Hobby or Job?

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Hobby or Job

  • Hobby

  • Hobby(maybe a job in the future)

  • Job right now


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JGowls

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How many of you brew just as a hobby and how many of you do this for a career in a brewery? If you do it just as a hobby, would you ever want to take it another step and try and open up a brewery? I'm just a beginner and have a longggg way to go but I think it would be awesome to one day have my own small brewery...
 
I would love ti brew for a living. I'm trying to convince SWMBO that it would be a good idea to open a supply shop where wr live.
 
JGowls said:
How many of you brew just as a hobby and how many of you do this for a career in a brewery? If you do it just as a hobby, would you ever want to take it another step and try and open up a brewery? I'm just a beginner and have a longggg way to go but I think it would be awesome to one day have my own small brewery...

Serious hobby:) planning on working part time for a fellow brew club friend going pro once up and running.
 
I would love ti brew for a living. I'm trying to convince SWMBO that it would be a good idea to open a supply shop where wr live.

Brewing and running a LHBS are two totally different things. With the cheap shipping these days I don't see how it's possible to earn a decent living running a LHBS. Online retailers are where it's at.
 
Homebrewing is just a hobby for me. I fear that even considering it as a career would ruin it...
 
Homebrewing is just a hobby for me. I fear that even considering it as a career would ruin it...

+1 this! I tried turning a previous hobby into a prefession and quickly lost the 'fun' factor. I made a profit and met my customer's needs but it just wasn't fun anymore.

I refuse to do that with any of my current hobbies.
 
I have noticed a few guys in the industry that I work with have lost the passion for homebrewing.
 
Never more than a hobby!

I have other hobbies that I do for fun, too- like soapmaking. If I ever "had" to do it, it would be work. And I'd have to find another hobby.

I donate my soaps to organizations to sell, and give to friends but I will NOT sell them. Because then people want to buy them. That changes the whole thing.

Same with beer. I'm already retired from one job, and not looking for another. Brewing and winemaking I do for ME and my spouse and my friends. Never for anything else!
 
I started brewing when I was 19 I am 22 now and I have compleated an internship at my local micro and I just went back to school to study for a brewing education program. ask your local micro if you can help out. you could even get free yeast, PBW, grain and growlers if you ask nice
 
DrinkNoH2O said:
Brewing and running a LHBS are two totally different things. With the cheap shipping these days I don't see how it's possible to earn a decent living running a LHBS. Online retailers are where it's at.

Most LHBS that I know of do online sales as well and most online retailers are also LHBS:)
 
It's a hobby and a BIG maybe over turning it into a profession. I think it would be fun but i fear turning it into a chore. I'll cross that bridge when i get to it. It's all just wishful thinking at this point.
 
+1 this! I tried turning a previous hobby into a prefession and quickly lost the 'fun' factor. I made a profit and met my customer's needs but it just wasn't fun anymore.

I refuse to do that with any of my current hobbies.

I did the same thing. Totally turned something pleasurable into a job that lost the fun factor. I will never do that again...

Brew for fun.
 
I want to have my own brewery someday when I retire......but it has to be on my terms. I envision one of those "open when I am here, closed when I am not" kind of places. If you make great beer people WILL seek you out.
 
I do fantasize about working as a brewer,as far as putting it together myself? NO thanks. Although I think I live in a starving/lacking indirected community that could use somethin somethin, but most here only seem to want to spend their money at Walmart or McDollars. So a buisness oportunity in this town is not a good future,especially seing local buisnesses never last more than a few months. If it paid good I would love to work at a good quality brewery. But as far as now?,I will stick to my secure income and just homebrew.
 
Just a fun hobby, along with my hobby of pipes/pipe tobacco, cigars, wet shaving and cars; I've got a profession and a job, brewing is just a fun thing to do

Most LHBS that I know of do online sales as well and most online retailers are also LHBS:)

You aren't going to beat the big online sites on price, shipping, or being able to eat the cost of returns. My LHBS stays in business mostly through convenient location and price gouging; I avoid them unless I just need some tubing or a fermentation bucket. I'd never spend big money on them when online is not only cheaper, but has coupons to make things even better
 
I'd love to be able to sell my homebrew, like at a farmers market or something... But I'd hate to have to brew to make a living. No thanks.
 
I'd love to be able to sell my homebrew, like at a farmers market or something... But I'd hate to have to brew to make a living. No thanks.

