Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Getting Started in Homebrewing - Why?

Why am I telling you this story in this space? Two reasons. First, I hope that writing about my first homebrewing experience will enhance the process in two ways...I'll be more "in touch" with what I'm drinking and what I'm writing about and those of you with homebrewing experience will feel free to chime in with tips, tricks, and guidance to keep me on the right path. Second, as I'm learning this process and documenting it all, hopefully it will become somewhat of a guide for others who may also wish to embark on this wonderful trip. One warning, this will play out over many weeks, several months. I'll jump into this carefully and plan things out over the next several months. Hopefully, you'll be patient with me...unfortunately, it's not the only thing going on! Let's get started...

12 comments:

Adam said...

Of course I've been hearing about this for a while now. I'm happy to hear you are making the plunge. I just have a few questions.

What are you gonna make first?
Extract or all grain?
Lager or Ale?
Kit or your own recipe?
Keg or bottle?

More importantly are you going to invite people over to help and er...drink some beer?

Bryan Kolesar said...

Dude, this is all part of the process. First rule was to be patient! I will answer these and many more questions as we go along :)

Alan said...

I am joining you and re-entering the world of my own brew.

Alan
A Good Beer Blog

Anonymous said...

Say...I'm a Philly homebrewer who's thinking of starting to blog...hmmm...

Eli said...

Congrats Bryan. I was lucky enough to recently get a gentle push into brewing by my wife.

We'll be doing our first batch tonight!

Anonymous said...

Good luck!

I recently got back into homebrewing after a six year hiatus. I'm still a beginner but it's still fun.

My local homebrew supply shop sponsors a homebrewers club. I've never been to a meeting but I'm looking forward to getting involved. Maybe an all grain recipe is in my not-too-distant future.

Remember: As Charlie Papazian says, "Relax! Have a homebrew!"

Adam said...

Ok..Ok...I'll be patient.

Can I help? I'll be the beer holder ;-)

Bryan Kolesar said...

I appreciate everyone's input so far and will be counting on all of you to help keep me on the right path as I go through this journey! Cheers to good homebrewed beer!

Nate said...

Best advice is to just jump in and do it. You obviously have an interest. If you answer yes to the following, then you're ready to go:
1. Do you have some day/evening of the week with a block of 4-5 hours?
2. Do you have the money to buy a simple setup and ingredients for an extract batch?
3. Do you understand the basics of sanitation?

If your first batch comes out carbonated and infection-free: Congrats, you're a homebrewer. After that, it's a life-long pursuit of tinkering, perfecting, and upgrading!

Go for it!

Anonymous said...

As a novice homebrewer (<10 batches), I look forward to reading you do with homebrewing. I was lucky enough to win 2nd place in my beer's catagory at the recent homebrew contest.

Bryan Kolesar said...

Wow! That's great Jim, congratulations! Are you in the Philly area? If so, was it the War of the Worts at Iron Hill? That's very impressive given your experience.

Freyguy said...

You won't be sorry!! If you don't have it already, the recent book from Sam is pretty good, Extreme Brewing. The recipes look pretty good. So far the 60min clone is right on point!! I can't wait till my buddies Indian Brown is done too.