Why You Brew

to me, a homebrew is superior to a commercial brew (most domestics at least) due to the fact that they tend to have more complex flavors and character. i can spend the same amt. on either. i like the brew that has some TLC behind it.

I brew because I'm on a quest to find the perfect brew (for my taste). I've came close, but Man, there's always that possiblity I'll hit it on the next batch, or the one after that.
I just love to brew, it's that simple.

1. It's a very enjoyable hobby.

2. I get to drink the results.

3. To answer your question about homebrew vs. commerial beer, now that it something I was very skeptical about in the beginning but was very pleasantly surprised about once I started tasting my work. I always thought homebrew would be thick, hazy, dark stuff that tasted good but was nothing like the clear, crisp commercial stuff.

I was very happy to find that the very first batch I made was pretty darn good and by my second batch it was better than anything I could buy in the store.

I brew because I love beer and wanted to learn how to make it... After that I really enjoyed playing with the recipes (of course with AG now). Oh ya I like to drink it too

Besides all the reasons listed above, I do it because I feel like I'm stickin it to The Man. No seriously. I grew up in Utah, where anything fun and was considered to be Very Bad For You (fellow Utah brewers will know what I'm talking about). It took about six trips to the homebrew store before I got over the feeling of the teenager caught in the backroom of the video store. I still feel like I'm getting away with making my own beer, even though I know it's perfectly legal.

Maybe I have issues.

I really enjoy preparing and cooking a special meal. I get a sense of satisfaction knowing I used fresh wholesome ingredients and took the time to prepare something I enjoy and something I can share. I really like the nuances of the meal I prepared (adding an extra sprig of thyme or browning the butter to add a nutty character, adding my own unique style) and the care and thought that was required for the preparation of that meal, including the planning, the shopping and timing. Taking that enjoyment and applying it to another cooking technique that also incorporates an aging process and biological (living) aspect was very intriguing to me. So I began to read and learn and appreciate the art of brewing. Much like cooking, there are techniques and scientific relationships that need to be taken into consideration plus creativity. Also much like cooking you can go from something as simple as a frozen pizza to a gourmet meal. The options in what you are capable of are limited only by your imagination and/or interests plus your experience. There is a sense of pride that is met when someone enjoys something I have created. I can see a lot of challenges in brewing that I'd love to master while I gain an understanding of the process and push my creativity.

Couple all of the previously mentioned satisfying aspects of brewing beer with the historical significance of the art (touched on by couple people in this thread) and it seems somewhat important to be involved in a tradition that has existed for so long.

I am looking forward to the day I get to sit outside and embrace something as simple as a sunny day and a beer I made from a handful of ingredients not unlike someone did hundreds of years ago or will likely do hundreds of years from now.

Do you fear your neighbors finding out about your nasty habit?
Do you look over your shoulder while brewing half expecting flashing blue and red lights?
Do you feel shame that your family might find out?

Join UBU (United Brewers of Utah) and learn to feel good about your brewing self again.

Or Move to Sunny Nova Scotia! Home to Sunnyvale trailer park and low brow law enforcement.
Nova Scotia, where a "turning a blind eye" is a way of life.

eviltwinofjoni said:

Besides all the reasons listed above, I do it because I feel like I'm stickin it to The Man. No seriously. I grew up in Utah, where anything fun and was considered to be Very Bad For You (fellow Utah brewers will know what I'm talking about). It took about six trips to the homebrew store before I got over the feeling of the teenager caught in the backroom of the video store. I still feel like I'm getting away with making my own beer, even though I know it's perfectly legal.

Maybe I have issues.

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I brew because I always liked trying different beers. Before brewing I used to go out looking for different beers at the local stores. After awhile it was unthinkable to buy BMC. Not because I saw them as bad, I think they are just plain. I will say it also pained me to pay $8-10 for a good sixer. I did this for a long time...

One year for xmas I got a HB kit and never looked back. I like the planning, the shopping, brewing, gadgets, watching the air lock bubble..., even bottling and of course drinking. Sharing has its great rewards too. The memory of my first tastey homebrew is priceless.

To the original question, not all of my stuff is great, that's part of the learning experience. Some batches aren't what you thought or wanted and some not so good due to mistakes. Most of what I have made have been good & very satisfying.

Also if SWMBO goes out of town for the weekend she knows what I'll be doing. No worries to speak of there.

