Intro to the non-brewer

Before you get into brewing, you'll first want to know what brewing IS and what brewing IS NOT.

Brewing is a fun hobby. You'll use many similar skills in brewing as you would in baking or cooking. You have a recipe with ingredients, you follow the directions, and eventually (hopefully) turn out a consumable product. Brewing is also an ongoing experiment. Slight changes in your brewing methods can sometimes produce drastic changes in the final product. Many brewers find this constant tweaking, perfecting, and experimenting to be the most enjoyable part of brewing. Creating our own recipes, trying out new ingredients and methods, and sharing our own inventions with friends, is exciting, but not a requirement. There are a plethora of recipes, how-to's, and guides out there to make brewing simple for the beginner, and to challenge the seasoned pro. The more we get involved as a brewing community, the more we all benefit and reap the rewards!

Despite that glowing review of brewing, there are both positive and negative sides (as there are with any hobby). So I'll try to summarize some of the brewing details below.

What brewing IS:
* A fair amount of work. You'll often be moving 5 to 6 gallons (around 40 pounds) of liquid at a time. You'll, be stirring, pouring, siphoning, measuring, and cleaning.
* A lot of cleaning. Personally, I'd estimate that more than half of my brewing hobby is spent cleaning and sanitizing my equipment. Every time I take a measurement, every time I siphon the liquid, or really do anything to the brew, I end up cleaning and sanitizing equipment before and after.
* A cheaper path to great beer. I'm assuming you prefer to buy great beer (not those watered down domestics you can buy at the gas station). After you've invested in equipment, you'll find that you can brew 50 to 60 bottles of great beer cheaper than you could buy it in the store. (or as is the case in Utah... cheaper than the liquor store)
* A way to try out new brews you can't find in the store. Have an itch for a raspberry stout or a pepper ale, but can't find anything like it in the store? Go ahead and brew it up! There are recipes for almost everything you can think of, and plenty of people ready to help you create concoctions to suit your very own tastes.
* Sometimes messy.
* Environmentally friendly. You'll find that most equipment in home brewing is used, cleaned, and re-used. Brewing typically produces small amounts of cO2 (compared to how much you produce as a human) and the solid yeast by-products can often be re-used in baking or in later brews.
* Legal in Utah as of March of 2009! (For legal questions review Utah House Bill 51. Preferrably with your lawyer.)

What brewing IS NOT:
* Foolproof. It just isn't. You'll end up with some bad batches, some broken carboys, and some skunky brews. However, paying close attention to how you clean and sanitize, and being careful with your equipment will eliminate most problems.
* Complicated. With wine and beer kits available, brewing is only as complicated as you want it to be. You can follow a simple step-by-step kit, or you can make it all up as you go. You don't need a background in chemistry, rocket science, or the culinary arts. The whole process is actually quite simple and easy to follow.
* Dangerous. I don't know anyone who would classify homebrewing as a dangerous activity. I would rank the danger of homebrew right up there with baking or canning your own fruits. A lot of people think "home brew" and immediately think "bootleg" and imagine exploding stills. You should understand that in the US, home brewing does NOT include any distilling.
* Space friendly. You'll find that you probably want to devote at LEAST an entire closet to your new hobby. A minimal setup typically includes a 5 gallon primary fermenter (plastic bucket), a 5-6 gallon secondary fermenter (big glass jug), and a large box for all of your siphoning/testing/cleaning equipment. To keep a moderate temperature you usually have to keep your brew indoors (lest it get too hot or too cold) which usually rules out all that convenient storage space in garages and storage sheds. If you have curious pets (or curious kids) you may even have to secure the storage area to keep them from getting into your supplies.


Well, that's about all I can think of for now. If you come up with any more pros, cons, or misconceptions people usually have about brewing, feel free to post a comment!