By Bill Swallow | Senior Member
Those who know me know that I'm a bit of a beer nut—arguably borderline obsessed with it. I'm quite jazzed to be sharing this bit of who I am with you!
So let's put it out there: I love beer. I've enjoyed countless (thousands, to be certain) of brands and styles from all over the world. I approach each as a connoisseur approaches wine, and I take in the entire experience (appearance, aroma, taste, mouth feel, and finish). I often take notes on these criteria and use them to inform my overall impression of a particular style or brewery with each new sample. I'm also a bit of a foodie and love to cook, mainly experimentally.
You'd think that with such an affinity for beer and an inclination to get creative in the kitchen that I would have been brewing for most of my adult life, but I only began brewing about five years ago. It's been a wonderful hobby that is seeding what I plan/hope becomes a second profession over time. With two competitions behind me, and a beer placing first in its category in each one (with one placing in best of show—props to co-brewer and great friend Angelos Tzelepis), I think it's a possibility. You can see the competition results for 2009 and 2010 at www.thoroughbrews.org.
The basic process of making beer is simple and requires but four ingredients: grains, hops, yeast, and water. You heat water and add grains to convert their starches into sugar, transfer just the liquid to a kettle, boil it while adding hops for bitterness and aroma, then cool it and add yeast and allow it to ferment over time. That's it! Of course, there are countless ways to do all of this, many different hardware configurations and tools to use to accomplish it, and many varieties of ingredients to choose from. It's so simple on the surface that anyone could try it, yet so intricate a process to perfect that it requires a specialist. Hmm, sounds like technical writing!
For those thinking about homebrewing, here's some short but sweet free advice. First, invest in a decent brewing kit. Mr. Beer is a popular gift idea, but it's not the best kit for brewing beer. Your best bet is to invest a bit more and buy a kit such as the ones found here: www.homebrewing.com/home-brewing-kits.php. You will also need a 5+ gallon pot (ideally stainless steel) for boiling.
Second, find a mentor or expert for advice, answers, and help when needed. I'm more than happy to answer questions from anyone, but if you have a local resource, use it! It could be the people running your local homebrew supply store, a local homebrew club, or a friend who also brews.
Third, cleanliness is next to godliness (and “beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy” —Benjamin Franklin). You must sanitize anything and everything that touches your beer when brewing, fermenting, and bottling. Bacteria love beer, perhaps more than I do (though I think that's a stretch).
Fourth, start simple. Use malt extracts—liquid or dry condensed, pre-made, malt sugars—as the base for your brew. Get the techniques and process down before expanding into using actual grains. You'll still make good beer; someone just did the initial leg work for you. Sure you'll pay more, but your process will be quicker and it will allow you time to learn the ropes.
Finally, some sage words of wisdom from Charlie Papazian, founder of the Association of Brewers and author of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing: “Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew.” Don't worry if you mess up (unless it's a sanitation issue). Don't worry that it's not perfect. Don't worry that you've had to improvise. In the end you'll still have something of quality worth enjoying and will have added knowledge for the next batch.
Sage words applicable to all that you do.
You can follow my brewing and tasting adventures (as well as my technical communication and other ramblings) on my blog at http://techcommdood.com. That site has all of my additional professional and sudsy contact info as well. If you're also a homebrewer or are thinking about starting, I'd love to hear from you! And if not, no worries. We brewers love to share!
Cheers!
