What got everyone into Homebrewing initially?

[brick_haus]

I've always enjoyed homemade things over their commercial counterpart. Beer just became one of those.

^^^This to preclude my story^^^
I was at a Christmas party for work and this guy got so drunk he started flirting with the wrong Women and got in a little trouble!! Lucky they didn't fire him, he decided to put down alcohol for good.
We'll come to find out, he was a homebrewer with no further need for his very basic equipment. When I offered to buy it from him he refused my cash and just gave it to me.

 

[Jtk78]

I did 2 batches in one day once in 2001. Screwed it up 8 ways to Sunday. Ended up dumping a month after bottling. 6 months later I dumped my wife. (I still wish it worked out better.........I mean the beer)

Had thought about doing it again, but never did. Fall of 2016, I'm walking by a LHBS with my awesome new wife and say I'd like to try again. Her response was "Then you should. Go in & talk to them" I scoured Craigslist and the like for used equipment, asked a friend to do it with me (although I've done 5 batches, they've done 1), took a class at that LHBS, and been buying/making/upgrading equipment and processes between batches since.

 

[MaxStout]

I tried a brewing kit back about 1981. Plastic pail, airlock, crappy capper and a bag of caps. The beer kit was some kind of pale ale--a 1/2 gallon can of hopped liquid extract with a little packet of yeast taped to the top. The beer I brewed was barely drinkable and I overcarbed it. I don't even remember doing any sanitation of my gear. I made a stout with a similar kit, with similarly lack-luster results. The brewing kit ended up in a garage and it eventually was tossed out.

Fast-forward to 2012. A fellow attorney at my firm brought me a couple bombers of his home brew, which were awesome. After playing 20 questions, and discovering that the equipment, ingredients and methods had vastly improved, I decided I would try brewing again. I bought a decent kit from Midwest. A few extract batches, then a move to BIAB, which I still do today.

 

[JDXX1971]

Because I am insane, really why else??

 

[Morrey]

I tried a brewing kit back about 1981. Plastic pail, airlock, crappy capper and a bag of caps. The beer kit was some kind of pale ale--a 1/2 gallon can of hopped liquid extract with a little packet of yeast taped to the top. The beer I brewed was barely drinkable and I overcarbed it. I don't even remember doing any sanitation of my gear. I made a stout with a similar kit, with similarly lack-luster results. The brewing kit ended up in a garage and it eventually was tossed out.

Fast-forward to 2012. A fellow attorney at my firm brought me a couple bombers of his home brew, which were awesome. After playing 20 questions, and discovering that the equipment, ingredients and methods had vastly improved, I decided I would try brewing again. I bought a decent kit from Midwest. A few extract batches, then a move to BIAB, which I still do today.

Unreal. My brewing career sounds uncannily similar to you. Those huge cans of pre-hopped ale extracts in the 80's really were horrible. The beer was awful, and you are right.....sanitation? HUH?

Luckily we didn't die of some awful bacteria, but here we are today. BIAB in all its glory and beer we can actually tout as better than we could purchase.

Blast from the past...LOL

 

[BigJoeBrew]

My wife bought me a Mr. Beer kit, I made the first batch and had gushers with way to much carbonation. I served it to friends at a party, and they were all gracious to say it was ok. It was terrible, but I got hooked to figure out what the hell I did wrong. Went to the LHBS and found out there was a great big world of homebrewing!

 

[jcav]

Started in 2002 with a Mr. Beer kit. I remember looking at the sides of the fermenter with a flashlight and I saw the yeast churning away as it was fermenting. I was hooked. It was just so fascinating to me. That first beer wasn't even that good. I didn't care I was determined to learn and make good beer. I picked up Charlie Pap's book and I got some better equipment (nice boil kettle, carboy, chiller, etc) and got into extract and steeping grains, and then partial mash. I kept expanding my setup and I got a kegging system and chest freezer with a Ranco temp controller. Then started making yeast starters. Then I got into all grain. That first all grain beer really opened my eyes to a different level of control and quality that I was missing in my beer. Finally I made the jump after many years and decided to go electric. So I then invested in more equipment and parts and built a pretty close version of Kal's 3 vessel herms system with his control box. Also upgraded to a stainless 14.5 gallon conical fermentor, an upright freezer, etc. Definitely a rabbit hole, but I love this hobby and how it's evolved for me, and I love the way my beers turn out so it's worth it to me. It's just so much fun brewing and my sons come over when they can and brew with me. I really enjoy those brew days with my sons and having a pint we brewed together, and then of course marveling at our creation!

