Question for the long-time brewers

The "what age did you start brewing" thread got me wondering. I noticed a fair share of people that brewed when they were younger and then took a long break from it. I guess my question is; why? It'll probably be something along the lines of life getting in the way, but I love brewing so much, and I can not for the life of me imagine stopping any time soon. I think it would also be interesting to know why you started brewing. My story is simple, I took a trip with a buddy of mine to the UK and loved English ales so much I wanted nothing more to do with the domestic conglomerates. So I'm 23, I've been brewing for 4 months, I'm 8 brews in(two of which were complete disasters) I could not imagine loving another "hobby" more.

I'm in the same boat as you. I started brewing almost 2 years ago right after I turned 21. I'm still brewing a batch every other week and don't see myself slowing down anytime soon.

until the wife comes the new to you house thats actually 50 years old and never been touched ... Then the kids start and then no money .... I stopped riding which I like more than brewing for 8 years because I honestly couldn't justify the expense.

Now my kids are all grown my house is the way I like it SWMBO actually needs me to be away from her from time to time so now I am back to riding and brewing. I didn't do beer when I was younger just cider's and wine

It's a life thing I think. I went overboard to begin with and now I have equipment that I need to get rid of. (Couldn't keep up with the demands of a 4 tap keezer).

With kids and now a Jeep (which is another hobby), I don't have the time to brew as much. I could forgo the weekend Jeep rides, but it gives me a chance to hang out with my teenage sons and we all seem to get along better when we are out of the house and in the woods.

I'm not getting out of the hobby, but I'm definitely scaling back.

I quit for 9 months while unemployed, Couldn't justify the need for beer when i had no income.

Me and my buddies made several homebrew batches in the early 80s when we were in our 20s. Then I quit for ~20 years. Why?

1) Because the ingredients sucked. Cans of pre-hopped extract were all we could get our hands on. The resulting brew sort of resembled beer if you had an active imagination. We mostly brewed because we were amazed that we could actually do it, but beer from the store was way, way better. When I got started again, I bought extract from Northern Brewer online and the beer was excellent on my first try. I was shocked.

2) There was no internet. Even more important than good ingredients, is good information. We basically had one book to go by and that's was it. It's hard to know what's important when you only have a single reference. You pitch the yeast and don't see any activity for 24 hours? Now you search this forum and in 1 second, see every newbie worrying about it advised that it's totally normal. Don't want to spend $500 on equipment? Read detailed instructions from some guy's blog on how to make it yourself out of stuff you already have. Then there's the online homebrew supply stores. Back then, we'd have to drive 30+ minutes to the nearest store (not LHBS but RHBS for remote) and find out they didn't have what you wanted anyway. Now you get anything sent to your door in a week or so.

I just came off of a 10 month off stretch. It was hell........Ive been brewing for four years now. I love beer. New beer, old beer, and any different beer. Ill try it all. I cant get past how much i love the process. Grain, mash, sparge, boil, ferment, keg, and my favorite drink. There is something about controling the process from beginning to end and saying "try this....I brewed this beer". Its like meditation.

I quit for a year and a half after I graduated college, got married, and our son was born. All those things going on at once kind of put brewing on the back burner. I am glad I am back at it. Just hope I can still find time to brew when our second comes in March.

I was young and didn't have much great information. I dabbled, but I have lots of hobbies. At some point I found this site, and subsequently realized that there is a lot about it I didn't know, and after I tried again, my quality improved.

Now that I think my process is getting fine tuned, I'll probably have to start working on the Mustang again, and I can brew once or twice a month as I want and have time. There are always lots of little things I can do within the hobby to keep me busy, like yeast harvesting, labels, brew rig, etc.

But once that pipe is back to full, I'm going to have to cut back and do some other stuff.

I was 40 when I started brewing...thanks to my son-in-law...to the regret of my wife (who gave me my first kit as a B'day present...)

Brewed a bunch of batches 10 years ago, extract. Kidded myself for a while that it was good, but really it was just for the thrill of "I brewed this beer". A year ago'ish I got back into it, but with all grain. It was like when Dorothy steps out of her tornado-dropped house into Munchkin Land, and everything is suddenly Technicolor.

I'll die a brewer.

I took a few years off because I lived with a bunch of guys that would have their friends over and they would drink all my beer when i wasnt around. I got tired of brewing and then not even getting to drink it.

jb6923 said:

The "what age did you start brewing" thread got me wondering. I noticed a fair share of people that brewed when they were younger and then took a long break from it. I guess my question is; why? It'll probably be something along the lines of life getting in the way, but I love brewing so much, and I can not for the life of me imagine stopping any time soon. I think it would also be interesting to know why you started brewing. My story is simple, I took a trip with a buddy of mine to the UK and loved English ales so much I wanted nothing more to do with the domestic conglomerates. So I'm 23, I've been brewing for 4 months, I'm 8 brews in(two of which were complete disasters) I could not imagine loving another "hobby" more.

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I'm not in your target audience here. I never brewed at all before two years ago, but my reason for brewing is the same as yours. I'm an English import to the US and missed my ale in the pubs over there. Cans of Old Speckled Hen or whatever just do NOT do the job for me. The cans bear little resemblance to the real thing. I wish I had started homebrewing years ago. If I knew 9 years ago what i know now.....Well, just sooo much brewing time wasted!

This is a good question. I started in 91, quickly moved to AG, brewed until 1994 and got back into it in 2008. Kids are growing and it is relaxing hobby. I like the self sufficiency element.