Salute to the lazy brewer

You know the guy, you may be that guy. I am that guy. The guy who uses an extract kit (and a no-boil one at that, haha). The guy who may add a few extra hops or a grain bag to the boiling water before he adds the extract, but that’s it. The guy who dumps his “wort” directly into his plastic primary bucket, adds some tap water, waits (no ice baths here) then dumps his dry yeast directly into the fermenter. After a week, he bottles. No secondary fermentation, no hydrometer, nothing. So what if the beer is a little hazy (although I have found even this is usually not the case when using Safale 04).

Will the beer win any awards? No. Is it better than 90% of the beer sold in America? Definitely. Fresh is good.

This hobby is as difficult and exacting as you want to make it. If you want to put in the time and effort you can make a drink exceeding almost anything commercially available. If you want to just boil the stuff and a couple weeks later drink it on the patio on a hot summer evening, you can do that too and enjoy yourself. Let’s remember, this is a beverage we all get rid of 20 minutes later anyway.

So as I sit on my patio watching the sunset, drinking my John Bull no-boil Executive Bitter, I salute you, my grain grinding, wort chilling, partial mashing brethren. Just remember, sometimes good enough really is good enough. Relax and enjoy your homebrew.

It's ALL good! The whole point in brewing is that we, the United Federation of Good Beer, are just so sick of the crap that the BMC's of the world have been feeding us. That's my reasoning for home brewing. I used to drink beer to get buzzed and feel ten feet tall and bullet proof, now mind you that was MANY years ago and playing in bands. Now, I actually look forward to the taste.

Congratulations on your streamlined system.
Being happy with your beer is what's important, and it sounds like you are, so cheers

Well, that seems to explain the kit I got from my LHBS.... They didn't seem very hip on promoting anything but the lazy brewer. However, I could have used a more lazy attitude for my first two batches, I think most of my screw-ups are from being to tense and worried about contamination. I think from now on I'm going to assume that air and water will not kill my beer.

I hear ya-I just started, but I'd consider myself 'moderately lazy'. The other day I drank my IPA, and then Red Hook's, and I honestly could say that mine tasted better-It was an extract brew with no secondary.

To me-the thing is self-sufficiency. It's a great feeling to have the bulk of what I drink be made in my basement.

Here's to all of the Lazier Brewers that did not even bother to detail thier brewing methods and practices as holidayinflorida has.

The ones that are so lazy that they won't even see this post.

Cheers to laziness, innovation and resourcefulness!

Cheers! (I was once a Mr. Beer, but became too engrossed, oops).

absolutely true. I enjoy home brewing for many reasons, but the main two are, 1. MOST of the stuff I brew taste better than anything I can buy commercially, and, 2. I belive the stuff you buy commercially is way overpriced, partly due to taxes, but nonetheless overpriced. I have a buddy that grows his own smoke (tobacco for those of you who may raise an eyebrow) and I frequently trade him home brew for a lil' tobacco. To me it just dosen't get any better

Anyone else have this soundtrack in their head when reading this?
http://www.contemporaryinsanity.org/audio-video/bud-light-real-men-of-genius.html

KISS

I've been drinking micro-brews for twenty some years and tried literally hundreds. Have a bottle market close with brewers coming in once a month for tastings. I think most of the commercial brewers reuse their yeast too much as the quality of their brew is not as consistent as it used to be. But I know I have complete control fo my brews and always use fresh yeast (but am very partial to stouts and IPA's so use safale-05 for those) with liquid brands for my hefe's and then still need to watch my fermentation temp's because I don't like the clovey taste if too cool of temp's! Seems I have more ambition for research & development than brewing?Guess I've been doing too much research since I can't get rid fo my first post!

I'm so lazy I'm not even going to read any other posts in this thread. Someone like to summarize it so far for me?

Orpheus said:

I'm so lazy I'm not even going to read any other posts in this thread. Someone like to summarize it so far for me?

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beer good. Brew. Drink.

Heh, I am still fairly a new brewer but I found this a great post. I think you are 100% dead on. I am still doing extract brews, but have been upgrading things in the past few months to make my beer 'better' (i.e. kegalator, freezer chest w/ ramco digital controller, etc).

I have discovered a few things that motivate me for brewing:

1. The actual process of brewing I find very relaxing. I work at an investment bank with brutal hours .... so I really enjoy taking time working with my hands.
2. I like to see continual improvement in my process / beer tasting. Hence all the upgrades ... and the future B3 1550 in my future
3. I like drinking the beer, a lot
4. None of the above justifies the expense / time in brewing. But the culimation of all of the above is why I do it.

Amen to you all! Lately I've been seeing all signs in my future pointing to AG brewing. Then I read a post like this and remember: ****! Enjoy the beer, man. (thinking Field of Dreams kinda James Earl Jones voice in my head). Don't know if/when I will go all grain, but thanks for the reminder that's it's all about fun and good beer to share with friends.

Time and space has a lot to do with my chosing extract over all grain. I am a stovetop brewer and I spend a total of about 3 hours a week. Friday or saturday night I start after I put my 4 year old to bed, around 9 o'clock. I can do a mini mash while I bottle a couple dozen 22s. Now I have an available carboy for more beer! By midnight I am finished and it is time to start drinking. During the rest of the week the other part of my hobby requires emptying all the bottles. I have two cases of 12 oz. bottles and 9 cases of 22's. Right now only two bottles are empty.... better start drinking!

