Beer: Brewing at home is as simple — or complicated — as you make it

I` d been sitting on the Groupon for months and the expiration date was fast approaching.

It seemed like too good a deal to pass up at the time — a basic starter homebrewing kit from Hop to it! Homebrew, Boulder`s only homebrew supply store, for half off the retail price of $80. Several hundred other people thought it was a good deal too, and the store briefly ran out of supplies last winter when the Groupon first went on sale.

Now it`s summer and, instead of enjoying my first homebrewed batch of beer, I`d hesitated due to a few nagging concerns. First, there was the question of where to store the equipment and where I could brew. Every nook and cranny of my condo is already creatively crammed with stuff, especially now that the baby has grown into a fast-moving, ever-exploring toddler.

And then there`s the question of time. How could I brew, ferment and bottle a batch of beer when there are so many other demands? Naptime only lasts so long, after all.

Not to mention the multitude of expertly brewed craft beers that are available locally. Why would I want to fool with making my own beer when, even if it does cost a little less, it likely won`t be as good as the pros?

But according to the American Homebrewers Association, nearly 750,000 Americans brew beer at home at least once a year, and I`m sure quite a few of those folks live in tighter quarters than I do with more kids and less free time. If they can find a way to make it work, then so can I.

Besides, the majority of professional brewers and brewery owners I`ve met started out homebrewing their own beer, and many still do. And nearly every amateur homebrewer I`ve spoken with gets a certain excited, knowing look about them when that topic comes up. There has to be more to this hobby than meets the eye.

It turns out all I

needed was a trip to the local homebrew supply shop to put my worries to rest.

You don`t need a lot of time or space to brew your own beer, Greg Kallfa of Hop to It! Homebrew tells me when I come in, you just need to be organized about it and diligent about sanitization. A stovetop and an ice-filled sink will work just fine for the primary boil and for quickly cooling the wort so you can add yeast, he says. That takes about three hours from start to finish, then you pretty much leave those amazing little microbes alone for about two weeks to do their job fermenting the wort into beer before bottling.

As for equipment, even though I`d seen elaborate homebrew setups with multi-tiered stainless steel tanks and coiled copper wort chillers and all manner of gadgets and add-ons, all you really need for a five-gallon batch is a large pot to boil in, a couple of food-grade plastic buckets for fermenting and bottling and a few other basic supplies.

Brewing beer, I found out, can be as simple or as complicated as you make it. And while plenty of people get way into understanding every nuance of brewing in order to make their beer and appreciation of the craft that much better, a rudimentary understanding of the process is all that`s required to turn out a decent first batch of beer.

And, thanks to the quality of ingredients and liquid yeast that`s now available to the average homebrewer, you can in fact make beers that are every bit as good as the pros.

Kallfa sent me out the door armed with my new brew kit, a newfound sense of confidence and a couple of guides to help get me started.

“Don`t hesitate to call or come in with any questions,” he said. “That`s what we`re here for.”

That plus resources like local homebrew clubs, online forums, the wealth of information on the American Homebrewers Association website and the willingness of just about every experienced homebrewer to help novices like me with tips and encouragement, are enough to convince me that just about anyone can turn out a decent batch of beer.

Now it`s finally time to put it all together and get brewing. Cheers.

Contact Tom Wilmes at boulderbeerguy@gmail.com.