My name is Tyson Keith, and I purchased a beginner home brewing kit in February of 2009. I was inspired by a good friend of mine, Daniel McNamara, who had purchased a similar kit a couple of years earlier and made his first (and unfortunately only) batch of home brew. I remembered drinking his beer and thinking “wow, this is cool you made your own beer! I have to give this a try”. Over a year had gone by and I still hadn’t attempted to brew my own. In July of 2007 my girlfriend was invited to her cousins wedding in Boulder, Colorado. She invited me to go with her and explained that her cousin who was getting married brewed his own beer. I though to myself “I could use a vacation, and the upside is a good time, a free meal and free beer!” Why wouldn’t I go, right? After arriving in Colorado, I learned that her cousin is Gary Glass the American Homebrewer’s Association Director! That sealed the deal. I knew from that moment that I had to make the time and brew my own beer. Having said that, 2008 was a busy year for me with opening a new store for the company I work for, and getting married in November. Finally, in February of 2009 I was able to get to our local home brew store to purchase my kit and begin the great adventure of brewing.
As a new brewer I started with the very basics, extract and steeping grains. My first five beers were extract plus steeping grain recipes, two of which were kits put together by the LHBS (Fat Tire Amber Ale Clone & Blue Moon Witbier Clone), and three of which were my own recipes (Belgian Dubbel, Sweet Stout, Pumpkin Ale). After having been satisfied with my first few attempts I was ready to take the plunge into all-grain brewing.
I purchased and built equipment to be able to brew 10 gallons of beer at a time. I have brewed three All-Grain (AG) beers before starting this blog which was inspired by a fellow brewer who had started brewing in January 2009 and whom I met via Home BrewTalk a forum designated to local homebrewers and enthusiasts.
You are invited to follow along with me in my brewing adventures, and hopefully I will inspire you to brew your own too!