Pretty stoked about my brewing right now!

[drgonzo2k2]

So after a little over a year of home brewing, today was my 27th brew session. Yesterday was my son's 1st birthday party, and it was the first party where we served exclusively beverages that I had brewed. We had 3 beers (a blonde ale, a Munich Helles, and a hoppy pale ale), a cider, a soda, and a kombucha all on tap that I had made. Everyone was raving the entire party over everything, and many beverages were consumed. Several people brought 6 packs of commercial beers, and they were all left in the fridge when the party was over (enjoying them now).

This was the first time that so many people had a chance to try my brews (probably 25-30 folks), and they all had nothing but great things to say about them. I was on cloud 9 all night after they left and am still felling pretty full of myself over it.

Besides that, the keezer made a nice focal point in the dining room away from where all the kiddos were setup, and everyone just had to check it out, couldn't believe I built it, wanted to know how it worked, etc. At one point someone said they had to see where all this stuff was made, and that led to a little mini-tour of the brew area, explanation of the process, and so on, and people generally seemed impressed.

It definitely made me feel like I'd been doing things right, and made all the planning that went on for the party worth it. I planned way in advance and wanted to have some easy drinking stuff on for the general folks, something pretty hoppy for the craft beer guys, something different for people that didn't like beer, and some really nice non-alcoholic options as well.

This really is an awesome hobby, and it's a treat to make stuff that people enjoy so much!

 

[canehdianman]

That's awesome! Congrats, its always nice when other people love your beer too!

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

Congrats man!

 

[max384]

Congrats!

 

[Dixon9717]

Congrats. What an awesome experience.

 

[MVKTR2]

Affirmation rocks!

Just consider the source when looking for useful feedback about the true quality of your brew. However there is surely great joy in seeing your hard work rewarded with kindness, affinity, & consumption. My wife hardly touches alcohol ... frankly I don't know how she puts up with me!

 

[CrimsonYeti]

My wife hardly touches alcohol ... frankly I don't know how she puts up with me! [/QUOTE]

+1 to this statement. I mention beer i usually get an eye roll and eww. But she likes to help brew.

 

[HomebrewSupply]

That's awesome, congrats!

 

[HCbrewing]

A newborn and 27 brews in the same year? I have a little one that just turned 1 and I think I got like 5 or 6 brews in last year. I think I need your wife.

 

[paulegli]

This was the first time that so many people had a chance to try my brews (probably 25-30 folks), and they all had nothing but great things to say about them. I was on cloud 9 all night after they left and am still felling pretty full of myself over it.

That's a great feeling, right? You should definitely bring your beers the Beer Masters Cup, the homebrew "competition" that is part of the Hop-N-Barley Festival held every year Scotts Valley at Skypark. You get to serve your homebrew to a very appreciative crowd, meet other brewers, drink great beer and eat good food! Their web site (http://hopnbarley.org) doesn't have details about this year's festival, but it's usually in late June.

We also have a local homebrewers club, the Central Coast Zymurgeeks, which meets every month. We just had our January meeting yesterday, but the website (http://zymurgeeks.org) has info about signing up for the email list so you can find out about future meetings and club projects.

Congrats on your brewing success!

 

[Moose_MI]

Nice.....A lot of labor and love went into all those beverages...not to mention the labor and love that went into that son! Congrats!

I just got my keezer going a couple months ago and have visions of a similar affair this summer.....you've inspired me!

 

[jcav]

That's great that they all enjoyed your beers! It's an amazing feeling when they genuinely love it and look at you and almost disbelieve that you made it. Now that they have tasted your brews they will be coming over all the time, wondering what's on tap in that keezer of yours! It's a pretty cool hobby!

John

 

[drgonzo2k2]

A newborn and 27 brews in the same year? I have a little one that just turned 1 and I think I got like 5 or 6 brews in last year. I think I need your wife.

Hah, a lot of people have mentioned that to me - "How do you find time to brew with a baby!?!" But honestly it hasn't been all that difficult. My wife and I both have pretty time consuming hobbies (she makes her own clothes and sews all sorts of other stuff), and we both know our hobbies are important to each other, so we're always able to work it out. A few things do help though:

1) Have a shared calendar of some sort (physical or digital) and keep it updated! I plan my brew sessions 2-3 months in advance, and put them on the calendar right away and make sure to mention them to her. She can then let me know if there's any sort of conflict.

2) Start your brew days really early (or really late - whatever works for you). I'm getting things going at least 2 hours before sunrise on brew day and always finish up around noon, that leaves nearly the entire day for anything else, and a good part of my brew day is while the rest of the family is sleeping.

3) Be flexible and give and take with your partner. If I spend 5-6 hours out brewing while my wife is with the kid, then it's only fair she gets 5-6 hours to herself to work on her hobby that weekend as well.

4) Use your "down time" during brewing to do something helpful around the house. For example, I always try to time my mash around breakfast time, so I can leave things for an hour, pop in the house and cook something for the family, and then get back to brewing. Also, when it's time to clean out the mash tun it's also time for me to gather up and take the rest of the trash from the house out. Then I use the big house trash can to dump my spent grain into, and can easily toss that in the bin. I get a clean mash tun, and my wife doesn't have to tell me to take the trash out later.

Hopefully that helps!

 

[drgonzo2k2]

That's a great feeling, right? You should definitely bring your beers the Beer Masters Cup, the homebrew "competition" that is part of the Hop-N-Barley Festival held every year Scotts Valley at Skypark. You get to serve your homebrew to a very appreciative crowd, meet other brewers, drink great beer and eat good food! Their web site (http://hopnbarley.org) doesn't have details about this year's festival, but it's usually in late June.

We also have a local homebrewers club, the Central Coast Zymurgeeks, which meets every month. We just had our January meeting yesterday, but the website (http://zymurgeeks.org) has info about signing up for the email list so you can find out about future meetings and club projects.

Congrats on your brewing success!

Hey, thanks so much! That's good to know about the Hop-n-Barley festival. I've not been to the event, but I didn't know there was a home brewing component to it as well. I'll definitely keep my eyes out for when it gets announced this year.

Also good to hear about the Zymurgeeks. I actually thought you guys were defunct as I'd emailed the contact email on the site months ago before last year's county fair to inquire about the particulars around the home brew competition there and never received any sort of response. I'll see about signing up for the mailing list.