Willsellout said:

Brewing gives me time to myself, it lets me express myself because I think of it as an artform, and it gets my wife so I get lucky more often



Dan

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LOL, best reason yet!!

I started brewing as a hobby and went to all grain after my second batch. I now also brew for taste. I like my beers better than commercial beers.

Most of my regular brews are American ales, IPA's and English bitters. For these I use dry yeasts and and a 5 gallon batch cost me around $20.00 - $25.00. Not a bad price either. I do love to brew different recipes for the challenge though and use what is best for the recipe.

Most important is that I enjoy the process. One of my favorite days is brew day. I love getting up early, starting the water heating in the kettle while I get the rest of my stuff together.

Part of the enjoyment is also the social aspect. I am a member of an excellent brew club. Around 30 of us meet once a month and sample each other's beers. It is a lot of fun and I get to sample some great beers, several which are recipes I got after the tasting and now brew myself. (after all - I am KopyKat!)

I brew, therefore I am. More specifically, I noticed that I like doing random stuff myself just to get better quality. I stuff my own sausages, I smoke my own meats, I grow as much of my own veggies as I have room for... and after a month long tour of Europe, beer drinking in the US just got lame... that is until I started brewing! So the one word answer would have to be: Quality!

#14 JacktheKnife vbmenu_register("postmenu_165601", true);
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Why do I brew?

An interesting question it is...

All the reasons given by others, were very good reasons.
The reasons 'I brew my own' are ...
All the reasons given above, and also basically:
The reason I learned how to cook food.
Control over my own life, to not be a slave!
I remember when I was a kid, I asked Mom how to cook.
She said:
Men don't cook food,
they get married and have their wives cook for them.
Oh Mom, your cooking is so good I want to learn how you do it, I told her.
When actually I wanted to learn how to cook food,
so I didn't end up with a ***** like her,
but if I told her that... she wouldn't show me how to cook.
It was one of my first tactical lies.
But it worked.
I am single and a good cook.
Life is good, now to the subject at hand:


One homebrew of mine costs about .40 cents.
But it is half again as strong as store bought beer, 25 cents ???
I don't have to get in a truck with tags, inspection sticker, insurance, expensive gas and all and drive to the beer store, dodging cops,
idiots and accidents all the way there and all the way back.
In order to pay a dollar + tax, for a beer.
I just walk in to my brewery, {the former pantry,}
and 'select' or just, 'get me' an ale.
I have 200 full, green glass bottles on the shelves.
7Lb Hammerbier, 8 Lb Hammerbier.
Different batches different flavors and amounts of alcohol.
I gives me control over my life.
It gives me Power!!!


A friend of a friend was over bumming my homebrew.
'Mikey' was lots younger than me and hadhad a severe head injury too.
I was trying to inspire him and show him the value of brewing your own buzzzz...
I took him into my brewery, {the former pantry}
We looked up at the shelves filled with rows and rows of full,
clean, green glass bottles with my special brews in them.
A beautiful and inspiring sight it was.
{And thats why I bottle rather than keg ya'll}

I told Mikey about the wino who came up to two friends as they were opening the door to a rooming house, 'room', they had rented just to have a place to smoke pot in back in the 60's. Here the old wino came with his broom as he helped out around the old house to help with his rent.
James was saying hurry, hurry open the door, while Steve was fumbling with the keys. The wino came up to them and opened his mouth and with his scratchy old wino voice said:
"Cherish your youth boys, cherish your youth."
Whereupon the old wino started coughing and hacking and grabbing at his chest. He wheezed and hacked and staggered around and collapsed in the hall as Steve got the old door open,
and they went in and locked the door.
The wino was gone when they came out.
I have always remembered the old wino's admonition.
And said you can learn something from anybody.

Then I was telling Mikey about 'wealth'.
Some men view 'wealth' as owning lots of stuff.
Two or three beautiful women with the biggest tits.
The fastest car and the biggest house.
Others view wealth as land.
Thousands of acres of grassland, mountains and lakes,
owning a ranch is owning a piece of the earth,
a place to spend your life improving,
to plant grasses and trees, heal gullys and erosion,
build fences, to make it more fertile and raise animals.
To leave it better than it was when you found it.
Its your land and "land is the only thing that lasts".

