What got you into the hobby?

[JimRausch]

Fall of 2009 - I'm hiking out at Boyscout camp scouting for a good campsite to tent with my troop. At an old abandoned homestead site I see a vine growing up a tree that looks kind of familiar. The following week I'm on a farmcall and the farmer has the same vine growing up the side of her house and gives me a couple bottles of her homebrew.
December 2011- I have a hop bine growing up the side of my house and a couple ziplocks of hops in my freezer. I give my wife a pamphlet from a homebrew shop that is about 2 hours away (since then a great LHBS has opened up about 45 minutes away) telling her that this is really what I want for Christmas. And so the obsession begins. I'm pretty sure SWMBO has regretted that Christmas gift.......

 

[jonny24]

Last fall my dad mentioned it to me a couple times- I like making things in general, and had been getting more and more into craft beer. I had to take some time off work, and spent it reading How to Brew, ordering my first ingredients, and making a terrible pale ale. Now I'm 11 batches in, AG, and have a few brews that have turned out really good. Brought my first lager to Father's day and it went over really well.

 

[rjanson]

It's something that always interested me, and a friend got me a beer making kit (no recipe included) for christmas one year. A couple years later I actually started doing research to understand how it worked. My initial "aha" moment was when I realized that recipe kits are not specific to hardware kits.

 

[itsbarleytime]

Walked into a new little bar down town only to find its also a home brew shop. A place that serves good beer and a home brew shop! Yeah I am happy.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

I like beer, had some extra money lying around, knees can't take sports anymore, and I was bored. That pretty much sums it up...

 

[pshankstar]

About 3-4 years ago my sister in-law purchased a Mr. Beer kit for me for Christmas. She knew that prior to that I had been mentioning how I would like to learn how to brew beer. But life was busy when the thought crossed my mind before she bought me the kit. Working full time, going back to school at nights, a new baby and then a second when I received the Mr. Beer kit and then a new job that required a lot of traveling. So the Mr. Beer kit was a good gateway. It was quick, taught me the importance of cleaning and sanitizing in the whole process, but I was not impressed with the kits. So then I started to steep some grains, buy extra hops, different yeast and those helped but didn't get the results I wanted.

After a year of a few Mr. Beer kits my step brother asked me if I wanted his old brewing equipment (basic brewing kit with buckets), but I was able to step up my game. Bought a turkey fryer with the pot and moved ahead with extract kits and partial mash for some. Much better results!

Well now here I am with the same basic brewing equipment, but now I've grown into BIAB with a keggle setup, a FastFerment Conical fermenter, wort chiller, stir plate (DIY style), harvesting yeast, etc... The addiction is in full swing! Oh and I converted my kegerator to accept corny kegs for home brewing too! Now I find myself trying to brew any chance I get. I am buying my grains in bulk and hops too. I planted Chinook and Centennial hops in my back yard and my two girls (3 & 6) know more about home brewing then I could ever imagine!

Long story short, my sister in-law bought me a Mr. Beer kit and it all went down hill from there! I wonder if my wife is regretting telling her sister it was a good gift idea for me??? Oh and my father in-law is hooked on brewing too!

 

[GrogNerd]

this article in Details magazine, April 1993

still have the article

 

[Redcardbrews]

My wife got a Midwest starter pack on groupon for my first Father's Day. Before that I never really drank beer, thought all the Bud/Miller/coors stuff was garbage. Then i found my gateway craft beer in new Belgium fat tire, 5 years later the obsession is real!

 

[agrazela]

this article in Details magazine, April 1993

still have the article...

Back around that time a friend from high school's father was making homebrew in his basement from canned kits. All I remember is bucket after bucket of mold-topped goo stinkily bubbling away, I'm not sure he stressed sanitation. Maybe that traumatic childhood experience is why it took me 20 years later to try it myself

Unless I'm misreading, that article suggests that in 1993 homebrewers had to malt their own grains. Is that true?

