I started homebrewing in the fall of 2012.  I made a fateful trip to a local hobby shop to pick up some parts for a R/C car and bumped into a guy from Rochester Institute of Technology.  He was working on his senior project and was looking for motors for a small raspberrypi based automated brewery he was building.  Several hours of research later and I was hooked.  I soon acquired a copy of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian.   Next I secured a basic homebrew kit.  A 5 gallon bottling bucket, 5 gallon glass fermenter,  thermometer, bottle capper, and air lock.  I grabbed a bottle of starsan and was on my way to being a homebrewer.

My first few beers that fall were brewed from extract kits mostly.  A LME kit or two and several DME kits.  They were all brewed on my stove top with nothing but the largest pot I already had (~3 gallons).  I had saved up some 22oz brown bottles and purchased another case or two of empty bottles.  I knew going in that bottling was going to be a pain.  I went with 22oz bottles to minimize the pain but it still proved to be the only part of the process that I did not enjoy.  These first several beers brewed that fall and winter ranged from pretty good to pretty bad.  Most were drinkable and some we actually quite good.  I made a Lefthand Milk Stout clone which came out great.  The biggest issue at this stage was a pot that was too small and a fiancée that was not please with the results of a boil over or two.

It was time to move outside.   I purchased a 15 gallon stock pot, to which I added a valve, sight glass and temperature gauge.  I also acquired a banjo burner and immersion chiller.  I did a full boil extract batch or two and decided it was time to try all grain.  I picked up a coleman extreme cooler for my mash/lauter tun and slipped deeper into the rabbit hole.  I have since been adding to my setup many in the form of yeast and temperature management and a kegging system.  I will use this site to detail what I think were the investments that made my beer and brewing experience better.

I finally join the local homebrew club UNYHA in the fall of 2013.  It has been a great experience and has pushed me to brew and try styles I would not have on my own.

I am starting this site on a snowy spring day after a brutally cold 2013/2014 winter season.  Brewing out in the garage was rare and less then enjoyable this winter.  This prompted my desire to move to an indoor all electric HERMS setup.  Along with documenting what I have learned in my short year and a half of brewing I will also be documenting the build process of this new system.  My hope is to have it up and running before the weather turns cold next fall.

Update: 2018

There have been many changes in my world. A fiancée that is now a wife, a couple of kids, and a pole barn. My old brewing space in the house has been repurposed as a playroom and office (fall of ’17). My wife was on board with building a barn and allowing me to frame off an area for my brewing. This summer (’18) the brewery is back online. Having a dedicated space has been great so far. Hopefully there will be many brewing updates in the months to come.