious consideration about my suggestion you give your gear to charity, I now understand your motivations for incinerating your precious garments.
Lets hope you'll be wearing them when they go up in flames eh?
i saw your piece in the sunday times magazine and recognised you from camberwell college (the ppd stuff last year) and had to have a look here and wish you good luck
your comments about bexleyheath made me smile. it's my hometown and the stuff you describe still goes on now, only we don't have a topman anymore and our price shut down years ago. have you seen the place recently? 'gone downhill' doesn't even start to cover it. maybe you should revisit your early retail experiences and see how much it's changed, it might drag up some memories to help make more sense of your brand addiction.
oh and have people always left mcdonalds and burger king cups in the hands of the statue people up the broadway? personally i think they look better with beverages than without!
That's hilarious, I used to put McDonald cups in the very same statue hands... amazing, that brings back so many memories!
I'm sorry it's gone downhill.. I've got to pay a visit. I bought my prized Eric B & Rakim LP via at Our Price... the Bronx to Bexleyheath via the miracle of chainstore consumerism. I'm getting all misty eyed.
Question for you Neil .. do you own a car? If so, are you going to burn it?
Hi Neil,
My name is Kristen, and I'm an advertising creative from L.A. (the branding capital of the U.S. if not the world). I've been experiencing a personal dilemma regarding the leaking of marketing into every aspect of human experience, and the fact that it's my job to perpetuate this trend. In my spare time I design posters that I am trying to work up the courage to plaster around Robertson Blvd. that claim "anti-ad" messages reminding people that not everything they buy needs to say who they are, and that it's not punk if rich white men make a profit. It's bigger just the debt issue. We are placated by all this created need and not paying attention to things that really matter (a point you address when you compare the Innocent fest with the political rally). Even the subculture is packaged and handed back to the young folks who used to be to ones spearheading anti "the man" sentiments. Now they're the ones eating up branded entertainment the quickest. I'm on the inside of it all, and it makes me ill. I love that you've used some of the same tactics brands use to send their message to get your point across. Let me know if I can be of any help in your pursuit. kristenland@hotmail.com
so what are you going to do with all the money from your book then? unless you're publishing that yourself, you're perpetuating a further brand (the publisher)
you need to include more photographs of yourself. an articulate, good looking and insightful male is a brand in itself...
Hi Neil,
Thanks for the reading list. I read Ways of Seeing and Status Anxiety quite a while ago, but will check out the others.
I studied an Advanced Certificate in Marketing a while back, and that was enough for me as far as 'brands' and branding went. The psychology behind marketing and branding is pretty insidious to say the least.
Hehe, you're not neurotic, you're spoilt.
Hi
I get it and you're not alone. I found it weird so few people seem to have a 'hobby' these days. I took up sewing as an antidote to wasting time cruising the mall and set up a website selling and providing free sewing patterns so I didn't even have to go to the mall to buy the patterns (www.fitzpatterns.com). Haven't quite sorted the fabric aspect but could avoid the mall for another couple of months by using what I've already got...
Heres an interesting post from a website called libcom.org, a place you 'll find a real critique of capitalism instead of this tantrum in a clothing sale.
"I think its what Deleuze & Guattari called 'double articulation', when capitalism was opened to challenge (in terms of public discourse) by stuff like Seattle, Genoa etc, the attempt was made to redefine capitalism and thus anticapitalism in the terms of the bourgoise liberal de facto spokespeople of the 'movement of movements'. So we get 'the no logo life' as some anticapitalist statement (liberal-guilt boycott politics with a bit of ritual burning for kicks Wink ), and monbiot writing an 'anticapitalist' manifesto demanding we replace the World Trade Organisation with a Fair Trade Organisation, plus of course the whole Make Poverty History (now disbanded, remember that?) roadshow and Bono/Geldoff etc. I think it was Barthes who said 'a little confessed evil saves a lot of hidden evil' - thats the name of the game here i think.
