How Did You Learn To Brew?

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Kriznac

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So, how did you learn to brew, how did you get into the hobby? Did you have a family member or good friend there to show you the ropes or did you have to "self-educate" and learn from your own mistakes. I know we all have made mistakes and hopefully learned from them as well, but I want to hear your horror stories about learning to brew as well as great stories of having an experienced brewer there to lead you in the right direction. I also want to hear from the people who had to learn in the days of no internet. I can only imagine how much longer and how much more difficult it would have been for me to make a good beer without resources like HBT. So, thanks to all that have shared their knowledge here and I look forward to hearing your responses.
 
I always was interested but my job kept me away from home for quite some time. Then a guy bought a Mr. Beer kit, and he doesn't even drink. So I thought "now is the time." I have a ten gallon brewery all set up with a kegerator and love throwing Homebrew parties.

~Diz
 
Mostly reading blogs and checking things out on the net!!!! and of course hands on!!
 
I self educated at a erm...young age with the typical prison setup that involves bakers yeast. I graduated to beer a couple of years later and educated myself at a local homebrew store when I turned 21.
 
a local bop place got me started. awesome place, food and beer is outstanding. I figured , hey, why can't I make this at home? my house beers are actually their house beer recipes, but with an hbt twist! Damn I'm still going to hell aren't I ..:(
 
John Palmer got me started and Dave Miller got me a little farther, but it was Greg Noonan, Basic Brewing Radio, and HBT that really opened up the entire scope of the brewing world to me.

And since then it seems I've been learning a little more each day--whether actively or through osmosis-- from all sorts of people and resources that I never knew existed.

And hopefully within the next couple years I'll have learned from the Siebel Institute!:mug:
 
Had too many apples and figs on my mom's property, had to do something with them...

That necessary brought me to my LHBS to make fig wine and hard cider. They also have beer gear. I like beer, so I made an extract kit. Then another, and another, and I started buying their books, and asking way too many questions. I thought I could save money (tax free alcohol), I figure I'll break even soon, like in a few years. Everyone in my family has enjoyed my labors. Oh yeah, I really enjoy cooking, temperature control, the smell of a fresh ferment, priceless. What a learning experience, believe it or not, I never knew that ethanol was a biological process.
 
"ralle02" and his father in law.
Nothing better than a south german introducing a south german to home brewing.
Add a few years of working as a cook and you'll excellent beers ;-)
My LHBS-team likes the beers, friends love it, and some friends are pulling joint-venture capital for a brewery together.....
 
I have grape vines in my yard and the original idea was to brew some wine with those. At the homebrew shop I realized that beer and wine essentially used the same equipment. Bought an extract kit and the rest is history. The entire kit came with Papazian's book. I had looked at Palmer's book briefly and before my 1st brew read it (online) first.
 
Steinbart kit had some instructions and then John Palmer... but HBT is an amazing resource!!!
 
We lived in Saudi Arabia when I was a kid, dad used to make up homebrew from cans of non-alcoholic schlitz that he would pep up with bakers yeast and sugar, they had nothing else, but it can't have been good stuff. I didn't learn about it back then but it was my first contact with it in so far as he had it around the appartment burping blow offs in all the wardrobes. A few years back I decided to get a kit and started from there, then moved onto the web, which is where I learned most of it, here and on the Irish website www.beoir.org and www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk
It's easy to glean a lot of experience in a short space of time these days using the internet, I find it much faster and better than traditional published media.
 
That old hippy is killing me. "Tighten up your sphincter" Awesome.

I learned (recently) from How to Brew and HBT. Buddy at my LHBS got me pointed in the right direction.
 
I too learned from Charlie P. This was pre-interwebz era. Just followed directions and things went surprisingly well. There was not near as much to obsess about in those days.
 
I also learned from Charlie's book and self-education through trial and error. I didn't know anyone who homebrewed, so I figured out a lot on my own. I will say that my beers and methodology have definitely improved since discovering HBT!
 
I consider myself lucky in that homebrewing convienently fell into my lap. My neighbor has a son who plays hockey with my little brother, and at the time he owned a liquor store/homebrew supply shop. He retired 2 years ago and asked me at a game if I would be interested in homebrewing b/c he has a bunch of equipment in his baserment collecting dust.

I was set up with a 6.5 gal glass carboy, 2-5 gal glass carboys, 2 ale pales, a capper, and everything needed to start brewing, including Papazian's "Joy of Homebrewing". He never did teach me how to brew, just learned from books.
 
Brew kit from William's Brewing 30 years ago. Before that I never thought of brewing beer at home until a high school friend of mine took me to his older brother's apartment where he was fermenting beer in a ceramic container with a cover on top, no airlock.

I did kits for a couple years, extract only, then quit until I joined here a few years ago and learned all grain. I haven't brewed since last summer though.
 
Not sure what popped the idea into my head, but swmbo bought me a starter kit for christmas 07. Learned everything from Palmer, Papazian and everyone here.
 
passedpawn said:
I met that guy on a random trip to SF. Brewcraft is his store. No offense to your brewing style, but Griz gives some odd advice from his special chair.
Click to expand...

Must agree with this. Griz is fun and interesting and always a blast to talk to, but I've seen him give some godawful advice to people. He's pretty old school. I've found it's best to just nod and say "yes," then come home and get your advice from HBT.
 
a friend brought some homebrew to a christmas party. I liked it. He invited me to a brew day, after seeing the process I knew right away that this was right up my alley. From there I taught myself using Palmer and HBT mostly.
 
Also a Papazian learner first. This web site is probably the best one around. Lots of books and Homebrew club where some of the members are brewmasters. Sweeeeeet resource.
 
Combination of the Good Eats episode and mr. beer. I refined (and altered) my brewing techniques from this board though.
 
Back in college, my one of my managers from when I worked retail would always talk about how he homebrewed (he also got me into craft beer). It interested me so as soon as I graduated I started brewing. Read some books on it, watched a friend go through the process (I'm more of a visual learner), and then just dove right in. Now, I continue to learn by reading more books and browsing these forums!
 
Started with a tupperware glass of cider, a lid, and a couple of days in the basement behind the canning jars...

Then as an adult I graduated to a glass carboy and Joy of Homebrewing, thanks to the encouragement of a friend's dad who made wine.
 
Started out with Mr Beer kits, read Papazian's book and started to broaden my horizons by trying different things from there while getting lots of good info from websites and other homebrewers.
 

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