Story Time..How did you get started brewing?

[berryman]

After Christmas 2009, swmbo picked up a MB kit from the CVS drugstore on sale for around 10 bucks, she gave it to me and said look what I got you. I looked at it but didn't open it and said yea that's nice, put it in the corner of my basement. It set there until the following Dec. Wife and kids were baking cookies upstairs and Brother-in-law and me were drinking beer in my basement, I said why don't we cook something too and I pulled out the MB kit. We opened the box, did a quick read through of the directions and brewed some beer. In a few weeks as per directions we tried some, Hmm we made beer, not great beer but we made it and it was drinkable. West Coast Pale Ale with booster. Yea this was fun so I looked at the MB catalog that came with the kit and ordered 2 more basic refills and we made and drank them. Didn't think anymore about brewing beer until Dec 2010, got my annual bonus check and made a order to MB for a lot of stuff even a second LBK, and that's when I found and joined the MB forum. I was totally hooked now. I brewed every MB deluxe and premium refill (I think that's what they were called). I did everything MB, then as more I read I started using DME, then steeping grains, and then I got a 5 gal kit and started getting refill kits other places. Where I am today? I don't use MB products anymore, but if it wasn't for them and the help I got on the MB forum, I probably wouldn't be making beer and would have missed out on such a wonderful hobby.

[jimmypirate]

I've always been a do it yourself-er whenever I can. Home projects, car maintenance, taught myself how to create websites, etc... if there is a way to save money by learning how to do something yourself I'm all about it. I always saw the Mr. Beer kits out and about and was really interested in giving it a try but there was always something else that needed to be done or needed to be purchased. Fast forward to Christmas 2012 and Mama Santa came through with my first kit. I started out with a nice Mexican Cerveza, following it up with the Grand Bohemian Czech Pilsner. Both were quite tasty so I figured I'd jump in with both feet and tried a Chile-Lime Cerveza. Apparently I didn't blanch the jalapenos properly so we won't discuss that one, let's just say I gave it over six months before I got rid of the "pepper water". I upgraded to a 5 gallon Ale Pale setup that I use for recipes that I want alot of and I still use the LBK for trial flavors.

Up until this point I've been doing extract exclusively with a hop edition here and there. My next batch will feature some grain steeping.

It's been fun so far so I guess I'll keep it up.

[DirtRacer]

Like Jimmy, I am the DIY type but when it came to beer it just seemed too complicated. Had a friend tell me about his beer making back in '08 but from what I remember, he does mini mash which at the time to me was way too much work. Saw Mr. Beer in a couple different catalogs but it seemed for the price they wanted, it was not worth it since everything was plastic. I didn't think beer and plastic could work together. So finally saw a kit on sale online March of 2012 and just figured it was worth a try for the price and even though I followed the Mr. Beer directions, 2-2-2, the WCPA still came out pretty good, IMO better than expected. So from there I ordered a few more refills/recipes eventually finding the forum which then had much better directions making my beer even better.

[jimjohson]

my brother got a MrB about 3 years ago and talked about it so swmbo got me a MrB kit last year brewed the cal and read the boards a few days before posting. brewed the next batch, the cerveza, straight. added a roubust lme to the cerveza next. by then I had finished howtobrew.com. left the reservation and ain't been back.

[Gymrat]

In 1978 when brewing first became legal a friend of mine started brewing beer. It was the best beer I had ever tasted. This was before lite beers were even invented. Everything then was PBR, Bud, Miller, Hamms, Schlitz, Falstaff, etc. I was always fascinated with his beer and wanted to try brewing myself. But at the time I was married and we were raising small children so I didn't have the time to look into it. But the interest was imbedded there. Over the years the kids grew up, I was forced to move by being furloughed from my job, my ex divorced me, and I lived in apartments for several years. Then I got my house, was getting it set up, had forgotten about brewing when I went into the Bed Bath and Beyond to Christmas shop for my daughter in 2009. And there was a Mr Beer kit. I thought what the heck, for a $25 investment I get to try making beer. The rest is history.

[Beer-lord]

I go back to the old days....in the late 70's and early 80's. I worked in a Tenneco gas station that sold kegs and beer other than BMC. I started trying other beers, liked them and then when I was in college, I started home brewing. It was rough in those days. Extremely few suppliers and so-so ingredients. Most of what I made was extract but I crudely did some all grain and it wasn't pretty. I had a few great batches and many more just ok batches. Temperature control was tough. We sanitized with bleach and had to scrounge for every bit of decent quality suppliers.