Its interesting because i did a business degree and even in the second year no-one could offer, when asked by a lecturer, a definition of capitalism, and i mumbled something liberal about debt and unfair trade Oops, so there's definitely scope for this kind of maneuver to work for capital. And every leftist who 'talks about revolution without specific reference to everyday life' is just feeding the process, as the spectaclular pro-government MPH march in Edinburgh showed."
From: http://libcom.org/node/9388#comment-116800
Seriously mate, when do we see a decent critique for doing this from you instead of a half arsed pastiche of anti-capitalism chic?
Neil
I think what you’re doing is great - in as much as - it has made me (re)think about my relationship with my random acts of consumption.
I get why people want you to give it to charity, and I’d probably be tempted to go down that road myself - but maybe the the question you should ask is not about how much money they give, but rather how much of there stuff they donate. Because, is this just about money? Or is it, as you keep saying, something about your own relationship to your identity, your sense of self?
I also think that it’s great that it’s created such a large amount of discussion, outrage, thought, flaming, anger, support, etcetera from others. That in itself is a good thing and if others want to do something different, say to (continue to) give away there own stuff, that’s fair enough. Is it that people somehow fear that after encountering you and your ideas that loads of other people will go out and burn all their own branded stuff? Are we all really such cultural dopes?
PS - As for your critique of capitalism/branding being ‘half-arsed’ or ‘pointless’ – well, at least your attempting some act, at least your attempting something, at least your getting people to think. And in relation to the last post about the lack of a decent critique – and to get very poncy - Deleuze & Guattari might call Neil’s act a ‘a flight to freedom’ - and they might argue, that all attempts to escape the machine are re-incorporated into new and mutated forms of capitalisms. Maybe, following Serres, Neil is ‘the parasite’, ‘noise’ or ‘the unwelcome guest at the dinner party’, that upsets our taken-for-granted version of stuff.
I think that the people who keep returning to the charity aspect are missing the point. The world's megacorporations spend many billions each year on marketing, going to extremes that are hard to credit objectively - Ben Elton once pointed out that at one point Coke and Pepsi were actually marketing their marketing - and the point that I think Neil wishes to make is that he wants to destroy not the products, but the brands. Giving them away would legitimise the brand; the product is still being used by someone, who might then be seduced by the brand on the product. By destroying his branded possessions, however, Neil is sending a message that the brand owners cannot ignore. It is like spraypainting a black line through a graffiti writer's tag; it says "You are nothing. You don't exist." (Try doing this to graffiti; it drives the writers nuts.) This is why I applaud what Neil is doing.
And for the record, I give about 40% of my income per year to charity. It's called taxes and it pays my fellow Italians' welfare cheques. And I really don't think I'm being facetious when I say that.
OK Mr Boorman, here's my two pen'ath regarding the burning of items, and yes I have included my name, email, and how much I give, even though that is completely beside the point.
You seem to be totally misunderstanding why people are so incensed about your decision to burn your brands. You try to deflect it by asking how much we personally give, but you must see that what we give or do not give has no bearing on the basic wrongness(?) of what you are planning to do (but to satisfy you, steve field, stevespampot@gmail.com, Oxford, UK, £50 p/m to various).
To actively destroy what I am assuming is a very valuable collection of goods simply to promote your book and earn you a new heap of cash and lots of self-publicity is simply wrong, at least in mine and a large number of people's opinions. Surely you can see that? Do you realise just how many lives you could improve and even save in a developing country with just £1000, let alone the value of your goods, which I am assuming must exceed this sum by a very large amount.
I know you have no duty to help anybody else, and have the right to do whatever the hell you please with your own possessions, but surely your conscience must tell you that to burn tens of thousands of pounds worth of perfectly usable stuff is just plain wrong? Yes, the KLF did it with a million pounds, and I have utter contempt for them for their "grand gesture". That money could have saved lives, as can the money in material form you are about to burn.
I applaud you for trying to change your life, though will admit to a slight sense of disbelief that a man of your age and in your position could not have realised much earlier the pointlessness of constant, conspicious consumption?
