Why is everyone not doing this?

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badmajon

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I mean really, great beer even when you screw up, cheap as hell, and fun to make and you can get really creative and make your own from scratch.

Why is everyone not doing this? Not only is everyone not doing this, but I've actually got sort of hostile responses from people when I tell them I make my own. I think its the coolest thing on the planet... I have three hobbies, shooting, brewing and woodworking, and I have to say, this one is my favorite.
 
I agree, brewing is awesome! But I could ask "Why is everyone not doing this?" about all of my hobbies.

I make my own cheese and yogurt. I make my own soap. My soap is terrific, and it costs pennies per bar. My yogurt was cheap, too. My chevre is about 1/4 the cost of the store bought. My wines are even cheaper- since the fruit is free.

Many hobbies are fun, but don't produce anything. Like golf, for instance. But brewing is a hobby that is not only fun to do but has a great end result- BEER! I guess some people just don't think of it the same way.
 
I agree, brewing kicks arse.

How hard is it to make yogurt?

Yogurt is simple. You get fresh milk (not ultra pasteurized- I use fresh goat's milk that I pasteurize at 180 for 30 minutes, and then reduce the temp to 112 quickly) and add a couple of tablespoons of yogurt, or 1/4 teaspoon of yogurt culture. Keep at 112 degrees for 6-12 hours. Stir and refrigerate. That's it! The trick, though, is getting fresh milk. The chevre is even easier in some ways.
 
I think it is because people in general are lazy, uncreative, and completely dependent on pre-packaged goods, many homebrewers are also hunters, gardeners, fishermen, craftsmen, etc.. working with our hands is a joy, to be able to create a great beer, or harvest our own food is not something that everyone wants to do, some of my friends love my beer but would rather go buy beer than spend the time to make it themselves.
We are just a different brand of human.
 
it doesn't mean enough to most people. they are content with drinking bud and making your own is a lot of work. it amazes me when sitting at a bar with a great variety of beers (even at a brewery) and people order bud light or miller lite. These guys probably own 80% of the market so the majority of people don't care much and will never go to the trouble of making their own.
 
I think it is because people in general are lazy, uncreative, and completely dependent on pre-packaged goods, many homebrewers are also hunters, gardeners, fishermen, craftsmen, etc.. working with our hands is a joy, to be able to create a great beer, or harvest our own food is not something that everyone wants to do, some of my friends love my beer but would rather go buy beer than spend the time to make it themselves.
We are just a different brand of human.

Yes the ones that will survive when the **** hits the fan! I agree completely, the ones that may bash or question the idea of it usually dont create or do a whole lot at all, generally speaking.

The process is just as much if not more fun for me than enjoying the end result.
 
Why is everyone not doing this?

Well, when it comes to beer there are consumers and producers. Just about everybody is a consumer but only a few are producers. azscoob is right. Most people just aren't interested in spending the time and effort. :mug:
 
Why is everyone not doing this?.

Brand new here, and i'm starting to ask the same question, as well as what took me so long to start. This is a great hobby and i'm loving every minute of it, and this place has so much info available, it's awesome!
 
There is certainly a connection with the homebrewer, cheesemaker, fruit gatherer, smallholder, hunter.
I personaly like to know something about where my beer or food comes from. What better way to show the kids how to appreciate animals or alcohol than to get them feeding sheep at 6.00am or cleaning 90 bottles for the monthly brew.
Brewon! thats what i say, There is more to it than meets the why!!!!!
 
Yogurt is simple. You get fresh milk (not ultra pasteurized- I use fresh goat's milk that I pasteurize at 180 for 30 minutes, and then reduce the temp to 112 quickly) and add a couple of tablespoons of yogurt, or 1/4 teaspoon of yogurt culture. Keep at 112 degrees for 6-12 hours. Stir and refrigerate. That's it! The trick, though, is getting fresh milk. The chevre is even easier in some ways.

I make my own yogurt, too. All I do is boil 1/2 gallon of milk in a non-reactive saucepot, cool to 120-122, add 1/4C of whisked plain yogurt with active cultures (I like Stonyfield farm the best so far), cover the pot, wrap it in a towel (to keep it warm) and let it sit. It usually sets within 4-6 hours, although sometimes a little longer. You can also strain it to get greek style yogurt. To strain, I usually tie mine up in muslin or multiple layers of cheesecloth, and let it sit in a colander suspended over a saucepot in the fridge overnight.
 
