What kind of home brewer am I?
I define myself in life not as a minimalist but almost.
I have traveled quite a bit in my life, living in Metz (France – hometown), Paris (France), Melbourne (Australia), Cairns (Australia), Taipei (Taiwan), Wellington (New Zealand), Beijing (China), Tenerife (Spain) and Barcelona (Spain). So you could say, I’m almost a nomad.
With this kind of lifestyle, you quickly realize that you don’t need a whole lot of stuff to be happy.
And if there’s one thing I don’t like to do, it’s to buy (bulky) things that I will use twice and then will have to get rid of when I leave a place. It’s annoying, time-consuming, and not environmentally friendly.
Besides, I live in a small flat in Barcelona and brew on my kitchen stovetop, mostly small batches (4 – 8 liters / 1 to 2 gallons).
So, I’m not the guy that possesses the latest homebrewing gadget (I do research and write about them), but I do like to buy gear I think will be critical to my process.
Also, brewing with the bare minimum helps me better understand the complete brewing process and how every little detail affects the resulting beer.
Am I following recipes or creating recipes?
Well, a bit of both. In the beginning, I was a bit unsure but now I feel like I can adapt some recipes to the things I like or to the products I have at hand.