Hopefully your book will contain something useful and interesting that might stop another little Neil going down the same road as you, but please, please do not commit the heinous act you have planned for yourself simply to justify the title of your book, and to publicise it's launch.
As suggested in another post, surely a symbolic burning of one item is enough?
You have in your hands the opportunity to save and make better hundreds of lives...don't throw it away.
Steve
As a regular reader and comment-er (?) of this blog i admire you for posting under your name and so forth.
But please, it doesn't really matter that much to you does it if Neil burns his things?
As far as I see it, having read Neil's posts and followed his mental journey, this is not a question of right and wrong. He NEEDS to do the burning. If he gave his stuff away he'd probably be super-anxious about where it's all gone, who's wearing it, whether he'll bump into a tramp wearing that fetching pink YSL T-shirt. All things that would exacerbate his current brand-dominated woes. Fact is Neil probably wouldn't be able to cope with the idea that the brands have simply been given away. It's part and parcel of his problem that the idea of others possessing his much-valued brands somehow belittles him and his place in a brand hierarchy of his own (and to an extent the brand managers') creation.
It's messed up, but we live in a messed up society, and you should think of the burning as a cleansing, a necessary step to leading a life with more purpose and deeper meaning other than the superficial draw of brands. He has stated this time and time again. I know you don't understand that and you say as much, I for one can empathise with Neil but am lucky to say that I'm nowhere near his stage of brand consumption.
It's a personal journey with a public purification.
It's not a 'heinous' act, there's no evil intent, and I really doubt that these brands would make anyone's life better, nevermind 'save' hundreds of people.
The brands are getting burnt.
That for him is the only solution.
Live with it and do what YOU have to do.
And BTW is any act of 'altruism', which many here including yourself harp on about when raising the whole charity issue, ever bereft of some self-interest?
Ask Bob fucking Geldof.
Hi Neil,
First of all I've found your journey so far very interesting.
For me most interesting is the response you have been getting regarding your actual bonfire.
While a lot of good-natured people are telling you to donate your bonfire fodder, they may not realise that your book / exploits might have a positive effect on many very brand-susceptable people. That is, they may be provoked to think more about their behaviour as consumers.
I'm sure there are a great deal of poeple who make a similar down-size in their life, giving things to charity, and don't get anywhere near as much media attention. My nan would have given away / sold a great many of her possesions when she moved into her retirement village, for instance. She is unlikely to have made many people think much about her consumption patterns.
Donating your brands to charity may have a direct benefit. You've already mentioned somewhere the value of these possessiond may appear greater because they're branded, and i think you might be right.
It's clear that you have already made the choice to burn your branded possessions and I can see that for you it's a part of your journey. It's also possibly the main cause for the attention you've received from the media.
With a bit of luck, and a little thought provoked, the changed buying patterns of many more people may have a greater positive effect. Let's hope so..
We all know the effects (and after-effects) of beer. But lifting a glass of cool liquid to your mouth on a scorching hot day, have you ever stopped to consider the processes and ingredients involved in making it? Well maybe not but here is the answer anyway!
Simply, beer is a fermented combination of water, barley, yeast and hops. The major variation in any beer is the type of yeast used in the fermentation process.
Let's look at the properties of this beverage.
Water is the main ingredient of beer. In the past, the purity of the water influenced the final result and was specific to the region of the earth from which it came. Today, water is filtered of these impurities, although pure water supplies are still ideally preferred by elite brewers.
Barley malt is an extremely important ingredient in beer as it is the main source of fermentable sugar. Many new breweries use barley malt extract, in either syrup or powder form, as this form ferments much quicker. It also contains many minerals and vitamins that help the yeast to grow.
Without yeast, beer would not exist. Yeast is a unique single cell organism that eats sugar and expels alcohol and carbon dioxide, two of the more recognizable ingredients of beer. Yeast comes in several variations, of which there are two major categories that determine the type of beer produced; Ale yeast and Lager yeast. If yeast alone were used the beer would be extremely sweet and therefore another ingredient needs to be added to reach the final product.
