My amazing wife first bought me the brew kit a few years back for my birthday, and I immediately brewed the ingredients it came with. I was happy with the results, but for some reason or another I didn't touch my new toy for quite some time.
I'd really like to get to the point where I no longer need to visit Carl at my local liquor store to fill my needs for beer. I can brew an infinite variety of flavors and styles for around the same cost per bottle as buying a case of Bud Light (cheaper in some cases) and get the same satisfaction of drinking the pricey micro brew or seasonal beers.
I had previously mentioned my amazing wife. Much to my surprise, she has not condemned me to hell for my lack of organization with my new hobby (which I fully intend to fix!) or the fact that for a few hours during the initial brewing process, the house smells like a brewery. I'm fully aware that part of the reason she puts up with this is the fact that she also gets to enjoy the product of my hard work.
I have noticed that my activities have sparked some interest from my friends. For those of you who that think it would be really cool to do the same... IT IS! It's also rather simple as long as you follow directions and (this is the hard part for me) be patient. The soonest you will be able to pop the top of one of your home brew bottles is almost a full month after you've started the batch (this time will vary depending on the size of the batch and type of beer). The initial cost isn't as bad as you would think, you can get everything you need plus the ingredients for your first batch for under $125 and you can brew 5 gallon batches for as little as $30 each time after that (less than $30 if you buy in bulk of course). If that price still scares you, there's another option. I bought my brother-in-law a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas this year. It's basically a mini-micro brew kit. Everything you need (minus the large pot) to make 2 gallons of beer. The Mr. Beer kit can be found online for as little as $25 depending on the kit.
Enough of me shamelessly plugging a product that is not paying me to do so. I've currently brewed and drank and Amber Ale, Wheat, Honey Wheat, Oatmeal Stout, and currently brewing is a Belgian Ale. The first few batches I brewed were from kits (you can buy a box with all of the ingredients included and an instruction page making it very east) but I've started piecing the ingredients together based loosely on different recipes I've found online and from a handy app I downloaded on my phone (yes, I'm 8 years out of college and have a beer app on my phone, hell, I have a whole beer folder on my phone).
Anyhow, there's a rundown of my current (and future) hobby. It's not extremely time consuming or expensive, but you may have to share the results once word gets out.
Cheers!
