Why Do You Choose to Homebrew?

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I didn't start homebrewing so I could get wasted. I started homebrewing so I could get wasted on good beer!
 
I figured why not make homebrewed beer? You can make beer that tastes just as good (if not better) than storebought at the same or, frequently, lower price per unit. Win/win!!

The process is a separate joy that starts as a means to an end but becomes fairly enjoyable and even zen-like.
 
When I started only shady characters from the wrong side of the tracks brewed beer. You can learn a lot sitting in the shade.
 
For me it was an extension of other efforts. I grow a 10 acre garden annually, I hunt, I fish now I brew. Got really tired of the fizzy beers and expense of craft beers. Wanted some good beer to drink while rebuilding my old antique tractors, restoring my 1949 GMC pickup and making black powder rifles. As an earlier poster mentioned it's part art, part science, and something hand made by me. Rugged individualism like our forefathers!!
 
...one thing is for sure...it isn't to save money!!
I started with a brew kit...then turkey fryer setup to brew in...then a hydro...bottles...caps...more sanitizer...cleaner...another carboy...

Next...chest freezer...running water lines to the garage...and on and on
 
I brew my own beer for two main reasons.
  1. The process fascinates me and the number of variable to play with will keep it so for a long time. There is always something more to learn.
  2. I brew and drink exactly what I want to drink
 
I do it for a living as well as a hobby.

I enjoy the creative outlet.
Instead of relying on someone elses taste I can brew to my own and as long as I enjoy it then I am succesful, just so happens my friends like it too which is an added bonus.

I don't fool myself into thinking it is cheaper, because when you factor in equipment, water, labor and electric or gas useage you are probably closer to a draw then most will admit, but there is a therapuetic side to the process that has no price that can be put to it.

and I hardly drink which is a bit ironic.
 
Nightshade said:
I do it for a living as well as a hobby.

I enjoy the creative outlet.
Instead of relying on someone elses taste I can brew to my own and as long as I enjoy it then I am succesful, just so happens my friends like it too which is an added bonus.

I don't fool myself into thinking it is cheaper, because when you factor in equipment, water, labor and electric or gas useage you are probably closer to a draw then most will admit, but there is a therapuetic side to the process that has no price that can be put to it.

and I hardly drink which is a bit ironic.
Click to expand...
me & Edward Teach kinda want to slap you. :mug:


really I agree with what you just said, except for the hardly drink bit.
 
Billy-Klubb said:
me & Edward Teach kinda want to slap you. :mug:


really I agree with what you just said, except for the hardly drink bit.
Click to expand...

:p

I am on a heavy week if I drink one a day for 7 days anymore, but there are times I toss a couple back especially a good Stout or IPA. My average intake is maybe 3-4 a week, I give away more than I keep.
 
Billy-Klubb said:
ain't you on the Northern Brewers Forum? More Beer? what the flying squirrels? everythings starting to run together.
Click to expand...

Nope this and probrewer are the only brewing forums for me, and I hardly hit PB except to cruise the classifieds and price a brewhouse now and again.
 
I first started for one reason - I could not buy beer (read legally) but I could buy brewing supplies and it was cheaper, fair to say the first few batches were not that great (bad instructions and impatiant teenagers). We stopped after about 6 batchs.
I got back into on a suggestion from my wife after we had our first child a few years later. I needed a hobby but also needed to be at home with my new family = brewing was a great match.
From there I have continued and grown in the hobby for a number of reasons:
I could not afford beer a few years ago (even the cheap kind over here = $14 for a dozen),
I like the DIY aspect of building new stuff,
I have grown in my taste for good beer (which I diffinatly can't afford very often),
I like the process (all of it from recipe development to brewing)
 
I'm guessing Cormac is a Cormac McCarthy reference.
I brew because every batch is like a science project. A lot like cooking. You can control the process and see what happens, and end up with a tasty product.
Other things that appeal to me are the DIY aspect of it, producing beer that you can't find or is very expensive (Belgian beers, I'm talking about you), pleasing friends with good tasting beer, and it is harder to make than wine due to the mashing of grains. I also like that it has been historically something that every household did, is considered more blue collar/everyman than wine and spirits, and that my name has a brewing connection too.
 