But Mikey, the poor old wino would go for a bottle of wine.
That was wealth to him.
All that property and those women are just a big hassle.
I looked up at my shelves filled with the aforedescribed rows and rows of clean, green glass bottles, filled with my special precious homebrew.
I took a deep breath and held up my hands.


Mikey dude, this...

This is wealth.


J. Winters Knife
' Sandymay got two coon last night ya'll '
' Thats wealth too '
Last edited by JacktheKnife : 03-25-2007 at 10:51 AM.

i cook for a living...love it or i wouldn't do it
so, i'm already accustomed to standing over boiling hot pots

my other hobby is recording live music...no, not bootlegging. that's illegal because you sell it. the bands i record allow you to tape the show and i give my music away and trade it freely.

so, along w/ listening to some of my music i recorded...what could be better than to have a beer you brewed yourself and relive a concert experience...in the comfort of my living room.

that and my beer stores locally don't carry real beer, just mass produced swill.

now if i could only drink homebrew when out at the bars/clubs :rockin:

I started out because I always like quality beer and was very interested in the process pretty much like everyone else on here. I also like to cook and essentually you are cooking beer. Cost was never a factor because I always looked at it as a hobby rather than a way of saving money. That brings up another point I have always thought about homebrewing is how cheap of a hobby it is. True even with a simple setup like mine it will take at least a few years before you save enough to recoup your equiptment costs, but still when you think of it as paying for your hobby and paying for beer it seems really cheap. Plus you're producing great beer for about half the price of BMC, can't beat that.

Ahh yes and the number one reason is the feeling when I open up a bottle and it tastes great. That is a wonderful sense of accomplishment. When others compliment your beer it is even better. I have had only one bad batch out of about 15 or so, so I guess that isn't too bad.

In closing I just have to say homebrewing is the greatest thing in the world. Fun to make and great to drink doesn't get any better than that.

'Cause psylicybin ('no spelling suggestions') and THC are illegal (and I'm a lot older, now).

Oh yeah, 'cause I like beer alot, too.

Because I hate crap beer, I hate expensive beer and because I can!

I brew because 20,000 years ago, mankind learned that mead is good, beer is good, and wine is good. We learned that these things nourish not only our body, but also our souls. Who gains vision and enlightenment by eating bread and herbs? But boil those same ingredients, be just patient enough... and you will have a truly spiritual experience.

I brew because civilization was born, and is kept alive, over a couple of cups of brew.

I brew because years ago I found I could do damn near anything better and cheaper than someone else who is doing it commercially. Sure, there's a learning curve and it's steeper in some endevours than others, but in the end I've been highly successful. So next week I start dentistry or surgery for my family, depending on immediate need.

Seriously though, someone posted on here that homebrewers tend to be real do-it-yourself kind of people and I think that this is very true for a great number of us and it's manifesting itself here.

I brew because to sit down with a brew that YOU created, pulled from a tap of a kegerator that YOU built, is just completely satisfying in some way. How do my beers compare to commercial? Hmmmm.......Some of my beers, namely the ones that I was brave enough to post recipes for, can stand up against anything commercial. I have had people tell me that they are the best they've ever had and would I please make more they'd even pay me. I've also made beers that were real stinkers. It's a lot of experimentation, and sometimes the experiments don't always pan out, but they usually do.

...Because I love the process. But mostly I brew to share with friends and family......so they'll stay away from my first-growth Bordeaux's! Seriously though, I really enjoy all aspects, the abilty to experiment and create something orginal and one of a kind in any mdeium is usually rewarding. I like the history behind beer and brewing too.

Cheesefood said:

.....Now, I do it because I want to make David Hasselhoff cry.

Click to expand...

hahahahaha!!!! Funny quote. I love it!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!:rockin:

I'm pretty new at this, only been brewing for three months and am on my third batch.

I started homebrewing because I wanted a hobby that wasn't about buying and collecting stuff. I'm a huge comic book fan, so I have plenty of those around the house. I'm in grad school, so I have three bookcases full of books on European history. I like role-playing games, so I have two more bookcases devoted to those books. But all of those "hobbies" are simply getting more junk to fill up my house.

I also love to cook, which started back when I was a young, single Army officer and got tired of Burger King and spaghetti. So I went out, spent $200 on pots, pans, and stocking a pantry, spent $50 on used cookbooks, and taught myself what I needed to know. Seven years later and I can make pretty much anything that I care to eat.

