How did you convince yourself to take time to learn?

[acidrain]

I'm a DIY guy. I made my own CNC milling machine, self taught myself aluminum anodizing, and enjoy restoring classic cars to concourse condition. I love cooking, and I love beer, so Brewing was a natural next step for me.
Science + cooking + learning something new is what finally inspired me... that and my wife bought me a Mr. beer for Fathers day.
Mr. Beer turned out pretty good.
Extract wheaten ale turned out even better.
Bought some cornys and a co2 bottle, and kegged my cherry ale.
Considering an all grain, but I'm not ready yet... but soon.
Yeah, I'm hooked.

 

[robertus]

To be honest, it's been a fairly slow process for me*. I'm about five completed brews in, with #6 (a mocktoberfest) going into the bottles next week. It's taken about that long to get past the clear and obvious mistakes and into the nitty gritty troubleshooting. Like, I know what I botched on beers 1-4, but, after #5 (which I felt really good about) showed some of the same characteristics, I finally sat down to research what the hell I was tasting and how the hell to fix it.

After spending entirely too much time digging through the boards, I realized it was probably my fermentation temps. So, I set #6 in the basement (~69*F), and got the materials together to make a Swamp Cooler for #7 (Yooper's Anchor Steam Clone, which I'm brewing over Labor Day weekend).

Here's to hoping #6 is better than #5, and #7 is better than them all.

*I've technically been brewing for three years, but there was a 18-month hiatus smack in the middle when SWMBO and I had our daughter . Brews 1-3 were before, and 4-6 after.

 

[TheMerkle]

I brewed one and decided that my equipment was not near where I wanted it, and spent about a year building up my equipment. Sometimes I wonder if my true hobby lies in brewing or building a brewery. Lol. Recently, I decided that I was much closer to where I wanted to be and a brewed a pale ale extract kit which seems error free but lifeless I hopped right back in with a partial mash Two Hearted Clone which is dryhopping now. I think it's going to turn out nice, it's just VERY cloudy.

 

[Pilgarlic]

Sometimes I wonder if my true hobby lies in brewing or building a brewery.

In my small universe, these two break out about 50/50. The test question may be "When I lie awake thinking about my hobby, am I thinking about how to improve my gear or am I thinking about how to improve my beer?"

Both types seem to be perfectly comfortable in this hobby, and, of course, it's a false dichotomy. It's not an either/or, but a continuum from one extreme to the other.