Billy-Klubb said:
my neighbor's dog told me too. he's a good dog.
Click to expand...

LOL!!:confused:...your neighbor isn't the old man from the movie " road trip" is he?

remember?,... the dog told the ol geezer, "go tell granny to make me some blueberry pan cakes.".......kool dog........:rockin:

GD:mug:
 
I just started brewing a few months ago, but here are some reasons..

  1. I like beer, alot. Especially good beer.
  2. I needed a hobby. Before I met my wife and had kids, my hobby was screwing around on the computer. I still like doing that, but it just isn't a great hobby with young kids. Plus, brewing lets me have my hobby at home and my boys (my daughter is just 8 weeks old) can kind of help me a little bit. They like to fill bottles and help me cap them.
  3. The idea of "rolling your own" just fascinates me. I like to cook, bbq (as in low and slow), can fruits and veggies, etc. I guess as other people say, it's the process that I enjoy.
  4. I think I am pretty damn good home cook. I still have a ton to learn, but brewing just seems to be part of the extension. I hope one day that I my homebrew palette is as good as my home cooking palette.
  5. I just started screwing with my own "recipes" a bit. A buddy of mine is a published author and his first book was well-received (in small-press horror circles at least). I made a pumpkin dunkelweiss to in honor of his book. His book is centered around Halloween and he loves dunkelweiss (plus there is this whole "Heart of the Harvest" thing in his book.. a wheat beer just seemed to fit it). Same buddy stands in line for hours when one of his local stores gets Hatch Chiles in. I told him when it happens that we are going to make a Hatch Chile Cream Ale. I can't buy a pumpkin dunkel or Hatch Chile beer. I don't know if they are going to be good, but it is fun to mess around with it.
 
cshann19 said:
I enjoy the DIY aspect of the hobby.
Click to expand...

This.

There's nothing more rewarding than enjoying the fruits of your own labor and learning how to do things for yourself. I like DIY projects, and I like beer (a lot). Homebrewing is the logical progression from there.

Same reason I prefer cooking to dining out, and the same reason I built my own kegerator instead of buying one.

And like others have mentioned, I like the historical/scientific/chemical/artistic/etc aspects of the hobby. I also like to tell myself I'm saving money, but with all the money I spend on beer-making gadgets it's not really accurate....
 
I started back in October 2012. It started out finding a page on line about making apple cider at home and that led me into the local home brew store. Thats when I found out Cider takes too long and beer was a better choice. Its great being able to taste they fruits of your labor. I have stuck with it as a hobby because like others have said when you have young kids it interferes less with being a family.

hunter_la5 said:
... I also like to tell myself I'm saving money, but with all the money I spend on beer-making gadgets it's not really accurate....
Click to expand...

Just take the cost of equipment and divide it by how much beer you could buy. Then figure out how many years to keep the equipment till you are saving money. Or just don't think about spending the money on equipment.
 
I started brewing becasue I enjoy craft beer and it was a way I could try a lot of different styles.

It has a become my passion. I work in a very rigid environment, there is no grey in my world, very black and white. My passion is my creative outlet. I can create a product that doesn't have to be black and white, it can have a multitude of shades of grey. Honestly I just wish I would have started earlier in life. It has opened up a lot of my life, and has shaped who I have become and where I keep striving to go.
 
It's about not being limited by what distributors want to provide to you. About mastering what can be, if you go all-grain and take maximum control over your brewing, a wonderfully complex suite of skills. Materials science, metallurgy, microbiology, thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, organic and inorganic chemistry, history, sociology, politics... The list goes on and on, and when you're done you get to drink the fruits of your labors, and (if you swing that way) bask in the admiration of your friends and family.

Hard to compete with that, IMO.

-Rich
 
Anyone who says that they brew beer just to save money is not being completely honest - and I'm being nice when I say that. :) Sure, each batch of beer is a lot cheaper than buying it commercially, but the cost of brewing, and especially kegging, equipment is pretty high. I have at least a dozen unnecessary "gadgets" to make the process better/easier for me but aren't strictly necessary to the brewing process. There are lots more and I'm just getting started with this hobby.

