What age did you start brewing?

[JohnnyV]

How old were you guys/gals when you started to brew and how old are you now? Any funny stories about it?

I'm 21 years old right now, started brewing a two months ago :)

I first discovered homebrewing after discovering Stone's Vertical Epic. I found their 04 in a liquor store, bought it, came home and viewed their site which has recipes for all the epics. Thats when I realized you could make your own beer! Did some searching and found howtobrew.com and this board. Haven't looked back since.

[gone_fishing]

Actually, would have voted in the 50+ category if there were one.

[ontap78]

First time I brewed was when I was 18. Jimmy Carter had just signed the bill making it legal and me and a buddy of mine (he was 17) bought equipment, syrup and yeast. That's all you could get at hobby shops back then. We made a few batches in his parents basement and I decided it kind of sucked and I could buy beer by that time anyway. So I just let him keep the equipment and he did it a few more times.

Then about 3 1/2 years ago I decided to get back into it again. There was so much more available compared to 1978 and I figured I could make some really good beer with a little practice. i extracted brewed for about a year and then I went into all-grain brewing. I love it. It's a great hobby. I just got done bottling a batch of American extra pale ale and friday I will be brewing up a batch of oatmeal porter.

[jjpm74]

Originally posted by JohnnyV
I'm 21 years old right now, started brewing a two months ago :)


It's great that you're starting now. By the time you're in your 30s, you'll be an old pro.

I started brewing in my early 20s, but was brewing mead and wine for years before delving into the world of beer brewing. I only started brewing beer about 5 years ago and have always done mini-mash and all grain. Brewing beer is much more difficult IMHO.

[BrewDog]

I was about 38.

[Teej]

Brewed my first beer a couple of months after turning 30. 36 now. Up until that point I'd been living in apartments for my adult life and didn't have the room for brew gear.

Made 1 drinkable extract batch and 1 failed "specialty grains" batch due to insufficient kitchen strainer size. ;) and the heavenly aroma that hung around the next few days did not go over well with the wife and so I put it away for a few years. Started up again last fall by moving my brewing outside and quickly jumped to AG.

I know some people do perfectly well in small kitchens and with extracts (and I've tasted great extract homebrews) but I just don't care to brew using either...although I don't mind using a bit of extract to make things up where needed and will likely use some when I go for bigger brews

[Goban]

Just started so 30. :D

[mookow]

I started brewing my own on my 23rd birthday.

[DecoJuicer]

I just started this past December. I was, and still am, 32 years old.

For some reason, I got a bug up my butt and decided that I wanted to make my own beer. I have only done about 7 brews, but I am already making plans to go all grains.

[Otis_The_Drunk]

I was 25 when I started homebrewing, and I still have the obsession. I'll be 44 in October.

[S.F.B.]

I was 38. I am 42 now and just getting heavy into all grain brewing.

[corkybstewart]

For me it was a long process. I started saving bottles for homebrewing when I was about 30. Then when I was around 38 my wife got tired of seeing crates of empty bottles so she bought me a starter kit from our LHBS, which went out of business a month later. But by then I had 2 batches of kit swill under my belt(literally) and I was hooked. I'm now 49 and even though my wife often complains about my beer obsession, she still supports my addiction. She just bought me a stainless steel conical fermenter, damn, I guess I'll keep her around a few more years(at least until she helps me open a brewpub in France).

[HogieWan]

I started two christmases ago. I was 23 then, and I just turned 25. I started after wanted to distill whiskey and learning a lot about the process. Then I realised that I could make beer legally and that there were a lot of commercial brews I had yet to taste. </-- Begin Obsession

[chazwicke]

I was probably 16. It was before it was made legal in 78. My buddies family were English diplomats so they travelled to England frequently. He brought back some English kits and we obtained the equiptment (food grade 5 gallon buckets) from the restaurant where we worked after school. When it was legalized I started in earnest and brewed up until the very early 90s. Too much good beer available to purchase after that. From time to time I consider getting out some of the old equiptment and making a batch.

