49 replies to this topic

[ScottS]

A buddy of mine brought back a $50 bottle of Redstone raspberry reserve mead from a trip to Colorado. It was so incredibly good, we were both blown away. So I decided to learn to make it. I bought Ken Schramm's book, made a couple batches that sucked, started to identify my problems, and it was all downhill from there.

[RommelMagic]

SWMBO had bought me a Mr Beer kit for my first father's day. I did that for about 1 1/2 yrs and realized that it was difficult making something GOOD with that, so I switched to extract, then partial, and finally AG.EDIT: and yes, to actually answer the post...I pretty much read up on it, several books, as well as forums later on. But I'd have to say that most of my learnign came from reading and practice.

Edited by RommelMagic, 11 May 2009 - 07:02 AM.

[TheOtherNate]

I can't recall what got me researching the possibility (legalities, cost of entry, etc.), but I mentioned it to a neighbor and he said, it's really not that hard, come on over and we'll do a batch (extract). Then my brother-in-law got a Sabco brew-magic (he researches something for years then goes full force), and had me over to watch some all-grain batches, which helped things 'click' wrt all-grain brewing.Nate

[Deerslyr]

The wife bought me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas 2006. After 3 Mr. Beer Kits, I stumbled onto an LHBS and did 1 kit in the Mr. Beer setup. After that, I bought a 5 gallon extract setup and also met a local guy who does AG. After brewing with him a few times, I designed my own AG system and have never looked back. In addition to the LHBS and my buddy, I was frequenting Yahoo Groups. I also put together a bit of a "library" of 4 or 5 books and a subscription to BYO. When the Yahoo Groups got a little insane, I migrated over to the GB for ideas and then ended up here.

[Spoon]

I knew about homebrew from some older guys I met while bartending in Va. Bch. There was a microbrew in town too that was selling a 2 different styles and I thought they were pretty good. That was in the mid to late 80's.In 1992 I moved to Charleston and found "Charleston Beer Works" which I think memory fail me now, closed then later morphed into 3 guys brewing? Correct me if I am wrong. But Anyway, I began there making LME kits, saving up Grolsh bottles until I had enough to make 10 gallons. I moved several more times and my brew equipment had been stored in a "friend's" garage. I was living in Boca Raton and got a call on Thurs night saying I needed to get my stuff out of his garage by Friday or he was selling it in his Garage sale. He lived in Richmond :cheers:I finally bought a home and began making my own beer again. This time I skipped over the extract and went all-grain. I jumped straight into kegging at the same time too. I have never looked back. I only bottled a few batchs since and have about 25 kegs or so. I have moved up to brewing 12 gallon batches but usually only do 6 gal due to variety reasons.I never have seen or brewed with others who know how to brew, picked it up from a lot of reading various forums. I have taught many to brew, and have turned many more into brew snobs who will turn their noses up to the BMC stuff.

[Deerslyr]

...Non of the books were as informative as these sessions were. A group of us in town started getting together and helping each other brew, and drink beer! ...

I agree with this. Once I was helping my buddy out with his AG batches, things made a lot more sense to see it go from grain to fermenter. It does help to "see it".

[chefmiller]

In 1989 I wasn't quite old enough to buy beer yet, and was very frustrated with the price/availability of good beer in my hometown, (St. Pete, FL) so I tried to use my then limited cooking knowledge to make some beer. Two pretty disgusting batches later, I found the Charlie book . Couldn't find a LHBS back then, so I started mail-ordering supplies and made my equipment from professional kitchen hand-me-downs. It's all been downhill since then.

[SchwanzBrewer]

About 6 years ago in college I thought about brewing beer, but I didn't know about the huge online communities out there. I saw a beer kit in wally world (not Mr Beer) that was translated from chinese to english. I had little to no sanitation, city water, no grains, and crappy instructions. I failed miserably, after 3 weeks I had nasty infections and pond scum. It was always in the back of my mind to try again and my buddy, who is a really good homebrewer, started talking to me about it. I got the bug to try again and started reading how to brew by John Palmer and almost every brew board post I could find on brewing your first extract. Then I bit the bullet about 3 months ago and bought my carboys and ingredients from the LHBS for Ken's MLPA. My buddy came over to help me on brew day so I didn't miss a bunch of steps like skimming the hot break. I was super meticulous about sanitation and I have a great beer now. I'm itching to do it again and I'm already considering going all grain.