So it's actually quite an expensive hobby if you really get into it, as I have. That being said, I get a lot of satisfaction out of it. I've always enjoyed cooking, but my girlfriend puts me to shame. I really just enjoy following the recipe. She is very creative and resourceful and knows what goes with what. I feel a lot more comfortable with winging it when it comes to brewing because I can't really screw it up too bad, especially if I'm modifying a recipe I know is good, or using brewing software (Brewing software? Another $25 gadget!)

I really enjoy learning a lot about a subject that I previously knew nothing about. I drank a lot of beer but didn't know anything about how it was made. I was incredulous when I learned that beer was boiled during the process of making it. It turns out there was a LOT that I didn't know about beer. Now I can talk in detail about the entire brewing and fermentation process in case I come across a situation where I want to bore someone to death. :) I've had friends come over while brewing to help out and impart some knowledge on. I've developed a great relationship with my nephew, a fellow homebrewer. He's the only friend I can share brewing jokes with. And I am still learning more and more about this "hobby" every day. Every time I learn something about brewing, it makes me feel like I have more to learn about it instead of less.

I really enjoy the whole process, from brewing the beer, cleaning up afterwards to drinking it and everything in between - and there is a lot that goes on. My keg of Columbus IPA that I brewed a couple months ago finally kicked last night. Today I have to clean and sanitize the keg so I can put my next beer in it. Should only take a couple of hours and in a week or so I'll be enjoying something that I made myself completely from scratch that honestly, not a lot of people have the patience or skills to make themselves. When something has my beer and takes the time to write that it was "incredibly delicious" the next day on a meetup website, I feel like I made something really cool that others enjoy. That feels good.
 
My reasons for brewing are in alignment with many other bits and pieces, but in a nutshell:

1. Pride in a job well done. All the proof you need can be held in your hand (well...in a glass in your hand), and it is easy to share with those who ahve similar interests/tastes.

2. Tangible/immediate reward. Most of my career-work is spent writing emails, sitting in meetings, solving problems that shouldn't exist in the first place, and generally running in circles with little hard evidence of the work. When I brew, all the inputs and process are within my own control, and the output is immediate (fermenting beer at first, beer to drink later).

3. Cost savings. Some people go all-out with gear, and that looks fun. I can't invest that much in a hobby, but was lucky enough to get most of what I needed to start for free. Taking only ingredients into account, I definitely save money based on my drinking habits. But the key is that I like drinking nice beer, if I just wanted to get drunk on the cheap, I'd just keep stocked up on boxes of wine.

4. Curiousity. I had read about the process of beer and wine making, but going through the process youself a couple times really lends a deeper understanding to it. Besides this, I was curious about recipes since I used to work as a cook while in school, and people seem to enjoy what I cook still, so I wanted to see if I could 'cook up' a decent beer. Curiousity pushes me to look into new (to me) techniques, technologies, ingredients, processes and so far each answered question has lead to multiple new questions.

5. The depth of homebrewing. As you amy have seen on the main forum page, listing all the sub-forums, it isn't just about brewing beer. You can plant your own hops of you want to try your hand at gardening, you can make lables for bottles if you have a graphic-design itch you want to scratch. You can focus on the science, you can focus on the gear, you can focus on dispensing the finished product, hell one guy on this forum has been building his own house, from the ground up, over a couple years, and is still going strong. From homebrewing-to-homebuilding, it is about having a vision, taking it upon yourself to learn how to make it a reality, and then to follow-through with the execution so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor, which will hopefully generate a variety of new ideas worth learning about.

6. Beer.
 
LovesIPA said:
Anyone who says that they brew beer just to save money is not being completely honest - and I'm being nice when I say that. :) Sure, each batch of beer is a lot cheaper than buying it commercially, but the cost of brewing, and especially kegging, equipment is pretty high. I have at least a dozen unnecessary "gadgets" to make the process better/easier for me but aren't strictly necessary to the brewing process. There are lots more and I'm just getting started with this hobby.

So it's actually quite an expensive hobby if you really get into it, as I have. That being said, I get a lot of satisfaction out of it. I've always enjoyed cooking, but my girlfriend puts me to shame. I really just enjoy following the recipe. She is very creative and resourceful and knows what goes with what. I feel a lot more comfortable with winging it when it comes to brewing because I can't really screw it up too bad, especially if I'm modifying a recipe I know is good, or using brewing software (Brewing software? Another $25 gadget!)