[M.K. Jeeves]

I was 28, and going to school in Portland Oregon, the year was 1991. It opened my eyes to a new world. Every one I met brewed their own, and you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a brew pub. Heaven on earth!

[kmlax]

I must have been 22 or 23 when I started in '97-'98 with extract brews. About a year later I began putting an AG system together and have been outside brewing ever since. The system is continually improved here and there over the years. The only problem is no brewing during the Wisconsin winters - Natural Gas and a brewhouse are in my dreams.

[mookow]

Originally posted by kmlax
I must have been 22 or 23 when I started in '97-'98 with extract brews. About a year later I began putting an AG system together and have been outside brewing ever since. The system is continually improved here and there over the years. The only problem is no brewing during the Wisconsin winters - Natural Gas and a brewhouse are in my dreams.

Oh, come on, brew during the winter. Before I got a CFC, the quickest chilling time I ever had was when I plopped my kettle in the middle of a snowbank and watched it disappear within a couple minutes.

[Grog]

22. Took about 8 yrs off and started again (AG) at 30.

[kmlax]

mookow - you are right the snow helps for cooling, but have you tried mashing in 10 degree weather? It's impossible to keep the heat constant without direct heat, not to mention losing your fingers to frostbite (actually I have never tried this). And if I tried to brew inside, putting my converted kegs onto my stove top, my wife would make sure I was the one cooling off in the snowbank.

[HarkJohnny]

i had just turned 27 when i brewed my first solo batch.

two years earlier I had attended a friend's brewing session and helped out a little.

[mookow]

Originally posted by kmlax
mookow - you are right the snow helps for cooling, but have you tried mashing in 10 degree weather? It's impossible to keep the heat constant without direct heat, not to mention losing your fingers to frostbite (actually I have never tried this). And if I tried to brew inside, putting my converted kegs onto my stove top, my wife would make sure I was the one cooling off in the snowbank.

It was about 15°F and windy when I did mine, and I have to say the wind was more of a problem than the temperature. When I do it again this winter, I'm going to brew inside the garage (with the garage door half open).

As for dropping mash temps, I wrapped my mash tun in a blanket and occasionally pulled out half a gallon from the mash and brought it up to boiling temp, then returned it to the mash. Next time, I may just wrap the mash tun in an electric blanket.

[kmlax]

mookow - you are more daring than I am. I certainly miss brewing during the winter but I don't think the extra energy and headache of dealing with the cold would balance out my yearning to brew, so I just put it out of my mind, wait until days in the 40's, and drink some Wisconsin Micros to keep a smile on my face. So, would you call your winter brews Ice Beers?;)

[mookow]

Originally posted by kmlax
mookow - you are more daring than I am. I certainly miss brewing during the winter but I don't think the extra energy and headache of dealing with the cold would balance out my yearning to brew, so I just put it out of my mind, wait until days in the 40's, and drink some Wisconsin Micros to keep a smile on my face. So, would you call your winter brews Ice Beers?;)

As my grandfather always told me: Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome. There is a little extra bit of satisfaction from drinking a homebrew made during adverse circumstances.

Try it sometime, I think you'll enjoy the results.

[wortchillergoal]

I was 37. I had wanted to before but the first wife was not fond of the idea. She was gone and the restaurant supply house where I work, which did retail as well, started selling homebrew supplies. So, I started brewing and never looked back.

[hexalite]

I was 19. But I live in Canada so it's legal. I think if I had been in the United Sates and waited until 21 to legally drink or brew beer then I would never have changed my focus in life. I now want to attend a Beer School and perhaps open a brewery one day. If that dosen't work out, I could always run an BOP. I'm almost 23 now.

[Highwyre23]

I started when I was 20. I'm 21 now, but my sister got me a Mr. Beer for the christmas before I turned 21, because I would always complain about not being able to buy beer.

