Ron Smith, who has been making premium beer since 1987, holds his homebrewed dark porter. (Robert Scheer / The Indianapolis Star)

Ron Smith holds an airlock, which allows carbon dioxide to escape from the fermentation container while keeping airborne contaminants from enterering. (Robert Scheer / The Indianapolis Star)

The inside of Ron Smith's garage looks like any other at first glance. A discarded stroller off to the side, a kid's four-wheeler and several bikes against the wall and a cloud of humidity building in the cluttered, unair-conditioned space.

But it's here where Smith spends hours working to transform hops, malt extracts and yeast into his own specially designed beers.

The Zionsville resident, who has been crafting beers for 20 years, is among the growing number of Hoosier homebrewers. There were 596 homebrewer entries in the July 12 Brewer's Cup competition presented by the Indiana State Fair, an increase of 153 from last year.

"I don't do it to save money or anything. I do it for the craft and for the same reason someone would want to bake a cake from scratch," he said. "It's just fun, and I'm attracted to the competition side of it as well."

The fair's Homebrewer of the Year winner, Michael Pearson of Anderson, said he got into the hobby just four years ago, when his wife bought him a homebrewing kit for Christmas. He credits much of his success to applying the same skills from his work as a process engineer to homebrewing.

"For me, the most enjoyable part of it is the process of making the beer," he said. "It allows me to use analytical skills, troubleshoot, solve problems and perform a lot of predictive analysis. It's basically an extension of what I do for a living."

Personally, I struggle at times just making toast. So the prospect of converting unfamiliar ingredients into good-tasting alcohol -- through a multistep process involving tubes, containers and high temperatures -- seemed a little out of my league. Smith's "science talk" about oxidation, fermentation and chemical compounds also worried me that making beer wouldn't be quite as much fun as drinking it.

But as Smith walked me through the process, he assured me it's not as difficult as it sounds, once you break it down into manageable steps.

Smith uses a 10-gallon, all-grain tower system for his brewing. The Cliff's Notes version of the steps goes like this:

1. Grinding

Already-modified malts are ground up and put in a mash tun. The tun is basically a cooler or converted keg with a false bottom, and is used to convert the crushed grains into sugar for the fermentation process.

2. Filtering

After being heated, water is poured into the cooler for the sparging step, which extracts the sugars from the grain. This sugary liquid, called wort, is filtered into another container and, after more boiling, the hops are added.

3. Chilling

The wort is then chilled to about 70 degrees and poured into a carboy, a large glass container with an airlock. Then, the brewer waits while it ferments -- which can take weeks or, for certain types of beer, even a couple of months. After that point, the beer is ready to be poured into bottles or a keg, and once it settles, is set to be consumed at will.

If you're like me, that still seems a bit daunting. Fortunately, several local homebrewing clubs are ready to help newbies and also provide a forum for tested homebrewers to step up their game.

Smith is one of the key coordinators of the FBI (Foam Blowers of Indiana), which shared the Brewer's Cup's Indiana Homebrew Club of the Year honors with MECA Brewer, of which Anderson is a member.

Smith said the FBI (slogan: "We tap kegs ..... not phones") holds about three meetings a month to sample and discuss homemade beers. The group also often travels to brewery pubs to learn from the pros, and competes together in local and national competitions.

"We talk about all sorts of geeky stuff involving homebrewing. But other times it's more social, and it's just a great way to meet new friends."

Ready to start brewing?

Beginner homebrewing kits usually cost $45 to $150.

Where to buy: The Foam Blowers of Indiana suggest Easley Winery, 205 N. College Ave; Great Fermentations, 5127 E. 65th St.; Parti Pak Discount Liquors, 2633 E. Stop 11 Road; Wine Art, 5890 N. Keystone Ave.

More info on the Foam Blowers of Indiana: www.foamblowers.com.

- Trevor Brown / Indy.com