My old neighbour who still visits regularly and brings me his concoctions is a big one for not complicating shit. He hates beer, his a QLD rum drinker, BUT he seen me brewing beer after he moved in next door one day and he wanted in.
So I taught him the basics and he also found an American book in a second hand shop called something like 'GrandDads Brew Cookbook' and he was off.
He doesn't use bought yeast anymore, he relies like many European Wineries on the wild yeast on the fruit and in his shed, his pounds and crushes it up, throws it in an open bucket , adds sugar and water and let's it sit for a coupla weeks in the corner of his shed, then he bottles and carbonates into soft drink pet bottles and I'm telling you, his apple cider, apple pear cider and his ginger beers are better then any store bought I have had, YES it's a different, fresher, fruitier taste, but it's damn good drinking (you poms who had farm scrumpy would prolly know). Can have big sessions on it were most people have a few ginger beers and are right sick of it.
He brought a heap to my wedding and the word got round and he had people lining up at his campervan around the back of my house getting their glasses filled up.
So if you want to keep it simple and cheap, do it, it does taste good, you don't need ferment control, fancy spices, $8 yeasts, a 4000 post count on AHB and a chemical engineering degree to make good alcohol, YES beer may be different, but these others, go for it.
