I started brewing in October of 2009. I've found it is a good hobby for me because it demands me to be patient and requires paying close attention to detail. It feels very gratifying to take a sip of a cold brew that I have produced from scratch. I bottle a lot of my beer in plastic two litters and give it away to friends and family because I enjoy hearing their reactions to the different recipes I've tried. A lot of my brew supplies and ingredients come from The Brew Haus located downtown Dubuque on Bluff Street. http://www.bluffbrewhaus.com/
The owner's name is Jerry and he is a great guy. It's so cool that Dubuque has a brew shop right here in town. It really amazes me how delicious of a beer you can make in your own home. Brewing beer is pretty easy, but it does take paying close attention to detail. Maintaining clean and sanitary systems and equipment is by far the hardest and most important part of the process. I promise there will be more to come on my beer brewing adventures. Jenny's parents have been growing hops for me so I will definitely have updates on my homepage about how that is going. At some point I plan to take pictures of the whole process and post them to my homepage as well. Cheers!