[chuck_d]

My Roots are in the bottom of a 1 gallon gatorade jug full of change and being too young to buy beer but not too young to buy ingredients. It was basically just a bunch of reading and then practice. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Edited by chuck_d, 11 May 2009 - 09:04 AM.

[AspenLeif]

I had always been interested in making beer. I had made hard cider for a long time and in higschool we had set up a still...So I knew the fermentation process. When I got out of college, my first job...I met and became good friends with 2 people who brewed. They got me into it...and then I moved away and started going solo.MB

[denny]

Bought a kit, followed the instructions, made killer beer. I realized it wasn't much different than cooking.

[3rd party JKor]

Mr. BEER, of course!I got a Mr. Beer kit from my step father for my 21st birthday. I never actually brewed with it, because in my excitement about brewing beer I started to do some research on it. I found an LHBS, stopped in and and walked out with the typical 'beginner' kit. Not too long after that I was employed at said LHBS. The rest is history. It's been almost 10 years now.

Edited by JKoravos, 11 May 2009 - 10:27 AM.

[Lagerdemain]

My first batch at age 14 was complete guesswork and I'm sure would have been beyond dreadful had I actually consumed any of it (it was for a science fair project). This was in 1978 and there wasn't exactly a widely available library of homebrewing wisdom at the time. Another 14 years later, I allowed my then-wife to take me to a cake-decorating and party decorations store which also (unknown to me before then) sold homebrew supplies. I picked up a copy of Papazian's book, practically memorized it and never looked back afterwards.

[Kremer]

One guy on my floor my sophomore year of college ( 1996 I think) showed me how he made 'beer' and 'wine' in 2 liter bottles with airlocks on top. While not great, it didn't make me vomit. I started searching on the web and eventually got the now discontinued Mr. Beer 'professional' 5 gallon kit. I did pretty well using brewers best extract kits for a couple years until I bored with it from bottle cleaning. 3-4 years later I got back into it and bottled for 2 years before I got bored again of bottling, but this time I had a little cash so I went the kegging route. After kegging 4-5 beers I went all grain and have not looked back.

[pods8]

End of 2004/ beginning of 2005 and I was looking for engineering work (slow time to be looking). My tinkering gene was lacking a project and I had some time to kill... I hit a LHBS for a starter kit, read books and found the GB to learn.

[BrewerGeorge]

I was never shown how to brew by anybody else, but learned everything from Palmer and the internet. My wife bought me a pretty good starter kit and a copy of Palmer's book for father's day in '04 (or maybe '03). I followed the instructions in HtB and started it fermenting. I was interested enough that I started searching out forums immediately, then found a LHBS. I'd estimate that 90% of my brewing knowledge came from the folks at Northern Brewer, Brews and Views, and the Greenboard.

[MolBasser]

I sort of taught myself with the help of Charlie Papazians books. Just read the Complete Joy of Homebrewing (or whatever) and got started.The place that isn't mentioned brought me up to speed and really focused me on quality brewing while I was unemployed and actually got me started on my way to pro-brewing.BrewBasser

[ColdAssHonky]

I read How to Brew, tracked as many brewing forums as I could find and when I thought I was ready, I bought an equipment package from Midwest. A handful of extract batches, then a handful of extract plus steeping grains and I was ready for all grain. I've never watched someone else brew, but I'm sure it would have been helpful early on.

[Genesee Ted]

Made several kits by instructions only, then I got TNCJOHB by Pappy. Then Radical Brewing. Then greenboard. And LOTS of batches later, I learned to brew. I am still learning. If you are not than you lie.

[CaptRon]

Wow, my brewing career started in Fry's Electronics. They had a "Beer Machine" kit. I made a couple of their kits and hated it, it was garbage and I still can't believe that they are allowed to call that crap beer. That just made me want to learn more about brewing beer, so I got on line and read everything I could about brewing. Then got a packaged kit from my LHBS and made my first extract brews. Wanted more and purchased the All Grain Mashing system from Homebrew Adventures back in the day.