How did you start?

jason · #1 (**permalink**) 10-03-2006, 02:44 PM

How did you start brewing? I first got into it by a Christmas present. It was a Mr. Beer kit. Nothing fancy, but my love for brewing started. Shortly after that I found a local home brew shop, that has taught me a lot.

Bodesbrew · #2 (**permalink**) 10-04-2006, 08:07 PM

Mine was also a Xmas gift. True Brew! That was 04 and I was hooked!

wild · #3 (**permalink**) 10-05-2006, 05:22 AM

I was getting bored with the beers that were available to me. In 2000 I had the chance to experience a local beer fest. While there I met up with one of the local beer clubs and tasted their offerings. What a delight! Any kind of beer imaginable at my finger tips and all I'd have to do would be to brew it.

After a few months, I became aware that I will not have the ability to brew all of the beers that I want to drink, so I joined a brew club. Now I can brew mine and drink theirs.

Wild

stoutlvr · #4 (**permalink**) 10-05-2006, 02:47 PM

I also started with a Mr. Beer system this past x-mass. I am just starting to collect the gear for more seriuos brewing.... Stay tuned

Carne de Perro · #5 (**permalink**) 10-06-2006, 05:32 PM

I brewed my first batch this past February, but the roots started last September. I'd been thinking about whether this was something I wanted to do and started flipping through a copy of BYO in the newstand. It was then that my heart lept for joy at the sight of a clone recipe for Yukon Brewing Company's Arctic Red! I'd had this beer once passing though Whitehorse and it was by far one of the best beers I'd ever had (still is). I studied that magazine like I should've studied in school until I could get the basic equipment together. Bliss, pure bliss. My goal next year is to go all grain with a 10 gal cooler infusion mash setup. (Now if I can just find a reasonably priced 40 gallon brewpot...)

Iguana · #6 (**permalink**) 10-06-2006, 06:16 PM

I started after a year or so of enjoying craft beer I thought to myself I love beer so much I oughta brew some. Went to the local homebrew shop and bought a kit, been brewing ever since, which started about mid January. Have now brewed 6 batches and just got ingredients for my 7th. Thus far have brewed an imperial stout, cherry stout, Saison(took first in Oregon Homebrew Festival in the Belgian and French Ale category), Witbier, Flanders Red(currently aging in 2ndary), Imperial IPA(currently in 2ndary), and next up is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale. Not much else to say other then I love beer and homebrewing.

Llewner · #7 (**permalink**) 10-11-2006, 01:16 PM

I started because I was getting tired of running into too many really nasty craft brews out there that I was spending $10+ a pop to try. Not to mention that the beers that I knew that I enjoyed were either also expensive, or rapidly becoming extinct. So I did a bunch of reading on the internet and went to my local brewing store to price equipment and ingredients for the beers I wanted to brew. There I was told that I was too inexperienced to brew anything that I liked and that I should start with boring stuff. That rubbed me the wrong way, so I went home and hit e-bay. I bought all my gear (admittedly spending too much after shipping) and a bunch of ingredients and off I went. The first couple of batches were b!tches, but non came out bad, and they all tasted great. Now, years later, I'm still at it and getting better every time. Although I still hate my stupid bottle capper. Some day I'll have a kegging system, oh yes .. some day!

salgy · #8 (**permalink**) 10-14-2006, 10:38 PM

i have been dying to start for years now... bought the books, priced equipment, but always had the same problem... space... just recently moved into a house and not have tons of space for brewing, storage and even lagering!

Pestis · #9 (**permalink**) 10-21-2006, 10:52 AM

Many years ago I tried mead at the MN Renaissance Festival. Mead immediately becoming my favorite alc beverage. For a few years I looked for mead at liquor stores when ever I was at one, with no luck. Eventually I found Chaucers and a MN local honeywine which I found myself dissapointed by.
Then a couple years back, on one of those boring "what the hell should I do" days, the thought occured to me. "Why don't I just make my own mead". So I did some research online, picked up a few books, tracked down some good honey, and got started.
I began with three 5 gallon batches of mead. After bottling, those 15 gallons disappeared very quickly (10 bottles remaining). I drink about 1-3 bottles of wine a month, but I found out very quickly how many friends, family, etc. are more than willing to recieve a few bottles.

I'm hooked, what a rewarding, facinating, enjoyable hobby.
I even started homebrewing. Not much of a beer drinker, (I mainly prefer malty Belgians and Lambics) I brew the beer for my brother and friends. Needless to say, no complaints from them.

dlihcsnatas · #10 (**permalink**) 10-23-2006, 09:56 PM

Due to beer laws in Texas and seeking something better than watered down beer I was introduced to the world of ales in the mid 80's. In 1988 a friend had made a few successful batches of home brewed ale and that was all it took for me to go out and buy the equipment and try my hand at it.
My first attempts where bad mostly due to my lack of knowlege. Gave up on it for several years and even tossed some of my equipment in a move. Then I picked up a book one day on the subject and tried again in '95. Came out with a really low alcohol sweet ale that just was not going to cut it for me. After that I tossed all my equipment back into storage and forgot about it. But with the ever rising cost of ale in Texas and the difficulties finding it pressed me to try again. So in 2000 I got serious and really did some research and brewed a few good batches and was hooked. Now, many really good ales later, I have about got this thing down to a science.