How did you get started homebrewing?

This is a free-for-all forum aimed at tracing back how we all stumbled upon the hobby/obsession with homebrewing.

In December of last year, I won a basic homebrew starter kit at my company Christmas party (not Mr. Beer). I brewed the extract amber ale kit that came with the starter kit and haven't looked back since.

I did make the switch to all-grain, and not to hurt anyone's feelings, but I can't imagine going back to extract. I know you can make great beers with extract, but having the satisfaction of going through the milling and mashing process as well really helps you connect with the entire process a little more.

And now...I leave it to you.

i was going to take a guitar building class but it got cancelled. i was pretty bummed because I didn't really have a hobby and my wife suggested making my own beer because I had mentioned it once and because i love good beer.

I wanted to try some beers with "odd" ingredients. Couldnt find them commercially, so I started brewing. That was 10 years ago.

Alton Brown's Good Eats episode "Amber Waves" got me more interested in the concept. But it wasn't until ~2-3 years later that a new co-worker was a brewer and he showed me the ropes.

Started off with extract, then I stumbled into HBT a few years ago looking for clone recipes on-line. Read Bobby_M's all-grain primer; now I'm doing AG, buying in bulk, washing yeast, grinding my own grains, growing hops, kegging, ,making wine/mead/cider too, and just finished a keezer build.

Started making wine kits, joined a wine club, a couple of the members also made beer kits, I started making beer kits, did a few extract brews, jumped into AG, still make some wine kits but far, far more serious about brewing at this point.

Mr. Beer gift about 10 years ago.

Mr beer kit for my birthday last year. Pretty much skipped pm and went straight to AG. Just finished a keezer build and have my first batch carbing in a keg now!!!

Did a semester long project for my Chem E class on whiskey production. It was pretty interesting, but doing it myself was illegal, so I looked at the next best (better in my opinion) option, which was brewing beer. Got the starter kit for Christmas and just finished my 2nd AG batch today.

Worked in a craft ale bar in up state NY for a year (2008), moved back to England and massively disappointed by lack of craft beer. So started brewing myself and now I have awesome beer again!

An idea sparked in my head that I should try making my own beer, so like many people did, they went out and got a Mr Beer kit. When those didn't turn out well, I started doing other extract kits, and not I'm brewing all grain

Our church sponsored a homebrew class which taught us the basics of brewing beer. Now we have homebrewing contests with other churches.
It is sooo much fun!

I had made wine and had dabbled in beer (remember the Beer Machine 2000?). My own hockey teammate plowed into me about 6 years ago. I play defense and the right wing skated backwards right into me, tangling up my leg and skate. I'm not very big, and someone over 200 pounds twisting my leg did some damage.

I was in a wheelchair off and on for 18 months. By about day 5 of my recuperation, I was going crazy! My teammate is an old Italian winemaker, and I asked her to teach me how to make good wine since she's the one who put me down for the count. She did, a little, but then I realized that I was looking at waiting a year or longer to drink it! I kept making things, scooting around in my wheelchair, but didn't find much satisfaction in waiting!

So, I gave beer another try and made extract kits with my winemaking gear. That was great! The only terrible batch was Cooper's (prehopped LME crap), and the rest were really good. That was the start. Even from a wheelchair, I could brew and make great beer.

Yooper said:

I had made wine and had dabbled in beer (remember the Beer Machine 2000?). My own hockey teammate plowed into me about 6 years ago. I play defense and the right wing skated backwards right into me, tangling up my leg and skate. I'm not very big, and someone over 200 pounds twisting my leg did some damage.

I was in a wheelchair off and on for 18 months. By about day 5 of my recuperation, I was going crazy! My teammate is an old Italian winemaker, and I asked her to teach me how to make good wine since she's the one who put me down for the count. She did, a little, but then I realized that I was looking at waiting a year or longer to drink it! I kept making things, scooting around in my wheelchair, but didn't find much satisfaction in waiting!