 

[GrogNerd]

Back around that time a friend from high school's father was making homebrew in his basement from canned kits. All I remember is bucket after bucket of mold-topped goo stinkily bubbling away, I'm not sure he stressed sanitation. Maybe that traumatic childhood experience is why it took me 20 years later to try it myself

Unless I'm misreading, that article suggests that in 1993 homebrewers had to malt their own grains. Is that true?

true, the article suggests that, but, lol... no, we didn't have to malt our own. didn't even have to grow it!

we were fairly limited in variety of malts, hops and yeast. we had one LHBS in the county (Brew America, RIP), otherwise I relied on catalogs. main supplier at the time was shiny, new Northern Brewer.

only did a few batches, had to quit for a long time (17 years) because of lack of space to store my equipment, but back into it for about 3 years now

 

[uptonparkfan]

I just started hope bottle my larger tomorrow. not try yet reason for starting been saying years have ago.as work for print company a
can do my own labels

 

[brewshki]

I was turning 21 and I thought it would be funny to get a Mr. Beer kit for my birthday. So my mom got me the kit and I fermented my first batch in an 85 F house under my desk in the middle of October while I was studying. The first two batches were awful. Luckily, How to Brew was an additional gift and I was reading it as I was brewing the first few kits. I found more beer soon after that and started with 2 gallon extract batches. After that year, I moved to a new house with a ****ty electric stovetop so I used it as an excuse to move to 5 gallon batches. My next equipment upgrade came on my 22nd birthday when I got my all grain equipment. I brewed 10 batches for my sisters wedding recently and the guests dramatically under drank so I am actually trying to drink enough to free up my chest freezer to brew again.

 

[lawless317]

Quality beer is expensive to buy

 

[spunxter]

I hot tired of paying 35 bucks case 2 yrs ago and a buddy said " it cant be tbat to make beer" , started doing internet research, found tbis site and off i went. I now do 10 gallon batches all grain and have 10 varieties if hops in tbe backyard. About rdy to mive onto kegging. And i love tbe diy part of it too. Ferm chamber, keezer, fermentors my next projects this summer. Love tbe constant learning new things. Im addicted for life!

 

[MaryB]

$35 a case for mediocre ale like Fat Tire!

 

[unionrdr]

Well, being born in the 50's, at the dawn of the space age & the muscle car, I've seen a lot of new things. I also have, unfortunately, seen good lagers go to hell in a hand basket. Remembering the taste of Cleveland lagers & pilsners overall, I started brewing in hopes I'd get good enough to brew a lager/pilsner like those of my childhood, when pop would give me a taste, being a " man child", as it were.
They had a good over-all, as I can only describe it, " good beer" flavor. Deeper color too. So over Christmas of 2010, my wife & I got to wondering how easy brewing beer had gotten these days. We watched many videos on YouTube from brewers we all know. By January 2011, we had our first brewing kit going. A light pale ale by Cooper's, their OS Lager. It came out really good, & the wife loved it! I'm up to my 4th version of my " Hopped & Confused" hybrid lagers, but, as of the 3rd iteration, it's like a Euro lager. Close, but not quite there yet. The 4th will be more like a Bavarian style that many Cleveland lagers & pilsners were back then.
I've since branched out to many styles, both common, rare & extinct. That's the fun of it! Even have one home brewing book on Kindle with the 2nd in the works...besides articles & interviews & reviews. It's been a lot of fun so far!...

 

[MFWINZLOW]

Once I seen the Three Stooges brewing the bath-tub beer....I just knew that I had to try it

 

[mike-teslia]

my dad got a Mr beer kit from peavy mart on clearance along with 3 extra cans we made the first batch and it was not bad but not great so he gave/pawned it off on me when i went back to collage after the Christmas break i made all of them the upgraded to the standard 6 gallon pail system for kit and kilo cans from my local home brew shop my "mentor" at that time was craigtube

i then got out of for about a year and a half then once things were more settled i picked up a new system after finding brewing tv and chop and brew i was hooked again and now in about a good 12 batches of beer and wines and no plans of stopping soon

 

[Sourz4life]

I started off by brewing mead, then my girlfriend bought me a couple beer brewing books which kicked it off for me. Next thing you know I'm up most nights for like a month doing hardcore research.

