Brewing with John

Some years ago a friend invited me to a microbrewery in Victoria, B.C.  He ordered us a couple of dark loamy brews the like of which I had never tasted before.  Back home in Ontario where microbreweries are less common, I sought unsuccessfully for a comparable commercial beer.  I then experimented with home brewing, which allows for a much wider range of recipes, ingredients and brewing methods than commercial brewing.  I have had half a dozen successful batches, including a close match to that original brew.

Welcome to my website!  This site is intended to offer basic resources for the first-time brewer.  It provides information on the essential equipment, ingredients and steps to make your first batch; and resources to develop your interest from there.

I tried to put a Canadian spin on the site for several reasons:

• Many of the existing home-brewing resources are from the United States, and the instructions provide measurements in gallons, Fahrenheit degrees, inches and USD.  I prefer to work with my native units -- Canadian litres, Celcius degrees, centimetres and CAD.  I'm sure other Canadians will be glad to be spared the trouble.
  

• If you are a Canadian without a local home-brew store, you may need to shop on-line to find your equipment.  I provide a list of Canadian Suppliers so that you can avoid cross-border taxation.
  

• I have noticed with some curiousity the political dimension that goes with home-brewing.  Many American home-brewers seem to be strong patriots, and express this attitude in their websites.  I am uncertain why a link exists between beer and politics, but I am a proud Canadian, and felt a degree of balance was fitting.

I would like to hear about your home-brewing experiences.

John Miedema
jmiedema@xplornet.com

 

Last Updated on March 16, 2006