John

 

[JDXX1971]

Ok to elaborate,

My wife wanted to make some cider from our homegrown apples last fall. So I start researching (remember I am insane) So we end up with six Speidel fermenters, three each of the 20 and 30L. Go big or go home right?? We made our homemade cider and several batches from store bought juice. Being as we had all these fermenters I was looking for more and more recipes to try as we were not very happy with anything we made so far. So I made some Cyser but got a little carried away and ended up with a 20% sweet mess. (figured out later its best frozen with the ice removed)
Back to the research, found the recipe for Brandon O's Graff and figured what the heck sounds good!! Ohhh the smell of that sweet wort..............

Created a Monster that's what happened. I knew I had to get some equipment to brew some beer!! Back to the research (hours and hours, days on end) Finally settled on a simple BIAB system so I ordered up a Kettle, pump, chiller and ect from Brew Hardware (thanks Bobby!)

Oh shiny!!!! Now I have my stuff but what about a burner and how to lift the bag???? More research, Drops another 500...

Anyway I did finally brewed some beer, did three batches that first weekend. Fermented them in my newly put together fermentation chamber.
(maybe thats why the ciders were not that great!!)

Oh man, I was amazed the beer turned out killer!!! Ok gotta make more, so I order more ingredients. then I tried to brew three batches one day. NO GO!!! So I got two done and had to do another the next day. Well that did not work very well, ahh more research.

Did I mention that I am insane? Now I have a RIMS tube, a HLT cooler, a second pump and am going to add another burner and boil kettle.

But why did I get into brewing? Well because I like GOOD beer. So far all six batches have amazed me how good they are, so it drives me........

INSANE

 

[applescrap]

I started with my uncle who taught me how to make a mr beer kit. He made great beer with it by using two cans per batch. It was unreal good. I had to have more. Right after christmas they would go on clearance at a big store filled with toasters, sheets, and beyond. Think i made 30 or 40 of them, 5 per batch. All different styles adding different stuff. They were sooo good. Anywho i gave one to a friend who made extract ipas. They were pretty good, not quite as good as the mr beer.

We started arguing about the quality of mr beer and essentially, even though i didnt know it at the time i was basically just arguing that the keg could be used as a fermenter and that beer could be done with less complication. Not even knowing anything i knew that based on 30+ batches of the best beer in the world that there had to be a simple solution. Not really interested in being a brewer, i set out to prove my buddy wrong. Jumped in and right away learned how cheap i could get grain, which changed everything. Found biab and when i asked the lhbs, the one with cheap grain and hops, they told me it wasnt really a viable brew method. I was hooked, cheap beer, and something to investigate. Started with 50 pound sack of 2 row pre ground in 5 pound sacks, a pound of Willamette, and different yeasts. I was on my way. They were like yeah good luck buddy and thought i was a little wacky, which i am. 2.5 gallon batches on stove all different styles. Still how i brew really, even though i am fanatical about brewing knowledge and discussion. If you read this far you deserve to know that aprils fools day should be today. Uncles mr beer was decent with two cans though.

 

[bkboiler]

i got into it initially because i like creating detailed finished products (like cooking, crafting, building, etc...).
i kept brewing because i like beer and i'm too cheap to buy commercial...

