WILMINGTON — Craft beer has become a staple in Wilmington with the rise of local breweries offering beer lovers a wide variety of beers to choose from, but another byproduct of the craft beer craze has turned beer drinkers into beer makers. Homebrewing is exactly what it sounds like — everyday people trying their hand at making their own beer and is a thriving scene in Wilmington.
But after noticing a lack of homebrew supply stores in the northern region of New Hanover County, Broomtail Brewery owner Barry Owings and his son Seth decided it was time to change that.
There are several local area homebrew clubs and one has been meeting at Broomtail for some time now, but had to travel across town to buy equipment.
“When the guys would meet here and then have to drive to Kerr to buy their stuff I thought, that’s kind of stupid I have it all right here, so we let them start buying it. Then it became a point where someone was having to put all this stuff together constantly … so then he (Seth) made them a website … that became a pain too so he said ‘let’s just let them get their own,’” Barry Owings said.
And with that, Amazing Grains Homebrew was born.
Getting started
Homebrewing might seem like a complicated science, and for some people it can be just that.
But it doesn’t have to be complicated.
“It can be complicated or it can be pretty simple. You can go all the way down to malt extract which is usually what people start with, and then you can go all the way up to a small-scale brewery or anywhere in between that, it’s constantly changing,” Seth said.
At the base of it all, beer comes down to four main ingredients: water, hops, grain, and yeast — but it rarely stops there. One of the biggest draws for homebrewing is the constantly changing aspect to the craft, there are always new ways to do things and recipes to change, he said.
Amazing Grains offers something for everyone with a wide range of yeast, grains, and hops, as well as brewing kits for those just getting started.
For the beginner homebrewers, Amazing Grains can help anyone get started with basic recipes and advice to make the brewing experience
“We can give them guidelines and what to do as well as we have full kits that they can get to start out with, and obviously all the ingredients they will need are here available to them,” Seth said.
Amazing Grains offers dozens of different types of grains to make all different flavors of beer, and will even mill the grain for you if required.
While a lot of brewers got their start with homebrewing, including Seth’s father, he got his start working at Broomtail and has slowly made the transition into homebrewing.
Amazing Grains is located next to Broomtail Brewery at 6404 Amsterdam Way, Unit 400.
Send comments and tips to Michael.p@localvoicemedia.com
