The guy who got me brewing was an old co-worker in Vegas. I knew both my grandfathers brewed, but never gave it much though. then this machinist gave me a sixer of his cherry wheat & got me set up a few weeks later. that was 1999. and I’m still thankful to him and the rest of SNAFU to this day for all their help, along with every other brewer I talk to. thanks to every last one of you, I’m confidant enough to go AG after all these years.
who got you brewing and how long you been at it? still extract with steeping, partial mash, or the big jump to the AG?
I was introduced to home brew in the late seventies by my brother. At the time I was pretty young and into the pale lager at the time, and was put off by the taste. It wasn’t until the middle eighties where a coworker and took up the hobby together. Killian’s and Amberbock were the first beers that brought me to the dark side.
As far as brewing goes, a friend and I started out together(no one we knew brewed) and tried to learn all that we could by reading and personal experience. I have now been brewing for 10+ yrs. I made the switch to AG after a couple of years of brewing.
With wine, mead and cider, my grandpa taught me how to make wine when I was young. I always made a “secret” batch on the side for me and my friends to enjoy that we kept hidden in the basement. :roll: That was a long time ago and been making wine ever since.
me and my roommates decided it would be a fun hobby during college. who knew i would get so into it. so i guess i got myself into it. i got my first extract recipe from valley vinter homebrew supply.
The girlfriend who got me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas. When that became too limiting, a copy of The Joy of Homebrewing kept me hooked. That was almost 20 years ago and there was no local homebrew shop where I lived. Fortunately, a head shop in the university town 30 miles away stocked hopped cans of malt extract.
After a few years, someone finally opened a shop in my town and I was able to start using unhopped extract and my own selection of hops & specialty grains.
A co-worker and I were talking about getting into it (he had done it in the past and wanted to start again). A few weeks went by and an ad ran in the local rag to join in on starting a local brew club. Tom Sawyer was the person that ran the ad. He also works with us. I had no idea that he was into brewing. (shocked) That was about two years ago, which about 9 months into extract I made the jump to AG.
my old roommates and i actually got all this equipment free from some guy we were working for…was doing windows and door installation at the time, and i wish i would have kept all that stuff. a few glass carboys, buckets, bottling buckets, kettle, probably a hundred swing top bottles, all the goods. all that equipment got left at the house we were renting after the landlord mysteriously disappeared…we never did use that stuff. it took another 5 years for me to realize this could be something i could get into, and now ive spent a pretty penny just trying to get all the equipment i want. but i guess i got myself into this. i used to drink mass produced piss beer, like bud light, mickeys, coors, i dont even call that beer anymore, i think pyramids heffewiezen turned that all around for me. i found that drinking quality beer actually tasted better, didnt give me a headache, and was well worth the extra dollar. one day i realized i should brew my own, i love cooking, and am very tedious about everything i do. i want the best quality possible. so i decided to take a stab at brewing my own beer. just bottled my first two 5 gal batches, hopefully i wont be disapointed.
when I was a kid, I thought all beer was about the same. that is until someone poured me a Guinness Draught. it shook my beer world. I knew there could be better beer out there. funny thing is Guinness Draught tastes like water to me now. :lol:
When I was old enough to drink I drank a shtload of B Light for a few years.
My sister gave me a Mr Beer for christmas, reading the recipe book thing that came with it was the first I’d ever heard of beers that weren’t B-M-C.
I probably would have never found out that I could make beer and drank light beer forever if it wasn’t for that piece of junk.
I found a forum “realbeer.com” and read everything I could about beer.
Anybody remember that forum? I think its still going.
I never actually drank the beer that thing “made” just couldn’t get past a sip.
It was probably operator error.
My wife got me the starter kit in 2001 and I brewed up four quick batches; 2 lagers and 2 ales. They were so good that I was hooked. I started graduating into higher levels like full boil extract, partial mash and then went AG after 40 batches. Still I kept progressing and in 2006, I built a 25 gallon brew system. Today, I just brewed batch 462. I don’t think I will ever stop brewing.
A roommate of mine brewed an extract batch back in 2005 and I helped him bottle it. I just hung out on brewday and watched him do the work. It was Midwest’s amber ale. I thought it turned out bad; when we opened the first bottle it was super cloudy and yeasty and gross looking, so we kinda let it sit and forgot about it, then opened one up a month or so later and it was really good and clear! That was what planted the seed. I didn’t take up brewing until about 3 years later in 2008. Greatest hobby I’ve picked up to date and I’ve been playing drums for 15+ years.
