Brewing: What Inspired This Crazy Hobby?

BeerMakesPeopleHappy · Joined: 22 May 2016 Posts: 18 Location: MB, Canada

Hi! There are a lot of people on this forum who are brewing near or at a professional levels. I'm curious...what has inspired fellow home/electric brewers to take this hobby to this level?

For me, it was a trip to Germany in 2013. I had experimented with some kits in the past, with unimpressive results. The light really came on when I discovered this vast sea of amazing pilsner style beers. Maybe it was a combination of that and the culture around it, but I knew I had to try to recreate when I got home. I did a ton of research, and started down the path of all grain brewing. Switching to electric brewing is about refining that process for me (and increasing brewing capacity).

I look forward to hearing your stories!

**kal** · Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:49 pm Post subject:

For me it was really wanting to make the best beer I could, and not wanting to futz with equipment that never worked correctly.

Before I built my setup I had been to lots of brewing meets where everyone had what was basically cobbled together setups that required constant tweaking to make things work right. Things leaked, stuff fell over, temperatures were all over the place, you name it. While all that is fine as long as you enjoy it, what really stuck out was that most people didn't seem to enjoy it that much - they looked at brewing as some sort of chore that they had to get through in order to get beer. For many the goal seemed to be to get the brew day as short as possible, instead of as enjoyable as possible. As a result the hobby was usually short lived: I'd see people do all-grain brewing for a few years and then stop because they didn't have the time or the interest.

So I knew when I was going to design my own setup, that I wanted it to not be so 'tweaky'. Not an automated setup at all (I still wanted to control stuff) but a setup that wouldn't require me to do annoying/boring things like manually vorlauf for 30 mins before sparging, or have to add hot or cold water to maintain temp, or spend 3 hours cleaning, and so forth. So the end result is what I designed and am now sharing on this website.

To avoid cutting and pasting, more details on my brewing background and what my goals are in brewing on this page in the "Brewing Background" section: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/about-contact

The FAQ here also describes my goals in building the setup I did: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/FAQ#What_were_your_main_criteria_in_designing_The_Electric_Brewery_

Kal

chastuck · Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:59 pm Post subject:

To me it was a combination of heritage and what my father taught me. He was a keen home brewer, although he never progressed beyond kits. My upbringing in the East End of London, among the docks and the many breweries, explains the heritage side. My first real job was working for the Truman's Brewery in Whitechapel's Brick Lane (Jack the Ripper territory!). Seeing the coopers at work and watching the brewing process hooked me. And the smell of hops was in the neighborhood all the time. I've been brewing for 45 years now and it's been the major enjoyment of my life.

dp Brewing Company · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 12:28 pm Post subject:

I started back in 2008. I was tired of paying $12 a six pack of good beer. I was a little gun shy because I had tried doing a "Mr. Beer" kit several years before that. Luckily the Homebrew shop had a lager and ale samples of the same beer. They were surprised that I liked the Ale better. They said normally people that haven't brewed tend to like the lager better. Honestly I was afraid it would be something I would have to drink but wouldn't be good. I was very wrong. I've not came across a beer yet I didn't like that I brewed.

SD Endorf · Joined: 24 Apr 2015 Posts: 88

Interesting question.
I'm 59 and was home brewing for years - well before the "craft brew" craze. There is nothing like your family and friends exclaiming, "This is the best @#$@ beer I've ever had!"
I was using coolers on a gravity feed system for years. Unfortunately, age and arthritis takes its toll and hoisting hot sparge water over my head became a disaster waiting to happen. Then came Kal's system. There really is no magic bullet with an electric system other than 1. it's a lot less physical work and 2. it controls mash temperature very well.
Eventually, I became a student of water chemistry. I'm convinced that makes the difference between a "good" beer and a kick ass competition winning beer.,

BeerMakesPeopleHappy · Joined: 22 May 2016 Posts: 18 Location: MB, Canada

Thanks for the great responses!

jbrace1 · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 1:50 am Post subject:

I have a lot of time off in my line of work. I love beer. I go nuts (and drive those around me nuts) if i don't have a project going on around the house and I was running out of house projects and yard projects. Winter is especially bad without a project. I thought 'Building a brewery in my basement is a project.' I am also a detail and research guy so i spent at least 6 months researching the ins and outs of home brewing and spent a lot of time on the electric brewery. I bought the control panel as a kit and started accumulating parts as funds allowed. I got about 6 months of enjoyment doing the actual building and assembling. I'm about 19 months and 30 batches in and I would have to say this is one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done.

Thanks Kal and all of the other brewers on theelectricbrewery.

djp0318 · Joined: 17 Apr 2014 Posts: 16 Location: Belgium

Following my relocation to Belgium where great local Trappist and Abbey beers are cheap and readily available, I missed English and West Cost US ales (ESB from UK) and (Stone IPA from US) are two of my favorites and the only way to get them in Belgium was to buy from the UK when I was there or start brewing. Like the poster above, I love a project and this was the ideal way to satisfy my need for great beer and and an exciting yet at times challenging project..Hats off to Kal for spawning this worldwide electric brewery passion..Darrel

Joebrewing · Joined: 19 Jan 2014 Posts: 41

I saw a 1 gallon beer kit at a souvenir shop at Plymouth Rock for $10. Who wouldn't want a gallon of beer for $10? It wasn't terrible, but I only got a six pack after leaving the trub and yeast behind. I then realized I could brew 5 gallons of beer in about the same amount of time, and so on and so on.

pinbrew · Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 12:41 pm Post subject:

My wife got me a Brooklyn Brew Shop gallon kit for Christmas on a whim, and I got hooked with learning about the process and all the things you can tweak. As a bonus, the beer was really enjoyable at the end of the process, which hadn't been my experience with homebrew to that point. I started reading more, got a five gallon kit, and at some point came across Kal's site and got a little blown away with all the information he made available. That led to some more equipment upgrades over time, tearing down the interior of an out-building we didn't use down to the studs and building it as a brewpubshed (like British garden sheds, but with the brewery on site! Very Happy

), and continued experimentation. Still learning tonnes, and am having fun learning the legal side of it in Ontario (I'm in a rural community, and would love to see craft/home brew at farmer's markets) while continuing to keep our taps and fridges stocked.