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....

[Matthew]

I try to catch up with a couple of really good mates once a week over a beer. We've been doing it for yonks and it's always been about chatting over a pint. Thing is we never talked about the beer we drank yet under the surface we all had a hidden passion for it. It finally dawned on us one day that the beer we were drinking was average and there had to be something else out there. Solution: Brew our own. After all it couldn't be anyway worse than what we were drinking... Long story short we got us some brewing gear and dived right in. In our brewing research we found out about craft beer (who knew that existed?) and now we regular at the Malthouse. Colin and his team of merry men (and women!) have been great, we've discovered what real beer is all about. Not to mention some quality assistance and help on this forum. Problem now is we've been buying more beer than we've been making so it's time to knuckle down and keep brewing...

PS. Have to agree about Great Expectations. That was where we headed first and we left the store with our gear rather disappointed. Complete lack of passion and customer service for new time brewers. I thought they would have jumped at the bit to help some newbies. We got a photocopied piece of paper with some "How to brew instructions". If I hadn't found this forum I would have given up months ago... sorry, back on topic please ;)

[martin w]

a friend of mine received a macs brewing kit for his birthday, unfortunately 1 of the seals wouldn't seal, so he called their freephone number and they sent him a lion 23 litre brewkit-the fermenter, hydrometer,capper, everything needed basically, no questions asked, didn't ask for a receipt or anything!
i then had the same problem! received my kit and got into it, did quite a few kit beers, some better than others,all drinkable but nothing really to shout about, started partial mashing, got some reasonable results, built a 3 keg brewrig and made my 2nd all grain on sunday, not drunk any a.g yet but i have high hopes!

[Pilgrim]

Hmmm, long time ago now. Mid to late 60's as I recall. Mate had a cellar under his dining room, had to lift a trap door to get down there. Always difficult to know whether to let him go down first and get attacked as I descended, or go down first and risk having the trapdoor dropped on my head. But I digress. We started brewing all grain beer down there whilst the womenfolk nattered away upstairs. No kits in those days, although you could get plain malt, so we had to crush grain in a plastic bag with a milk bottle used as a rolling pin. Very little variety in grain back then, basically pale malt and dark malt. Hops came compressed in a cardboard box and were as dry as a dead dingo's donger. Our beer tasted awful but hey, we made it so we drank it and liked it. Still got my first home brew book somewhere, Home Brewed Beers and Stouts by C.J.J. Berry (or was it Barry), could be a first edition :-)
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[vdog]

For me, the moment was really when I first tasted Emersons 1812 IPA and was completely blown away by it - who knew beer could have that much flavour? From there it was pretty much a case of figuring out how I could get my hands on more beer that tasted of good things, which led to 'why not brew it yourself?'. First brew was K&K with my brother in law, as we each collected kit for AG brewing through the birthday circuit. It was truly awful, and served to inspire us to do better ourselves - which we have without exception done, thanks in large part to the advice of many on this forum. Long may it continue.

[Peter Dear]

"went up to Great Expectations in the Hutt (utterly disappointing experience)." glynn foster


haha that is brilliant!!!!! sums up my experience unfortunately!

[Arron]

My 1st trip to the Dunedin Malthouse was the complete opposite experience.
I had been interested in trying brewing my own beer for some time and called into Malthouse on way home from work about 18 months ago.
I walked in the door and was greeted by Dennis. I told him I wanted to try brewing beer and a big smile took over his face and he came round the counter and shook my hand. He showed me the beginner kits, then went on to explain kit brewing, extract brewing and all grain, even letting me try one of his home brewed beers.
I left the shop with a beginner kit( a lager K@K which was pretty good) 2 brewing books and a new obsession which is still going strong.
Every 2nd Saturday when I would go get supplies for that weeks brew Dennis(or Jann) wouldnt just fill your order, but they would ask you about what you were trying to brew and offer advice.
Looks like I was lucky that I walked into the DMH and not great expectations.

[Matthew]

Seems like an unfortunate trend for us Welly brewers. It's a decent trip from Tawa to GE in the Hutt and one I'm in no hurry to repeat anytime soon. Shame.

[Soren]

back in '05 me and the missus were living in Perth, a stones throw from Little Creatures. For christmas that year she gave me a Coopers "brewing" kit and I brewed a couple of kits in the middle of Perth-summer without any cooling, they were pretty foul... but I made them so I liked them. it soon got boring though and I got hold of Papazians "complete joy of homebrewing", possibly the most important piece of litterature of the 20th century!:) I started throwing in some specialty grains, doing partial mashes and eventually full mashes. about a year ago I decided to stuff my biochemistry career before it had really started and start up my own brewery. To get some commercial experience I got a job at renaissance brewing and earlier this year I did an online diploma in brewing through the Siebel Institute. I planned on staying in marlborough for 3 months and then head back to the north island and start a brewpub somewhere, but I realized that in todays financial market, that might not be the smartest option. so i've decided to stay with renaissance and start up my own brand which they have generously agreed to let me brew on their equipment, first batch of brown ale will be brewed later this week. living the dream, hope it lasts!:)

[Reviled]

Holy shit congrats Soren!! :o) Whats your brand?? How have you only just posted this now?!?! lol

[Mike Neilson]

Awsome stuff Soren!! Pretty Inspirational!!

[Reviled]

Maybe we should get our shit sorted too Mike ;o) haha

[Soren]

you should get it sorted! the duopoly is a stronghold and we need every helping hand to bring it down!;-)
8 Wired Brewing is the name we fianlly settled on.