Hops are the flowers of the hop plant, a climbing vine plant that grows well in many differing climates. Hops contain acids which add bitterness to beer. Adding bitterness to beer helps to balance the sweetness, as well as acting as a natural preservative. Add more hops to the mixture and you will get a more bitter taste. This kind of beer is extremely popular in Britian and is simply referred to as "Bitter" (the original names are always the best!).
Variations of these ingredients create different tasting beers as well as having an affect on the alcoholic content.
When making your own beer many good resources are available which provide home brewing kits. It is important to read the ingredients of the packets in order to ascertain which has the best mixture according to your needs. One quick tip which many home brewers fail to adhere to is this: "Use fresh still water"!
Many have often sought information on how to make beer and the basic homebrewing equipment is not very expensive you can get what you need, for as little as $100.
In order to start making beer, you will need the following: A brewpot, Primary fermenter, Airlock and stopper, Bottling bucket, Bottles, Bottle brush, Bottle capper, and a thermometer.
In addition you can even use items from your kitchen to aid in the beer making. A breakdown of all the equipment is as follows: Brewpot A brewpot is made of stainless steel or enamel-coated metal which has at least 15 litre capacity, but it's no good if it's made of aluminum or if it's a chipped enamelized pot, (these will make the beer taste funny). The brew pot is used to boil the ingredients thus begins the first stage of beer making.
Primary fermenter
The primary fermenter is where the beer begins to ferment and become that fabulous stuff that makes you so funny and charming. The primary fermenter must have a minimum capacity of 26 litres and an air tight seal it must also accommodate the airlock and rubber stopper. Make sure the one you buy is made of food-grade plastic, as it wont allow the bad stuff in or let the good stuff out.
Airlock and stopper
The airlock is a handy gadget which allows carbon dioxide to escape from your primary fermenter during fermentation, it is this process that keeps it from exploding, but it doesn't allow any of the bad air from outside to enter. It fits into a rubber stopper, and is placed into the top of your primary fermenter. The stoppers are numbered according to size, so make sure you use the correct stopper for the correct hole
Plastic hose
This is a food grade plastic hose which measures approximately 5 feet in length. It is needed to transfer the beer from system to system, and it is imperitive that it is kept clean and free from damage or clogs
Bottling bucket
This is a large, food-grade plastic bucket with a tap for drawing water at the bottom, it needs to be as big as your primary fermenter, because you need the capacity to pour all the liquid from your primary fermenter into a bottling bucket prior to bottling up.
Bottles
After fermentation, you place the beer in bottles for secondary fermentation and storage. You need enough bottles to hold all the beer you're going to make, the best kind of bottles are solid glass ones with smooth tops (not the twist-off kind) that will accept a cap from a bottle capper. You can use plastic ones with screw-on lids, but they arent as good for fermentation and dont look as well.
Whether you use glass or plastic bottles, make sure they are dark-colored. Light damages beer, i would recommend green or brown bottles.
Bottle brush
This is a thin, curvy brush which is used to clean bottles because of the the shape of the brush it makes it very affective at getting the bottle spotless. We haven't even gotten into how clean everything has to be, but we will, and the bottle brush is a specialized bit of cleaning equipment that you will require in order to maintain your bottle kit.
Bottle capper
If you take buy glass bottles, you will need some sort of bottle capper and caps, of course, and you can buy them from any brewing supplies store. The best sort of bottle capper is one which can be affixed to a surface and worked with one hand while you hold the bottle with the other.
Thermometer
This is a thermometer which can be stuck to the side of your fermenter, they are just thin strips of plastic which are self adhesive, and can be found in any brewing supplies store, or from a pet shop or aquarium. Not everything costs money though even some household equipment can be used.
Household items
In addition to the above specialized equipment, you will need the following household items:
* Small bowl
* Saucepan
* Rubber spatula
* Oven mitts/pot handlers
* Big mixing spoon (stainless steel or plastic)
So there you have the ingredients and the method to make your home brew, all you need now is to get yourself a beer making kit and your on the way to beer heaven.
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