Yeah same here. Some planned brew days I just end up procrastinating because other aspects of life get in the way. Doesn't really work that way if it's your job and you have production contracts to meet.
 
I turned my hobby into a business 18 years ago. I still like to brew and make wine although finding the time is much more difficult. I wouldn't change a thing.
 
I understand that some people can lost the passion if their job becomes a chore but I feel like with brewing it is fun and if you love doing your job then its not really work. Also, the feeling that people from different areas like your beer and are willing to pay for it would be cool because it is something you spent time on and created. Homebrewing will probably end up as a hobby for me but I can always dream that it ends up as my way to make a living.
 
I think for me, this would be a case of if you do something you love to do, you'll never work a day in your life. Even right now I enjoy being part of something that is rooted in centuries of history. If I took it to the next level and got my beer out in the marketplace, then I would feel like I have left my mark on the legacy that is beer. That would be a great thing!
 
I spent a day last year with one of the brewers at our local brewery. The brewery was started by a few homebrewing brothers and a friend that was a chemist. His take on it was that he really missed the fun of homebrewing, and playing with recipes. As a comercial brewery they have to brew the same beers over and over again and have to worry about them tasting the same each time. There is the whole business side to worry about also. I surprisingly there isnt alot of brewing going on. He said 90% of the time is kegging, cleaning, and paperwork. On this tuesday morning, that still doesnt sound that bad.
 
Oh god, I read this as 'hoppy or job' and starting thinking about whether I would give up IPAs or quit my job first.
 
It’ll definitely stay a hobby. It might be my paranoid OCD personality, but I don’t want have to worry about pleasing customers with my beer. I’ve had many offers to buy my homebrew. I always use the, “It’s illegal” excuse, but truth is brewing is fun now. If I had to worry about someone thinking that they didn’t get their money’s worth, it would take away the pleasure I get from sharing with friends.
 
Just a hobby here. Like many others, I think if I was obligated, it would take a lot of the fun out of it. I was planning on kegging a batch on Sunday, but just didnt feel like it. I had no qualms about putting it off a day. You can do that when it's a hobby.

Maybe years from now, if I'm in a position where I'm not dependent upon X amount of annual income, I may look into working at an already established brewery, but I doubt I'd have the cajones to risk it all on a startup of my own.
 
This is only a hobby for me.

I have no interest in it being a job. I don't have the attention span nor the attention to detail to have it be a job where other people rely on me. I am keen on details like santation...but if my recipe calls for 3 Lb of extract and I put in 2.98Lb or 3.06Lb I really ain't giving a crap. If a recipe calls for a dry hop at day 5 and I put it in at day 4...whoopty doo. This is a hobby and I love what I'm doing.
 
Hobby for me at this point. I think at some point everyone thinks it would be fun to be able to run a brewpub and market their beers, but I think I remember someone saying at some point that being a professional brewer is (paraphrasing big time) like 1% brewing, 9% cleaning, and 90% paperwork, invoices, tax preparation, and all the other not fun stuff involved in running a business.
 
Getting pretty close to opening my own nano. It's been a great process. Through my current job in local agriculture and the nano project I have gotten to know a lot of other local businesspeople. One thing I have learned is that entrepreneurs work very, very, very hard. Like all the time. During harvest season some of the winery guys work from 5 AM-midnight.

The thing is, all my friends who work white-collar jobs hate them. I'd rather work long hours at a job I like than a regular 9-5 souless job.
 
Its the standard pipe dream of most HBT'ers when they first start out and the obsession sets in.

Yeah, right now I would say this is what I'm going through coupled with the fact that I graduate college soon and don't know what type of work I want to do when I'm out
 
Ask me in 20 years when I retire from my really good paying job that has benefits. Would I be happier brewing? Probably, but my wife and kids would suffer for my choice. But retiring at 55 I could see myself making a go of it as a business.
 
I've mulled this one over many a home-brew, and I realized after not too long that the part that was the most fun, interesting, and exciting thing about home-brewing was creating. Sadly, as a brewery, your going to be doing 95% production, marketing, sales, and paperwork and 5% creative work with the beer (if your lucky and do lots of risky seasonal and short run brews).

Oh sure, it would be a "dream" once it was the size of Sam Adams or New Belgium and there was enough business to support the crazy owner's wacky ideas.

If I ever do turn this hobby into a business, I will likely stick closer to my wheel-house with a retail shop. And to the nay-sayers, it is possible to run a brick and mortar just as profitably as an online shop. You have higher overhead, but generally better convenience, as your product is available right now (which is handy when you realize that in all that playing with the recipe and adding and removing of things from your cart...you never added back the yeast...).