I like when I tell people about my hobby and they respond with, "I'm pretty sure that isn't even legal."

I agree that it takes a certain type of person to do this. I'm the kind of guy who enjoys cutting my own grass, brewing my own Iced Tea, catching my own fish and growing my own vegetables.
 
I think lack of knowledge of how easy, cheap and awesome it is is a big part of it. I only started brewing when I randomly walked past a Mr. Beer kit in a store I thought it would be kind of cool so I did a little internet researching which lead me to a brewstore, this forum and "How to Brew" from there I started brewing and like most never looked back.

When people try my beer or ask me about my brewing I get mainly positive responses when I explain how easy and cheap it is to make most are blown away, they never considered MAKING beer as a possibility and if they never knew a homebrewer they likely never would have even known it was possible.
 
it's just cooking. Some folks like doing it, to others it would be a chore.

Plus, most people don't actually *like* beer. Beer marketing is so effective that people like the *idea* of beer, even if they've never actually acquired a taste for the product. But that's OK, because the big brewers developed 'lite' beers that taste more like carbonated water than beer.
 
I agree, brewing is awesome! But I could ask "Why is everyone not doing this?" about all of my hobbies.

I make my own cheese and yogurt. I make my own soap. My soap is terrific, and it costs pennies per bar. My yogurt was cheap, too. My chevre is about 1/4 the cost of the store bought. My wines are even cheaper- since the fruit is free.

Many hobbies are fun, but don't produce anything. Like golf, for instance. But brewing is a hobby that is not only fun to do but has a great end result- BEER! I guess some people just don't think of it the same way.

SWMBO makes soaps that are amazing. I too make my own cheese, yogurt, and bread(levain made bread, which is keeping a mother-yeast going, so it makes unique, local bread). It was while making bread that I realized beer can't be that much more difficult than yogurt or bread. Plus, I'm moving to France where there is plenty of cheap and delicious cheese and wine, but not much beer.

I have other hobbies too though. I solve rubiks cubes, I program iPhone apps, write, and study French history. Sure, these don't produce much tangible, but they keep my mind active and are interesting endeavors. Can't wait to get the first batch going in a month or so!
 
Some folks just aren't do it yourself kind of people and they're rather just buy their beer and drink it. I can relate though. I'm perfectly capable of changing my own oil and it would be cheaper, but it's worth it to me to pay a little more to have someone else do it while I go next door and look around the hardware store.

Plus, most people just don't like anything except BMC beer! They're not interested in anything else. They don't like variety. They want their weak, watery beer to taste the same very time they open a can.
 
I'd personally love any insight into making really good soap. That's another hobby I could really get into.
 
I for one am glad that more people don't do this. I know how easy it is to make beer because I've done it. But, I love the response I get when I tell people. They are amazed, as if I have some incredible talent because most people have no concept of how beer is made. Also, I don't want to see a run on malt, hops and yeast. I'd prefer if my ingredient costs didn't go up.:)
 
to be honest when i first started making beer i didnt evn really like beer a whole lot. i just like making things. but now that i make beer i have been tasting everything i possibly can and am starting to like it because i can taste the different things and appreciate the flavor that is pulled out of different things.

but i like to make soap and a ton of other things. soap is pretty easy and like beer you can start easy with melt and pour (extract brewing) or you can do cold process (all grain)
 
I for one am glad that more people don't do this. I know how easy it is to make beer because I've done it. But, I love the response I get when I tell people. They are amazed, as if I have some incredible talent because most people have no concept of how beer is made. Also, I don't want to see a run on malt, hops and yeast. I'd prefer if my ingredient costs didn't go up.:)

well in the short run prices would go up yes but over time more supply would come in to the market and prices would go down lower than what they are now and there would be more variety of things to choose from. but at the same time the less people that do it the more interesting it is.
 
You'd be surprised at the amount of people that don't even cook their own food. Ever.

Man, quoted for truth. I am always surprised at work how many people never make food at home. And by make food, I mean more than just heat something up or open a box and dump into a skillet.

Also homebrewing got really great when the beer I made started to taste really good consistently, and if I made a mistake, i could actually track it down.
 
I think it's very obvious that most people on this board just like to create and build. I also think the general public doesn't even know they could brew beer. Or don't know how easy it is.

