My Homebrewing Journey

My homebrewing journey began like many other homebrewers.  I ordered an equipment kit from Midwest Supplies, found a large stock pot that fit the budget, and selected my first extract kit (Hex Nut Brown Ale).  My apartment at the time had a gas stove and the stock pot fit very nicely over two of the burners.  It wasn’t long before I first heard the glorious sound of a bubbling airlock.  I was making beer!

That first batch was heavenly (or so I thought at the time).  Many find the brown ale style to be boring (the tax-accountant of beers as one of my friends puts it).  I happen to have a great appreciation for the style and this was the best first recipe I could have made; simple and forgiving.

I continued brewing extract for a couple of years with good success until I finally got the all-grain itch.  After doing a bit of research online and trying to stay on a budget, I went for a DIY Rubbermaid water cooler setup, and away I went. More recently, I invested in an electric brewing system with a control panel (inspired by The Electric Brewery). I also sprung for a conical fermenter and upright freezer for a temperature-controlled fermentation chamber.

While all-grain has offered me more flexibility to get more creative with recipes, it has also brought new challenges and more things to think about on brew day.  I’ve made my fair share of mistakes over the years.  Some led to beers I was less than proud of while others found their way directly down the drain.  But all of these mistakes have been opportunities to learn (albeit the hard way) and to improve my skills as a homebrewer.

So here I am today, launching The Amateur Brewer as a place to share what I have learned and what I will continue to learn on my homebrewing journey over the years to come.  I want to share that knowledge with other beginning and intermediate homebrewers and contribute to the online homebrewing community that has shared so much knowledge with me.  Over time, I hope to cover various aspects of the homebrewing process, homebrewing equipment, and beer recipes, among other brewing-related topics.  I intend for the style of my posts to be short, sweet, and to the point (which I hope readers will appreciate).

I hope that you will find the information I share useful.  If you do, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.  I’ll always do my best to respond to comments and questions.  And if any of you other amateur brewers out there have useful information to add to any of the topics that I cover, please share in the comments as well.

And with that, the homebrewing journey continues…