Welcome, beer brewers and drinkers, to our eighth installment of Mashup Monday. We love brewing, and we love hearing stories about brewing, so we took it upon ourselves to send the invite out to brewers around the world to share their tales. For those of you who may be interested: The invite is still out there! If you want to feature your story and your brews on our blog, all you have to do is let us know at mashup@bottletrade.com.

That’s all Tom Brennan – this week’s featured homebrewer – had to do, and we are sure glad that he did. Now crack open a beer and enjoy the insights of this homebrewer from America’s Northeast!

What is your name and where are you from?

Tom Brennan from Keansburg, NJ. My brewery is called “Hypobrew” I also host a YouTube channel ( http://youtube.com/hypobrew ). How long have you been home brewing? I started in January 2013. When did you know you wanted to brew your own beer? I brewed about 15 years ago at a LHBS and forgot about brewing until I saw a coworker checking out some sites online, asking him some questions, then trying his first brew (which was pretty friggin good). We know brewing can be a hobby, but do you plan on making it a living? Never. I have a great job as a general manager at a radio station, which I also love. I would consider some part-time work however. What are some of your long-term goals in brewing? I would say trying different methods (like BIAB, step-mashing, etc) and tweak out my current set-up. What are some of your favorite breweries/brewers? I will be the first to say I’m a fanboy of Southern Tier, but I enjoy tons of styles. Carton (maker of 077xx) is about 10 minutes down the road and I enjoy tons of their beers too. What style of beer do you find to be the toughest to brew? The easiest? did a wheat-wine last year that took a lot of thought, research, and steps. There wasn’t a whole lot of info out there, it topped off my mash tun, I racked it on oak and bourbon. Pretty much used every trick I had in the book. I plan on making another one this year. I also make quasi-partigyle batches when making a big beer. What are you currently brewing? I have 10 gallons fermenting now. I didn’t an American Wheat ale that I split into 2 fermenters. One I put US05 in and I intend to dry hop. The second fermentor has an American Wheat Ale yeast. Do you have recipe you are willing to share for other brewers? If they ask. I normally bring my recipes to my home brew club meetings once a month. Brewing is a lot of trial and error. What was the biggest mistake you have made brewing? None! Seriously though I thinking racking a fermented beer into a carboy outside was probably the worst thing I did…it went sour very quickly. I have it still sitting in the carboy 8 months later. I’m afraid to touch it. What is your current homebrew setup? (i.e. 5 gallon, 10 gallon, All-Grain, Extract, etc.) I do all-gran with a round mash tun. I bought a keggle on Craiglist for $35 (yes, you read that right) which allows me to do 10 gallon batches or 5 gallon split batches. What would be your ideal brewhouse? I would love to have a single-tier system that I can easily roll in an out my my garage. I’d also like to make a large closet in my garage to house some conicals. Ah, the dreams the dreams. Is there a brewery you would like to work for? Honestly I think I’d like to be in the front of house in a tasting room or something. I know it sounds crazy but I’d be just a beer nerd talking to another beer nerd. Do you have a brewery name already chosen out? If so, what is it? Hypobrew. Any advice you would give to other up-and-coming brewers? Two words: Patience & restraint. You just have to let the beer be the beer. Don’t open the fermentor every day to check on it. Yeast has been making us beer for thousands of years so wait another week. Also don’t throw the kitchen sink into your batches. An imperial cherry coffee vanilla stout may look good on paper but man for your first batch just stick to the basics.