I had wanted to start brewing my own beer since college. I read books, visited homebrew supply stores and even bought a small kit of ingrediants. Alas, that kit never got used and it was a decade of hoping and dreaming before I finally put kettle to fire and made my first wort.

What inspired me to finally take the plunge? Well, I was fortunate to win a free lesson from the experts at Beer, Beer and More Beer through a contest held at my local county fair by the Delta Brewing Club. When I attended the club meeting to pick up my certificate, I was met by a group of enthusiastic brewers who, despite my not winning the first place prize of a complete homebrewing kit, told me I had won the best prize they offered. Being taught by an expert, they told me, is a fantastic way to get started in brewing.

So I attended the class, which, being a beginner, was an extract class, and was amazed at what I learned - If you can make tea, you can brew beer. Seriously, it was so mind-numbingly easy that I kicked myself for not getting started earlier.

What it took to light the fire under my kettle was to cut through all the words, advice, complicated-sounding recipes and jargon and actually watch the process unfold. I believe that if you’re reading this right now, the chances are you’ve probably already done the research on how to brew your own beer, but are looking perhaps for something a bit easier.

In the off-chance that you haven’t seen a how-to for brewing your own beer, take a few moments to read this simple how-to at MoreBeer.com [PDF], the home of my local brew shop. For your first brew, you’ll probably follow the “Partial Boil” method on the left side of the page.

For me, that how-to was enough to get excited, but not enough to take the plunge. I had to see someone do it before I was confident enough to try it on my own.

In a few days, I’ll begin brewing my next batch of beer. To show you how easy it is, I’ll be filming the process from beginning to end including cleaning and sanitizing, boiling, racking to the primary fermentor, pitching the yeast, fermenting and, finally, bottling and kegging. Once you see how this process is done, I believe you too will be inspired to jump right in.

So keep an eye on this space. Bookmark it in your favorites! The complete how-to video is coming soon…