So, I gave beer another try and made extract kits with my winemaking gear. That was great! The only terrible batch was Cooper's (prehopped LME crap), and the rest were really good. That was the start. Even from a wheelchair, I could brew and make great beer.

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Two thing Yoop....first of all, what is with you and injuring your leg in hockey...and number two, this "old Italian winemaker" woman weighs 200 lbs!

mcaple1 said:

Two thing Yoop....first of all, what is with you and injuring your leg in hockey...and number two, this "old Italian winemaker" woman weighs 200 lbs!

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Yeah, she can really kick my ass. She's over 6' easily, and well over 200 pounds. She's about 55 or 57 now, I'd guess. I'm 135 pounds or so on a good day.

Here's a picture of our team (circa 2007):



I'm right in the first row, in the middle. The lady who broke my leg is in the back row.

And because I love the photo, here's me and my son (he's holding my stick):

My first yooper connection! I got into brewing while sitting at home after a back injury at work. A year later, im more than 100 gallons down, retired, and applying to UC davis to get a brewing certificate so I can brew with the big boys (while still brewing at home which let's me make whatever the hell I want to)!

Live in SC. Got tired of all the same beers the distributors kept spinning as craft beers. During business trips, experienced real craft beers.

Wife said just brew them yourself instead of waiting for them to get to SC.

On my 3rd batch of brew as we specka.

For Christmas 2009, my dad got me a beginner's equipment kit + amarillo pale ale extract kit from williams brewing. He had homebrewed a little bit 20 years ago and knew I liked flavorful beer. Kind of a risky christmas present to give, coz if you give a mr beer kit and that doesn't take, well, no massive loss. Luckily for both of us it really took with me. After about 10 or so extract batches over 6 months I graduated to all grain, and have been doing that for a year now.

Christmas in 2002, I was still in college, and my sister got me a "beer in a bag" kit. I can't find it online now, but it was a burlap bag, with plastic on the inside that you would just add water to and hang. It never produced anything good and was more of a novelty, but that lit the fire. Within a year, I found a local homebrew supply store in the city where I was going to school, and got a starter kit. The first batch I made got moldy in the primary, the 2nd batch required prior inebriation to tolerate, but persistence paid off and for a while, every batch was better than every batch prior, and now I just make really good beer!

My older brother and step dad brewed a kit probably close to 20 years ago and I kinda watched/helped and thought it would be fun someday to brew my own. I had been thinking more about it the last 6 or 7 years and had met a couple of people who brewed through my bartender gig. One guy in particular always was just so excited talking about his beer and how good it was and I just kept thinking I gotta try this. Not to long after that my girlfriend (ex now) would tell me occasionally that I should try brewing. The funny thing was I never could get the go-ahead to actually purchase the equipment. Well after that relationship ended I bought the deluxe brewery from Williams along with one beer kit and I haven't looked back. I followed with 7 more extract brews using mostly my own recipes and then switched to AG. Got my 3 keg setup last week and I have 2 brews in with priming sugar and the 3rd went in a keg yesterday (force carb). Ordering a temp controller tomorrow and buying a chest freezer on payday friday! 22 brews starting on January 30th and they keep tasting better and better! I know that was kinda long winded

a friend told me about his uncle kegging home made beer.

I'd talked about learning to brew my own for some time, but never followed through (had no idea where to start and never bothered looking into it). One day my wife and I were dropping off some old computer monitors at a thrift store that does electronics recycling, and they had an unopened basic equipment kit for dirt cheap (maybe $10, had 6.7 gallon fermentation and bottling buckets, a sealed lid, grommet and airlock, racking equipment, a hydrometer and bottle capper). She pushed me into picking it up. I read through the book that came with it (while the instructions weren't complete, they weren't actually WRONG), picked up a copy of Complete Joy of Homebrewing, started reading How to Brew online, and found this forum, and off I went. First batch was my own recipe, all extract and what I thought would be an IPA (came out surprisingly close).

