by Brian Smith

Some of you may have already noticed an odd change to our website. If you look under our fun&links tab at the top of our homepage , you'll find that we've redesigned it into a blog. The Brewblog.

What the heck is a blog? Blog is short for weblog. It is an online notebook, arranged chronologically, that is usually created by an individual and focuses on a singular topic or subject. Our Brewblog is simply a collection of websites and news articles about beer and wine that we've found on the net, interspersed with our commentary.

Over the last four years, the number of blogs have multiplied at such a rate that they are becoming more and more widespread among people who have no formal training running websites. In fact, the current batch of blogging software makes it incredibly easy to start one on your own. If you've ever thought about publishing your own website/blog, it's now easier than ever.

In the past several months, we've found a handful of blogs published by homebrewers. These sites publish online their favorite recipes, what they're currently brewing, how they built their homebrewery, what materials they used, and whatever else comes to mind. We think it would be very cool if more and more homebrewers published their own blogs.

One such homebrewing blog we found goes by the memorable name Naked Pope - the Movie . You'll have to visit it to read the story behind the name. Here you'll find the musings of a homebrewer in Minneapolis who rants about good music and good living. Another blog of sorts is run by a bunch of guys who've been homebrewing for years-- the Daril Brothers of Durham, NC. Other sites have devoted space to how to build your own mill , your own mash tun , or your own RIMS system . One even described how to build your own portable brewery.

Blogging can serve two purposes for a homebrewer. First, it can serve as the ultimate homebrewing record book. Never again will you waste time searching for that notebook or scrap of paper that had scribbled on it your favorite recipe of mead or your hop bill for that killer IPA. Never again will you have to tell fellow homebrewers that you simply can't remember what gravity you started at when you were brewing that deliciously warming barleywine. Or how long ago you bottled your Gewurztraminer. If you have it on a blog, you'll have it a click away.

The second great thing about a blog is that it'll give everyone a chance to see what you are brewing. Since the essence of a blog is to link to other blogs, information sharing becomes infectious. One of our Brewboard moderators, Carlos, is currently testing a no-boil batch of homebrew from a kit that we've been thinking of selling. When he decided to do a day-by-day update online of how he was progressing with it, a blog, we thought it would be great if more homebrewers did the same.

You don't have to know how to create or design a website to build a blog. Most blog software allows you to type text directly onto your blog. There is no need to format it into HTML yourself. You can add email functions and hyperlinks with equal ease. And the best part is that it's free.

If you are more than a little interested in blogs, we recommend a new book called The Weblog Handbook . It was published just last month and is available in paperback on Amazon. It was written by Rebecca Blood, who has run her own blog for over four years.

If you decide to start a homebrewing blog, don't forget to let us know about it. We'd be happy to place a link to you on the Brewblog.