 

[303Dan]

I was a college student in Boulder, CO in the early 90s when the craft beer movement seemed to really gain some traction. New Belgium opened in 1991 and I was really in love with the beer I could get my hands on in the great liquor stores in Boulder. I went from someone who preferred liquor over the "beer of my youth" like Budweiser, Colors, etc, to a beer lover. Around the same time, a store opened in Boulder where you could buy homebrewing supplies but also pay them to brew on their rig. I did that a couple times and was hooked. Bought a basic stovetop extract rig and got going. That was around 1994 or 1995. Been brewing ever since, mostly with a good friend from college, but a few years back I decided to go it alone and get serious about process and equipment. Haven't looked back.

Dan

 

[KevinMcN]

My wife bought me a mr beer kit for Xmas 4ish years ago. It turned out better then expected. Then I stepped to 5gal prehopped kits, then extract, then all-grain (5 and 10 gallon) which I've been doing for about 2 years.
It's still pretty surreal when I'm enjoying my own home brew and other are enjoying it too.
A huge factor (other then being a very enjoyable hobby) is the the substantial savings from not buying commercial beers. Beer is crazy overpriced here in Canada.
Cheers

 

[V-Fib]

My wife bought me a Brooklyn Brew Shop 1 gallon kit on clearance for $15 for Christmas 2015. Now I can keg 20 gallons and bottle about 15. I'm trying to sell her on a hop garden and an additional pot and burner to do "2 a days"

 

[tgolanos]

My dad homebrewed when I was a kid throughout the 90s. One of his brothers is also a homebrewer. I've always been an avid cooker and when I moved to Australia in 2012 I knew it would only be a matter of time before I started brewing. At the time the only thing holding me back was the smell of bleach that I remember from when my dad brewed. I'm allergic to bleach, so the thought of having to bleach-clean equipment was a major turn-off.

Two years back, my sister-in-law paid for me to go to a beginners brew course as a birthday present. When I saw how easy the whole process (brew to clean) actually was, I bought a starter kit and haven't looked back.

 

[Joe_K]

Brewmasters on Discovery got me interested 7 or 8 years ago, the same year my wife bought me an extract starter kit from a LHBS. Now I'm all grain with a Grainfather and a 3 keg kegerator.

 

[biochemedic]

Back in the mid-to-late 90's, started getting very interested in craft beer after Guinness became my go-to/gateway beer, tried every random new beer on the shelf at a big package store near where I went to college. I eventually came across Dogfish Head, and when I first tried 60 Minute it Blew. My. Mind!

I had read that it was "pretty easy" to brew, and was really inspired by the amazing variety of beer that could be brewed with just 4 basic ingredients (not to mention what you could do adding some other fermentables, fruits, spices, etc!) I had pipe dreams of perhaps opening up a brewery/restaurant (should've done it then, before everyone else decided to!) but my real career took over...I kept reading about brewing, and talking about it with anyone who would listen, but never really got started until one of my groomsmen bought "us" a basic brewing kit as a wedding gift. (Surprisingly, my wife still likes him!)

I finally started brewing in 2006 after getting a "real job" and having a bit of extra time and money, and of course things kept snowballing and expanding from there....although I still brew on the same kettle my buddy bought me all those years back! Not to mention one of the original buckets which I used to the point where the bottom literally fell out of it last year!

I love that the hobby keeps things fresh for me, and that I still can brew things that no one else has for purchase, or if there's something I like, I can clone it. And after 10+ years, I still feel like my brewing is getting better and better...

 

[ericbw]

Pickles is really what got me going.

I got a Mr. Beer and gave it a couple tries - not good. But I was always making pickles and doing other kinds of preserving. Then one day I was picking up some canning supplies and saw the refills, so I did some reading and realized that if I can ferment pickles, I can make beer. I decided to try again, but with some tweaks (like letting it ferment 2 weeks instead of one). It was better. Then I read some more and used a recipe that wasn't a kit.

After that, it got easier to make changes and get better results.

 

[Special Hops]

I started in 2000 after moving to a new City - Buffalo and realized I needed a hobby because I did not know many folks. It was something that I was mildy interested in. After visiting the LBHS, I picked up a basic extract starter kit and The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Been brewing ever since with some breaks because life got in the way. Over the years I have gradually stepped up to doing 13 gallon batches in a keggle, and a kegorator.