But to be honest, it did much more then let me drink underage without an id. I've been learning the complexity of each type of beer, and have a decent palate already.

And, on my 21st b-day, the first beer I ordered off tap was a micro IPA :), how many people can claim that!

[djaychris]

23, just a couple months ago....but I'm already hooked.:D

[Wrigleyvet]

Started when I was 19 with a hard cider made from 5 gallons of un pasturized un preserved cider from the orchard up the road and some cinnamon and vanilla. That experiment took me to the homebrew shop for the cider yeast and my freetime has been spoken for ever since and the skills have served me well.

Which reminds me. The fallowing is a story of brewing improvisation, adaption, and motivation I hope will serve as a inspiration to those of us here at realbeer who may get discouraged on the long road of homebrewings gutters and strikes.

March 2005, near MSR Tampa, Baghdad, Iraq...

I had just gotten back to the buildings we called home when I checked the mail sheet in the hall. Sure enough I had a check under packages and I had been looking for it for a couple of days ever since a friend of mine had said he had a special saint pattys day package headed my way. I went in the office got my badly abused cardboard box and headed for the cot I caled home. Inside I had the best piece of mail I had ever recieved in my life. Couple movies, magazines, a letter from about half a dozen old friends and 3 bottles of well protected brew. (Yes alcohol was strictly banned overseas but if prohibition didn't work here I don't know what makes uncle sam think it will work in the military overseas) The three beers inside were all Bells, two hearted, bells beer, and bells old ale. my friend who sent the package and I had been roommates at college for a short time and bells for a good pint was the place to go after returning all our macro swill cans for a dime a piece. I poured a hot 12 ounces of old ale into a water bottle cut in half to enjoy while I set to cleaning my equipment before bed. It should go without saying that the beer that day after work was pretty dog gone satisfying as far as hot old ales drunk from jagged plastic bottles goes. What happened next was one of the top 10 ideas i'll everhave in my entire life. As I allowed my mind to start shutting down and tipped up the glass for the last drops I noticed something. That chalky tan flour like substance at the bottom. For a split second I was alarmed... Had I or a roommate used this bottle for spitting chewing tobacco into and i hadn't noticed in the dim light? Oh no. It was much better... It was yeast. Glorious bottle conditioned yeast. For weeks some close comrades who knew I was a homebrewer had asked me if it was possible to ferment something out there... Oh no I'd reply... sure we could throw some bread and gatorade in a garbage bag and see what would happen but it would be of such bad quality I couldn't bring myself to attempt. But there I was looking at quality ale yeast right before my eyes. Over the next 15 minutes or so I had a plan and three days from that moment myself and my three roommates who had been hoarding unpasturized unpreserved 6oz boxs of apple and grape juice from the dining facility sat with a tan us army 5 gallon water jug with lid, plastic bag, rubber bands, a friend who had gone to the baghdad airport to drop someone off for leave picked up some bleach for sanitizer at the PX. So I sanitized the jug, the bag, the rubber band, my knife and all the tops of all the juice boxs, while wearing some rubber gloves from the medic's equipment box. And procedded the fill the jug with the juice medley and the yeast from the bottom of the bottle of bells beer. I fastened the plastic bag on top of the 5" diameter jug lid hole with rubber band to keep sanitary and gauge fermentation and stashed it away behind all the duffle bags of winter gear the four of us had to bring along. Long story short. With the help of three roommates who kept their mouths shut and a care package from home we were able to pour about 4 gallons of very drinkable "barracks wine" from the jug and restock with juice boxs weekly. after experiementing we found apple juice and dark grape juice was the best combo. kind of like watery juice with some bad vodka mixed in is what it tasted like. A few months later as we prepared to leave the country. The Baghdad Brewing co. was closed during a very special tasteing with field ration cheese and crackers. God bless bells bottle conditioned beers and the do it yourself spirit of brewing.
________
BESTSQUIRT69 (http://www.girlcamfriend.com/cam/bestsquirt69/)

[5pound_bass]

Can't remember exactly, but I was about 28. Got roped in when a few of my friends were giving it a try. I am a science teacher so it just seemed like an experiment with potentially awesome results to me. Been hooked ever since.