Also, you might be shocked to learn how many LHBSs get regular shipments from places like MoreBeer. Its faster for them, the prices are likely only 10-15% higher than their normal supplier (for some things like grains), and there is no minimum order. If your not going to move 55lbs of Belgian Special B in a year, it certainly doesnt make sense to be buying it in such large lots...especially when a maltster is going to want to know how many sacks you want (and 1 is a silly answer).

Everyone is cost conscious today, but people still do pay for convenience, whether its $10 for two day air or an extra $5 at a LHBS.
 
Brewing and running a LHBS are two totally different things. With the cheap shipping these days I don't see how it's possible to earn a decent living running a LHBS. Online retailers are where it's at.

I have two local shops that are 20 minutes from my house that are just as competitive as anything online when it comes to ingredients, and usually cost less once you factor in online store's shipping charges. They charge a bit of a premium for equipment which I would expect. They give great advise and customer service is outstanding.
 
I might have to go Pro when I get canned from my corporate job because I spent too much time on the internet reading HBT.
 
I was recently in a position to work at a brewery full time, but it didn't work out and I'm actually somewhat glad it went that way. The truth of brewery jobs is that they pay practically nothing, have no real job security, and require endless hours of work with little long term financial benefit. Then there is the fact that most brewery jobs are not the creative opportunities we think they are, it's just doing the same thing over and over again.

While I have a passion for beer, I'm content keeping homebrewing as a hobby. However, if you truly love being around beer and are content working in a job with little financial reward, brewing professionally can be an 'ok' gig too.
 
I know the thread is really about brewing for a living, but I'm part timing at my LHBS 3 days a week, and really that time spent earning money by being involved in a hobby just gets me more involved in the hobby- helping new brewers and winemakers, learning from experienced ones, and simply having an excuse for thinking of and learning about brewing all the time. And I can definitely say that at least in the StL area there is plenty of demand for a brick and mortar homebrew shop. I'm pleased with the volume we do considering the economy still isn't exactly booming. Many customers place orders with the big online retailers, but a large portion of their stuff comes from us. I think we're able to stay fairly competitive because we're able to do enough volume to get one or two skids from the distributor each week.

Of course, I'm in no way qualified to be a professional brewer- maybe packaging, cleaning the mash tun, driving a forklift, or working in the office :) I'd be happy to take on a job like that at a micro, because I've always been happiest at jobs that involve manufacturing a product.

Speaking of professional brewers having to give up creativity- a few of the newer St Louis micros certainly don't have that problem. They generally produce a few traditional styles and a few on the avant garde end of the spectrum, and are constantly rolling out casks of interesting stuff at local bars.
 
I'd like to do it, but I'd find a master brewer to head the actual brewing and I'd help and worry about the business itself. Can't have the master worried about anything other than good beer. The catch is, we'd only serve what we liked to make. That's where the fun gets sucked out of the job. I've seen it happen to a few of my friends who opened up various craft shops. They love their jobs and the craft(s) itself, but as soon as you have to do something that you don't like make or do, the pressure of perfecting that for the customer becomes tedious and frustrating. Keep that up, and your attitude and product go out the window. The ideal start up situation would be to have 1 (possibly 2) flagship beer and offer a rotating seasonal or specialty. But you're not going anywhere unless you have a solid business plan and can sell the business to investors...or you have a crapload of money to dump into it.
 
I'd like to do it, but I'd find a master brewer to head the actual brewing and I'd help and worry about the business itself. Can't have the master worried about anything other than good beer. The catch is, we'd only serve what we liked to make. That's where the fun gets sucked out of the job. I've seen it happen to a few of my friends who opened up various craft shops. They love their jobs and the craft(s) itself, but as soon as you have to do something that you don't like make or do, the pressure of perfecting that for the customer becomes tedious and frustrating. Keep that up, and your attitude and product go out the window. The ideal start up situation would be to have 1 (possibly 2) flagship beer and offer a rotating seasonal or specialty. But you're not going anywhere unless you have a solid business plan and can sell the business to investors...or you have a crapload of money to dump into it.

This is a big key...you brew what you like and if someone comes in and doesn't like it then they can go somewhere else. There will be enough who like your brews to keep you going....unless you crash your beer at 1.030 and serve it green :mad:
 
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