Just reading this thread I found out how simple making yogurt is lol. I will probably do this next week now. I just like creating things, brewing and cooking are tons of fun for me.
 
well in the short run prices would go up yes but over time more supply would come in to the market and prices would go down lower than what they are now and there would be more variety of things to choose from. but at the same time the less people that do it the more interesting it is.

This would be true if we were talking about durable goods, but these are commodities (with the exception of yeast). It's purely supply & demand driven. Prices would spike, then slowly come down, but they would likely never really get down as low as they were before the spike unless people quit brewing. Take corn for example. It was really cheap, then the use of ethanol became popular. Corn prices spiked and then eased, but they are still quite a bit higher than they were before ethanol was so commonly used.
 
I'm perfectly capable of changing my own oil and it would be cheaper, but it's worth it to me to pay a little more to have someone else do it while I go next door and look around the hardware store.

Any respect I once had for you is now gone! :p

P.S. If you do decide to start changing your own oil, I would recommend not drinking until the job is complete. Nothing better than barreling out of the driveway the next day and not realizing the four quarts of new oil will not be going with you, because Sir Drinks-A-Lot forgot to reinstall the drain plug before filling everything back up.
 
This would be true if we were talking about durable goods, but these are commodities (with the exception of yeast). It's purely supply & demand driven. Prices would spike, then slowly come down, but they would likely never really get down as low as they were before the spike unless people quit brewing. Take corn for example. It was really cheap, then the use of ethanol became popular. Corn prices spiked and then eased, but they are still quite a bit higher than they were before ethanol was so commonly used.

i guess i was thinking more of the equipment than ingredients. i think if home brewing became more popular you would see more domestic maltsters and more competition for market share.
 
Many people do not cook their own food either.

I think it relates to brewing.........hmmmmm...

Along with not cooking their own food, many people just buy terrible "beer". 80% of the market is Anheuser-Busch/Coors/Miller, all of which taste the same. On top of that, Sam Adams has a decent amount of that 20% profit left over. That leaves the hundreds of craft brewers to 10%-15% of the market. While I like Sam Adams, even their blackberry witbier and the coastal wheat (despite being boring, it's an ok beer on the beach or after mowing the lawn). So it's not surprising that from the people who prefer real beer, only a few actually go on to try to make their own. Where I used to live, I had the fortunate luck to find a convienence store that had tons of micro-brews and craft brews and imports, and sold much more of it than of coors/bud/miller (but not more than PBR, because it was a college town of course). Thats where I started to drink beer often, and really like the taste. But for every one of me there were easily 10 or 12 college kids wanting $7 pitcher Pabst.
 
i guess i was thinking more of the equipment than ingredients. i think if home brewing became more popular you would see more domestic maltsters and more competition for market share.

It's possible. I was thinking more raw ingredients. Farmers are going to grow whatever pays the most per acre. Right now, corn and soybeans pay pretty well. That's what you see the most of in the Midwest. If barley prices went way up you would see an increase in supply, but only until it caught up with demand. Then, it would be back to corn and soybeans, or whatever else was paying the most.

Some equipment probably would go down in price, but anything made from SS or copper would likely increase, or alternative materials would become more popular.
 
Time and Space commitment. I've brewed 6 or 7 batches over the last 3 years because I just don't have time to do it much more than that. In fact, its been almost 9 or 10 months since I last brewed. We just didn't have the space at the old apartment.
Now that i've got space I plan to unpack the gear, clean it up, and get started.

But really, as for why people don't do it more I think part of it is a time commitment, its not a "quick" hobby really.
 
Very interesting... The do it yourself spirit is definitely part of why we brew our own.

We also make our own bread, yogurt, and grow our own veggies.

And soon, we'll be roasting our own coffee from green beans.

To add to the bevy of Yogurt methods, here's ours.

1 Gallon whole milk in the Crock Pot, heat on low for 2 hours.
Let cool in Pot for 2 more hours. Warm your oven.
Wisk in Yogurt culture ( from fresh yogurt or freeze dried )
Turn off oven and put crock pot in oven overnight.
Next, put Yogurt in colendar with Cheese Cloth ( we use old tee-shirt )
Let sit in cool place for a few hours.

The whey that we drain off goes either in the garden or the next batch of bread.
 
Home roasting coffee is really great! Thats what I do here.
For a weekend fishing trip at a guy's lakehouse I was able to bring the home roasted coffee, home brewed beer, homemade bread, and homemade salsa (not grown in my garden unfortunately).

Cheese is next on our list.
 
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