Why do you homebrew?

Hi everyone,

I've been homebrewing for a number of years and am conducting a study on why homebrewers like homebrewing. The research is for a graduate program in Pennsylvania. We're curious about what parts of the homebrewing process do homebrewers like the most in comparison to how much time these parts take. We want to know why you choose to homebrew instead of just buying craft beer in the store.

We want to know what the most fulfilling and satisfying activities are, and which activities you could really do without. I know that ALL the parts are decently rewarding to begin with, but we want to know which ones are the MOST rewarding.

The survey is just a few pages in length as you walk through the whole process from designing the recipe to serving the beer. I'd like to thank everyone in advance for helping us collect this information. Below is the link - thanks!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1V5gp9iHctmTngtPlMjwZURIdfvaXY4xYpAz17XXn3R0/viewform

Well I was going to, but I sort of have a problem with question 2 how long it takes....You've made it a closed ended question, but it's not.

If I'm researching a new style of beer I want to brew, or building an historical recipe like my kentucky common, it could take weeks- reading, tasting beers of a similar style, digging through archives, if it's cobbling together a simple ipa it could take 2 minutes. And somewhere in between depending on the beer I'm making.

The most rewarding part is opening a bottle and hearing the hiss of co2 escape. Then pour and taking a sip of all your hard work. But is there is a part of the process of making it that I enjoy the most is the boil. Hop additions and just the smell that you get from it is simply amazing.

The satisfaction you get with drinking something you made. And also, I love beer

Pride in my own work and the fact I made something I want to drink. Plus, even the craft breweries aren't as experimental as I want to be, or in the case of Sierra Nevada, are lazy in differentiating their other varieties of beer from their base product.

I think, therefore, I brew

Done

I like to cook and home brewing is just an extension of that. I get great satisfaction from drinking and sharing my home brew with friends. I like the fact that you can tweak a recipe to what YOU want it to taste like. I enjoy making up a recipe and seeing if my thoughts of what it would taste actually happens.

It all boils down to pride in your craft.

Done. I guess the best part for me is designing the beer recipe,then drinking/anylizing the final product compared to the recipe design.
Also,after reading some comments,I have to say the number I put down for designing recipes is an average. Some just pop into my head,others I work out in BS2. Others I have to research 1st,as is the case with the Burton ale I brewed.

Yes, I made to threads in both the Beginners forum and the General forum. Hope I don't piss anyone off :/

beergolf said:

It all boils down to pride in your craft.

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Pun intended?

Revvy, can you describe how long it would take when you normally brew? If you're building a brand new recipe from scratch week after week, then that would be significantly longer than your usual. If you only do that research every once and a while, and tend to research recipes very quickly, then I'd be interested more in that response. Does that make sense?

Feel free to not answer certain parts of the survey if it doesn't apply - no question is "required." I appreciate your help!

I started because of a free Mr. Beer kit, but continue because
1) I like cooking and this is similar
2) although I am a noob, my few all-grain brews have been surprisingly tasty
3) Sharing the results with friends and hearing
"I've never had anything like this! Got some more?"

For the workout. Lots of exercise.

[two identical threads were merged]

cabron99 said:

I think, therefore, I brew

Click to expand...

I brew, therefore I drink.

I gave up on the questionnaire because the answers do not really fit my experience. For instance I usually start a recipe, save it, return and review it several times before finalizing it. So, 20,160 minutes from start to finish but differing times depending on my revisions. for the equipment setup time - who knows? - I start the setup - then start brewing - more setup - more brewing etc.

How much do I like cleanup? Not much but it is unavoidable. The descriptions given do not describe my emotions when doing the cleanup.
How long does it take to clean up? another one that would be a total guess since there is cleanup before during and after the brew session.
How long does heating the mash water typically take you? It depends on the temperature of the water and the air temperature. In the summer just a few minutes - in the winter much longer.
How long does measuring out grain typically take you? It depends on the recipe and the number of ingredients.

