Photos: Brian Hardyman

Sometimes while navigating social media, our website, or working on secret projects for BeerQwest I lose track of time. So much that I sometimes forget to post articles. So, of course, while going through some old beer event photos from last year, I came across our trip to the new Beach City Brewery in Huntington Beach for the 2013 Nat’l Learn to Homebrew Day. For now, I’ll stop procrastinating and share my experience.

The event was promoted by the American Homebrewers Association and hosted by tens of thousands around the nation and proved to be a huge success. It is reported that 1.2 Million homebrewers or those interested in learning to homebrew came out to take part in promoting, sharing, and learning how to brew.

Our host was the up and coming Beach City Brewery located in Surf City, USA. A city that I personally love to visit as often as possible. The owner is Glenn Closson, a young guy with an ambitious dream of owning and operating his own brewery. After returning from the Navy, Glen moved to Huntington Beach and thought it would be the best place for him and his brewery.

The brewery is well on it’s way, back in November basic plumbing was installed. Plans loosely taped to the wall shared the idea of where everything would be. Fast forward a few months, a few permits, and a few deliveries later and Glenn can begin to see his brewery take shape. Just a few days ago a new concrete floor was poured, getting the brewery that much closer.

In attendance was a local homebrew club called Brew Commune. Their members brought and constructed 5 brewing stations. Displaying home brewing systems ranging from simple and inexpensive to automated and outrageous. The bag systems were an interesting way of using a partial boil technique that can easily be done in your home kitchen. Some of the guys had an extract setup, similar to what I brew on at home using a single burner. Finally the hardcore brewers had automated systems with pumps, valves, and burners all controlled by a connected PC with a touchscreen status monitor.

A quick look around and it is clear that anybody can brew, with just about as little or as much equipment as you’d like. After spending a few minutes talking to each brewer about their setup, I was further intrigued how much of the equipment and stands were also homemade. Building your own equipment, and brewing your own beer is a great way to learn something new while saving money on drinking.

I will continue to follow Beach City Brewing and share updates on their grand opening. If you find yourself as a person interested in homebrewing, I highly recommend joining a local brew club. You can find clubs online at AHA, regional home brewing directories, or go to your local brew supply store and find out when and where the local clubs meet.

Or simply procrastinate and join us on November 1, 2014 for this year’s Nat’l Learn to Homebrew Day.