Anybody else like brewing beer better than drinking it?

Don't get me wrong, I love drinking beer. But I'm not anywhere close to a big drinker. Most nights I'll have one with dinner. Even on weekends rarely more than two a day. Unfortunately my body just can't handle it any more. But brewing - that's a completely different story. I think about it all the time. Piddle with my various ongoing recipes. Constantly reading and posting here on HBT. Drooling over fermentors and brew rigs and all the home brewery builds here on the site. I currently only have the capability of controlling temps on one brew at a time, so I don't even actually brew nearly as often as I'd like to. But I can't stop thinking about it, dreaming of my own future brewery build, trying to stop imagining having my own real brewery or brew pub someday.

I think the thing I love most is sharing my brews with others. I'm in an active brew club, so I certainly enjoy getting feedback from other knowledgeable home brewers and the occasional pro brewer. I also love when I share my beers with ordinary friends who may be hesitant to try a "home brewed" beer. Then they taste it. To watch the reaction when they realize that not only is it not going to kill them, but it's actually good. And if they're not normally craft beer drinkers, it might even be better than anything they had ever had!

I did a lot of brewing last fall as I had a big family Christmas gathering coming up and was going to see a lot of family that had never tasted my home brew. After my last batch had been bottled, I had over seven cases of bottled beer. Probably gave over 50% of that to family and friends. After tomorrow's Super Bowl party, I'll be down to less than two cases, so good thing there's a batch ready to bottle in a week, and the next recipe almost ready to go.

So I guess what I want to know is, who else brews mainly for the enjoyment of the hobby and to share beer with others more than for their own personal consumption?

Nope. Drinking doesnt involve cleaning.

I love researching recipes, checking brewery records and designing beer but I'd happily delegate the process itself to others. I could maybe chuck some hops into a kettle but everything else I'm very happy to outsource. Specially cleaning, grinding and mashing.

Even though I do a fair amount of drinking,I am soooo caught up in the brewing part. I do something (other than drinking) for beer every day. I set up an indoor 10 gal system that i invite people over to split a batch and can sometimes brew every week. The way I look at it ,and tell friends and family, the more I can share the more I can brew. I have at least 4 lbs of hops and multiple kinds of grain and stored yeast strains,and can brew at a moments notice. I joined MBAA and started buying brewing text books, F@#$%!& cool. So ya i'm obsessed!

I'm pretty much right there with ya @TxBigHops. At 48, my body just doesn't do alcohol like it used to. 1-2 a day is about it for me. Heck, if i could have all the qualities of beer remain in tact without the alcohol, I'd be a much happier camper. I love beer. I love brewing and all that goes with it. ..except the alcohol.

I could have started this thread myself.

Who are you and why are you in my head?

Like Terrance McKenna says about mushrooms "you haven't experienced mushrooms until you've eaten 5 grams and sat alone in your room, in the dark, in your underwear, for the duration"

I've been there with drinking and am starting to enjoy less hahhaa

However, I believe you haven't experienced beer until you've made a delicious one from scratch.

I'm skilled at both.

That's why I'm building a 2.5 gallon system. I don't want to have 15-20 gallons of beer sitting around anymore, that's when I stop brewing for months at a time. I'm going to go smaller so I can brew more often!

Love brewing, love drinking, it's the waking up the next day I don't like!!

Kind of like jumping off a building, it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end.

I really love both also. I absolutely enjoy the whole brewing process. When I take that first sip of that authentic German beer, or other cool style that I made and it came out fantastic, and I surprise myself and it feels like I'm in that country having their local brew, it's exciting and makes me want to delve deeper into this amazing hobby! I enjoy drinking the beers I make and I really love beer in general but I am not a huge drinker. I am more or less a guy that will have a few pints on the weekends, and here and there a couple times a week for dinner or watching a game.

John

chunkwagon said:

I'm pretty much right there with ya @TxBigHops. At 48, my body just doesn't do alcohol like it used to. 1-2 a day is about it for me. Heck, if i could have all the qualities of beer remain in tact without the alcohol, I'd be a much happier camper. I love beer. I love brewing and all that goes with it. ..except the alcohol.

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TX_Brewing said:

Love brewing, love drinking, it's the waking up the next day I don't like!!

Kind of like jumping off a building, it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end.

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You guys have hit the nail on the head! Trust me, I would absolutely love drinking 4-5 beers a day. I love variety, so each one would be different. My favorite way to drink when I go out to brew pubs is flights. I love having 4-5 different beers, but only around 5 oz of each. As much as I actually enjoy bottling, this is what will eventually push me to kegging and building a 6-8 tap keezer. My preference will be to go with the 2.5 or 3 gallon kegs, and then bottle the other half of each 5-6 gallon batch.