I stopped brewing, had a kid, and life got in the way. Then a few years ago a friend got a Mr. Beer kit. I had one and wasn't crazy about it and stopped but his beer was better so I got the kit and the ember burned into a full flame and I was back in. When I saw the quality of ingredients and supplies, I was in heaven.
This forum (first Mr. Beer forum) has been a huge help and learning tool. I'm never looking back.

[zorak1066]

got married... relocated to Pensacola because I thought I had a job. market dried up... burned through all my funds and was living on credit cards.. not well..fun times! started reading books on herbal medicine coz times were so bad I was considering selling organs and blood (and couldn't afford a doctor). saw a recipe from an old herbalist for mead and figured ' I got honey (sue bee). I got bread yeast (fleischmans) . I got some fruit. lets give it a go. maybe I can get drunk off it.' threw some honey in some water with some fruit. tossed a towel over it... couple weeks later drank the most wonderfully horrid rocket fuel I ever go so quickly buzzed on. shortly after moved again eastward about a couple hundred miles because I had applied online for a job and got one...yay! the mead gods are good!

post move.. living in a roach pit but money was coming in.. still depressed much of the time so I made more rocket fuel. as things started to improve a little more and I could afford to actually buy beer, started drinking beer. a couple moves /years later started thinking 'wonder if I can make this stuff?' found the Mr Beer forum online and thus began my education. studied...took notes... asked some really stupid newbie questions... learned a few things and got a carboy and some gear. got a couple mr beer refills and some hops.. some tweaks that were suggested and the rest is history.

out of all the batches ive ever made (largely tweaked kits) ive only made one that was kinda gross but grew on me the more I let it age. slowly progressed to 5 gallon kits... real mead.. steeping grains.. starters... hope to be moving some day soon and want to start cookin' beer again... next step? brew in a bag!

[Wings_Fan_In_KC]

I bought a kit for my brother in law for Christmas of 2011. I wanted to keep the damn thing but I gave it to him anyway. A few months later, I got myself one and my first batch was the CGL (Cowboy Golden Lager) with Booster.

Between the time I brewed the CGL and the time I would have tried to drink it (following Mr Beer's inspid instructions about drinking after 2 weeks) I discovered the Borg and read until my eyes were sore. My CGL was weak but at least it was conditioned for 4 weeks!

I started adding DME with my third batch, added hops with my fourth and started steeping grains by my 6th batch.......the rest is history. I have 3 LBK's and 1 Brew Demon LBC and I used to keep them rotating regularly but since we moved I've been managing only a batch or so a month. Still doing shit around the house every weekend so it's hard to get back on a schedule for brewing.

[duff]

I was introduced into homebrew when I was in high school when I went over to help my friend move something for his uncle. It ended up being a 50 gallon conical fermenter his uncle was going to start a brewery with. He gave us a couple of samples and I thought this is way better than that Budweiser everybody is drinking. When I turned 21 I became know as the guy that knows about beer to a lot of people.

When I first started looking at brewing my own I was in college full time and working full time. I went to an intro to brewing day at a local place and the time it took was just out of the question and the people running it seemed uneducated and did not like questions which really turned me off. A couple years later(I think Dec of 2009) my room mate bought me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas. I couldn't do it that week for some reason and I was impatient. For a whole week every lunch hour I was reading the Mr. beer forum where I learned about the 2-2-2 timing. I made my first batch and it was OK but I was still hooked. I quickly moved on to extract with steeping and making mead. I also tried making apple cider but we don't talk much about that because it had poor results.

[FedoraDave]

I'm trying to remember exactly which year, and I think it was Christmas of 2009. SWMBO got me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas. I guess I'd mentioned I wanted to try brewing my own beer, but like many other people, I was intimidated by what seemed a complicated and arcane process, as well as an expensive one.

We were going away for a week between Christmas and New Years, so I didn't get to brew my first batch right away, but while we were away, I found the Mr. Beer forum, which helped keep me from making some of the usual newbie mistakes. Once I got home, I bought a second LBK (remember, I hadn't even brewed my first batch yet), and tried making the Whispering Wheat Weisenbier. I was surprised at how easy it was to do, and it actually made beer! Not the best, but it was real beer, and I had made it, which is why I tell new brewers that the first batch they make may not be the best beer they've ever tasted, but it will be the most satisfying.

