Hello and welcome to the new blog! I’ve been trying to figure out how to start my first entry all day. I’ve kicked around ideas to be funny, to be serious, to sound more awesome than I really am and I’ve even considered quitting! But what I’ve decided to do is be honest. I’m a dude. One dude who loves beer. I love to drink beer, I love to talk about beer, I love to learn about beer and most recently I LOVE to make beer!
The idea to start brewing my own beer began to incubate in my brain last winter. Sadly, at the time, I didn’t have the free time to act on my urge. Fast forward to a few months ago, my schedule became less hectic and I knew it was time to act on the urge to explore home brewing!
I began as most home brewers, by ordering a kit online and making extract brew. Extract brew uses concentrated malt extract, which is really just a jug of fermentable barley sugars, as opposed to mashing whole grains in order to break long chain carbohydrates down into molecular sugars which are fermentable. I chose the extract method first for a few reasons:
1.) Its easier than all grain brewing
2.) I wasn’t even sure I was going to like brewing
3.) The price point of entry is lower for extract compared to home brew
4.) It seemed logical to concentrate on the brewing end and add all grain later
I’m going to make an honest admission, I really didn’t think brewing beer was going to be as complicated as it turned out to be. Even at the extract stage I made some mistakes. Ok, I’ve made a ton of mistakes, from blowouts (over active fermentations relieving pressure from the fermenter in a violet and messy wort explosion) to spilling beer everywhere while trying to clumsily filling bottles. And in the end, I still can’t wait to brew my next batch of beer!
I’ve graduated to all grain brewing methods now and honestly, I’m still perfecting my mashing techniques. I’ve got the wort boil to bottle process figured out. But everything else is still a work in progress. Although, I’m getting incrementally better each time I brew!
If you’ve managed to read this far I’m sure you’ve asked yourself at least once, “what the hell gives this dude any credibility in brewing?” (If you haven’t asked that question yet, I’d be shocked.) Because, the answer is nothing! I have absolutely no business passing myself off as a brewer. I don’t have years of experience, I’m not a Certified Master Brewer from Siebel and I most certainly haven’t won any beer medals. All I am is a dude. A crazy dude with a passion for brewing, a degree in biology, an MBA who loves business mixed with an ego that makes me a lot more confident than I should be. Will I ever turn this passion and crazy dream of owning/running a commercial craft brewery into fruition, I have no clue!? Once I get on the road will I even WANT to continue, I haven’t the slightest idea. None the less, here I am! Writing about my beer and my experiences along the way. This whole idea could turn out to be a huge success and I could brew the greatest beer this world has ever known. Or, this adventure could turn out to be the biggest most catastrophic failure anyone has ever put forth. Either outcome, this is sure to be an interesting adventure, so why not follow along and see how this ends?!
Moving forward I see this blog and my twitter feed being used to not only discuss my quest to navigate through the beer and brewing industry but also as a platform to look at the rest of the industry as a whole. Beer related items, home brewing, brewery tours, brew festivals, news, upcoming events, beer reviews, beer stores and the occasional blip about the overall beer industry. Most of my items will probably be Maryland centered or at least Mid-Atlantic in scope since I’m a born and bred Marylander.
If you’ve managed to read this far thank you! I hope I’ve enticed you to follow along on this journey, if nothing else its sure to be an adventure!
Cheers!
M
