I think I can, I think I can

Today is not quite the first day of this journey, but it is the first OFFICIAL day.

It really started about a year and a half ago when my girlfriend Susan and I were discussing what type of restaurant or bar we should open. She wanted to open a brewpub. I was skeptical. I knew that niether of us knew enough about making beer to even consider it.

Initially I shrugged off the idea, but promised to look into it. I looked up brewing on Wikipedia, and soon I couldn't get enough information. I read and read, and decided to make my own beer, just to see if I could. I did a ton of research and decided that I wanted to attempt a clone recipe of a beer I tried when we went to Key West.

So off I went to the local homebrewer's supply store(the only one in Houston). After an hour of "just looking", I approached the salesman with my recipe in hand. When he learned that it was my first brew, he immediately shot down any idea I may have had about trying that clone recipe. He pointed me toward the kits, that used malt extracts rather than whole grains. I bought a glass carboy, a plastic fermenting bucket and all the bells and whistles that are a homebrewer's kit.

I was so disappointed in my first brewing experience. I just knew it would be better if I started from scratch. The beer was okay, but it tasted, well, like a KIT. The next brew would be different. I made sure I was prepared when I entered the homebrew supply store. I knew exactly which grains, hops and yeast I wanted to brew my clone. I even fancied myself a brewmaster and improved on the clone. I bought another carboy and some other gadgets. I went to the outdoor store and purchased a stainless steel turkey cooker, and a five gallon cooler that I would fashion into a mash tun.

I then proceeded to go from extract brewing to triple-decoction mashing, skipping all steps in between. I had read and re-read Gregory Noonan's "NEW Brewing Lager Beer". I just knew I could do it. I got to it and it was so much more satisfying than adding extract to water and just boiling. There was fire! There was math! There was exact timing! This is what it was all about! My first all-grain brew was a triple decoction mash, fully lagered clone of Yuengling with my own twist. It was some seriously high-gravity stuff. It was about nine percent alcohol, and I could only drink two before getting hammered, but it was the best beer I ever tasted!

I have since gone back and tried step and infusion mashing, but decoction mashing is for me. It is a little harder, but I get so much more out of the grain used.

That's how this obsession got started, and there is no slowing down now. I have found something that I love doing and cannot imagine doing anything else for a living. I still work in restaurants and bars, but I'm gonna bootstrap my way into the brewing industry. Step 1 will be to construct my own brew sculpture and start brewing for the masses. Please check back any time to see the progress, and give to the cause by purchasing a t-shirt.