It all started last week. A friend and I met at a local micro-brewery for lunch. Naturally, the converstion drifted to brewing. My friend had done a lot of home brewing before, and I have always wanted to. I told him how I really wanted to try it, but had always been intimidated by it. For no particular reason, I had always just assumed it was too complicated. He assured me it wasnt, and gave me a quick rundown on it’s simplicity. We followed up lunch with a trip to the local homebrew store. I left with barley, hops, and high hopes.
I couldn’t get started soon enough. I borrowed some basic equipment from my brewing buddy (a large spoon, a carboy, an airlock, etc..) and got to work. He was right; it was simple. Granted, I was following step by step instructions, but I feel like after a couple more brews, I could start modifying recipes and be off and running sans instruction. The beer I chose to make is an imperial IPA, and let me tell you, if it tastes anything like it smells, you’re gonna want a sample. My house smells incredible!
It’s now been sitting in the carboy for about 4 days, and the airlock is happily bubbling away, an indication that I did at least something right. I plan to transfer it to a “secondary” carboy at the one week mark, and let it clarify in the secondary for another 2 weeks or so before bottling. At which point I will have to wait another couple of weeks before consuming. I know, it’s a lot of waiting, but good things come to those who wait!
Since brew day I’ve become almost obsessed with home brewing. I dream about it, I spend hours on home brew forums, the first thing I do when I wake up is check my carboy. It’s taking over my life, in a good way. I havent been this excited about a new hobby in quite some time.
I’ll post an update as the beer progresses. Hopefully along with a photo of me sampling my first homebrew with a smile on my face.
Cheers!
therusticravioli 