[hooky]

4 months ago at the tender age of 38.

[Vienna Lager]

Winter brewing in Wisconsin is not a problem for me. I brew anytime the outside temp is in the upper teens or higher. Our Feb. President's Day club brew was on a lake with the temp about 16 at high noon then dropped as the sun got lower in the sky.

When I brew at home in the winter I heat my strike on the stove and mash right in the kitchen. When it comes time to sparge I carry the full mash tun to my deck outside and set it on some saw horses and sparge into my cook pot that is on the turkey fryer stand. The height is just right for gravity to do its work. The only time I'm outside is to sparge and boil my wort.

Mashing in the house keeps you from dealing with a lot of heat loss in your mash tun.

[stringy]

I did my first brew just over a year ago when i was 20. I had stumbled upon Howtobrew beforehand so i avoided the kits and did a basic brew with extract and hops, and then started using speciality grains with subsequent brews.
I've since done 13brews, moving to all grain on number 9. And am just about to increase capacity so i can do 10g brews.... :)

[dparsons]

Interesting. Almost 20% under drinking age. I suppose its legal to buy barley and hops at 18?

[mookow]

Originally posted by dparsons
Interesting. Almost 20% under drinking age. I suppose its legal to buy barley and hops at 18?

I honestly dont know, but I will ask the owner next time I visit my LHBS. If not, I assume underage kids get theirs the same way I got actual beer when I was under 21... by giving the money to a 21+ person and waiting outside.

[JohnnyV]

You can probably buy them at any age - they aren't any kind of drug or regulated substance. Just plants!

[dparsons]

Originally posted by JohnnyV
You can probably buy them at any age - they aren't any kind of drug or regulated substance. Just plants!

If they have been specifically processed for beer making, then it may be different. I suppose that you can, as I wasn't asked about my age when I bought stuff online. Don't know if my age is attached to my VISA card info.

[Carl762]

I started at 46. Its an obsession now.

[thekulman]

Started in 87 with beer kits, got heavily into it in '91 after watching a 3 part homebrew series on TV Ontario hosted by Charlie Pap. doing extract and specialty grains. Stopped for several years and did Brew On Premise. Bought my own home in 2002 and got back into 'er.
So I've got 19 years on and off. I'm 38 now, started when I was 19 (Legal drinking age in Ontario).

Kul

p.s. - I still often watch that faded 3 part C.P. series on a 15 year old VHS tape for inspiration, there was a renassaince in home brewing going on in Ontario then and lots of HBS stores. Not the case now. You really have to look for quality ingredients in Ontario now. Lot's of wine supply stores that carry beginers kit''s, but not much else. Extract is very expensive ($3-4 a lb) so I've gone AG ($1.25 a lb)

[Mill Rat]

Originally posted by thekulman
Extract is very expensive ($3-4 a lb) so I've gone AG ($1.25 a lb)

Hate to burst your bubble there, but that's in line with what I'm paying in states, and those are US$, not CAN$. You are right that the supplies for AG are much less, but the time investment at least doubles.

[SoxyinMO]

When I was 42 I got my husband some stuff so he could brew. The results were not that good unless you're really into apple cider vinegar and spending long periods of time on the toilet :rolleyes:

Then in Dec. of 2002 I got him a good starter kit and helped him brew a few. Then the next thing you know I thought, hey, I can do this, so I did.

I'm 48 now and brewing all by myself for about 3 years.

[smeyrt]

22 which is how old I am just started doing and its a learning process my favs are porters and stouts if anyone has got a dank recipe send my way if you dont mind

[hexalite]

Originally posted by JohnnyV
... they aren't any kind of drug or regulated substance. Just plants!

Just plants maaaaaan.

[ARFan]

I was 21 when I finally saw the light...