What are your Homebrewing Goals?

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Nice thread, folks!
Myself:

(in no particular order)

1- Make beer that *I* can enjoy, by tailoring to my likes/staying away from dislikes.
2- Make beer that friends 'may' enjoy, but if their tastes aren't mine, I'm not gonna brew a whole batch of whatever unless I like it, too hahaha.
3- Brew enough to have 3-4 on hand at any time, and have a good rotation.
4- Brew the same recipe at least three times and hope for relative consistency.
5- Brew a beer my Dad will finish over half a glass of ----hopefully this summer will be the ticket! Gotta try for "an American light lager" (without naming names), as much as it personally hurts. THAT will mean I can brew beer if Dad can get to the bottom of that glass.
6- Enter into competition with more than three total entries and place top three.
7- Have someone ask me "Hey have you got any more of that _______?"
8- Get into All-Grain brewing.
9- Read more about the hobby I love so much.
10- PASS the BJCP course.

So far, I'm doing alright on #1 and #2. #3 is hard but by August I should be good. #9 is getting there.

#6- success! Off to the NHC round two!
#7- success!
#8- success!
#10- check back in the fall. But likely a 'repeat customer' since it's a heck of a lot of information!
 
I just want to brew good beer and learn as much as I can (Impossible! I know!). SO far even the "bad" brews have been decent and drinkable.
 
ndsgr said:
-Brew beer that I love (done)
-Brew beer that friends call "awesome" (done)
-Brew a beer my wife likes ("honey, I just don't like beer")
-Enter a couple of comps (haven't yet, don't care so much about winning)
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please please please if you accomplish your third goal PLEASE tell me how...or come convert my wife to a beer drinker too lol
 
I merely want to enjoy the process of homebrewing.

backup goals:
- teach as many people as I can to brew their own
- develop my own recipes for the styles I enjoy
- take over the world (hey, it's a backup goal)
 
Reaching the limit would take 20 batches. I could certainly do that.

The rest of it I don't really have any ambition toward. I have some experiments I want to try, but mostly I just want to keep making beer that I enjoy more than what i can buy in the store for less than it costs to buy it in the store.
 
Consistently make beer that I enjoy drinking.
It's easy to make beer that my friends enjoy, if they're not paying for it they're enjoying it lol..
Some day have the ability to brew AG, living in a condo I can only do Extract since I can't use gas.
Anything else is extra!
 
Got into brewing from a friend. Check.
Began working with adjuncts (maple syrup, cocoa powder, fruit puree). Check.
Have a humble pipeline going. Check.
Created my first from-scratch recipe. Check. (In the secondary presently)
At some point in my life, I'd love to look into owning/partnering in a brewpub.

I'll consider all-grain or kegging, but I haven't the space nor money for it presently. I'd need to move out of my condo and into a "real" house or at least a place with a backyard/garage.

More than anything, just enjoying geeking out over brew gear, techniques, process, ingredients, and recipes. Here's to us!
 
My goal:

To actually save the vast majority of my new Barleywine for at least 1 year before drinking it/giving it away!
 
Great replies to this thread!

I just want to make the best beer I can make, and beer styles that I enjoy.

I want to learn all I can about brewing.

I would love to have other people enjoy my beer for the right reasons. (Because it's good, not because it's 'free'. )

:)
 
My goals brewing:

Be able to have a party at my house with my own beers on tap
Have my friends actually requesting my beer over other beers
To create a beer that I would say is my favorite beer
To successfully brew a delicious sour beer and imagine in my head I could sell it for $20/bottle like RR

I've got the GF on board already, she's super excited about my Pliny clone. Hophead gf? yes please!
 
All of the things you've mentioned in the OP are goals of mine. I'm on my way too. 2 beers in the second round this year, and 30 gallons brewed so far this year. Hopefully going to grad school for fermentation science this fall (if not fermentation then general food science).

BJCP judge is on the list as well. I don't think the goals in that link like tasting this beer or that beer and travelling to events should count as homebrewing goals, but I do need to get back to Belgium/Netherlands/Germany and spend some time and money checking stuff off that list (when I have time and money that is).
 
I want to make a beer that I am proud enough of it to enter into competition. I am so hard on myself when it comes to my brewing that I am never satisfied and I constantly want to improve. Maybe that day will come soon.
-Jefe-
 
My overall goal is to make beer that my friends and I enjoy. To where we never have to buy a store bought beer again... and it's been a while since I personally have, so getting there :)
 
I would like to get to perfect all grain within a year. Being in the bar/restaurant industry for 13 years I would like to take my knowledge to a professional level and start a brewpub. I have a chef in place and a good friend who's a chemist that I am constantly trying to get brewing so he can be the brew master. I mean....a chemist, come on!
 