So there are no easy answers. How much do I like the different processes? It depends on a lot of variables. How long do the different things take? There are also too many variables to give a stock answer. My average all grain brew day takes about 6 hours, my average BIAB takes about 4 hours, extract I think was about 3 but I have not done one for almost 1.5 years.

Camaraderie(did i spell that right? looks wrong).

Creativity- making something complex from four basic things.

The Challenge- building new equipment. brewing correctly.

The sense of inner peace knowing i have 100 gallons of beer in my basement.

Man that survey was annoying.. I hope it does somebody some good because it killed the heck out of my 10 minutes.

1-I"m retired and I need something to keep me from growing old and dying
2-Not crazy about commercial beers. I like mine better.

Nuff said.

C-Rider said:

1-I"m retired and I need something to keep me from growing old and dying
2-Not crazy about commercial beers. I like mine better.

Nuff said.

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And everyone knows that longboards and homebrew have more soul!

What made the survey annoying? How would you have structured it?

It isn't clear to me what you are going to do with this information or why it is useful to spend time n a pretty detailed survey. What question are you trying to answer?

University-based research is usually conducted with approval of an IRB. I don't see this here, which makes me suspect.

beergolf said:

i like to cook and home brewing is just an extension of that. I get great satisfaction from drinking and sharing my home brew with friends. I like the fact that you can tweak a recipe to what you want it to taste like. I enjoy making up a recipe and seeing if my thoughts of what it would taste actually happens.

It all boils down to pride in your craft.

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x2

I brew because it makes me feel more manly.

I agree with bottle bomber it was 10 minutes of my life ill never get back! LOL \\\
glad t help progress the movement!

Te real reason I brew is to show the bigs, that I dont need thier ass_es. real beer comes from hard work, knowledge and determination.

If I would have based my decision on my first 2 brews, I would not be doing this right now.

I just brewed a 5% 5 gallons 52 bottles for 10.56 cents the time it took can never be replaced, but the expierience can never be duplicated, Put that feather in your cap! LOL

joe21 said:

It isn't clear to me what you are going to do with this information or why it is useful to spend time n a pretty detailed survey. What question are you trying to answer?

University-based research is usually conducted with approval of an IRB. I don't see this here, which makes me suspect.

Click to expand...

sounds like a pre-bachelors type survey, but who am I ! LOL

I brew cause I developed a taste for good beer at a relatively early age (@22) and then I met my girlfriend, who is Swedish, and moved to Sweden with her. Fantastic country but the alcohol prices are nuts here. They recently got in some SN Celebration ale and it was over $4 a beer. Yes, ladies and gents, you read that right. Brewing for me has turned into a way for me to get good beer at a pretty cheap price. It doesn't hurt that I love doing it even though I just started. I'm a student so alcohol is kind of a necessity but good beer (bought at least) is too much of a luxury. As of this moment, I have some three one gallon batches fermenting away. One is as close to a ruination clone as I could get, a nice centennial single hop and a IIPA I brewed with a friend to show him the ropes. He's just getting started as well.

Basically to get better beer for the same cost, and enjoy the fact that I made it.

Why I homebrew is simple. I am a maker by nature. I am a machinist by trade and I enjoy designing and creating something out of nothing precisely and deliberately. I also love to cook for people. Homebrewing combines them both. I get a real sense of pride and accomplishment when friends and family tell me they like a beer I brewed and designed better than something they can buy at the store. I brew because I love the fact that I like a lot of my beers as much or more than anything I can buy. I really like being an integral part of the brewing process. It all starts and ends with me and I know EVERYTHING about all the beers I brew. It also doesn't hurt that I can brew craft brewery quality beer for less than 25% of the price.

I love the process as much and sometimes even more than the final product itself.

I love designing, brewing and then tasting which ultimatley tells me if my design process is solid or I just get lucky once in a while. The numbers are turning towards solid design more and more with each new brew.

Thanks for everyone's responses so far! I'll be analyzing your text-based data that you fill out in this forum along with your responses to the survey and then post back the results!