Me and a friend of mine we're under age and had some how had over developed tastes. So we decided to just brew our own. So we got a starter kit from ebay and a brewers best kit. Well that didn't turn out so well and then we just didn't do it again. So fast forward 7 years and then a co-worker started talking about homebrewing and that reignited the flame.

Christmas 2009 and my wife decided to buy me a beer kit. We made an IPA and it was awful. But wait....3 weeks after being in the bottle it was suddenly wonderful (I hadn't found HBT yet and didn't know to wait).

I always liked trying different beers, I remember I couldn't wait to turn 21 so I could actually take my time in the store picking out beer. Anyway I started watching Brewmasters, then as a result I started reading up to learn more about beer and the brewing process. My fiancee took me to Dogfishhead for my 30th, picked up a copy of Extreme Brewing while we were there, mentioned I wanted to homebrew one day. Few weeks later she emailed me a groupon for the Midwest starter kit, a successful amber ale and a blueberry wheat later I am hooked. I will make my first attempt at all grain next weekend, very excited about it and have been reading quite a bit to get ready for it.

Over 10 years ago my wife bought me some bag kit you add water in and hung up, then some time later a beer machine 2000. Neither made very good beer, a few years later a friend gave me a real starter kit he had but never used, I put it in my basement for about 5 years without using it. On a recent trip to Vermont I had some good beer and came across a LHBS and wound up buying a PM kit and using the kit given to me years ago.

That and this website started the craziness that now has me doing all grain, kegging, and building an all electric system.

Just started about 5 weeks ago. I have been wanting to do it for years but never had the money. I have 2 extract brews under my belt and they both turned out awesome. The first one was a kit and the second one I drew up myself now I am moving to all grain for the third batch. These boards help a lot. Very nice learning from others experience. Speeds the trial and error process up. Cheers!

I visited the Heineken brewery in Amsterdam, and was amazed at how little I knew about beer. Even while being taught everything step by step in the brewery, I had no idea what I was looking at. I started to read about it just to learn how it was made, and that's when I decided to start making beer.

I'd always liked to cook, and I'd heard about homebrewing from my brother-in-law and others, so I bought some some hops, extract, and yeast at the local liquor store. That was in 1994.

Shortly after, I was telling my grandmother about my beer, and she told me about her prohibition-era bottle bombs. Brewing apparently runs in the family!

Good thread. I love remembering where it all started for me.

Rewind to 1994 and I was rooming with my cousin in a small mountain town in Colorado. I came home from work one day and there is this big glass bottle in the living room along with a relatively large unopened box. I poked my head into my roommates sleeping space and asked "Hey, wassup?"

He said he was driving around another small town near Aspen (yup, ski country) and came across a "home beer brewing shop" some guy was running out of his garage. After talking beer with they guy for a while he decided to pick up the basics.

He handed me the first edition of Charlie P's book and told me to start reading. I had never even imagined such a thing was possible, let alone that we might be able to do it in our tiny apartment. I eagerly read the book, and actually started to understand beer. There were beers that I drank all the time (Michelob) and beers that I really liked (Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout). I began to realize what I liked in a beer. My tastes have changed over the years, naturally, but I still remember how eye opening that book was at the time and open my copy (second edition) when I get a little nostalgic.

Our first batch was a chocolate stout. We decided to experiment and added some whole coffee beans to the primary. I don't know how good it really was, you know hindsight being 20/20 and all, but we really loved that first batch. We lived together for about 2 or 3 years and did maybe 10 batches before I decided to go to school in another town.

Fast forward to 2011, and we have each done innumerable batches, both together and apart. We still get together to brew on occasion, but he doesn't have as much time anymore. That reminds me, I gotta give him a call and see what he is doing on my next brew day.

Slainte!!

