So, I just got my first home brewing kit for my birthday and I’m super excited to get it going. I have a buddy that loves to brew his own beer and I thought it was time for me to join in on the action. I’ve really become to appreciate really good beer and love trying new beer and expanding my taste pallet.

Patience.

I want it now! The very first thing that I learned about home brewing is that it is one heck of a [waiting] process. After some boiling and mixing, you have to wait…and wait….and wait. Now, I’m still waiting, go figure, for my first legit home brew. I opened a bottle about a week ago and it wasn’t quite ready. The carbonation hand’t really happened yet but the flavor was outstanding. My first brew I’m making is a Pale Ale – one of my favorite styles of beer. I’ll give it another week to get carbonated.

“Craft”.

I have officially experienced the “art of craft” that goes in to craft beer. I have some friends that have this craft down and I hope to get to their level after a couple more tries. My brew is not so “crafty”. The kit will do for now :).

Learning.

This first process has been a great learning experience into what it takes to make a great beer and then, also, what works and doesn’t work. I was word for word with the directions from my kit and so far it has turned out well (minus some carbonation problems). I can’t wait to learn how to enhance my brew skills and start making some creative brews. I called this my “F.I.N.A.L.S.” brew. It was finished and bottled right as the week of finals started. So it was either going to be really good for F*ck I Actually Never Learned S*it (or how to brew). 😉