Epiphanies
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I've learned throughout my adult life that because I tend to be high strung/tightly wound that I need frequent hobby time to balance my career and associated social 'workload' in order to tame the beast within. When my schedule hasn't allowed enough hobby time, the pressure would build until I become practically a walking time bomb. That condition has caused a lot of friction at home as well as a level of professional frustration that on occasion has led to blurting out wildly honest opinions to bosses and colleagues. Luckily for me, being brash, opinionated and unvarnished have helped my career more than harmed it, and has even become my defacto calling card, but even still I would prefer to be likable at the office.
For ~18 years my outlet was building r/c planes and boats, which was a great diversion and totally neutralized my inner turmoil; but inevitably, planned outings to fly and sail were spoiled by seasonal climate, weather conditions or pressing timelines at work. The imbalance between tedious hours spent whittling parts vs. time spent actually enjoying my models eventually became yet another source of agitation. I needed a new hobby that could fit better into my schedule.
When I first started homebrewing, I spent months studying the process of making beer while I slowly went about the process of building up my rig. Wiring diagrams, cad models, custom controller, etc. all culminating in a machine that converts my anxieties and frustrations into sweet, healing elixirs. The DIY aspect of the whole process is so multi-faceted that I can devote time to my hobby (and tame the beast) whenever or wherever I am. From Sunday brew sessions with my wife or reading articles on the train to formulating recipes on my lunchbreak and designing labels during long meetings, to even just dreaming up names for my recipes as I lie in bed waiting for sleep, I find that I can fit meaningful, therapeutic hobby time into every single day, no matter how busy I am.
The new friends I've made, irl as well as here on HBT, ancillary hobbies I've picked up, and the bonding experiences aided by pints of delicious homebrew have all enriched my life in ways that are hard to measure.
In a lot of ways, homebrewing has saved me. That's my epiphany.
For ~18 years my outlet was building r/c planes and boats, which was a great diversion and totally neutralized my inner turmoil; but inevitably, planned outings to fly and sail were spoiled by seasonal climate, weather conditions or pressing timelines at work. The imbalance between tedious hours spent whittling parts vs. time spent actually enjoying my models eventually became yet another source of agitation. I needed a new hobby that could fit better into my schedule.
When I first started homebrewing, I spent months studying the process of making beer while I slowly went about the process of building up my rig. Wiring diagrams, cad models, custom controller, etc. all culminating in a machine that converts my anxieties and frustrations into sweet, healing elixirs. The DIY aspect of the whole process is so multi-faceted that I can devote time to my hobby (and tame the beast) whenever or wherever I am. From Sunday brew sessions with my wife or reading articles on the train to formulating recipes on my lunchbreak and designing labels during long meetings, to even just dreaming up names for my recipes as I lie in bed waiting for sleep, I find that I can fit meaningful, therapeutic hobby time into every single day, no matter how busy I am.
The new friends I've made, irl as well as here on HBT, ancillary hobbies I've picked up, and the bonding experiences aided by pints of delicious homebrew have all enriched my life in ways that are hard to measure.
In a lot of ways, homebrewing has saved me. That's my epiphany.
Where do you get that, online order?
Easy to get when I was living in Germany. Model boats planked in mahogany require durable, real boat finishing, epifanes is easily one of the best.
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After studying, brewing regularly, reading this site, and working on the tasting chops; being able to make pro-quality beer is very satisfactory, even if it's small batches. I love tasting new stuff at Total Wine or local breweries/pubs, but being able to skip going because I have 5 gallons of awesome beer that I tastes the way I like it in a keg at home is pretty cool.
Epiphany?
When my wife and I were doing flights at a local brewer and we were able to pick out the flaws in each of the beers they served us (8 different types!). Aside from being disappointing (they had recently changed head brewers and everything was being pulled early and served too soon), recognizing that our palettes were well-trained was a surprise.
Nothing worse than buttery, residual sugars in a DIPA. Damn.
Epiphany?
When my wife and I were doing flights at a local brewer and we were able to pick out the flaws in each of the beers they served us (8 different types!). Aside from being disappointing (they had recently changed head brewers and everything was being pulled early and served too soon), recognizing that our palettes were well-trained was a surprise.
