When and why did you start brewing?

[Notlaw]

Just curious really. I'm 40 this year and have just started brewing after years of wanting to. I've not started because I want cheap beer or because I'm too tight to buy it, I've done it solely because it interests me. I enjoy cooking, I'm interested in science, and brewing kind of melds the two.

I'm not actually THAT big a drinker. I bet I average less than a bottle a day. But when I buy beers, I never buy a pack of the same sort. I'll always have a bit of a pick and mix of different brands and styles.

So what is everyone's story; when did you start brewing and why did you start?

 

[Dutto]

Started in 1969 due to combination of poverty (wife, two kids and a mortgage) and a thirst! Stopped in 1977 when we moved to Iran where it was too hot and couldn't find ingredients anyway!

Started again in 1980 on return to UK after Iranian Revolution. Stopped in 1982 after two consecutive batches went belly-up and tasted foul! (Now believe that this was due to poor sanitisation on my part.)

Started again in 2015 when I finally decided to use the brewing and wine-making gear that I had inherited from my brother when he died in 2011. Thank-you Joe!! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[clibit]

I did kits with my dad in the 70s and myself in the 80s. Then did very little til about 2008 when I was between jobs and had time but little money. I remember a friend telling me his mate made great beer and I said I'd made beer before and fancied another crack. I really wanted to see if I could make a beer I really liked, never had from those old kits, so I read up on AG and realised I could do a basic AG on the cooker and the first attempt was successful beyond my wildest dreams.

 

[Hoddy]

I'm a chemical and process engineer by trade. I worked as a trainee Brewers assistant in the very early 90's in a micro brewery in the real ale boom. Then I did nothing to do with brewing again until about 4 years ago when I wanted to see what I could make after getting disappointed time after time by what was on the market.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

It was to save money when I started, I then found I could make it even cheaper by not using kits, i now make both. http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49462




.

 

[GHW]

I think i wrote this on my profile but it's mainly because I'm turning into my dad (heaven help me).

He used to brew, grow veg, and it think I've just inherited whatever genes made him enjoy those things. His beer was terrible, though I only remember tasting it as a young boy. His methods were beyond rustic, he would just put a tea towel over an open fv and leave it. He probably brewed sours inadvertently.

I then had a go at extract brewing when I was in my early twenties, made a couple of half decent beers, but then moving around different houses and stuff I dropped it. Left a lot of my kit at my parents which luckily they kept and I still use some of it now.

I picked up brewing again two years ago as it had just been nagging my brain as something I fancied doing. I did one kit, then two or three extracts then went ag following clibits simple ag thread...

 

[Leon103]

I think I started in 2009. I remember seeing Hugh furry whatshisname on river cottage making homebrew and decided to give it a go. Made various kits but had a break between 2013 and 2015 when I didn't really drink at home so always had plenty of stock. Last year I had a serious health scare and took some time off work. I still had a kit at home so I made it and started getting back in to and went over to AG and haven't looked back

 

[MickDundee]

I started last summer.

I'd been on a couple of brewery tours, and a Micro Brewery opened about 150yards from my parents house about 4 or 5 years ago, and I thought I could quite fancy a go.

Did some reading up on it and discovered a massive Homebrewing thread on the football forum I post on. I picked up some tips, requested some equipment for my birthday last year and did a Wherry. It was a roaring success so I did another. I bought a German Pale Ale kit last month which can should be ready to drink in the next week or so, and have recently bought equipment to do BIAB from Gumtree so my first AG brew will be on in the next 2-3 weeks.

 

[clibit]

What's this German pale ale kit?

 

[MickDundee]

What's this German pale ale kit?

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60314

 

[dad_of_jon]

Started November 2014,

I don't really have the space but a friend of my son bought him a home brew starter kit from wilko's and it would have been rude not to have used it. Fortunately our first brew was as good as we could buy in the shops so I carried on! 19 brews later with only 1 iffy batch and I'm pretty chuffed with the results i'm getting.

It is so cool to be able to make 3 of my favourite styles of beer - american ipa's , wheat beer and dark strong belgian ales. (other styles are available :grin:)

 

[Notlaw]

I actually started reading up on it about 5 years ago. From reading up, I was always sure that all grain / full mash was what I ultimately wanted to be doing, but everything I read made AG sound far more complicated than it actually is. I know it CAN be as complicated as you want it to be, but coming on here has shown me that it CAN be far simpler as well.

If only I'd known all this 5 years ago..!!

