Richard Bolster

Home
Home This is where you can find all the blog posts throughout the site.
Tags
Tags Displays a list of tags that have been used in the blog.
Bloggers
Bloggers Search for your favorite blogger from this site.

Posted by Richard Bolster on Thursday, 12 January 2012 in New To Homebrew

I am a novice home brewer. There I said it. I am attempting to get better. Really that’s the crux. I have brewed off an on for about a decade but can’t seem to crawl out of the beginning stages of my brewing career. I’ve brewed some decent beers – beginners luck turned my first ever brew, a hopped up Pale ale, into my all-time favorite beer. But I’ve also brewed some duds and encountered some really strange outcomes – including an oddly sour hefeweizen – I don’t want to talk about (but I will, of course).

Like many home brewers, I came to the hobby via the craft beer explosion in this country. The experience of tasting really good beers created a curiosity in me about all things beer-related. It wasn’t too long before I was at a home brew supply shop getting my supplies and requisite copy of The Joy of Homebrewing, along with a handful of pointers from the friendly owner.

Despite all the years I’ve been doing it I’m no expert. In fact, I’ve got a lot to learn. Sure I’ve been brewing for 10 years. But, I’ve got no flow. I brew a handful of times a year and each time I seem to need to re-learn a portion of what I’ve forgotten since I last brewed. Thrown into the mix are a day job, a night job and two small children to wrangle – a one year old and four year old. I realize that kids aren’t necessarily an impediment to brewing but in my case they are a distraction (albeit a happy one) from my pursuit of the perfect brew. My goal of brewing on a regular basis has moved off the front burner.

But no more! As we all know, the best way to learn is by doing. Therefore, with the launch of this blog I am setting out to go from novice to intermediate to, someday, expert. Fingers crossed. Here, I’ll share my successes and inevitable – let’s not call them failures – missteps. I will provide details on what a novice brewer can do to get better, whether it’s tweaking a recipe by one ingredient per batch; utilizing a particularly useful tool; or reviewing some of the helpful brewing literature out there. I may even attempt to grow hops in my big back yard. Come along with me as I struggle, stumble and, hopefully, learn how to become a better home brewer.

When I’m not home brewing (or spending time with my kids or both) I write the weekly Tasting Note Tuesday column for Private Tap and, in addition to Brew Your Own, my writing has appeared Saveur magazine. I am a member of the PALE ALES, a Princeton, NJ based home brew club.

Last modified on Monday, 11 February 2013

Richard Bolster

I’ve been brewing for about 10 years. I came to home brewing via the great beers I discovered just out of college in the early 90s. A bottle of Pete’s Wicked Ale I consumed in 1994 was instrumental in my conversion from bad beer to good beer. Once the world of great beer was revealed to me I began reading, following and, most importantly, drinking more and more. That research led me eventually, inevitably to home brewing. A couple of years later and there I was at San Francisco Brewcraft home brew supply store getting acquainted with the intriguing world of yeast and the baffling world of siphons. (They still drive me crazy.)

I consider myself a novice. If you do too this is the blog for you. One of the goals of this blog will be for me to improve, learn and grow as a brewer and hopefully bring those of you who’ve got a lot to learn along in that process.

I live in New Jersey with my wife and two small children. I am a member of the PALE ALES, a Princeton-based home brew club and am an avid customer of Princeton Homebrew.

I write the Tasting Note Tuesday column for Private Tap, where I highlight whatever commercial brew has my attention each week. In addition to Brew Your Own, my writing about beer has appeared in Saveur magazine.