What/who got you into brewing?

[BrewStew]

when I were a lad (said in a yorksire accent), my old dear used to make wine and it always intrigued me.

just over a year ago I was browsing the net on my lunchbreak and stumbled across a homebrew website. I thought "why not" and ordered a youngs starter kit that consisted of a fermenter, plastic barrel, syphon, woodfordes wherry kit, spoon, hydro, sanitiser etc and with instructions in hand, off I went.

although pleased with the results of the 6 further kits I had brewed, I wanted more, and because of the forum I was a regular reader of I decided it was time to take the plunge. several hundred pounds later and (i hadn't kept records of every brew) 20 odd AG brews later and i've never regretted buying that starter kit :)

I originally started brewing with the cost savings in mind, but in actuality it probably hasn't saved me anyting at all (yet) but i'm enjoyng it nonetheless :)

your turn! :)

 

[A T]

I was in a brew pub/ restaurant in Riga, Latvia with my x. I didn't know they brewed their own until she told me, i tried all they had to offer and they were bloody nice. So as you do, i thought if this lot can do it so can i Like most of you lot i did a couple of kits and impatiently jumped into AG :party: It's a bloody great hobby innit :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
I went back to the brew pub in Riga about 7 weeks ago and i have to say the beer is good at best but my tastes have changed a lot since i started brewing :

 

[jonnybeer]

Beer Seriously though, I , brewed the crap stuff from tins 25 years ago, well I now it was crap. At the time it tasted pretty good especially the barley wine conditioned in champagne bottles Also made wine from kits and the hedgerow and that all seemed to taste the same regardless of the fruit. The best was possibly parsnip wine that had been hid during a house move and only came to light after a number of years.

At this time it was purely budget related.

Now it's because I love the whole idea. Drink loads more and put on a stone but a small price to pay.

jb.

 

[steve_flack]

I liked beer, bought the Wheeler book on a whim. Read it about 10 times. Thought 'This doesn't sound too hard'. Went straight into all-grain doing my first brew with a mate who'd seen his dad brew. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong but it was vaguely drinkable (maybe choosing Duvel as your first beer was a bit over-ambitious!).

 

[Dunfie]

I started off making fruit wine which wasn't very good. I got an American book but didn't twig that an imperial gallon was bigger than a US gallon so my efforts were a bit thin.

Undeterred I turned my attention to making beer. I bought a couple of Graham Wheeler books off eBay and decided to give brewing a go. After I read them I decided that I wanted to go AG but the pragmatic approach was to do it in stages so I could learn techniques and also spread the cost.

Month 1: I bought a starter kit similar to BrewStew from Leyland Homebrew and a Woodfordes Great Eastern kit. This was a surprising success. I just followed what it said on the packet and I ended up with a very pallatable beer.

Month 2: Ritches 5 Gallon Boiler, malt extract, crystal malt, hops and hop sack.

Month 3: Picnic box mash tun. I've never looked back.

I only made a few brews and then we put the house up for sale and SWMBO didn't want me to have fermenters and homebrew equipment messing the place up so everything was packed away until we found a new gaff. Two years later (it took a while to sell) we were in the new house and I remembered that I had the brewing equipment so I dug it out and the rest, as they say, is a mystery :wha:

 

[J_P]

I bought myself a brupaks IPA kit for my birthday and enjoyed that so I brewed four more kits before trying a mini mash. The kits were a million times better than me Da's "kit and kilo" beer but they weren't "pub quality" so I decided to try brewing from scratch to see what I could turn out, the rest as they say is history.

I think the taunting from Wez and Vossy played a large part in me buying a boiler!

 

[Aleman]

Couple of the lower sixth were talking about some beer they had brewed and how strong it was . . . Thought it would be a good laugh, so made a John Bull bitter trial 8 pint kit with three times the sugar in it, and fermented it in the airing cupboard . . . It wasn't drinkable but that didn't stop me :sick: Luckily found brewing beers like those you buy on a stall in the local shopping centre . . . next brew was Abbot ale (Back when Greene King was a regional).

Tell everyone I meet not to do beer it's addictive but do they listen?