Chunkwagon, my goal for this year is to develop some lower alcohol recipes that still have the body and flavor of higher alcohol beers. Not sure if it's possible, but I'm going to give it a go.

TxBigHops said:

Chunkwagon, my goal for this year is to develop some lower alcohol recipes that still have the body and flavor of higher alcohol beers. Not sure if it's possible, but I'm going to give it a go.

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Funny, that is what I have started working on this year as well! Just cracked my first attempt last night while brewing!!

+1 on the flights. I love going to Old Chicago with the family and working on my beer tour. They always ask if I want a pint or tall when ordering drafts and I'm more like "ya got anything smaller?"
I look at and love doubles and imperials, but I can feel my liver cringe just looking at the bottles...and many of them only come in 22oz bombers. Having an Old Chub makes me feel like one for days and Yeti? Yeah... these days I pour my little old man "juice glass" and recap the bottle.

I can get behind this. Hormone therapy makes it tougher for me to handle more alcohol, so I usually only have one bottle a night, if I drink at all. Wife usually joins me, but considering that we could have wine or other drinks instead, yeah, a 2.5 gal batch lasts a couple months. But I love brewing, so I regularly plot out tweaks and recipes and really savor my brew days when they come.

I've also worked on other projects like breads, wine making, etc. to help spread out my obsession.

cdubbaya said:

That's why I'm building a 2.5 gallon system. I don't want to have 15-20 gallons of beer sitting around anymore, that's when I stop brewing for months at a time. I'm going to go smaller so I can brew more often!

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Me too. I probably drink 3-4 beers a week. A 2-gallon batch lasts me a month easily. I enjoy drinking beer but rarely more than one in a night. Once I have had 3 or 4 from a batch, I am ready to give the rest away and move on to the next brew.

I will readily admit that I enjoy the whole process very much..It is indeed fun to fittel-faddel with recipes, research topics, engage in discussions and learn, and for me the most fun part of brewing hands down is mashing and batch sparging..I just love that part. But the most fun part is the finished product itself its like waiting for Christmas to see what you get....Fermenting is kind of fun too... You can boil and bottle for me and do all the other crap...
But to be honest drinking and drinking cheap good beer is why I do it...I don't have a inner desire to run a brewery, own shinny brew bling or serving my or anyone's beers in my own pub.

I admire you or any ones drive to that end....My drive is to semi retire on the sail boat chasing the sun beer in hand...who knows maybe it will be one of yours.

Wish I could ferment and condition on the boat that would be totally awesome. Too much movement unfortunately.

Carry on

TX_Brewing said:

Funny, that is what I have started working on this year as well! Just cracked my first attempt last night while brewing!!

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Sounds good! What style? Let me know if you need a second opinion on that!

This will be my first attempt at a session IPA.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/291157/session-ipa
Planning to brew it in two weeks.

Aristotelian said:

Me too. I probably drink 3-4 beers a week. A 2-gallon batch lasts me a month easily. I enjoy drinking beer but rarely more than one in a night. Once I have had 3 or 4 from a batch, I am ready to give the rest away and move on to the next brew.

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Exactly. Outside of simply having less beer on hand and a smaller equipment footprint, another benefit to going small is more recipe testing and the ability to take a few risks without having to dump 5 gallons or drinking something that didn't turn out the way I want it.

Not to mention I still like trying new commercial beers so having a ton of homebrew around just isn't necessary.

TxBigHops said:

Sounds good! What style? Let me know if you need a second opinion on that!

This will be my first attempt at a session IPA.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/291157/session-ipa
Planning to brew it in two weeks.

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Nice. Copied that to my BF dashboard. I'm hoping to get a SMaSH done next weekend, and then might give your session brew a whirl. thx for posting!

I only brew and drink beer for medicinal purposes. 3 decently hopped beers a day will reduce the chances of kidney stones up to 40%. That was a relatively recent Finnish study. I fall short of that most days so I need to catch up some Sunday afternoon.

TxBigHops said:

So I guess what I want to know is, who else brews mainly for the enjoyment of the hobby and to share beer with others more than for their own personal consumption?

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Raises hand.

I give away one heck of a lot more beer and cider than I consume. I get enjoyment out of the giving and the good feedback. Besides, part of staying physically fit in your mid-50's means being mindful of the carbs and the calories. I ain't makin' no lite beer.

50-50 for me. staying physically fit in your 37's means being super floccin' awesome.

Billy-Klubb said:

50-50 for me. staying physically fit in your 37's means being super floccin' awesome.

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That is a hard fact bro. I've been 37 for 20 years now. Ain't easy.

krackin said:

That is a hard fact bro. I've been 37 for 20 years now. Ain't easy.