 

[cheapbrew]

I started as my dads slave back when I was a kid in the seventies, never really got on with the beer we made but loved the wine so carried on into the eighties and nineties but then stopped mid nineties when my daughter was born, after a few years of not doing anything we moved and I almost threw out my equipment, but decided to keep it and then early this millennium I started again and have been slowly getting more possessed as the years pass. I recently started all grain and now my obsession seems complete! :thumb:

 

[Joeyriles]

I technically started in 2009 with a Kilner kit (it was awful!) and, after two years in South Korea I returned home and decided to try making my own but to do it 'properly.'
2012 to 2014 was a lot of kits and a mini bit of BIAB before I took the plunge in 2015 and built a MT and bought a 33lt boiler from the MaltMiller. I haven't looked back.

Late 2015 saw the kegerator be born and I think (think) that I've reached the plateau of where I want to be as a homebrewer.

Reasons: I'm a namby pamby English Lit graduate and now a teacher so it's one of my ways of pretending to be macho. I also love beer and enjoy the look on people's faces when they realise that I, who once wrecked the school science lab, brewed it.

 

[chub1]

I started last year. Having pretty well retired(have a few jobs on the go) i thought it was a good time to try it out. More so during the colder months as i do enjoy my fishing but not so in the cold weather these days.
Made some kits and turbo cider, now going to try extract using the recipe builder available on here and do small 5 litre batches.

 

[Ads]

I started last year, after speaking to a friend who was brewing kits. I then remembered my father brewing wine years ago. He still had his kit in the loft, I had to buy some new bits, but the Demi-Johns were good.
I'm more of a cider drinker and after a little research found people making Turbo Cider and thought it's worth a go, if it's drinkable I'll be happy.

I was very surprised by how well my first batch turned out so started experimenting with different flavours. I haven't bought cider since. :)

Now I have the bug and with the help of the people on here I am trying WOW's. :)

 

[Fore]

1995: Started with kits. I love beer and it was about saving money really. It was pre-internet, so just took the advice of the stores. I am an Engineer though, so enjoy the process and technical challenges. After a good 5 years or so I ended up with quite a good set of kit, including top (lid) tap King Kegs, which I don't seem able to find anymore. Was vaguely aware of Cornie kegs, but they were way out of my technical capability and finances at that time. Kept no brew records, but remember only 2 failures. Beers were acceptable, not super.

Then I moved to France and sold almost everything I owned. Which brings me to...

2013: A work colleague brought a bottle of homebrew brewed by her husband. Well you can probably imagine. Bang, and I was off again. This time with finances, and coming at it from more of a hobby angle. The internet, this forum, was a great help this second time round. I pretty much stepped straight into the kit I wanted. Then soon got interested in AG. Second child arrived, which slowed down progress a lot; even had my grain mill over 1 year before I actually got round to my first all grain. Now just done number 4. Totally obsessed with every detail. Currently spending the evenings on the Tube going through brewery tours.

 

[Graz]

It's mostly my Dad's fault (RIP).

He brewed his own beer since I can remember, he also did a bit of wine from time to time as well as the odd hedgerow or allotment creation. As I got a bit older I learned how to do it from him. I'm sure he did do a bit a full mash brewing at one stage, he had a Burco bolier, but mainly did kits.

I started brewing on my own during my second year at Uni (1991), obviously being a student I needed cheap booze, got a starter kit from Boots and kept a steady supply of beer going from then on. My Dad must have given me a pressure barrel as I remember having it on draught.

Been on and off ever since, back in full swing now for similar reasons, mortgage, two kids, wife who's a full time Mum, equals no money. Only make beer at the moment but thinking of making my first foray into wine making. Also thanks to this forum I now have many ideas floating around in my head about turbo cider and WOWs for summer barbecues.

 

[brumbrew]

I used to go walking with my dad and grandfather in the early 90s when I was a kid. Looking for berries to make wine out of.

I also remember grandfather making beer and me tasting the bitter syrup out the kit cans.

I had an interest in it as I got to my 20s but never really had the space to do it, living in a shared house with 4 other lads.

Moves out with the missus and well I need something to do while she's watching sh*te on the tv. Plus I still forrage when out walking the dog.

I inherited most of my kit when my grandfather passed away. So it's a bit of an ode to him. :-)

 

[Halfacrem]

Like many others, I started with a Woodforde's Wherry kit, some time in 2011, I think. That was a disaster (leaking seal on pressure barrel) I didn't know at the time you could re prime, so that went down the drain.

I did 6 or 7 other kits, most of which I didn't really enjoy, so I gave up for a couple of Years.

I got back into brewing last Year. I did a Landlord extract kit, which again, I didn't enjoy, so I bought a couple of 5 Litre stove topper all grain kits. I brewed those and even though I made every mistake in the book, they managed to be superior in every way to every kit I'd attempted to make. I'm starting to become a bit more discerning about my All grain brews and coming to the conclusion that not all of my results are perfect, however all of them are perfectly drinkable..:thumb: