“If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.”
The first time beer was made, it probably happened by accident. Apocryphal stories put it on the level of events like “mold formed in my petri dishes” or “you put chocolate in my peanut butter”—in other words, moments that define history. We can’t say for certain, because not even Denny is old enough to have witnessed that epic happening.
Since the arrival of beer, we’ve studied it, experimented with its processes, experimented with its ingredients, explored its ins and outs, and generally complicated the hell out of it. It’s what humans do, it’s how our great cultural advances came to be. Seriously, we can’t leave anything alone. But maybe, just maybe, that kind of scrutiny and control isn’t the only way to make beer. Maybe it’s time we step back a bit, take a firm grasp on the simple basics, and remember why we brew.
We want you to know that Simple Homebrewing is not just for beginners. If you are a beginner reading this book, you will get ideas on how to streamline your process, but we’re not going to teach you homebrewing from scratch. There are other books to get you started, like How to Brew by our dear friend John Palmer. What we are going to teach you is a different way to brew, how to take the principles outlined in other homebrewing sources and adapt them to your own way of doing things and make brewing fit into your life.
In a great many ways, simplicity is the hallmark of complete mastery. If you’re an experienced homebrewer and thinking, “Pshaw! I know all I need to know about brewing,” maybe you’re right. But maybe, perhaps probably, you’ve never stopped to ponder the exact reasons for the fuss you put into your beer. We’re not arguing for simple mindlessness, we’re arguing for simple mindfulness, where everything you do has meaning. A master craftsman will make a process look simple because he has no wasted motion.
We want you to relax and make homebrewing work for you. We want you to imbue your brew days with a sense of Denny’s mantra, “If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.” We’re going to explain the working details in an easy way, so you can integrate them into your process and then not have to think about them again. We’ll show you how to save time and money when you brew without sacrificing beer quality. We’ll show you how to avoid the stress that sometimes drives homebrewers out of the hobby. We’re fairly egalitarian, so we won’t just pass off our brewing methods as the only true way to simplify your life.
Over our collective years of brewing and researching, we’ve seen brewers make things more difficult in the name of their MacGuffin. Efficiency, the perfect Pilsner, you name it, whatever you can think of—never-ending debates raging around this or that arcane process that may or may not improve your beer. Arguments about better ingredients, process, technique, or yeast whispering abound in this world. While fun, very little of it has anything to do with making great beer or making lifelong converts to homebrew.
We’ve been through all that and come out the other side. We’re not opposed to expensive equipment or arcane processes. We use multiple processes and approaches based on our mood, goals, and obsessions. But we want you to know that you don’t have to be “one of those people” to make great beer and have a great time doing it.
If you’re a homebrewer that believes if it isn’t difficult it isn’t worth it, go forth and make the beer you do the way you do, and enjoy it. We love that you’ve found your way.
For the rest of you—first timers, semi-lost enthusiasts, the questing journeymen, or the cynical, weary experts—how about you join us on this beer-soaked journey to find the fast, the fun, and the fine?