For me:

- Score a 45+ in a competition with certified BJCP judges
- Clone Negro Modelo (me & a friend's favorite commercial lager)
- Brew a lambic as good as Geuze Boon or Geuze Giradin
- Teach 1 new person to homebrew every year
- Get a pipeline going of 3-4 styles that I have dialed in perfectly for my own taste
 
short term:
Learn to keg
Learn to make my own recipes (mini mash)

longer term:
Learn to do all grain
Brew with only things we GROW.
 
petep1980 said:
I just want to continue to make killer beer.
Click to expand...

+1,

I'm another that doesn't really care about brewing every style, winning awards, or anything other than making beer that satisfies me. I can be pretty dang picky, so I would think I would do fairly well in a comptetitioin if I tried, but that might just be my arrogance or ignorance. I will probably never find out as there are not too many competitions around here, and I really, REALLY hate heading down to the valley or the bay area. I will stay up here and make what I like.
 
I'd like to understand enough about making beer to guide someone else in how to make beer so that they are successful.

I'd also like to make beer that becomes a staple of the dinner table at home.
 
BillyBroas said:
oooo I like that one. Definitely couldn't do it for every batch, but maybe a few. Nice :mug:
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Yea, but tasting a batch from your barley and your hops would be awesome.

I don't spend enough time in the brewing science to imagine I will make my own yeast anytime soon though.
 
Malting barley is probably best left to the professionals, sadly. It's not something terribly easy to do at home from what I understand. But hey, don't let me stop you from trying!
 
ghpeel said:
Malting barley is probably best left to the professionals, sadly. It's not something terribly easy to do at home from what I understand. But hey, don't let me stop you from trying!
Click to expand...

Worst case scenario, its cheap chicken feed. :)
 
chrislehr said:
Brew with only things we GROW.
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That's something that I've thought about as well. I almost bought a smoker today because it looked like it would do a good job of malting small batches of grain. I just didn't think that it was capable of reaching the temps on the thermometer for any amount of time. I've got a patch in my backyard that would be perfect for barley. Unfortunately, it's a really small patch and I'm not even sure if I could grow enough for one full batch. At least I'll be able to use my own hops in a few months.
 
chrislehr said:
Yea, but tasting a batch from your barley and your hops would be awesome.

I don't spend enough time in the brewing science to imagine I will make my own yeast anytime soon though.
Click to expand...



Growing water is more difficult then growing your own yeast
 
Hello-

I am a first time brewer, but have worked in commercial alcohol production and sales for years. For a while, I've been in wine distribution. My goal in getting into beer was to get back into the creative part of the alcohol business that I left some time ago. It was the funnest. I enjoy my customers, sure, but I'd rather be around yeast having sex than managers, I guess. Since I don't have several million to buy a winery in one of the hot appellations of the world, my focus turns to beer, which I love on the same level as any top quality alcohol product.

I thought I'd post on the goals of my new brewery (first 15 gal in the chamber brewed on Monday) which isn't even totally completed yet, rather than iterate my desires to understand if I can go professional on my own once I know what I'm doing. However, that was the impetus for my purchase decisions, so, either I will end up brewing for a living and have a kickin hot pilot system, or I will have a super sweet rig to brew great beer with for myself and others for the rest of my life. Win, win. (i.e. Not interested in the "see if I like it" phase of this hobby)

Here are the tenets of my brewery:

-Totally Single Person Operation for all tasks
-Extremely Small Footprint for the volume
-Comparatively Large Volume. 1/2 bbl batches. Current capacity is ~250 gal/yr. (not that I will actually be able to get rid of all that beer, but.... cornys are cheap..hehe :))
-Indoors brewing. (Its New York, folks)
-Extremely small footprint (it's important to me)
-As many items that are dual use as possible. (Kind of an OCD thing for me)
-As few parts as possible in fermentation setup (causes you to clean/sanitize the same parts more often- win for sanitation). I use the same tube and fittings to fill the fermenter from the BK as I do to top crop and to bottom harvest as well as fill kegs too.
-Completely Tool-less operation (other than when kegging). Just me, grains, hops, yeast..etc. (you could count me as a tool...:eek:)
-All Stainless, Copper, Plastic, and tubing – no brass
-Exacting temperature control and repeatability throughout process, especially fermentation
-Ease of use and shortened brew day from using automation
-Completely threadless fermentation- only one weld below beer line
-Easy and quick enough to clean/sanitize but thorough. 3 step process- PBW, Steam, and Starsan for the entire fermentation channel.
-Very high level of experimentation afforded:
Current capabilities include- pressurized ferment, top cropping and bottom cropping yeast harvest, as many mash options as possible (single,step.. only decoctions are a no), primary with bottom dump and secondary/second primary/lagering/clearing vessel, ease of line length changing in the keezer for experimenting with carb levels to style, etc.
EDIT: Forgot the most important ones!
-Closed system from kettle to glass. (I can't be expected to keep my living space as clean as I would a brewery all the time)
-As a hobby, it fits into my life and schedule rather than the other way around. (accomplished by automation and small footprint, since it's in my living area).
-As much American made construction as I can.

