The first was probably an Old Milwaukee he took from his parents.

"It tasted nasty," Jake Rodel said. He felt the same way the first time he tasted craft beer, but his tastes have changed.

The Duluth man likes his IPA hoppy, but not too bitter. He has been homebrewing for 20 years, and he's vice president of the oldest homebrew club in Minnesota, the Northern Ale Stars Homebrewers Guild.

Homebrewing can be as simple or as complicated as you want, he said.

On a recent visit to his basement brewery, chickens bobbled their heads past a cement window. There was a three-burner setup Rodel built himself, a chest freezer he made into a three-keg tap, and two barrels of sour beers: one apricot and one raspberry.

Rodel operated a grain crusher with a hand drill, and a yeast guide hung on the wall near his beer medals. His recipe book was laid out on his washer and dryer next to bags of hops, placed in their order of use, ready to be tossed in when the time was right.

Sanitation is key, and while Rodel is self-conscious about the cleanliness of his "crusty basement," his space looked clean, his equipment shiny and silver. And while there are batches he doesn't care for and will throw out, he has never lost a batch to poor cleanliness, he said.

The brew process is mainly setting it up correctly, starting it and babysitting it.

While he has gained much from research and trial and error, Rodel has picked up more from being a member of the Northern Ale Stars, a Duluth-based group of brewers, certified beer judges and appreciators. They meet at 6:30 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month at local breweries, with a home base at Dubh Linn Irish Brew Pub.

Meetings are loose, Rodel said. They talk club business, a technical or educational topic and sometimes there's a sampling. In February, they hosted the Great Northern Brew Ha Ha, where brewers from all over the country came to the Northland to compete. Club members, especially beer judges, can taste things Rodel can't pick up in his own beers, he said.

"Your friends will always tell you your homebrew is good because it's free," said Chase Bouman, Northern Ale Stars president. At meetings, people will say in detail how to take your beer to the next level, he added by email.

"Jake is a skilled and committed homebrewer. Anyone that fills their own 50-gallon barrel in a matter of weeks is dedicated," Bouman said.

Rodel started brewing in college with a pot, a stove, yeast, syrup. He'd stick his mixture in the corner, ignore it, and eventually, he'd have beer. When things didn't work out, he'd research how to fix it, and the hobby quickly escalated.

He moved from standard homebrewing with basic equipment to eventually making a mash tun out of a Coleman cooler to 10-gallon batches. Some adventures in homebrewing: spilling hot water over his chest and arms - "It was fine, it just hurt," he said. And once during the fermentation process, a set of carboys (large containers) got plugged and exploded, shooting liquid onto the ceiling.

Rodel started working with sour beers about three years ago. What's attractive is it combines all the aspects of brewing, but it's a slow learning curve, he said. The fermentation process takes about a year and a half. There are billions of wild yeast everywhere, and he wants his sour beers to turn out a specific way.

"I infect them with bacteria on purpose to make them sour, but I still sanitize everything," he said. "I've never had a beer go sour when I didn't want it to."

Over the years, he has become more meticulous about taking notes about his process because he wants to continue to refine his recipes. And while brewing used to be all about sharing a beer and camaraderie, he prefers to brew alone today, and he doesn't drink, so he can focus.

Of his basement brewery, he said he has the setup he's always wanted; he just wants more space. He and his wife have plans to build a new home, and Rodel has designs on a 40-by-60-foot workshop/homebrewery.

For now, his brewing operation has made its way outside their Woodland home. There are cherry trees - the fruits of which he hopes to use in a traditional cherry lambic - and many hop bushes with vines tracing the walls of the fence. When they're ready, he'll cut the vines down and remove the small, leafy green hop cones to make a fresh hop IPA, he said.

Near the garden of beans, peas, radishes, tomatoes, Rodel dumped his spent brewing grain from the day's efforts into a chicken coop. Perched on their wiry claws, the birds hobbled and bobbed their heads into the grain mound.

Homebrewing is something Rodel will always do, he said, "Unless I stop drinking beer or something."

The "never-ending tinkering" and problem-solving are part of what he likes about it, and it feeds a need to craft things. He hunts, fly-fishes, cooks, and with any of his hobbies, he's able to enjoy the fruits of his labor with others, he said.

Homebrewing equipment can get expensive, but it doesn't have to be, Rodel said. For that day's brew, Rodel estimated he paid up to $75 to make 10 gallons of IPA.

What you will need is an attention to detail, diligence with sanitation, and don't be intimidated or worried about messing it up. "That's how you learn," Rodel said. "Start making mistakes and think about why you made them and how to fix them."

If you go

What: Northern Ale Stars

When: 6:30 p.m. second Wednesday of the month

Where: rotating location

More info: www.northernalestars.net, or email nashomebrewers@gmail.com