 

[raysmithtx]

The wife and I were at a nice German restaurant. I asked the waiter to bring me the best beer to go with our meal. He brought me the best beer I had ever had (Dunkel). When I commented on how great the beer was he said it was not available in the retail/packaged market and that they imported it directly from the German brewery. I told my wife that I guess this will be the last time I have this beer and she said "maybe you should figure out how to make in on your own"... so I did.

 

[TomRep]

Samuel Adams. I grew up in PA and when I started drinking, my go to beers were Yuengling lager, Rolling Rock, and if I wanted to splurge, Labatts. One time I was out and got a Boston lager and was amazed at the difference in flavor. I started looking at Samuel Adams beer Lin up when I was at the distributor and started trying different things. It was then that I started learning about different types of beer and that I could make it myself. It's been all down hill from there.

 

[bleme]

One of my friends invited my family over for dinner. After dinner, the kids are playing and he is flipping channels and runs across "Moonshiners". We start joking about how we could get rich on the moonshine business and while we are in jail, our wives could run it. My wife was particularly unhappy about that idea, then I thought 'How about making beer instead?'. I looked it up on my phone, and it was LEGAL (as long as I don't sell it).

I went on a research rampage, devouring HBT and YouTube, and 3 months later my friend and I went together on a starter kit and 4 recipe kits from NorthernBrewer.

 

[fourfarthing]

I think i always knew that I would, but one fateful Thanksgiving day splurge at Whole Foods I came home with a Brooklyn Brew Shop kit. 3 months later i finally pulled it out and brewed. Overcarbed, mediocre beer aside, I did six more batches that summer and had three of those 1 gallons bubbling away at once. Bought a full boat all grain that Christmas (bless my wife) and brew almost every three day weekend anymore.

 

[jafo28]

A coworker of mine was a homebrewer, and brought in a couple of his beers to try. They were really good, and it got me interested. I started asking him questions and constantly talking about it with him. He told me about a LHBS and on my next day off I purchased an equipment kit and a Brewers Best IPA kit. I read all the directions, and did some searching on the internet before brewing, that's how I found HBT. That was in July of 2010. By October I had put together my first all grain set up and was kegging by December. I guess it became an obsession.

 

[Mainer]

I like having friends over and sharing really good beers, but I never have enough money to keep a really well-selected cellar of good commercial beers.

Also, I'm from Portland, Maine, and as the OP pointed out, the whole scene here is juicy IPAs. If you cellar it more than a month, you effectively kill it. I wanted to store things with a year or more of shelf life.

Also, the brewery culture here is SUPER-sceney. If you want the cool new beer, you have to be prepared to get in line at the brewery at 5am.

Making my own seemed like a really nice way around all three problems.

 

[berndawg84]

My story is similar to others...I was gifted a Northern Brewer homebrew kit by my sister and brother-in-law. I brewed 2 extract kits then took a break for 8 months. This past fall I started again in earnest and have been brewing once a month, which is as much time/money allows. I've devoured books and of course this forum, and been loving every minute. My wife keeps saying that she thinks we'll open a brewery someday. Maybe haha.

 

[brewcat]

I was always interested in brewing even before I could legally drink. Why? I don't know. Something caught me somewhere. Anyways a couple months after turning 21 I researched and brewed my first batch (NB's Nut Brown extract kit). I was on my way.

Kegging got me firmly entrenched in the hobby.

 

[Stillraining]

Initially 31 years ago it was to brew good dark beers which were few and far between back then...Then came a long hiatus raising 3 kids and doing the whole sports and church activities thing with them, which between the two leaves little time for anything else. Several years ago now getting back into brewing was purely and "only" to save money, nothing else, as I have lots of other hobbies that require my time and treasure. We had just got into wine making and had invested in most of the gear so I said why not use it for more then once per year. The wife agreed with me and the rest is history.. I have keep it pretty simple as a North wind could blow in some day and change any desire to continue. I enjoy it .. But I dont live for it.

