I had never considered brewing beer until I showed up at a friends house back in 2014, and witnessed my first extract batch being brewed.  Little did I know where that would lead.  I quickly found myself over there every brew day, I was hooked….  I dove head first into the hobby buying books and equipment, trying to learn as much as I could.  Extract brewing was fun and quick, but I wanted to expand on that and have more control over the flavors in the recipes, so it was time to switch to all grain brewing. The first few batches were a little tricky because of the new process and some had to be dumped out.  All in all it didn’t take long to get the bugs worked out and start making award winning beers.  The hobby was quickly evolving and becoming more serious, we participated in a couple weddings and charity events to get the name out.  During this time I started looking at locations and equipment to open a brewery, but life happens, people move, and hobby’s change.  It all slipped away as quickly as it started. 

My then brewing partner moved away, and instead of investing my money into a brewery I bought a house and got married.  I shelved the idea of brewing all together for several years and even contemplated selling all my equipment.  Quite the opposite of what I once wanted to do. My wife is the one who always told me to keep my brewing equipment always saying, “you’re going to want something to do when you’re done working on the house.”  She was right….. but I don’t think she was ready for the overhaul that took place. 

When I got back into it around 2021 it was crazy to see how much the home brew world had changed, from beer styles to the equipment that was available to home brewers. I made a couple batches on my old caveman set up, mashing in my trusty Coleman cooler, and fermenting in a 15 gallon speidel tank inside a big double walled wooden box.  It was controlled by an inkbird, cooled by a window ac unit, warmed by a hair dryer, and a small desk fan was placed inside to circulate air in the fermentation chamber.  Needless to say I was ready to upgrade and make my life easier. Around 2022 I bought my first SsBrewtech Chronical fermenter and a Brewbuilt glycol chiller.  After that purchase and my resurgence in home brewing my wife came up with a mock up for a garage brewery and the remodel was under way.  Today I have two SsBrewtech Chronicals, a can seamer, glycol chiller, 3 vessel brewing setup. It was now basically a small brewery in the garage.  And my wife now has the privilege of making all my labels, haha!  I’m content for now, but who knows maybe one day I’ll be back in the market looking at brewery locations. 

By Justin T, Grounders Brewing Company
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