There is no question that home brewing as a hobby is becoming more and more popular all of the time. Part of the reason for this is the
One of the huge kicks that homebrewers get from making their own brews is being able to share it with their friends and families and hearing these people tell them how great their beer is. There is something very cool about being the person at the party who made the beer that everyone is not just drinking but loving.
Hey don’t lie we all still like to be the popular kid at school!
And speaking of popular… Part of the reason for the huge popularity of this hobby is that getting set up to make beer and finding good supplies and equipment is neither difficult nor overly expensive.
A huge reason that so many people jump into making their own brews is the fact that locating equipment and the supplies you need to get started is so easy these days with all of the online resources and even local shops that have sprung up. IN my small town alone there is at least 5 home brew stores.
As a result people can get everything they need to make a great tasting beer at very reasonable prices.
New equipment is priced very well these days and it is not hard to find used equipment online from people who gave it a try and decided it was not for them or simply have retired from the hobby. (Lord forbid)
And I am all for supporting local when possible; so don’t forget to check your local home brewing store.
They can also be a huge resources to help people get set up. Now a day’s most of the stores I have visited seem to carry most of the brands of equipment and have a wide variety of ingredients. And if the store owner is any good at all he is going to have recipes on hand to help you get started.
And really getting started has never been easier. Learning how to make a beer is a snap these days.
There are hordes of websites like this one makebeereasy.com that are chock-full of tutorials, videos, posts and recipes to teach you the brewing process step by step. I wish when I was starting out brewing I had all of the resources available to help me get started that are available now.
When I started you really did have to wing it and try to piece together your equipment and figure out how to brew on your own. It resulted in some nasty beers being made and poured down the drain.
Nowadays it is completely different. With all of the help online there is no reason why your first batch of homebrew should not taste great.
Why People Get Into Home-Brewing
People definitely get into making beer for different reasons. I personally got into this hobby for two reasons.
I figured that I could make beer much cheaper than I could buy the store bought stuff and I also figured it would give me something to do
Where I live it is outrageous how much a 12 pack of suds costs and the quality back than was nowhere near the quality of what you could make from home. And the process of brewing I very much enjoyed and it was a fun hobby to spend my free time doing. So for me it was a win win.
To this day I still enjoy learning new aspects to the brewing process. Discovering how other people are doing certain things and than trying it myself is a blast. I get a charge out of modifying and tweaking how I brew to see how it affects the end result.
Trying new recipes and sharing recipes with friends is another fun social aspect of this hobby. There is a huge community of brewers online. And these people are awesome. They enjoy helping people out and sharing tips and recipes. The Make Beer Easy Facebook page is a great example of this. You can check it out here.
Even screwing up a batch never really upsets me too much, because in the end it is a learning process and really it is very hard to mess up a batch so bad that you would not still drink it. Any home brew is better than a macrobrew in my books.
Another reason to get into this great hobby is the control you have over the homebrew you make.
Because it is your own creation and not something a large corporation has slapped together and shipped to thousands of locations you get to control the taste of it, the look of it, the mouth feel, the head retention, the bitterness, how malty it is, etc etc.
You basically get to create, develop and modify your perfect beer. You get to become somewhat of a mad scientist and who knows you may just end up creating the world’s best beer.
How To Get Started
So to get started and set up to make beer you need to decide first and foremost how you want to start making beer.
There really are 3 different levels:
Level #1) You can either start out just using beer kits, which is where I started and it is a great starting point because you do not have to invest in as much equipment as you would if you start out doing all grain, so the cost is less; and you are learning very important aspects of the brewing process.
I guess you could call it the beginner stage. You can learn all about that here!
Level #3) Yup I skipped level 2 and jumped right to number 3, bear with me I will explain why soon.
Level 3 is the advanced level or All Grain. It is where you are basically using raw ingredients and handling all aspects of the brewing process yourself. The process is very similar to the microbreweries out there, the guys who make craft beer will be doing the exact same thing as you are when you are at level 3 (they might not like to admit it but they are), obviously on a larger scale but the process is the same.
Level 3 is a bit more expensive from the stand point of the equipment you require starting out because you are handling all aspects yourself. However it is really not that expensive and it is really not that difficult once you get going. T
here are lots of resources on this site that explain and show you how to brew all grain beers. My favorite method of all grain brewing is called Brew in a Bag (BIAB). Simple, easy and inexpensive and it makes awesome brews.
You can learn how to get into all grain brewing and BIAB here!
Level #2) OK back to level #2. The reason I skipped it is because it is really a combination of level 1 and level 3. So I thought it easier to briefly explain them first.
So with level 2 you are using some of the ingredients you would from level 1 and level 3. The beer you make is superior to that of level 2, not quite up to par with level 3, but very tasty. And the extra equipment you require is not much more than what you would use in level 2.
At this level you are doing what is called Partial Mash Brewing.
You can learn all about it here!
So Get Started
OK enough reading about why you should get set up to make beer, let’s get you started.
As I said earlier locating supplies, ingredients and equipment to get set up is very easy these days. You will find lots of resources on this site to help you. Here is a link to the top online suppliers.
Big Robb has put together a free guide line to how to make beer. It covers all aspects of what you would ever need to know when it comes to this hobby.
You can check that guide out here!
Go through it, read all of the resources in there and than decide which level of brewing you want to start at, level 1, 2 or 3. Then just follow the simple instructions found in that guide to get the equipment, recipes, and ingredients you will need to start brewing up your first batch.
If you run into any trouble at all or have any questions than reach out to us, we are more than happy to help you. The best thing to do is to drop your question in the comment section below and we will answer you.
Welcome to this awesome hobby and remember to keep it fun!
Cheers!