Ditto. While I have done a few partial mash brews and some extract + specialty grains, I have done mostly extract brews. Most of those have been "no-boil" types using LME and pre-hopped LME. I hve to say that the no-boils make a darn good beer. Sure, not as complex and full flavored as say a partial mash, but still better than most store bought brews and so easy to make. Can you say add hot water, sure I knew you could. Time to sanitize my bucket, just talking about it reminds me I have a red-ale kit that needs some hot water and yeast.

Kharz said:

4. None of the above justifies the expense / time in brewing. But the culimation of all of the above is why I do it.

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Exactly! My non-beer-drinking friend was over for my first brew and as I made it I worked out the price per bottle, which I think is a little higher than the microbrew I generally buy. "So why are you doing it?" he asked. I don't think he quite understood, even after I tried to explain it, but the fact that I'm going to open a bottle, pour it into a glass, hold it up and say "I made this" will mean that it tastes better than anything else ever could.

Sigafoos said:

Exactly! My non-beer-drinking friend was over for my first brew and as I made it I worked out the price per bottle, which I think is a little higher than the microbrew I generally buy. "So why are you doing it?" he asked. I don't think he quite understood, even after I tried to explain it, but the fact that I'm going to open a bottle, pour it into a glass, hold it up and say "I made this" will mean that it tastes better than anything else ever could.

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Are you talking gear here or just ingredients? My last Porter I brewed came out to less than 50 cents a bottle. Now, with time I'm sure it ups the cost a bit, but I enjoy the brewing and the finished product will be hella satisfying.

If you could gear involved in brewing, hell it ups the cost to I don't want to know how much. .

Are you doing an AG? Since it was my first time I used an extract kit, so it was $35+tax. I think I was doing the math for getting 50 bottles out of it, which would be... $.70 a bottle. Wow, after using a calculator there I see that I am a moron and somehow had that figured out to like $1.80 or something before... my math skills have been atrophying like crazy recently. Three months out of grad school and I'm an idjit.

It aint rocket science! make it as simple or as complicated as you like.

krispy d said:

It aint rocket science! make it as simple or as complicated as you like.

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Don't you mean "rocket surgery"? Or is that "brain science"?

PseudoChef said:

Cheers! (I was once a Mr. Beer, but became too engrossed, oops).

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My family got me a Mr. Beer for father's day and my family loved the beer I made. The shipping was killing me though. I've bought a new 5 gal fermenter at Brewers Connection in Tempe and my wife loves going shopping there with me to get extracts, mini kegs, bottles, etc. (I thank God for my wonderful wife who loves beer as much as I do.) And I love how they didn't mock me for having a Mr. Beer in the first place. Cost is about 50 cents a bottle. ( unless I decide to get the new keg on the shelf over there, and that hat looks cool. How about 2 more dozen bottles? Flip tops look neat. You have the check book, honey?)

I am The Lazy Brewer!

http://lazybrewer.com


Mark

cardiac_cadet002 said:

absolutely true. I enjoy home brewing for many reasons, but the main two are, 1. MOST of the stuff I brew taste better than anything I can buy commercially, and, 2. I belive the stuff you buy commercially is way overpriced, partly due to taxes, but nonetheless overpriced. I have a buddy that grows his own smoke (tobacco for those of you who may raise an eyebrow) and I frequently trade him home brew for a lil' tobacco. To me it just dosen't get any better

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Now I quit smoking a while back, but sure would like to try some of that homegrown smoke. Any way we can arrange a trade of my kick in the stomach homey chomomile wheat for that smoke?

Cheers

lucas

THis is a good thread. Refreshing and appreciated.

jowens said:

Well, that seems to explain the kit I got from my LHBS.... They didn't seem very hip on promoting anything but the lazy brewer. However, I could have used a more lazy attitude for my first two batches, I think most of my screw-ups are from being to tense and worried about contamination. I think from now on I'm going to assume that air and water will not kill my beer.

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+1 When i started i was soooooo anal retentive im suprised i slept for three days after i brewed. Most of my brew came out mediocre. Now two years deep an a lot of beer later im really putting out some good stuff (in my ipinion). I dont sweat it and use K.I.S.S.

I am guilty as charged with the lazy extract brewing..... and still think the beer is eons better than anything corporate...

Something to be said about a 12 gallon batch (2 extract prehopped kits) put to bed in under a hour.

Cheers
BeerCanuck

This is the thread I've been looking for, the point I've tried to make a few times over the last few years. I don't come here often, because I'm a casual brewer, but I've said it before. "Making good beer is easy, making great beer isn't hard." Learn from these people, but don't feel pressured. I've been partial mash brewing for 6 years, and that's as far as I want to go, and as far as I'm concerned, I make great beer. As long as you like your beer, that's all you have to do.

JackT said:

I am guilty as charged with the lazy extract brewing..... and still think the beer is eons better than anything corporate...

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Beer? Lazy? I'll drink to that.

I agree most people take all the fun out of it by getting overwrought. I like to go another step in devilmaycareness: Just throw stuff in instead of using a recipe. I like to make beer like I make chili. Put a bunch of ingredients out on the counter and, with some notion of what I want to end up with, just put in what feels right without measuring how much Amarillo or Northern Brewer or Irish moss I use, just like I wouldn't measure chili powder or oregano or onions.

what ever floats ur boat...but i would rather make a beer to its fullest potential than bottle after a week. Hey, im lazy too!...just not with my beer

1 prehopped coopers kit at the LHBS 15.99
3# Light Malt Extract 7.99
55 bottles of fresh ice cold home brew priceless