I've always been a beer snob, and last year I started talking to a few homebrewers that I knew through other hobbies. It sounded interesting, so I bought my equipment, supplies, books, and joined this site.

My first successful batch, my robust porter, is awesome. I've given out several liters to friends and family, and they've all gone on and on (past the point of socially-required politeness, and often unsolicited) about how good it is. Every time I pop open a bottle (I rarely average one beer a day, so I don't brew quickly), pour it into a glass, and take the first sip I know this is something that I made. Yeah, I'm an extract brewer, but still - this is handcrafted brew that I spent time and effort into making for myself and my friends. Do I still like getting a good pint of Guinness over at the Auld Shebeen? Sure. Do I still like buying a sixer of Trader Joe's Bohemian Hefeweizen? Of course. But just because I make an amazing pan-seared salmon filet in a balsamic glaze with citrus green beans doesn't mean I've stopped going out to dinner.

well, like everybody else here, I brew 'cause I'm a fierce DIY'er. I am constantly allured by the prospect of being able to create something fine and unique, something that would be considered a rare expensive luxury if you were to just go out and buy it. I believe that a rich person can go out and get nice things whenever they want, but a regular person can have extraordinary things in his life (like GREAT BEER) with a little craftsmanship, creativity and dedication.

I like it when people's eye widen and they go 'Wow you made this?!'

It's scientific and detailed enough to keep me interested but it's also a bit of an art form so I like that.

Plus it's the ultimate form of beer snobbery

I just started brewing beer. I've actually been thinking about it for over a year now. When I was younger I would drink the BMC with friends, but I always found them to be quite disgusting. For a long time I though I didn't like beer, then I found my first microbrew. It was actualy a wheat beer, it was light, refreshing, and delicious. Now I love beer, IPA's are among my favorites, which is why I chose an IPA as my first brew. What got me into brewing is actually a combination of a few things. First and foremost, it's my love for beer! I enjoy the many different flavors of beer. It's amazing the variety that's out there, the BMC drinkers are truly missing out on some amazing stuff. I also owe a bit of thanks to the Mr. Beer ads because they really got me into researching the hobby seriously. I always imagined brewing beer to be sort of beyond my abilities, and saw it as mysterious. The Mr. Beer made it look quite easy and attainable. I looked into buying one and after doing some searching, I discovered that there were better options available. One final reason that got me brewing was a friend of mine that shares a similar love for good brews as I do. I had been talking about it for quite a while and he has been giving me a much needed hand through the entire process. Anyway, that's why I'm trying my hand at brewing. I'm hoping my beers come out as good and mayber even better than some of the micros that I love.

Why do I brew beer? I't a combination of things actually. I never have enjoyed coors bud etc... (michelobe was the only domestic brand i could even sort of stand). I had always known about "other" styles of beer but never tried them. Growing up my folks always had an abundance of Raineer Light or Old Milwauke Light, or some other light crappy beer. I had tried them growing up and never liked them. Then at one party my folks threw one of my "uncles"(you know, family friends...) brought over some micro brews and handed them out to a few people. Only a few people liked them. Curiosity got me. I asked my folks if I could try one. They gave me a small sip thinking I wouldn't like it. Still to this day I can't remember what it was. It was thick, black and tasted of licorice with a hoppy flavor. That I remember. After that, at age 13, I knew there was more to beer than the hell my folks enjoyed. A few years after that my folks went on vacation. My little brother was sent to our grandfolk's and they let me stay home. My father, thinking that I liked beer(well, he was right, just not HIS) counted his CANS of beer and told me he knew how many there were. Being the smart ass I am I told him a very soul felt and true joke, my first one of that nature too, mind you, to him. I said, "Dad. Your beer is safe." He asked, "Oh yeah. Why?" I replied, "Your beer is like sex in a canoe." At this point he was confused. I explained, "It's F'ing close to water!" We all got a good chuckle out of that one but remembering back to that one little taste of heaven I had a few years back in compairison to his crappy on sale budget beer HELL I, in my mind, was correct. Six years later at the age of 21 I went to many bars, as people of that age tend to do, in search of that beer. Still to this day I havn't found anything close to it yet. But what I did find is a sea of wonderful beers of all colors and intensities. I had popped into a few homebrew shops but never committed to buying a kit. Fast forwarding 9 years... Last year about february my buddy calls me up and says, "DUDE!!! I JUST BOUGHT A STARTER KIT FOR BREWING BEER!!! LETS BREW SOME BEER TONIGHT MAN!!!!" We read through the instructions and discovered we needed large kettle, funnell, big ass spoon and a few other things that elude me right now. I went out and picked them up right there. That night we brewed our first batch of beer. So many things we did wrong. We dumped the dry yeast on top of the wort in the carboy. We dry hopped in the primary. We also diddn't put on a blowoff tube, we put the airlock on. Diddn't measure well either on the water line in the 5 gallon carboy. The next day we had a mess, figured out what the blowoff tube was, discovered why you don't dry hop in the primary fermenter and had one hell of a mess to clean up. Ever since that phone call I knew that was what I enjoyed doing. Dreaming up beer recepies. Building equipment(Which involved cutting the top of a keg off with a DREMMELL!!! HAHAH!!! only took 5 hours!) and thinking about beer and everything it entails more than drinking it. I never have to drink crappy store bought light commercial hell brew ever! I can make what I think I want. I have found since I started brewing it myself that I actually enjoy it MUCH more. And when I take it down to share with family I can tell my dad, and he still chuckles when I make this reference, that this beer isn't that outdoorsie! That's right, it isn't even close to sex in a canoe!

