[Alewyfe]

To the best of my recollection, it was late 1981 with some of my college room mates.  When we graduated and moved our separate ways, I kept the gear and carried on the tradition. Just brewed batch 297 yesterday.

You and Denny are making me wish I'd have kept track of the numbers. I have no idea how many I might have made. I AM busy trying to make up for all that lost time though!

[punatic]

Diane, has anyone ever told you that you bear a striking resemblance to Clayton Moore?   

[skyler]

Late August or early September 2006. I got my friend a really basic kit for his birthday, and we brewed an extract plus steeping grains Nut Brown Ale from a kit we got at Oak Barrel in Berkeley. Upon the urging of the cashier, we added 1/2 cup of brown sugar during the boil. It was great. I couldn't believe how well it turned out - in retrospect, the cool temperature of my friend's closet is probably the cause. We brewed once a week for about a year, before I moved  away. He doesn't brew anymore, but I took it up again after I moved.

[tschmidlin]

I'm not 100% sure - I believe it was September or October of 1990.  A dark beer from the Charlie's book, that I added some brown sugar to.  And brown hops, because that's what color hops were.  It was very drinkable, I was hooked from the first batch.

[morticaixavier]

for beer, I think it was winter of 2006/2007. It was the alton brown pale ale recipe. living in Dorchester, MA. got the goods at a LHBS in cambridge.

but I tried to make mead about 4 times in 2000ish.

[madscientist]

July 5th, 2010. 

I remember it because I had off from work.  My wife (girlfriend at the time) took me on a brewery tour and I wanted to make beer myself, so I purchased a beer kit with an Amber Ale Extract recipe fro monsterbeer or monsterbrew.com (Can't remember).  It consisted of a can of hopped malt extract with a 1oz package of generic "bittering" hops.

I only probably boiled about a gallon (for a 5 gallon batch), don't think I cooled it down enough, and pitched the dry yeast right on top of the wort.  Somehow though, it made beer, and it may have not been the best, but in my eyes it was damn good. 

[Delo]

My first batch was the spring of 2006. My wife knew that I loved beer and I wanted to start brewing so she bought me a Mr. beer kit and ingredients for an ESB for Christmas.  I finally made the ESB in the spring and it came out surprisingly good.  Unfortunately and fortunately I didnt read the directions to well and I put the "fermenter" in the dishwasher.  It warped and was pretty much destroyed.  I needed to get another, better setup, which came from Alternative Beverage.  The first beer I brewed using my setup from there was a stout. I remember that I was surprised that it came with a licorice stick. I was torn whether to put it in the beer or eat it. Mmmm licorice. I put it in the beer and the stout was delicious.

[denny]

Diane, has anyone ever told you that you bear a striking resemblance to Clayton Moore?   

In real life, she has no Native American sidekick, though.

[Alewyfe]

Diane, has anyone ever told you that you bear a striking resemblance to Clayton Moore?   

Thank you for the compliment! Actually, that's not me. That's a reminder of how I should live.......
Keep facial hair to a minimum, try to look good in tight pants and always do what's right.

[morticaixavier]

Diane, has anyone ever told you that you bear a striking resemblance to Clayton Moore?   

Thank you for the compliment! Actually, that's not me. That's a reminder of how I should live.......
Keep facial hair to a minimum, try to look good in tight pants and always do what's right.

excellent philosphy!

[denny]

a reminder of how I should live.......
Keep facial hair to a minimum, try to look good in tight pants and always do what's right.

That's a sig line right there!

[beersk]

A roommate of mine bought a kit from Midwest back in 2005.  I helped him brew the extract amber ale.  We did everything the instructions said, fermented, bottled, and let it sit for 2 weeks.  We opened a the first bottles and it was cloudy and yeasty and not good.  We were discouraged and decided to let it sit for a month.  Came back to it and it was clear and good! 
That planted the seed for me, but I didn't start brewing myself until October of 2008.  I brewed Midwest's Irish Red.  It didn't turn out very good and my next 1 or 2 batches turned out kind of bad also, but I eventually got it.  I went all grain after about 5 batches. 

[ccfoo242]

My first was in March of 1998.  415 more since then.

Well, you and I have a lot in common, except for the 407 batches in between me using a Mr. Beer kit around the same time you started, then doing nothing until last month.   

[dbarber]

My first batch was in the spring of 1998 and was a honey porter recipe from the local homebrew store in Tampa, FL.  I don't know how many batches I've brewed since I didn't keep good records until I went all-grain 6 years ago, 137 batches since then.

[tomsawyer]

I think I started in '94 or '95.