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:rockin:

Yep! I was 37 until a couple of years ago. Now I'm 62.

iijakii said:

Nope. Drinking doesnt involve cleaning.

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You're doing it wrong.

Enjoy equally, enjoy many beers frequently

I enjoy drinking really good beer. But due to the several anniversaries of my 37th birthday, I don't drink a lot. Quality over quantity thing. Fortunately I also like to share good beer that I have made. And I have lots of friends who will drink the not so good beer I have made.

I enjoy drinking good beer.
Bur I do get a big kick out of brewing, from planning through bottling it's a lot of fun for me.

TxBigHops said:

Sounds good! What style? Let me know if you need a second opinion on that!

This will be my first attempt at a session IPA.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/291157/session-ipa
Planning to brew it in two weeks.

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Here you go

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=567738

It is an attempt at a bock-ish session beer. It came out kind of between a schwarzbier and a dunkle. I like it and my wife really likes it which is good since I brewed it for her.

chunkwagon said:

I'm pretty much right there with ya @TxBigHops. At 48, my body just doesn't do alcohol like it used to. 1-2 a day is about it for me. Heck, if i could have all the qualities of beer remain in tact without the alcohol, I'd be a much happier camper. I love beer. I love brewing and all that goes with it. ..except the alcohol.

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I am also 48 years old and have the same general feelings toward brewing. For me it is the challenge to try something new or to try to make something consistent with each brew. I could care less about the alcohol portion. We give away 70% of what I brew and in 2015 I brewed a personal record of 225 gallons just to say that I exceeded our state's fair limit of 200 gallons per household.

50% of the beer I brew I don't even like to drink (I am not an IPA or imperial anything fan) but my wife loves them as well as many of my friends. I would much rather be brewing in my driveway listening to something on the radio than to be inside watching the TV. This includes brewing in the winter as long as the wind is not strong enough to knock out the flame on my burners.

this is not a personal attack on anyone, just something I find mildly amusing that can be applied to most any job/craft/art: years of experience. people seem to think just because they have been doing something longer than someone, it automatically makes them better at it. I worked with a welder that had been pipe welding for over 30 years. in walks this kid with minimal experience and blows him out of the water. I've met painters who've painted portraits & landscapes for decades. I knew a guy that didn't pick up a brush until he was in high school, yet makes them look like garbage. I have been brewing for 17 years, but have met many great brewer that has achieved more in the craft after 2-3 years than I could hope to accomplish in the rest of my life. cheers and carry on.:rockin:

Billy-Klubb said:

I have been brewing for 17 years, but have met many great brewer that has achieved more in the craft after 2-3 years than I could hope to accomplish in the rest of my life.

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Coming up on ten years. Not long enough to command much respect, but long enough to realize that making good beer comes on the shoulders of the one's who brewed before me.

AnOldUR said:

Coming up on ten years. Not long enough to command much respect, but long enough to realize that making good beer comes on the shoulders of the one's who brewed before me.

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it's what you experience, what you take from your experiences, and what you put back into it.

It's that I don't like drinking it--I do. But I don't go through it very fast. I might drink 2 or 3 in a session, tops, and I don't drink every night. I'm the only one in my household who drinks beer. I usually have so much bottled beer in my pipeline, I don't need to brew for a while. But I WANT to brew, and am always looking forward to my next brew. I brew about once a month on average.

Billy-Klubb said:

this is not a personal attack on anyone, just something I find mildly amusing that can be applied to most any job/craft/art: years of experience. people seem to think just because they have been doing something longer than someone, it automatically makes them better at it. I worked with a welder that had been pipe welding for over 30 years. in walks this kid with minimal experience and blows him out of the water. I've met painters who've painted portraits & landscapes for decades. I knew a guy that didn't pick up a brush until he was in high school, yet makes them look like garbage. I have been brewing for 17 years, but have met many great brewer that has achieved more in the craft after 2-3 years than I could hope to accomplish in the rest of my life. cheers and carry on.:rockin:

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Did I miss something, or did you accidentally post this in the wrong thread??? I have no idea how what you just wrote applies to this thread in any way.

I am not a drinker....oh, I may drink a couple of six packs a year if I need to or not! Since I started brewing, I drink about twice as much....maybe up to a couple of cases a year.....product testing you know.

I'd be real happy if I could brew and some else did the cleaning,bottling, and drinking. In fact, I don't understand why I brew....but, I do enjoy it. Wife thinks I'm nuts, but she always has, and she may be right.

My other serious hobby is shooting. That's fairly destructive. Perhaps the creativity of brewing is a sort of balance. nahhh....just like watching bubbles.

TxBigHops said:

Did I miss something, or did you accidentally post this in the wrong thread??? I have no idea how what you just wrote applies to this thread in any way.

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no worries, bruva. it'll probably be deleted soon anyway!