I really enjoy learning a lot about a subject that I previously knew nothing about. I drank a lot of beer but didn't know anything about how it was made. I was incredulous when I learned that beer was boiled during the process of making it. It turns out there was a LOT that I didn't know about beer. Now I can talk in detail about the entire brewing and fermentation process in case I come across a situation where I want to bore someone to death. :) I've had friends come over while brewing to help out and impart some knowledge on. I've developed a great relationship with my nephew, a fellow homebrewer. He's the only friend I can share brewing jokes with. And I am still learning more and more about this "hobby" every day. Every time I learn something about brewing, it makes me feel like I have more to learn about it instead of less.

I really enjoy the whole process, from brewing the beer, cleaning up afterwards to drinking it and everything in between - and there is a lot that goes on. My keg of Columbus IPA that I brewed a couple months ago finally kicked last night. Today I have to clean and sanitize the keg so I can put my next beer in it. Should only take a couple of hours and in a week or so I'll be enjoying something that I made myself completely from scratch that honestly, not a lot of people have the patience or skills to make themselves. When something has my beer and takes the time to write that it was "incredibly delicious" the next day on a meetup website, I feel like I made something really cool that others enjoy. That feels good.
Click to expand...

You just need to look at it like I do. I enjoy the process of brewing. It's something that is quite relaxing and allows me to focus on something that isn't part of my everyday life. So, I have this hobby that is brewing. Does it cost money to brew? Yes, but it costs money to golf, bowl, fish, build models, etc. So it's easy for me to look at and say, "Yeah, I spend money to brew. Luckily, it leaves this crazy bi-product called beer that you get to drink. So, the hobby of brewing costs me money, but the beer is free! :mug::ban:
 
Clonefan94 said:
You just need to look at it like I do. I enjoy the process of brewing. It's something that is quite relaxing and allows me to focus on something that isn't part of my everyday life. So, I have this hobby that is brewing. Does it cost money to brew? Yes, but it costs money to golf, bowl, fish, build models, etc. So it's easy for me to look at and say, "Yeah, I spend money to brew. Luckily, it leaves this crazy bi-product called beer that you get to drink. So, the hobby of brewing costs me money, but the beer is free! :mug::ban:
Click to expand...

Yeah and the other way I look at it is I normally don't buy equipment for myself, but get it as birthday/xmas presents. We usually spend around $150-200 on presents for ourselves (so thats $300-$400 a year). I have been brewing for 3 years now so thats about $1000 of presents which basically has paid for my equipment and some ingedients too.
So for me at least it is cheaper to brew beer taking into account everything. Cheers :mug:
 
I brew because I can :D

But seriously, I love the learning and I love the final product.
 
Saving money was in a way the initial allure, but it's a hobby that I take seriously and am passionate about how I undertake it. There is both a creative and a technical side to beermaking that in both aspects I find quite enjoyable and rewarding. It tunes me into the whole process and helps me to appreciate not only the beer that I make, but also a well-crafted commercially produced beer as I now have a better idea of what all goes into making a good beer.
I love homebrewing also because I can make beer that suits my own particular taste and also allows me to experiment in making beer that I either cannot buy or is very difficult to find. Also this way I get to come up with cool names and labels for my own beer :mug:
 

Similar threads

iiizuluiii
Newcomer question on 2nd batch
Replies
6
Views
585
redrocker652002
R
Brooothru
Residual Sugar
Replies
4
Views
301
Brooothru
Brooothru
Clint Yeastwood
Kill Mash Out but Raise Temperature to Improve Efficiency?
2
Replies
43
Views
2K
Clint Yeastwood
Clint Yeastwood
SFC Rudy
Secondary Fermentation Yes, no or maybe?
Replies
10
Views
375
hottpeper13
H
tracer bullet
Substitute yeast for a "Mexican Lager" (Negra Modelo)
2
Replies
40
Views
2K
tracer bullet
tracer bullet
BrewSwag 300

Latest posts

Back
Top