Once you have established your favorite breweries and favorite beer, it’s time to take your beer hobby to the next step. It’s time to make your own. Once you have the bug, it’s hard to shake. So where do you start?
- Cooper’s Home Brew poster #1 (Photo credit: Bandido of Oz)
Your local homebrew shop is where all great beers start. We usually can go in with an idea or a style and leave with everything we need to make your new favorite beer. As a word of warning, please don’t waste your money on the homebrew kits on the internet. While I may trust Bed Bath and Beyond for towels and kitchen gadgets, I won’t be spending my money on their latest one gallon brew at home kit. You should be buying your ingredients from someone you can trust. Who knows how long the grains and yeast have been sitting around?
And what about the recipe? You can certainly ask your shop guy or gal for help in this department. It’s like going to the hairdresser and telling them “Do what you want!”. Now, if you have a favorite style or beer, this might be a place to start. You can check out the Homebrewer magazine Zymurgy for some great ideas.
The one that I just got had dozens of award winning recipes. There are also plenty of books and online resources. Brewing is a lot like soup making and there are plenty of ways to make a recipe your own.
Once you have your resources in line, it’s time to get started. Set aside an afternoon to brew up a batch and get ready to wait! And hopefully, after a few weeks, you will have made your new favorite beer. And if you haven’t, try, try again!
Wonderings of a Twenty Something 
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