Hello everyone. Located here in NW Kansas, where the craft beer is sometimes harder to find, but that doesn't stop me. I have been into craft beer for about 4 or 5 years, and it has sure turned into an obsession. My two high school friends that I stay in contact with also share the same obsession, and we regularly take brewery tour trips when we can meet up. Two years ago, when I bought the property next door with a crappy house and a nice 30x40 shed, I tore down the house, fixed up the garage really nice (heat/air conditioning, internet) and also built my own home bar room inside. I spend a lot of time in my bar where I keep at least 21 different craft beers on hand at all times. I bought a case of Bud Light for those who don't like craft beer, but I have yet to make it through that case in almost two years because I can always talk someone into trying what I have. We sure have turned a lot of people over to the craft. My wife and I have been toying with the idea of brewing our own, enough that she already bought me the beginnings of a sign, when she asked me once what I would name our brewery. So, for now, our bar is called "Work Brewing Company," without actually brewing. I get a lot of looks about why I went with Work as a name. I say, "Work is one of my favorite things to do, and the nice part is, you can always tell everyone you are going to work, or you are at work, and you can just go to the bar and it won't be a lie." Anyways, look forward to reading more about beer from everyone, and hopefully one day, brewing our own.
Luckily (if that is the right word) Covid hit about the time I began on the garage, so we have some extra cash from the government payouts come in, and to my amazement, the wife let me spend it. It is so nice having a heated and cooled garage to go play around in.
Welcome to the BA site, and I'll offer a premature welcome to the wonderful world of homebrewing. It is a fun hobby, and will pay dividends for someone like you who lives where you do and don't have ready access to a good selection of craft beers. To help you catch the bug I'll recommend that you purchase the book How to Brew by John Palmer. It's $20 on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/1938469356/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&aaxitk=53520597ad1bcffe372437524d27a3be&content-id=amzn1.sym.7e9cd8c2-888c-46c4-82d2-714b2b703021:amzn1.sym.7e9cd8c2-888c-46c4-82d2-714b2b703021&hsa_cr_id=8063363670601&pd_rd_plhdr=t&pd_rd_r=ac8a0724-c74c-4672-ad5d-c585aa97a311&pd_rd_w=vINN9&pd_rd_wg=iag58&qid=1673044045&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_0_img&sr=1-1-9e67e56a-6f64-441f-a281-df67fc737124 but you can sometimes find it cheaper or used. The 1st edition is online at http://www.howtobrew.com/ and is still a good resource regardless that three or four editions have since been released after the first. Reading it will give you a good idea whether you'll enjoy the hobby as well as info about the equipment that you'll need. Also, spend some time in the Homebrewing forum here on BA. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/forums/homebrewing.8/
Thank you for the welcome. I already have the book, and have been taking notes as I go through the book. I think it is part of what scares me about home brewing since I see how complex it can be.
You can keep it 'simple' to start with and just do extract brewing, and then if you enjoy brewing you can consider moving on to all-grain brewing. More equipment and time is needed for that on brew day. Extract brewing takes about half of the time compared to all-grain brewing on brew day. Extract brewing is all that I ever did, and I brewed good beer. My only caveat to extract brewing is to be cautious of 'kits' with all of the ingredients in a box for a specific style or a specific beer. Sometimes they sit on the shelf at the store and the ingredients get old. I had a homebrew store close-by so I never used mail order for ingredients. The large mail order places probably have a higher turnover and don't have a staling problem. I actually reached the point that I wanted only to brew clones of beers that I wanted to try but I couldn't get without trading or brewing my own. Clone recipes are on the Internet for most highly-hyped beers, and a couple are in old posts in the Homebrewing forum here for Pliny the Elder and Zombie Dust. I've brewed both with great success. If you decide to jump into the hobby, start saving empty bottles and save yourself a few bucks of equipment. Removal of labels is optional. Or maybe you want to keg your beers. You'll find pros and cons in the Home Bar or the Homebrewing forums.
Where in Northwest KS? My in-laws live in Topeka and in the past 5 or so years the beer scene there has greatly improved. And Lawrence is pretty great, too.
