My name is Dave. In the online homebrewing communities I belong to, I’m known as FedoraDave, or just The Hat. I’d been curious about homebrewing for some time, but I’d always thought it required some special skills or education. Maybe even wizarding powers.
I was intimidated by what seemed insurmountable technical aspects. All the source material I could find started out with the chemical changes during the mash, water profiles, and pH levels, and I figured you needed to be a combination of Gordon Ramsey, Albert Einstein, and Merlin to be able to make beer. Never mind the equipment - carboys, mash tuns, airlocks, cauldrons, crystal balls…!
Then my wife got me a beginner’s brewing kit for Christmas. It was just a small plastic fermenting vessel and three cans of hopped malt extract. You just mixed it up and waited, and in a few weeks, you could drink beer you’d made yourself! It was honestly as easy as whipping up a can of soup! Within months, I had progressed to formulating my own recipes using malt extract and hops, and then to all-grain recipes.
That was over ten years ago. Now that I’m retired, I’ve got more time to spend combining two of my favorite pastimes: brewing beer and writing. Welcome.