 

[Hopsimus]

I too got started when my wife gave me a True Brew extract kit for my birthday. Funny thing was, I had been thinking of trying one out, but, had never mentioned it to her. I guess some things are meant to be!

The kit turned out great (though I suspect if I did it again now I would find my more recent brews are much better than that first kit).

After doing 7 extract batches, I switched over to all grain. I like to do about 1 batch a month, and am planing to do my 20th batch this weekend.

Cheers!

 

[Redcardbrews]

My wife got me a Midwest starter kit from groupon for half off as my first Father's Day gift...so I say my daughter got me into brewing! Funny story is at the time I was just starting to get into beer at the age of 29. I never drank while in high school or college. Now I'm full on beer nerd...or snob....either way it's awesome to have quality beer for cheaper than $10.00 a sixer

 

[myelo]

I'm just in it for the chicks.

 

[Tacman]

For most of my adult life I have been fascinated by, for lack of better words "homesteading skills". I truly enjoy hunting, fishing, gardening, small scale farming and all the food preservation skills necessary to enjoy eating what you kill, catch, harvest. I started with wine making, moved to mead(because I keep bees also), gave up on that for a while once I got into cheese making. Making beer was a vague thought, or intention for a while but never came to fruition until I took some time to actually see how it was done through the greatest educational resource available today, YouTube, and that led me eventually here to this fantastic forum. I made up my mind to start with all grain and actually brewed my first beer, a Northern Brown Ale before having ever visited a craft brewery or drank a craft brew. Honestly, I had no idea what a growler was even. For me it is about the process. I enjoy my beer, but I believe I enjoy making it as much as drinking it. By the time my first beer was done bottle conditioning I had planted hops rhizomes in my yard, and barley in my garden and began malting and kilning red wheat into pale, brown and crystal. So for me I think homebrewing stemmed from a desire to learn a skill that would broaden my knowledge, and quench my thirst.

 

[normonster]

It is just so cheap and easy. You SAVE so much money!!!!

 

[MaryB]

Started brewing in the early 80's. We were a beer drinking family and keeping Mom, Dad, 2 married sisters, 2 married brothers, and then the same on my friends half in beer was expensive so we started making our own. Lot of equipment we built ourselves, local brewery donated a few small pieces they were going to toss... in between all the families we were brewing twice a month and 30+ gallons a weekend. Things sure were different back then compared to now! Lot more equipment commercially available, ingredient availability is night and day, and information much more readily available. We were lucky and the guys at the local brewery would op in to lend a hand and help with questions(Thank you to Schell's Brewery!). Now those guys are all gone and I am not sure if they are still brewing in New Ulm.

 

[pshankstar]

I had been thinking of home brewing several years ago but didn't get into it b/c of time. Working full time, school after work, wife and a new baby at home (7 years ago) and just life itself. I had a hard enough time trying to find time to go fishing, so how could I pick up another hobby?

Well about four years ago my sister in-law bought me a Mr. Beer kit for a birthday/Christmas present. I had also received a gift card for Mr. Beer too. So I made several batches here and there within the first year (oldest child was 3 and just had another child around that time). The first few kits came out ok/as expected. The later kits I modified, added hops and used different dry yeast. Before I even finished all of those kits, I upgraded my equipment and started making extract kits (mainly from Northern Brewer) and followed recipes from various sources (HBT Forum, BYO, etc...).

Now I am doing all grain brewing via BIAB and recently upgraded again from a keggle to a 20 SS Brewtech kettle. All while making 10 gallon batches now. I also started growing hops last year, buy my grains in bulk and have an "Ugly Junk Corona Mill" that works great. My obsession, I mean hobby all started from a Mr. Beer gift! Anyhow, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! LOL

 

[Transamguy77]

In 2009 I received a Mr Beer kit and some extra kits from my then neighbor, due to life stuff I didn't get around to brewing anything till sometime in 2010.

