Did you have a gateway beverage?

I started out brewing beer, but have since thought about making wine. Brewing beer is a very process-oriented endeavor, which is why you will see a few engineers who enjoy doing it (and making stuff to improve their setup). Most other fermented beverages are much less so, and seem to me to be more about getting good ingredients together and following a much simpler process.

I enjoy and am engaged in the process of brewing, from grain to glass. Nothing else really compares for me.

 

I also started with beer, so I might not be the most informed to comment. But my guess is that other types of fermented drinks like mead and cider have very little in common with beer in terms of learning and techniques.

Other than some basic sanitation principles and common equipment, there's not much useful experience you can acquire from them that will help in you in beer brewing.

I think pretty much anyone can make mead casually. Beer brewing is more like a long journey where you slowly build knowledge and improve your equipment. It's the kind of hobby that demands attention and dedication, but it's very rewarding to see yourself improve.

So I say definitely go straight to beer.

 

My older bother and I made dandelion wine when I was about 13 or 14, with no understanding of process. He and his friends tapped into before I had a chance to taste it. I'm sure I was the winner on that deal; I was told there was vomit involved. About 8 years later, I started homebrewing. The only connection between those events is that my brother got me my first homebrew kit. I still didn't know anything about process and made something vile.

If you are really looking for training wheels for homebrewing, you could go with a no-boil beer kit. It would probably be cheaper than buying 5 gallons of wine quality grape juice or 12 lbs of honey. Perhaps the progression in difficulty for beer kits would be

• No Boil Kit- easiest, like making orange juice from concentrate
• Canned-Hopped Extract Kit - easy, but involves boiling. Like making tomato soup from a can. Mr Beer?
• Unhopped Extract kit - involves boiling but add hops. Like making tomato soup from a can, but added spices.
• Unhopped Extract with steeping grains kit. Adding one more thing with some (loose) temperature control on your stove top. Not sure what the cooking analogy is here. Canned soup with a bouquet-garni? Maybe not quite. And don't be fooled by the fancy cooking term. It's easy peasy. If you start here, you probably feel like you are actually doing something to make beer. This is also a good place to start because it introduces your some ingredients and gives some insight into how recipes come together
• Partial mash - Not too different from above, but temperature control and water:grain ratio takes on some importance. You can probably still do this mostly with equipment in your kitchen. Gives you some insight in how grains can be converted into sugars. Gives you more options for making your own recipe.
• All-grain - no training wheels. You're riding a 2-wheeler. In the street. Wear a helmet and watch out for traffic.

I personally think extract and steeping is a good place to start. Ideally, start by brewing with a friend who already knows how. Alternatively, there's lots of on-line video that can be helpful if you are a visual learner. And there is always howtobrew.com

 

Mom! 4k said the "m" word!!! And the "c" word!!!!

I fully admit to liking both mead and cider and that I've received both trading here. Yes, I am pure evil. I yam what I yam.

A friend tried Mr Beer and had success with it. Then I tried it (with less success, but that's because my water there sucked). A couple batches of that and I was hooked on homebrewing. Had a full size, adult setup within a few weeks and tasted my first delicious homebrew within about 5 weeks. When your first solo batch comes out good, you'll never look back.

I still use the Mr Beer keg occasionally, and even use the bottles if I run out of glass bottles (it's happened a couple of times). They work fine, although I don't prefer them.

 

No sense in wine or mead as a "gateway" as they can take the better part of a year (or more) to be ready and by that point, you better have used very high quality ingredients (so the cost will still be there) and kept great control over fermentation temps. Cider can be done fast and while I have done a couple, it really isnt my thing. For me brewing beer was the way to go as it can have a relatively quick turn around and it is something that I enjoy. I will say though that it took the better part of 2 years brewing before I would prefer my own beer over many commercial counterparts.

 

I had a no-boil brew that was made at the homebrew store, it was pretty good. I was surprised. I am quite sure the guy who made it knows something about process and followed the directions closely.

I started on extract/steeping. It's not that hard. Check my early blogs for procedures if you need them, or PM me.

That being said, I did an all extract wheat beer than came out amazing. Liquid wheat extract, FWIW. I am sure it was fresh extract.

 

A few years back, I made several wheat beers during one summer because I was interested in playing with a few different yeasts and temps and hops. I used extract because it made for simpler experimenting. Nothing wrong with extract wheat beers. Nothing at all.

 

There is the old German saying: " Poets make wine; engineers make beer".

 

I suggest contacting your nearest local homebrew club. They will help you while simultaneously infecting you with the brewing virus.

 

It seems like most of us like to cook, or like building stuff. We like to get away from the kids, the wife, and drink a little on a weekend.

I started with beer. it's a much quicker product than wine, cider, or something heavier. Lots of new brewers have trouble with patience and don't let their beers mature enough. I couldn't imagine having to wait a whole year for something to shape up as a first batch. I'd recommend an simple APA or wheat beer for your first brew of any kind.

 

I made a really quick cider when I first got my brewing equipment. I think it helped me become familiar with the sanitation process and using the various instruments. I was siphoning and checking the hydrometer readings, just trying everything out. The cider wasn't so great, but my first homebrew was. I think that by making about a gallon of cider, it really helped me figure out what not to do, and how to do things better. I think it's a lot better to make a crappy 1 gallon cider than a crappy 5 gallon batch of beer. Practice always helps, you learn little things quickly that help future batches come out smoother. But do whatever you want.
I also never bottled a batch of homebrew, I went right to kegging. I brewed a batch, had it fermenting, then decided to convert my college mini fridge into a 2 tap kegerator. I'm extremely happy that I did that. I hope you have a good time getting into brewing. I know I didn't expect to enjoy it this much, but I'm not looking back. Have fun.

 

My first batch was extract + steeping grains and my 3rd batch was partial mash. After that, I said screw it and went straight to all grain. I like bottling my beers too, so I don't have a kegging system (yet).