Nothing worse than buttery, residual sugars in a DIPA. Damn.
I just had an epiphany.
Sipping on a pint of my latest batch of Rhinestone Carboy stout, I realized, holy $#it! Stout is my favorite style. Before I started brewing, Guinness was the only dark beer I'd drink, and though I really enjoyed it, I viewed it as an exception. All these years and all these beers later, I just now realized why this recipe is my favorite to brew; I freaking love stouts. That's it. I'll drink paler styles, but when the chips are down, give me a stout. Hot weather, cold weather, I don't care just give me a damned stout!!
Sipping on a pint of my latest batch of Rhinestone Carboy stout, I realized, holy $#it! Stout is my favorite style. Before I started brewing, Guinness was the only dark beer I'd drink, and though I really enjoyed it, I viewed it as an exception. All these years and all these beers later, I just now realized why this recipe is my favorite to brew; I freaking love stouts. That's it. I'll drink paler styles, but when the chips are down, give me a stout. Hot weather, cold weather, I don't care just give me a damned stout!!
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
I've had Guinness "stout" from London to Sint Maarten - including the "Export" version - and to me it's still a black lager.
Not that there's anything wrong with that...
Cheers!
Not that there's anything wrong with that...
Cheers!
Velnerj
Simul justus et potator
My epiphanies so far:
This hobby can be as deep or as shallow as you want. You can study the minutia of water chemistry, hop oils, yeast phenolics etc. Or you can dump a bunch of stuff into a bucket with some yeast and call it beer. There's no wrong way to beer if you like it.
If you're just starting all grain aim for either a specific gravity or a target volume, but hitting both is going to be very difficult the first few times.
Take pictures of your brews along with notes you make. It'll help you remember better. I started an instagram account just for this but you don't have to do this step if you don't want to.
You'll hear a lot of advice about taking things slow and changing only one variable at a time. Experimenting with smash beers to get the feel for flavors etc. All of that is good advice especially if you're brewing on a weekly basis. But if you're like me, and time is a hot commodity (I brew 4-6 times a year), we don't have time for those luxuries... Do as much research as you can and brew the best that you know how. Don't be afraid to take risks. Don't be afraid to ask questions. And you'll be sure to enjoy it.
Improvements (whether theoretical or actualized) are as much of the goal to brewing as drinking beer.
There's a thread on here "what I did for beer today" which opened my eyes to the fact that brew days are not the only facet of this hobby. You can still be involved everyday in many small ways. Podcasts, recipes equipment research, books, forums, drinking different styles of commercial beer. There are many opportunities. Just because you don't have time for a brew day does not mean you can't enjoy your favorite hobby today.
This hobby can be as deep or as shallow as you want. You can study the minutia of water chemistry, hop oils, yeast phenolics etc. Or you can dump a bunch of stuff into a bucket with some yeast and call it beer. There's no wrong way to beer if you like it.
If you're just starting all grain aim for either a specific gravity or a target volume, but hitting both is going to be very difficult the first few times.
Take pictures of your brews along with notes you make. It'll help you remember better. I started an instagram account just for this but you don't have to do this step if you don't want to.
You'll hear a lot of advice about taking things slow and changing only one variable at a time. Experimenting with smash beers to get the feel for flavors etc. All of that is good advice especially if you're brewing on a weekly basis. But if you're like me, and time is a hot commodity (I brew 4-6 times a year), we don't have time for those luxuries... Do as much research as you can and brew the best that you know how. Don't be afraid to take risks. Don't be afraid to ask questions. And you'll be sure to enjoy it.
Improvements (whether theoretical or actualized) are as much of the goal to brewing as drinking beer.
There's a thread on here "what I did for beer today" which opened my eyes to the fact that brew days are not the only facet of this hobby. You can still be involved everyday in many small ways. Podcasts, recipes equipment research, books, forums, drinking different styles of commercial beer. There are many opportunities. Just because you don't have time for a brew day does not mean you can't enjoy your favorite hobby today.
My epiphany is that while all the math, science etc are important so is the art. I was watching a biography of Bob Ross, the painter guy who always said there are no mistakes, only happy accidents. That is how I approach my brewing these days. I call it "no stress brewing".