I had a brief Mad Scientist phase, and then realized I'd better learn a little more before I started experimenting. Thanks to the Borg, I got into steeping grains, using DME, boiling hops, and eventually making the jump to AG. At my brother's urging, I got a five-gallon kit and with his help, took over 1/4 of my basement space with shelves, a fermenting/bottling station, and a lager fridge.

I'm still learning, even as I try to teach.

[teutonic terror]

I picked up a Mr. Beer Deluxe kit, (LBK, two brews and 8 bottles!) on WOOT in Feb 2012 for $25 dollars.

After I brewed my first batch of WCPA, with the help of the BORG of course and actually tasted it, even though it wasn't done conditioning and wasn't that great, I realized the potential to make better beer than I could buy.

I then, to SWMBO's chagrin promptly purchased 3 more LBKs, assorted equipment and started researching how to eventually get into all grain to cut my cost even more. I didn't stay with the Mr. Beer product for very long because of one, cost, and two, I thought all of their products tasted pretty much the same. Not bad, just the same!
I started doing all grain in the form of BIAB in July of 2012. I then found a forgotten Coleman cooler and converted it to a mash tun this past Spring. (March?)


Now, I'm up to three brew pots, two Ale Pails, two Lowe's buckets and four LBK's as well as a conglomeration of other brew equipment. I love doing all grain and even though I don't have enough time right now to brew as much as I usually do, I find it a very relaxing and de-stressing activity!
I've made some what I consider some great beer and some what I, AND others, consider not so great beer!
As Dave stated, it is a continual learning process!

[joechianti]

Back in the mid 80's I had a friend at work who grew up in the country and mentioned that they used to make beer from Blue Ribbon Malt Syrup with sugar and bread yeast. No hops at all. I made a few batches and they weren't too bad, but I did have a lot of bottle bombs. I was brewing in the five gallon soda cannisters we see used for kegs now and bottling in recycled glass quart beer bottles with screw on caps. I had been making lots of wine already, and it was fun to make beer too. But then came along a disastrous breakup to end a disastrous marriage, accompanied by the burning down of my mobile home. All my brewing stuff was lost along with everything else. It wasn't for another 20 years before I got up the courage to start brewing again. I got a Mr Beer kit for Christmas in 2011, found this forum at the old location, and before I knew what hit me, I was obsessed. Now that I've tested positive for Celiac, I can barely drink any beer, but I plan to continue making it because I enjoy that so much. It will make great gifts and I'll serve it to family and friends when they stop by to visit.

[Brian N-]

My wife purchased a Mr Beer kit for me just over a year ago. I watched the Mr. Beer video and brewed my first batch, pale ale with a packet of booster. I found the Beer Borg and let it ferment 3 weeks and condition 4 weeks. Not great, but better than Bud or Miller. Several batches later I started adding DME and hops and now I am steeping grains as well. Mr. Beer was a great introduction to the hobby, and I can see myself becoming more involved as my experience and knowledge increases. My friends and brother-in-law now request my beers!

[haerbob3]

like most I received a MR Kit for Christmas from the wife & kiddies, 2008 I think. Brewed up a couple of batches. Pilot House & Wicked Monk. Was not happy with the results did the 1 & 1 that MR B was pushing as instructions. SWMBO asked why I was not making beer anymore, did I want refills for my B-day. Ended up with a second kit. Well I didn't want to hurt their feelings. Came across the BORG at the old forum, what a change in how to brew. Did a couple more MR B batches. I was making excellent beer, family and friends preferred my brew to store bought!! By the end of the year I had switched to all-grain, 5 to 10 gallon batches. Now I run a Heat Exchange Recirculation Mash System (HREMS). Isn't it amazing what a little help from friends can do

[RickBeer]

Came up many times, never did anything. February of 2012 I saw a Mr. Beer kit on Woot.com for $24.99. Ordered it, then did no brewing until the end of June. It wasn't great (West Coast Pale Ale brewed too warm), neither were the next few. Added another kit from Craigslist for $10 in late July, then more bottles, then more ingredients, then ...