Starting a new hobby can be exciting, but it’s important to take the time to think about what you’re getting into. Many hobbies, such as golf, skydiving, scuba diving, and home brewing, require a significant investment of time and money. Before diving into home brewing full-scale, it’s essential to have a good plan for getting ready to plunge in. By creating a roadmap for “checking it out,” you can determine if home brewing will fit into your lifestyle and budget.
When it comes to home brewing, “looking before you leap” means finding out what it means to be involved in the hobby as a full-time member of the home brewing community. This will only happen when you can make your beer at home, experimenting with different recipes and creating unique flavors. However, taking a mature approach to this adult hobby means knowing the investment of time, money, and space in your home before spending your first dollar on setting up as a home brewer.
A great way to ease into the hobby of home brewing without spending any money is to network with those who are already passionate about making beer. You can find online forums to learn more about getting started. There are also home brewing societies and clubs in your town that you can find out about online or through your local retail brewing supply store. These social connections will be people who are very much “evangelists” for home brewing because they know the fun of it. By sitting with a new friend and stepping through the brewing process, you can learn what equipment you will need and how to use it, getting training from an “old pro” in home beer making.
Once you’ve received some basic training through home brewing gurus, the time will come when you’re ready to consider buying your own equipment and taking a stab at it yourself. However, you’ve already witnessed that home brewing is a big event in the house that fills up the kitchen, refrigerator, and sometimes makes a mess, requiring places to store, refrigerate, and ferment the beer in various stages from ingredients to finished product.
Therefore, it’s essential that home brewing not just be your solitary passion. Suppose possible, get the family involved. Attending meetings at the home brewing club or going to competitions or other events that are all about home brewing can help your family catch the same enthusiasm you have. This enthusiasm will be especially important for your significant other because each brewing session will be a major event in the house involving the kitchen with lots of pans, bottles, and equipment. Having your spouse fully onboard with the process and working on it together makes the fun of home brewing even more fulfilling.
Another area of looking before you leap is planning out not only how you will use all the equipment you will buy, but how you will handle storage. It’s a very pragmatic concern, but if you bring in an arsenal of beer-making equipment, it’s going to have to be stored somewhere. While you’ll enjoy the equipment a great deal, you don’t want it to dominate the home.
By getting a feel for the equipment when you’re preparing to start your home brewing hobby, you can prepare a storage space for the equipment when it’s not in use. Think ahead about storage for the fermentation phase of brewing as well as storing up to five gallons of beer per finished batch. By thinking ahead, when you become a very active home brewer, you’ll have your family and facilities all ready for the changes.
Beyond networking with other home brewers and involving your family, there are many other ways to prepare for the exciting world of home brewing. One important aspect to consider is the type of beer you want to brew. Different beers require different equipment and techniques, so it’s crucial to do some research and figure out which types of beer you want to make. You can start with simple recipes and work your way up to more complex ones as you gain more experience.
Another aspect to consider is the quality of the ingredients you use. Using high-quality ingredients will result in better-tasting beer, so it’s worth investing in quality hops, grains, and yeast. It’s also essential to make sure your ingredients are fresh, as stale ingredients can negatively affect the taste of your beer.
As you get more involved in home brewing, you may want to start experimenting with different flavors and ingredients to create unique and exciting beers. Adding fruits, spices, or even coffee to your brew can add depth and complexity to the flavor profile. You can also experiment with different types of hops and malts to create a unique taste that is all your own.
Another important aspect to consider is the cleanliness of your equipment. Clean equipment is essential for making good beer, so it’s important to keep your equipment sanitized and free of bacteria. This can be done by regularly cleaning and sterilizing your equipment, using a sanitizer solution, and taking care to avoid contamination during the brewing process.
Finally, it’s important to be patient and take your time when brewing beer. Rushing the process can lead to mistakes and poor-quality beer. It’s essential to follow the recipe carefully and give your beer enough time to ferment and carbonate properly. It may take a few batches to get the hang of it, but with patience and practice, you’ll be able to create delicious home-brewed beer.
Home brewing can be a fun and fulfilling hobby, but it requires a significant investment of time, money, and space. By networking with other home brewers, involving your family, and planning ahead for storage, you can make sure that home brewing fits into your lifestyle and budget. So, take!
