Cheers from Japan!

[TommyBoy0329]

Konichiwa from Japan! My name is Thomas and I am the newest newbie in the world of Home Brewing!

I am in the United States Navy, currently stationed in Japan. My intro to Home Brewing was actually a PicoBrew Pico...

My buddies and I have always been beer lovers, every craft beer festival and event they had here in Japan, we were at...our conversations usually start with "Had any good brews lately?" but I digress...I funded the Pico KickStarter project about a year ago out of pure curiosity and then totally forgot about the thing until one day a big box arrived at my work place and everyone wanted to know what was inside...

Move ahead 3 months and I'm addicted to the idea of making my own beer...now I know the Pico and other machines are considered NOT BREWING by most...and I partially agree, its the Kuerig of beer...but it got my interest started and I think that is the purpose, as a very simple, easy, training wheels introduction to making beer...however with the Pico I was limited to brewing other companies recipes and buying their PicoPaks. But then last month they released the Freestyle option where I could make my own paks, and my mind went high and right...sadly after looking at their recipe creator, I was severely disappointed at how limited my options were...

Fast forward 30 days, and I have started a library of every major Home Brewing book I can find on Amazon. I just ordered $700 worth of Home Brewing equipment, because well the Pico and its bigger brother the Zymatic just weren't what I wanted to do...I wanna make my beer the traditional way, I wanna hold the grains in my hand, I wanna stir the kettle and make sure I'm not going over my times. I don't want a machine to do the whole process for me...I wanna know that that is MY beer and it either is amazing or sucks because I made it...and succeeded or failed, but can tweak and move on...

So yea...that's my story...please as I share recipes, critique the hell out of them...I don't know what I am doing, but I'm watching videos, reading the books and listening to the Pod Casts, tracking my equipment impatiently and waiting for the mail clerks to call me up cursing because I have 300 lbs of boxes waiting for me...

But I am learning and I am happy I accidentally funded that little machine last year, otherwise Id be standing in line with the next guy buying someone else's 6 pack, rather than drinking something I MADE...

 

[ACBEV]

Hi Tommyboy... Nice story... Welcome to brewing beer.

You will learn a lot over time and always something new. In my case I have brewed some really bad beers, others I would call nice and a few gems. With time and experience the bad ones are fewer.

My advice is to always keep your mind open and don't be afraid to try something new.

 

[CRUNK]

Konichiwa from Pennsylvania

I agree I knew I wanted to be hands on during the process, my brew days run from 6 to 8 hours, and I feel so relaxed at that time, I am former military enlisted in 1987 retired in 2007.


Welcome to brewing.

 

[TommyBoy0329]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome...

Unfortunately I wont be able to make my first beer until late this year...we go on deployment in a couple months and afterwards, instead of rotating back to the good 'ole USA...Uncle Sam decided it would be more cost effective to move me down south for 2 more years in Japan, but I just heard back from the company and all my stuff should be here in 3-4 weeks...so at least I will have everything I need for when I get home...

 

[TommyBoy0329]

Konichiwa from Pennsylvania

I agree I knew I wanted to be hands on during the process, my brew days run from 6 to 8 hours, and I feel so relaxed at that time, I am former military enlisted in 1987 retired in 2007.


Welcome to brewing.

Thanks for your service sir

 

[GFHomebrew]

So much there ain't no way you could do a basic biab stove top brew there tommyboy? I know your on the move.

 

[TommyBoy0329]

So much there ain't no way you could do a basic biab stove top brew there tommyboy? I know your on the move.

I actually already received my order from the company, 1 week from placing my order online to having it delivered to my command OVERSEAS...I am beyond impressed with them...the plan is to spend the next couple months reading every book I have and can find, learning everything I can while on deployment and start brewing around September/October when I move down south to Sasebo

 

[GFHomebrew]

You sure do have some patience mate hey and at least you'll have the back and forth brewing Banter from this forum to keep you company till you can get some hands on brewing experience .

 

[TommyBoy0329]

You sure do have some patience mate hey and at least you'll have the back and forth brewing Banter from this forum to keep you company till you can get some hands on brewing experience .

13 years of moving your entire life around every 2-3 years and going on random deployments, lol, patience is not a problem anymore...and I have my Pico to make beer with until I move in September and get settled again...