[fredthecat]

Oh lord,  I remember the days when one could have any malt one wanted as long as it was Briess or Muntons.  I remember when Dewolf-Cosyns (DC) started to ship 50kg bags of malt to the U.S.  At 110lbs, those bags were unbelievably heavy and I was young and strong. However. brewing with their ale and Pilsner malted barley was an eye-opening experience of what was to come. DC was a huge step up from what we were used to using.  The only problem I had with DC malt was that it was floor malted and floor malted barley often as debris in it.  The rollers on my first Schmidling malt mill had many scars from tangling with foreign debris in DW malt. My favorite domestic malt for a long time as Schreier.  Their two-row was sweet and malty.   It was kind of like Rahr and Great Western on steroids.

nice. i know, it must have been a crazy thing back in the day. the things i heard from people who knew people who did it pre 2000 was "bathtub beer" and stuff. must have been a long slog to even get to those days when i started where it was exciting to have -roasted barley/2row/pilsner/a few crystal malts. and i think that was about it.

good anecdote.

It wasn't quite that bad, at least around here.

so, i know you're roughly in the american NW? or central west? the birthplace of the current incarnation of homebrewing.

when did you first feel like "wow, we really have a ton of malt hop and yeast selection now"?

if i lived in toronto in the early 2000s, it would have been better, but im in a medium sized town, not really close to any major city, so for a long time the LHBS was friendly but i couldnt really get the stuff others were talking about online. heck, no joke it still doesn't have liquid yeast, after at least 20-25 years of being open.

so, at least i can order online.

[denny]

Oh lord,  I remember the days when one could have any malt one wanted as long as it was Briess or Muntons.  I remember when Dewolf-Cosyns (DC) started to ship 50kg bags of malt to the U.S.  At 110lbs, those bags were unbelievably heavy and I was young and strong. However. brewing with their ale and Pilsner malted barley was an eye-opening experience of what was to come. DC was a huge step up from what we were used to using.  The only problem I had with DC malt was that it was floor malted and floor malted barley often as debris in it.  The rollers on my first Schmidling malt mill had many scars from tangling with foreign debris in DW malt. My favorite domestic malt for a long time as Schreier.  Their two-row was sweet and malty.   It was kind of like Rahr and Great Western on steroids.

nice. i know, it must have been a crazy thing back in the day. the things i heard from people who knew people who did it pre 2000 was "bathtub beer" and stuff. must have been a long slog to even get to those days when i started where it was exciting to have -roasted barley/2row/pilsner/a few crystal malts. and i think that was about it.

good anecdote.

It wasn't quite that bad, at least around here.

so, i know you're roughly in the american NW? or central west? the birthplace of the current incarnation of homebrewing.

when did you first feel like "wow, we really have a ton of malt hop and yeast selection now"?

if i lived in toronto in the early 2000s, it would have been better, but im in a medium sized town, not really close to any major city, so for a long time the LHBS was friendly but i couldnt really get the stuff others were talking about online. heck, no joke it still doesn't have liquid yeast, after at least 20-25 years of being open.

so, at least i can order online.

I'm in Oregon, starting brewing in 1998.  There was a decent selection of ingredients, including Wyeast since it's so close.  I could get my hands on a did variety of mlts and hops even at that point, but those are produffed around here, too.  I'd say that by 2003, maybe sooner I started seeing an even wider variety.

[fredthecat]

Ok, wow 1998? Somehow I thought you were doing it earlier, though that is quite early of course.

Yeah that situation sounds about right. I was considering buying hop rhizomes back in the mid 2000s, but hop choices became much better and cheaper afterwards.

[Slowbrew]

I did my first brew in 1998 too.  I always assumed Denny had been at this for much longer than me.  Seems, he was just a lot more dedicated than I was.

The "good" LHBS was only 4 blocks from my house back then.  It had everything I needed at the time.  Later it got sold and ended up buying the second best LHBS and the third just went out of business.  Eventually Beer Crazy opened and put the first one to shame in terms of variety and customer service.  Sadly, they are all closed now.

