My New Homebrewing Hobby

So stoked about this that I had to share a bit about my new homebrewing hobby.

I’ve gotten involved in hobbies before, but they always seem short lived. While my interest is high at first, either the time commitment, cost, or some other factor typically leads to an early demise of the hobby.

It’s different this time, and my new homebrewing hobby seems like it’s here to stay.

My Homebrewing History

I’ve always had an interest to try out homebrewing. Not really sure why, it’s just something that appealed to me. Perhaps it’s my love of beer, or the idea of trying to save money (myth), or just being able to brew a good beer.

Anyway, my family got me a beginners homebrew kit for Father’s Day in 2018. Probably because they were sick of me talking about, and figured this would shut me up for a while. Jokes on them, as they have to listen to me talking about this hobby non-stop, and deal with my constant ramblings about “try this beer”.

I started with extract brewing from kits, but quickly progressed to all grain brewing after about 3 batches. I discovered bottling was a royal pain in the ass, and started kegging my homebrew after my second batch. This past Christmas I invested in a 3 Tap kegerator after I got tired of a single keg in a spare refrigerator.

Yep, I’m a bit obsessed.

Homebrewing Process

Since I started all grain brewing, I haven’t looked back.

I typically brew small batches, either 1 gallon or 2.5 gallon batches that I keg. Why these smaller batches? There’s a few reasons:

1. It gives me the opportunity to brew more and gain experience
2. I can try out different beers
3. I’m not stuck with 5 gallons of the same beer to drink

I seem to have a few different processes that I use. When brewing my normal 2.5 gallon batch, I Mash in a Bag (MIAB) using a batch sparge.

I save my 1 gallon batches when I want to experiment with using different hops, grains, or yeast. For this I do an abbreviated BIAB process.

It’s fun, but can also be a bit time consuming. A typical brew day from start to finish runs at least 4 hours, so I’m always looking for time saving opportunities.

Which leads me to…

Homebrewing Hobby Future

After sticking with my homebrewing hobby for the past 9 months, I see no signs of it letting up.

In fact, I’m already looking at the next rounds of upgrades. While I enjoy brewing these small batches, I’m kind of stuck with that given my current set up. It would be nice being able to brew a larger 5 gallon batch for parties or gathering, but it’s just not possible at this point.

I need to invest in a larger brew pot and propane burner set up so I can do these larger batches. My old 20 quart aluminum boil pot while sufficient today, is in need of an upgrade if I’m going to continue with this hobby.

I’ve also started looking into going with an electric all grain brewing system as an alternative to the propane burner setup. Less equipment needs and has the potential to make the brew day a whole lot easier.

It’s going to be interesting to see where this homebrewing hobby takes me. Looking forward to that.