What got you into homebrewing?

bsay · 08-04-2008, 03:36 PM

I am curious to do a poll on this subject. Simply: What got you into homebrewing? I got interested in brewing when I watched the Good Eats episode, but something seemed to be missing. Later, I was dog-sitting, and the dogs' owner had brewing magazines, which I read to pass time while hanging out with the dogs. It all progressed from there, and I ordered my starter kit two days ago.

**bradsul** · 08-04-2008, 03:53 PM

My grandfather made his own wine and beer when I was a kid, that got my interest originally. But a few years ago I saw that Good Eats episode which rekindled that interest and got me started doing my research before starting my first batch.

k1v1116 · 08-04-2008, 04:04 PM

9th grade bio class. we started cellular metabolism and the teacher went over anaerobic first, she used yeast as the example and until then I had never even thought about where alcohol came from. I skipped last period to get home and a start an experiment with some old bread yeast I had sitting around.

menschmaschine · 08-04-2008, 04:11 PM

I was just always curious about it. My curiousity grew out of liking beer, but never being satisfied with the taste of BMC, even from my early days of being legally permitted to drink, which was at the cusp of the craftbeer boom. Then I got to travel the world a bit and got a taste of what other countries/cultures were drinking. My first Guinness was at a bar/club in then British Hong Kong. I thought, wow, this is dark!

At first, homebrewing beer seemed daunting with too much variability (from my perspective as a science guy), but I got to a point where I wanted a good hobby to take my mind off of my job at the time, so I made a determination to learn why there was so much variability and figure out how I wanted to brew.

I love drinking delicious beer made by my own means... and I like to make beer styles that are reminiscent of the delicious beers I've had in Europe, which aren't readily available here, at least as good as they taste before crossing the ocean.

**the_bird** · 08-04-2008, 04:12 PM

A friend (and quasi-ex) of The Wife was a homebrewer, so subconsciously I may have been trying to compete! Good Eats was criticial in showing how approachable the hobby was, even if the information was flawed (I didn't follow his directions when starting to brew).

MVKTR2 · 08-04-2008, 04:12 PM

Since I clicked "other"....
I watched Beerfest. Before that the idea of homebrewing had never dawned on me. So thanks to the magic of the internet.... voila I have a new hobby!

Schlante,
Phillip

Displaced MassHole · 08-04-2008, 04:36 PM

SWMBO bought me a basic extract setup a few years ago for xmas, and it's just progressed from there.

jmulligan · 08-04-2008, 04:44 PM

I read a novel about a winemaker when I was 17, and soon found Terry Garey's Joy of Home Winemaking. Most of my attempts were crap (so I stopped), and when I returned to homebrewing last fall, this website is what convinced me I could actually make beer.

Laurel · 08-04-2008, 04:44 PM

My dad got all the stuff when I was a wee-one, and after making rootbeer bottle bombs, he never bothered to try a batch of beer.

Last Christmas my coworker brought in a couple bottles of "homebrew" that he had made at the local U-brew place, and I thought "Boy, making my own beer would be rad!"

Arneba28 · 08-04-2008, 04:53 PM

I developed an interest in it after trying a whole punch of different style beers. I was drinking them and wondering why all the different companies Pale Ales and IPA's all tasted different from each other. I went out the next day and bought an irish stout kit and all the beginner equipment. Its been all down hill from there.