At college in Storm Lake, Iowa, sometime in late 1970 or early '71…a guy who lived in the dorm came back from one of the semester breaks with glass Pepsi bottles filled with beer he said he had made with his grandfather.
I remember my own Dad telling me that in the 1920’s, my own grandfather made both beer and wine at home. So I was definitely intrigued by the yellow, cloudy stuff that my friend Joel offered up to taste. It was odd, but interesting. But interesting (and beer-like) enough that it prompted me to get some Blue Ribbon extract (since that’s what he said they used) to start dabbling, and I made a batch. It was decent enough that I made a few odd batches over the next couple years (some batches were odder than others. LOL.)
So I just kind of stumbled into it. The idea in and of itself intrigued me. Even with commercial beer I always liked “out of the ordinary” brews and those early homebrew batches weren’t brilliant, but nonetheless tasted good enough to keep me interested right through the '70’s and early '80’s.
By 1986 I had dedicated space in my home devoted to making beer.
Thanks, Joel…
Back in the early 90’s I worked with a really cool guy who just flat-out knew beer. I guess he had homebrewed at some point, but more than anything he turned me on to good beer and the idea that I could make it myself got me started.
This was right around the time when the craft brew scene in the US was just picking up steam…he gave me my first IPA–Harpoon–which at the time was pretty revolutionary. Also suggested that I try Anchor Liberty Ale, Grant’s Perfect Porter, Sam Adams Double Bock and Honey Porter, Sierra Nevada, and so on. When I had Liberty Ale my mind was totally blown. I could not believe this was “beer” just as Miller and Coors were.
I was hooked. I wanted to try everything, wanted to brew everything, but up until a few years ago I brewed only occasionally due to time and other practical constraints, and even stopped entirely for a while.
Oddly enough, it was THIS FORUM that helped me with a few questions I had when I was picking it back up (looking for advice on a Double Diamond recipe), got me back into it more than I ever had been, got me started with AG and eventually kegging.
So thanks not only to my old buddy Bob for the inspiration, and to all the great folks here, probably Denny Conn as much as anyone, for the technical advice. Without Denny’s “cheap and easy”, I’d never have had the confidence to try AG.
For me it was a coworker. April of 2001, he invited me over to his house for a taste and it was the smoothest beer I had ever had. He ran me thru the process and explained how all I needed was a can of beer syrup. He borrowed me his carboy, arilock, brush and away I went. I had no idea what I was getting into and had no idea how hard it can be to cool down 5 gallons of liquid. I did know that I was instantly hooked. I didn’t get technically serious until 2010, you know, when I started lurking this forum. Thank you to you all! It really is an on going, never ending learning experience.
:cheers:
It was my son, who last Christmas gave me a Mr. Beer kit. I brewed my first batch on Dec. 26 last year. I went with Mr. Beer kits for about 4 months, then to 5 gallon extract batches. I did my first partial mash last August. I’m thinking I may try a B.I.A.B. soon. A week from today, my “brewery”, named for my son, will be one year old!
I’m guessing it was about 6 years ago; wintering at McMurdo station, a few of the heavy shop guys and my friend Dean got kits; mostly brown ales and stouts…geared up when the wife and I got home, with two brewers best kits, then found this site and my education began.
I stayed with extract for a long time, while getting the yeast ranching and working on temps for fermentation; now PM is my method until the electric kettle gets purchased (have to make vent hood and get a visit from the electrician)
You know, it wasn’t so much trying homebrew, as touring the Montieth’s brewery in Greymouth New Zealand; standing over their open vats, smelling the fermenting wort.
My sons got me the kit for Christmas last year. I was overwhelmed and read, and reread instructions before my first batch. First batch American Amber. I now have two taps in the rec room fridge, my Wife and I have toured a couple local micro brews, and met some really helpful, understanding people, and I’ve found a brewing link in my ancestry. I’ve done a couple of PM’s, but my comfort zone is still in extract. Favorite types so far are the Cream Ale, Caribou Slobber, and Raspberry Wheat.
I would like to brew New Years eve to get me 25 batches for 2011.