 

[Biscuits]

My cousin was a medical student and for one of his chemistry classes they brewed beer. He gave me a bottle and I couldn't believe how good it was. Fast-forward some years while I was deployed to Afghanistan, I started watching a lot of craft beer reviews and they all made my mouth water...so I purchased a basic starter kit from Northern Brewer and when I got home, I jumped into it. I admit, I actually made wine first which didn't turn out too great and then I made an extract kit with specialty grains...it was a Milk Stout...after that, I was all in.

 

[krackin]

When I started it was illegal to brew at home. It was a justified crime of passion and necessity.

 

[brewshki]

my dad got a Mr beer kit from peavy mart on clearance along with 3 extra cans we made the first batch and it was not bad but not great so he gave/pawned it off on me when i went back to collage after the Christmas break i made all of them the upgraded to the standard 6 gallon pail system for kit and kilo cans from my local home brew shop my "mentor" at that time was craigtube

i then got out of for about a year and a half then once things were more settled i picked up a new system after finding brewing tv and chop and brew i was hooked again and now in about a good 12 batches of beer and wines and no plans of stopping soon

Both great YouTube channels!

 

[Calder]

I moved from England to the US in the 80s, and to me Bud/Miller/Cours were tasteless. Great as a refreshing drink when ice cold on a hot day, but as a beer, they really didn't rate in my book. Nothing else available in the stores at that time.

Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams were only start-up breweries at that time, and their distribution didn't reach where I was.

I started brewing just to get some decent beer.

 

[bendog15]

Was dating a girl and started making cider to try and get her buzzed. The cider turned out terrible. Finally a buddy pointed out that I had most of the equipment needed to brew beer. Stopped making cider (which I hated) and started making extract kits. 3 years later, I'm a serious all grainer with a dream keezer and all kinds of beer on tap. Btw I ended up marrying that girl.

 

[Nomofett]

Same as the post earlier I moved from Portland to Japan and the selection here was lacking and expensive. Always thought it'd be tough then saw some friends do it and figured I needed a hobby. After I saw how easy BIAB small batches could be I figured I'd give it a shot.

 

[uptonparkfan]

I wanted to brew for year and done first one should be reedy bottle next week.

 

[brewbama]

I used to brew prior to being stationed in Italy in '93. Then, when Alabama finally legalized home brewing a cpl yrs ago I decided to get back into it. I enjoy creating food such as BBQ, sausage, dried meats, pizza, pickles, etc and this is just a natural next step.

 

[uptonparkfan]

I just like to able brew my own beer then .design label etc

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

My interest in homebrewing got started when my youngest sister came home from college (Central Michigan University) with a couple bottles of an apricot ale she and some classmates had brewed in an actual course offered by the university on how to homebrew. It wasn't the absolute greatest beer, but it wasn't all that bad either, and I began to wonder if I could do it myself. Lured by the catchy gimmick advertising of the MR. BEER line of products, I bought a MR BEER starter kit, only to be disappointed in the yeasty, overall funky flavors that each kit produced no matter how long I let the bottles condition. Finally, I decided to shelf the Little Brown Keg and took a trip to 'Things Brewed' in Webberville Michigan, where I purchased a Brewer's Best Homebrew starter kit, two cases of bottles, a copy of 'The Joy Of Homebrewing' and a Things Brewed recipe kit for 'Better Than Manufactured Light'. Encouraged by the success of my efforts using quality ingredients and a decent brewing set up, I next set out to brew one of the recipes found in 'The Joy Of Homebrewing'. I believe it was the recipe titled 'Australian Summer Snow Lager'. Lacking the ability to do a temperature controlled lager, I substituted ale yeast (Cooper's generic ale yeast or Safale US-)5, can't remember which it was now), and still turned out the best tasting beer I had ever brewed at that point in time. From then on, I've been a diehard homebrewer.

 

[brhenrio]

I like beer, had some extra money lying around, knees can't take sports anymore, and I was bored. That pretty much sums it up...

Sums up my story too. Plus there is little variety where I live. Bmc unless I will drive 2+ hours

 

[Sailingeric]

It is cheaper than owning a boat or learning how to fly.