David Burrows and Simon Alton are brewing their own beer. Here David reports on the advice he has received from like-minded drinkers.

Well, it appears the spirit of the 70s is alive and well in Shropshire – and further afield for that matter – if the reaction to last week’s home-brewing feature is anything to go by.

Simon Alton and I are currently waiting for our second home-brew attempt to reach the correct gravity. This is something new. You don’t have to worry about gravity when you’re using a basic kit, and this slightly more advanced step we have taken means I had to go out and buy a hydrometer.

The gravity is important because it tells you how far along the fermentation period your beer is. During fermentation the gravity drops from an “original gravity to a “final gravity”. This is because sugars, which are denser than water, are converted into alcohol, which is less dense than water; carbon dioxide, that mostly bubbles out of the fermenter; and yeast, which sinks to the bottom.

While we’ve been waiting for the beer to reach the magic number, the reaction to our first article has been rolling in, and it seems plenty of you either have previous when it comes to whipping up your own booze, or are giving it a go now, and are only to happy to share your experiences.

Some sage advice has come all the way from the other side of the world, thanks to ex-pat Peter Wignall, who now lives Down Under, which is where he discovered home brewing. There were no kits for sale but he could somehow buy malt, yeast and hops, he said.

With the aid of two books: HE Bravery’s Homebrewing and Advanced Home Brewing by Ken Shales, he dived in at the deep end and started mashing his own malt (making him clearly braver the Simon and me!).

Peter, known as Wiggy, has the following “advanced tips”:

• Get rid of your Siphoning tube. Buy two brewing bins, fit plastic taps to the bottom of each. Initially brew in the first bin on a chair and, after the first two-three days transfer to the second bin. This, apparently, minimises the final yeast left in the bin when bottling.

• Do not bother with finings. Wiggy never does and says his beer clears itself.

• As soon as you bottle one kit, start another. Bottle it in a warm place after adding the priming sugar and leave it in the warm for two days for the primer to work.

• Store it a minimum of four weeks before trying it. Then try one bottle on the first day of each month. You will learn from this how much they improve by keeping. Six to 12 months is the optimum period.

David Griffiths and his wife used to brew their own beers in the 70s. David said: “We began by bottling the beer, but after a while, we decided that the process was too time consuming and invested in a pressure barrel.

“A few weeks ago we made the trek down to Leominster to a great home-brew shop to buy a few demijohns and accessories for wine making. While we were there we decided to go back to beer making. Home-brew beer kits and accessories have significantly improved in the 30 or so years since our early experiments, and we are about to test the first two barrels.

“At 50 pence a pint and according to the owner of the Leominster home-brew shop ‘as good as pub beer’ we’re looking forward to opening the first tap two weeks from now. Our advice to would-be home brewers is – go for it, have fun in the process, there’s nothing nicer than great home-brewed beer, and as you raise your glass, just think of the tax you didn’t have to pay for the privilege of a decent pint.”

One reader, however, has not been so encouraging. He says: “Mixing a can of X with water and lobbing in some yeast ain’t brewing at all. I would stick with going to the pub and letting the professionals handle all that technical stuff if I were you. Brewing good ale is like cooking a good meal. So congratulations, you can boil an egg.”

Since, I’ve yet to meet anyone who could dish up a three-course gourmet meal before first mustering the basics of egg boiling, I think Si and I will continue on our slow and steady course.

• Have you got advice for David and Simon. E-mail starfeatures@shropshirestar.co.uk