Many, many years ago, back in 1970 to be exact, my brother and I decided to try to brew some beer since some friends had done it and urged us to try it too. We had no idea what to do so we asked our friend "experts" how to get started. They told us where to get the ingredients and instructions on "How to Brew". About two weeks later we took a can of malt extract, added 1 1/2 gallons of water, threw in a packet of yeast, put it in a 2 gallon open plastic pail and we were on our way. Amazing to think that it actually fermented!

After the bubbling pretty much ended, I have no idea how long it fermented, we decided it was done and we needed to bottle it. We didn't have any beer bottles and no capper, so we decided that our parents empty liquor bottles would work. Told you we were naive. Anyway, the beer bottled conditioned for about two weeks with NO BOTTLE BOMBS! Then we decided to drink it. . . . . . .

Needless to say it was the nastiest crap I have ever tasted! I'm sure it was horribly oxidized plus who knows what else. But since it was our homemade beer we were drinking it no matter what.

Seriously, I have never been so drunk and sick in my life!

That was were I got started with homebrew, and never thought about it again until last year when I retired. I got on the internet, checked out many websites, did a lot of reading, and purchased a beer kit. Since then I have been brewing great quality homebrew for over a year. This is a much more enjoyable hobby now.

Started about 4 years ago when my wife said "you guys", my brother in law and I should brew beer. About 35 brews (25 all grain) later and I'm hooked like everyone else. I went from crap to excellent with help from everyone on this forum and reading ALOT. Next step is some beers for comp's.

I got a starter kit for Christmas about 7 or 8 years ago. I brewed that first Amber and it was really good. I got busy and didn't brew again until the birth of my son (3 years ago), that porter was ok. I got busy again, and got inspired by some guys at the beer store I frequent. Now I can't imagine not brewing. It really is all I think about. I just built my MLT this weekend, next step is a keggle conversion and then we are all grain....all the time. Thanks HBT for keeping me informed and excited about brewing.

A Mr Beer kit several years ago. I don't even know if I bought it for myself or if it was a gift from someone... Used it three times, then went to 5 gal. PM.

And had fun ever since.

I had been out on the east coast and had some yuengling, and was googling to see if I could get a keg of it in michigan. I wasn't even thinking of brewing, just getting a kegerator and buying good brew. Googling yuengling, got me to a clone recipie and the seed was planted. That was just about a year ago. I asked for a midwest kit for fathers day and the rest is history.

Was at a friends birthday party he threw for his kids. A guy showed up with a case of different home brews. Tried 2 of them - loved em - got into the discussion of cost, difficulty, time - 2 years later I have taken over my dining room with equipment (SWMBO is not thrilled) and now there is always a cold home brew in my fridge waiting for me.

One night I woke to a vision of a floating keg which spoke to me. It said to make beer, enjoy it and spread that joy to others.

Or maybe it was the kit I got for my birthday last year?

naa.. definitely the vision thing.

Someone I work with was cleaning their garage and wanted to get rid of a home brewing kit that they received as a wedding present. She knew I liked all types of beer and asked of I wanted the kit. I gladly took the kit, which came with a book on brewing. I studied up, went to a class at my LHBS and started with a few extract batches. With a few extracts under my belt, I decided to try AG. So I built my mashing tun and wort chiller from stuff bought at home depot and got busy brewing. Turned a friend on to it yesterday and I think he will be brewing soon. The hobby continues to grow!

My wife bought me a brew kit for Christmas.

I am addicted. 20 brews later and a bazillion hours on this forum reading about brewing has taught me a a lot. My friends really like me brews andI am happy with the results.

I really enjoy putting together a recipe and having it turn out good........

My wife bought me a Mr. Beer for my birthday, I brewed the included Pale Ale and then struggled with the 2 gal size so my wife said, go buy a 5 gal kit... who am I to argue with logic :cross:

My next batch was a LME Hefeweizen which I tasted yesterday and it was fantastic. My next batch is also a Hef, well cuz I re-used the yeast and followed the recipe exactly this time. Curious to see if I can tell the difference between the 2 batches.

Anyway, have fun
Toy4Rick