 

[Frisp]

I took to brewing as Im a tight *******.... I wanted to brew on the cheap .... Aye, and ah was doing alright until certain people ...well....Well ..Well they Flashed me..... flashed me wi their filthy shiney things... their acoutriments of shame ...... And Bang, I too became a slave to the shiney... . I think however it was unreasonable of the wife to leave because of my shiney fetish but It has freed up space in the bedroom for my malt, hops and a tastefull asortment of things shiney.... Every cloud Eh
What keeps me brewing?
Its Chemistry, its science classes for we the drinking masses, Its the sheer terror of a new recipe and the unfettered delight as a firstborn ale dances on yer tastebuds.
Its the cursed pain of a stuck mash and the guilt that can only be felt by a man who left his tap open or that brand shame that comes only from getting too pissed to pitch your yeast on a brewday .
Yet brewing is more than that , more than the Malt, the recipes ,the triumphs and the disasters . Its the people,The people who brew, the people who prowl the forums the newbies, and the brewmeisters who provide support, Guidance and importantly encouragement to others, It is that "band of virtual brewing brothers."..

Aw Feck Im filling up .......... :drink:

Deep down Im still a tight git, but a tight git who drinks better ale than he can get in a pub... and talks beter pish when blootered

 

[Aleman]

It is that "band of virtual brewing brothers."..

"We few, We precious few"

 

[A T]

I took to brewing as Im a tight *******.... I wanted to brew on the cheap .... Aye, and ah was doing alright until certain people ...well....Well ..Well they Flashed me..... flashed me wi their filthy shiney things... their acoutriments of shame ...... And Bang, I too became a slave to the shiney... . I think however it was unreasonable of the wife to leave because of my shiney fetish but It has freed up space in the bedroom for my malt, hops and a tastefull asortment of things shiney.... Every cloud Eh
What keeps me brewing?
Its Chemistry, its science classes for we the drinking masses, Its the sheer terror of a new recipe and the unfettered delight as a firstborn ale dances on yer tastebuds.
Its the cursed pain of a stuck mash and the guilt that can only be felt by a man who left his tap open or the shame that comes with getting too pissed to pitch your yeast on a brewday .
Yet brewing is more than that , more than the Malt, the recipes ,the triumphs and the disasters . Its the people,The people who brew, the people who prowl the forums the newbies, and the brewmeisters who provide support, Guidance and importantly encouragement to others, It is that "band of virtual brewing brothers."..

Aw Feck Im filling up .......... :drink:

Deep down Im still a tight git, but a tight git who drinks better ale than he can get in a pub... and talks pish when blootered

If we're gonna do a best post of the year post in December this is my vote

 

[J_P]

Once more into the breach dear friends :lol:

 

[Vossy1]

If we're gonna do a best post of the year post in December this is my vote

Mine too...so far :lol:

Once more into the breach dear friends

:lol:

 

[wildbrew]

my father

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

HERE,
With my beer
I sit,
While golden moments flit:


Alas!
They pass
Unheeded by:
And, as they fly,
I,
Being dry,
Sit, idly sipping here
My beer.


O, finer far
Than fame, or riches, are
The graceful smoke-wreathes of this cigar!
Why
Should I
Weep, wail, or sigh?
What if luck has passed me by?
What if my hopes are dead,—
My pleasures fled?
Have I not still
My fill
Of right good cheer,—
Cigars and beer


Go, whining youth,
Forsooth!
Go, weep and wail,
Sigh and grow pale,
Weave melancholy rhymes
On the old times,
Whose joys like shadowy ghosts appear,
But leave me to my beer!
Gold is dross,—
Love is loss,—
So, if I gulp my sorrows down,
Or see them drown
In foamy draughts of old nut-brown,
Then do wear the crown,
Without the cross!

 

[Clint]

Cost of beer,not going out much but drink at home,yet another geeky hobby I fell into,although I did brew a bit when I was 15.

 

[Worf]

My beloved [British] wife. Everytime we made a trip to England, we always spent our social time in traditional pubs. When we came back to the States, I'd moan & whine about American beers (& the places that serve them). Our trips became get and far spread, so the moaning & whining got more pronounced.

For Father's Day one year I was given a 5 gallon 'English Bitter' recipe kit & a CAMRA book. After studying necessary hardware lists & 'how tos', and acquiring said hardware, I finally stopped my complaining. I've been happier consuming my concoctions.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Similar to @Clint above -

Cost of Beer wine, not going out much but drink at home, yet another geeky hobby I fell into.

 

[Old Fart At Play]

I was given a Geordie beer kit for my 14th birthday. Well it was Newcastle in the 60s.
Didn't do that many brews until I got to University and a shared flat, when things really took off!

 

[wildbrew]

I used 2 strong ale Geordie kits to make 40 pints of strong ale now I do not use them they are over priced for the size

 

[Old Fart At Play]

I used 2 strong ale Geordie kits to make 40 pints of strong ale now I do not use them they are over priced for the size

Blimey I didn't know Geordie kits still existed!