Previous posts cover just about everything. Why? The history, the technical, the science, the artistry. Heck, I wish I knew.

Most of my beers are good, a few have been great, and a few have been flops but I continue to learn along the way. I learn how the chemistry of my water affects the end product, different grains, how the mash influences so many attributes of the beer, how different hops that are so closely related can truly add a different profile and then there are all the different yeast strains. There are so many variables to brewing and I had no idea until I met a few homebrewers and I could tell how excited they were to talk about brewing and better yet teach the hobby.

What I like most about it though is how just about anyone can do it with the simplest of equipment up to the most refined homebreweries which some here have designed and built and then we can sit around with friends and family and enjoy and take pride in something we've made.

Not too long ago, I had a some Calvados, which along with me being 1/2 French and loving science (especially biology and chemistry - since that's what I'm doing at university (college) at the momment) and cooking had me envisioning myself growing some apple trees, and making cider from these apples, to be distilled into mighty Calvados. I could already taste the homemade Calvados... then reality hit me - apple trees take a good few years to grow and I couldn't wait that long, so I thought to myself: Why don't I just start off with some cider, and see where that takes me? First off, I had to actually find out what cider tasted like , so I went to the supermarket with mum and bought some cider, and man was it good, appley champagne is what first came to mind, this was indeed something worth brewing. Now I had to convince mum, she wasn't so fussed about me using up half of the hotwater cupboard with my fermentor and equipment, but she finally agreed, on one condition: I had to brew her some beer. Aren't I glad she said that, because before that I didn't really enjoy beer at all, I found it much too bitter (I had, and still do have a very sweet tooth), but since brewing some beer myself, I've actively gone out and tried different beers, to develop my palate, and now I love beer.

Thats how I got started, but I keep brewing because I think it tastes better than most of that bland tasting commercial stuff, and it's cheaper than microbrews. Not just that but here in New Zealand, there are no laws concerning homebrewing, so I am legally allowed to brew beer (at the age of 17), despite the legal drinking age of 18. Its win win win. :rockin:

Hopefully it's not too long before I start distilling - yeah, its actually legal in New Zealand , but I think I'll always have beer going and one day maybe I'll have brewed large enough variety of things to be able to make homebrew cocktails. Ah, one day.

Well if I could buy six packs of decent beer for $8-9 I wouldn't bother homebrewing. But in Korea even **** like Corona costs $2 a bottle in a store and a small can (not the pint ones) of guiness costs $4 Just can't afford to buy decent beer on a regular basis...

Why do I brew. Hrmm, in a nutshell...

...Because I can.

I consider it an extension of my artistic side. In fact, I find it the most intriguing thing you can do with food/beverage...period. Before I ventured into brewing, I had pretty much gotten my feet wet with with some of the more complicated food processing arts, namely dry cured sausage/salami and cheese. They are still fascinating to me, and I love to make such things, but nothing I can think of comes close to the complexity of brewing. There are just so many ways you can express yourself through brews. Most of my stuff is usually very straightforward, as I myself am this way...with the occasional off-the-wall adventure.