How did you get into brewing?

[Glynn Foster]

Continuing in the pointless new forum posts....

How did you get into (home)brewing?

For me it was mostly my brother back home starting to home brew first (since then all 3 of us do). I've been meaning to try for a while until I finally bit the bullet and went up to Great Expectations in the Hutt (utterly disappointing experience). Got it into my head that I was going to use glass bottles, so went next door and bought 4 swap-a-crates of Speights. It was a tough 2 weeks drinking to get through them in time for my first bottling. Unfortunately my first brew was also fizzy and tasteless....

[Reviled]

"Beer in my opinion is an everyday drink. Homebrew is my mainstay, I have no idea what I would drink if I didn't make my own beer."

lol, I feel like that sometimes when im thirsty as, I look in the kitchen fridge blankly for a while staring at the juice, milk etc etc, then I go downstairs and pour myself a beer ;o) bahahaha

[Alelover]

I am pulling this back to the forefront of the thread, as i fear it may be missed and we could all miss out on some valuable info!

Which leads me to another question on here to those who have made it to commercial levels:- What is required to enable you to set up as a commercial operation? Licencing / business set up etc. May be a section in the library or something on here as to how to set it up would help and encourage others to do it? Cheer!

[MrC]

If everyone who has thought about brewing commercially (probably most of us) decided to do it now, would that be a good thing or bad thing? Would too many small operations be detrimental to the overall craft brewing industry or is it just a case of "the more the merrier"?

[Mike Neilson]

It can only be good if the craftbeer market eats into the overall market share at the same rate as new brewerys come along.

[Stu McKinlay]

i agree, in part
BUT...

what about lifting the standard of craft beer in the market (over the years there is a fair bit of "craft" beer out there that has been most underwhelming, or problematic, or even downright infected... these beers must adapt or die)

and the variety of beers made - part of the idea around Yeastie Boys is to brew some beers that I'd like to drink and are not currently available.

[Martin Bridges]

"what about lifting the standard of craft beer in the market (over the years there is a fair bit of "craft" beer out there that has been most underwhelming, or problematic, or even downright infected... these beers must adapt or die)"

ooh look, a threadjack (tm) in a different direction! This is one of my hobby horses. Quality control is one of the biggest challenges for the NZ craft beer industry. I like batch variation as much as the next man, but there has to be a (very high) basic quality level.

[Stu McKinlay]

for contract brewing-
some free time
some ideas
a willingness to part with cash, for little return (or possibly negative returns!)
GST number
bank account
company registration
a business partner who is really good at accounts! and doesn't mind all the money being spent on making extravagant beer.
distribution ideas (you know publicans? distributors?)
a love of beer because making great beer is the best return you're likely to get out of it

if you're thinking of a physical brewery then you'll need much more time
brewpub/brewery... it's best to be bald BEFORE you start that one, i reckon.

[jt]

That doesn't automatically mean a lack of hair bodes well for brewing success !

[Sam Possenniskie (TGM)]

and a business partner who comes up with the most brilliant recipes

[Barry]

Now _thats_ smack talk. Booyaa.

[Larry Kurth]

Yes I made it to commercial brewing after about 18 years of home brewing. Like most I started with kit beers then progressed to partial mash and in the end full mashing. In the last 7 or so years I was producing a 25 ltr batch every weekend. If that seems a lot I had lots of " friends" to help me drink it, and it allowed each batch to bottle condition for at least a month. In 2000 I got the chance to make my hobby my career when I was offered the job as brewer for the then Brewers Paradise outfit here in Mount Maunganui.THey been operating as a U BREW setup where the punters could make a 50 ltr batch of extract beer to whatever recipe the liked using the malt and hops supplied.This beer was then kegged and carbonated for the punter to bottle when ready, and as they had made it no excise was payable. THe owners decided that they needed to expand and so they leased a far bigger building nearby with the intention of setting up a proper brewpub and that is when I joined them. After a fair few trials and tribulations was able to produce beers that were well received by the bars customers. The business is quite large with turnover in the millions. I however would not have been able to do it alone, the setup was too much.

[MrC]

For some reason I've just always liked the idea of making my own beer.

I started brewing when I was at college with the Coopers range and had mixed results with Kit & Kilo brews. Some were horrible and some were drinkable. Although the beer was never good I just kept on wanting to try again and eventually figured out through trial and error that the darker beers were more forgiving and that fermenting them on the cool end of the range gave the best results. Ultimatley though as my palate developed I became more and more unhappy with my results. Over the coming years I tried Kit & Kilo a few more times but always came to the same conclusion, "home brew is crap!".

About three years ago, my wife encouraged me to brew again but to research how to make better beer first. BIG MISTAKE!!!
I've since discovered HowToBrew, this forum and various other resources that have taken me from Krappy Kit & Kilo to quality home brewed beer. For me the internet has had a massive impact on my brewing.

I now brew with All Grain or Extract with grain & hops. Horses for courses depending the various contraints applied to a home brewer.