Paul

[BrewBama]

My first brew was ‘92. An extract kit from William’s that I boiled on the stove in an enameled steel canning pot and fermented in plastic buckets in the storage shed in Georgia (no temp control) bottled in Grolsh-style ‘flippies’.

I took several years break while stationed in Europe and picked back up in ‘13 when AL made homebrewing legal.


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[tommymorris]

My first brew was ‘92. An extract kit from William’s that I boiled on the stove in an enameled steel canning pot and fermented in plastic buckets in the storage shed in Georgia (no temp control) bottled in Grolsh-style ‘flippies’.

I took several years break while stationed in Europe and picked back up in ‘13 when AL made homebrewing legal.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I first brewed in 95. There was an LHBS near my work.  I remember extract batches based on recipes from The Joy of Homebrewing.  I also remember Wyeast from the door of a fridge in the shop.

I also took a long hiatus when I had kids. When I moved to Mississippi the beer scene was terrible (max ABV was capped at 6.2%) so I went back to homebrewing in 2010. I served Gary Glass one of my homebrews at a legislative event in Jackson, MS.  He didn’t like it But, his presence to help us legalize homebrewing is why I joined and stay in the AHA.

[hopfenundmalz]

My first brew was ‘92. An extract kit from William’s that I boiled on the stove in an enameled steel canning pot and fermented in plastic buckets in the storage shed in Georgia (no temp control) bottled in Grolsh-style ‘flippies’.

I took several years break while stationed in Europe and picked back up in ‘13 when AL made homebrewing legal.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I first brewed in 95. There was an LHBS near my work.  I remember extract batches based on recipes from The Joy of Homebrewing.  I also remember Wyeast from the door of a fridge in the shop.

I also took a long hiatus when I had kids. When I moved to Mississippi the beer scene was terrible (max ABV was capped at 6.2%) so I went back to homebrewing in 2010. I served Gary Glass one of my homebrews at a legislative event in Jackson, MS.  He didn’t like it But, his presence to help us legalize homebrewing is why I joined and stay in the AHA.

+1 My friend.

[Saccharomyces]

I also took a long hiatus when I had kids. When I moved to Mississippi the beer scene was terrible (max ABV was capped at 6.2%) so I went back to homebrewing in 2010. I served Gary Glass one of my homebrews at a legislative event in Jackson, MS.  He didn’t like it But, his presence to help us legalize homebrewing is why I joined and stay in the AHA.

A lot of us took a long hiatus from brewing when we had kids.  There are life events that are more important than brewing.

[Megary]

I also took a long hiatus when I had kids. When I moved to Mississippi the beer scene was terrible (max ABV was capped at 6.2%) so I went back to homebrewing in 2010. I served Gary Glass one of my homebrews at a legislative event in Jackson, MS.  He didn’t like it But, his presence to help us legalize homebrewing is why I joined and stay in the AHA.

A lot of us took a long hiatus from brewing when we had kids.  There are life events that are more important than brewing.

20 year hiatus. I am making up for that though, in spades. 

[fredthecat]

now that we're just reminiscing about life events...

ya, i took a few year hiatus after a kid.

now i just do mostly extract or partial mash brews, so i still don't have to spend as much time on it.


i wonder if i'll ever have the kind of free time i had when i was in my 20s again.

[riceral]

now that we're just reminiscing about life events...

Started in 2000 when my wife bought me a beer kit for my birthday.

Took four years off when I worked on my doctorate.

Back at it since 2011.

[kurtrzebley]

O.K.  I finally tasted my 1978 Amber Beadle Brew substituting the superbrau with safale 005. It has been in the bottle for over two weeks. https://photos.app.goo.gl/DBe2BeWmnVYFAq4f6.  Not bad.  Not nearly as cidery after a week.  It is actually quite good for a ~$9 a case beer.  Way better than the big three and maybe almost as good as Yuengling.

[chumley]

I brewed my beer in 1990. My wife bought me a kit for my birthday as she didn't want me to grow weed in the basement. 

I recall the extract kit that came with it. It was called "Ludwig Lager" and consisted of a 3.3 lb. can of liquid malt extract, 2 lbs. of dry malt extract, a couple of ounces of Hallertauer hops.......and a packet of Red Star Lager yeast.