The beer was ok but I was hooked on the process and quickly moved to 5 gallon extract kits and brewed them for maybe a year before moving to BIAB and eventually building a 3 tier AG set up with keggles.

My garage is now full of "beer stuff", I have a motorized corona mill, ferm chamber, 3 tap kegerator, DIY keg washer, DIY stir plate and the list goes on. I enjoy this hobby and I'm glad Mr Beer exists or it would have been much harder to get started.

 

[saltymirv]

I was sitting in general chemistry class in college and really didn't want to be there. I wanted to be home drinking delicious beer. After some daydreaming I decided to google "how to make beer". After some reading and contemplation I asked my chem lab partner if he wanted to do a "lab experiment" at my house. He of course obliged and I bought a 1 gallon equipment kit online. Our first beer turned out pretty good and since then the hobby has really snowballed for me. Several years later and I've got a fermentation chamber, kegerator, more fermenters than I can count, and about 50 batches under my belt.

 

[NymPymplee]

I've always been a DIY kind of guy- growing fruit and vegetables, pickling/canning, hunting/fishing, building/fabricating, etc. So, it was only natural that I'd get on to brewing. I knew how fermentation worked and experimented with fruit juices and baker's yeast. I didn't give beer making much thought because I figured the process would be overly complicated without a commercial set up. Fast forward a couple years and I'm looking for a pruno recipe on Youtube- just 'cuz. In the recommended videos was "Craigtube". So, I check out his "Inmate Brew" video and I'm fairly unimpressed. I already knew this stuff after all. However, scroll down a bit and I notice he's got some videos on brewing pre-hopped extract kits, so I check them out. I was astounded to say the least. It opened up the world of home beer brewing to me and I couldn't get it out of my head. Fast forward a bit more and I finally find internet homebrew supply shops here in Japan and order my first pre-hopped kits, which were drinkable, but meh. Undeterred, I bought more equipment, took the plunge into AG and haven't looked back. About 8 months later, I'm 16 batches in and have turned four other people onto homebrewing.

 

[eagle23]

I got invited over by my former room mates dad to learn to brew one morning. He only does extract brews, but it dosnt matter. At the time I didnt know any different.

Shortly there after I went prusing the internet and found instructions on how to brew all grain. I have always liked know how things work through an entire process so knowing that making a beer from grain was actually attainable was a big factor. A few months later i went out and bought a couple pots and other gear that i would need to jump right in with an ipa recipe that i got out of a book. Low and behold I mashed for 15 minutes and got what i am calling hop water.

Since I live alone now, and I work nights( so I dont like to drink during the week), I have a hard time drinking a batch of beer in a decent amount of time so i have only been brewing a few times a year, each time a different variation of the same IPA i started with, always improving. I think the recipe is a mash of about 3 different recipes plus some other changes.

The company i work for is very big on the concept of lean manufacturing. So i find myself hooked on different aspects of the process or a piece of equipment, trying to decide if it improves the final product at all, or if its just for looks.

But hopefully that changes next month as this weekend i am going to be making my keg system, and next weekend goal is a temprature controlled chest and then a new brew stand the week after that. As soon as i get that done i have 4 beers lined up to make for myself, and another 2 later on a friend wants to make.

 

[bobeer]

Welcome to the site and great topic to post about!

I think for me it's all about fresh beer. SO many times I used to stand in the beer isle for far too long looking at the package dates on can and bottles. I got pretty tired of paying top dollar for old beer and also fighting with other beer nerds to get the latest and greatest thing out there.

Now, I leave all that to the so called beer experts to deal with. Going on 6 years strong... No more standing in the beer isle for me.

 

[jayway]

I've always had an in depth hobby or two and brewing always intrigued me but I knew I would become obsessed if I did get into it. Then out of nowhere my dad had a genius idea of turning part of his barn into a dedicated brewery so I figured I better learn how to brew. 4 years later we're still working on it but I've been brewing at home ever since. It's been a great father son bonding project and the glorious end is in sight, about a month out from brewing in the barn.