Some of these ideals I started with, some developed throughout my education from being a part of this forum. Some I have yet to test. My idea for keg filling (3 cornies from a Sanke) has not seen the light on this forum yet (I asked several times) .. so, I hope it works. The theory is sound, but we shall see. I don't want to post about it until I know for sure, but I've definitely got a few untested Cockamamie ideas for doing things. One crazy newb, fo sho.:D
 
I'm pretty unambitious about my brewing. I want to just keep making good beer. I am pretty narrowly focused, on just variations of a few of styles, I don't attempt to brew in styles that I don't care for very much (stout, for example) or in ones where I know that I can't improve upon what I can buy, or don't like enough to want to have five gallon batches laying around (hefeweizen, for example).

I'm having fun and success growing hops. I would like to get better at preserving them, but this may just be a matter of having the right equipment.

Finally, I'm curious about this:

"All Stainless, Copper, Plastic, and tubing – no brass."

Why no brass? This almost spounds phobic, if copper and plastic are OK.
 
Sorry. Something to do with China and lead. So, yes a phobia.

Copper wont hurt me and it's actually a good thing, plastic, well OK I can see a connection.

If you, say, order parts from McMaster that are brass and you want them to be FDA certified, it has to be a specially formulated Zinc plated brass. Otherwise, no FDA as far as I know.

Just a consideration for me and a luxury that I can afford (about $150 extra) to replace small amount of brass bits that came on my commercially made stainless brewery.

I got no science behind it, just want parts that will last forever and not corrode.
 
I just started brewing my own beer and I still have my starter kit. I plan by then end of the year to have:

2 carboy
2 more ale pales
1 wort chiller
1 New brew kettle

Hopefully I can fir a burner in there somewhere so I can start doing full boils.
Lets hope it all works out and by next year I will start doing All grain...
 
King of Cascade said:
My goal is to make beer that will not kill anyone...:cross:
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I have something of an opposite goal. I want to brew beer worth dying for. :mug:

Other than that, I just want to keep enjoying my brewing, keep brewing beer that pleases me and those around me, and keep looking for something new and exciting to try from time to time.

I've won an award in a fairly heavily-entered category of a large competition. That was fun, and I would not mind doing so again, sometime. However, that will never drive my brewing. I have no interest in making a living out of brewing -- I don't want to brew to pay bills or have to worry about playing to an audience larger than me.

Siebel is great, but I don't know about that for homebrewing. I have a friend who is about to graduate from Siebel. He's loved it, but it really is geared toward commercial brewing. Going to Siebel to be a homebrewer is something like getting an Agriculture degree to start up a backyard vegetable garden.

I will, sometime (maybe), have a brewing "system." The truth is, though, I enjoy banging around the pots and pans too much to justify much expense. Heck, I was only working with one burner until my last batch.

No matter what, you cannot think of yourself as a homebrewing geek until you can sit down with nothing more than a pencil and paper and design a recipe that is pretty dadgum close to something you would end up brewing.

Finally, and I've said it a number of times, you know you're a real homebrewer when you can tell what hops are in a fart.


TL
 
I'd like to get a few good wine barrels, then continually make awesome Lambics, Gueze's, Flanders Red's...etc
A non-stop pipeline of 'sours'
 
I love beer- and I love how much better and cheaper my beer is compaired to some of the beers you can buy in the store. I want to continue making my own beer that my friends and I enjoy- continue getting better- and make everything EXACTLY how I want it. Cheers :mug:
 
To slowly upgrade my home brewery and general pipeline until I'm running regular 1 bbl batches.

To dial in the recipes for what I'd like to have on hand as house beers.

To keep it fun for myself and those around me.
 
I have multiple goals: (mind dump)

- break the habit of only brewing fresh kits (dwindling) from LHBS by ordering online or something else (done)
- get friends into homebrewing or homebrewing better.
- try to fill my pipeline enough that I can overcome my impatience and do some more beers that require longer term care or aging (lagers and strong brews). I love variety more than quantity, but I need the equipment to store the variety. I've only done 2 lagers out of 25-30 ales, neither were so great so I wasn't dying to do it again.
- Make some session beers; most of my recipes have been mid range ABV, and a good portion of my commercial purchases are stronger ABV; I think I would like to make something that is on the low side so I can enjoy a homebrew with less concern about the following consequences.
- I really need to curb my commercial beer buying habits; even though I am homebrewing pretty often and have a good amount of drinkable homebrew, I still go to the store and spend 60-100$ on commercial beers because I either want to try them or they sound good. I need to brew beer good enough to distract most of my attention from that; I need to compete in my own head. When I think about it, $8 for a 22oz can pay for half the hops in a gigantic 5 gallon hop bomb, so I could be getting a lot more for my money.
- make some of my own recipes (getting started there finally)
- do or buy things that grease my efficiency or enjoyment of brewing even if the benefit is somewhat small. Sometimes we can't afford to do something big or don't even need a big improvement, but the little things help keep things interesting or detract attention from the negatives. Sometimes work on erasing some of the drags like slow heating time etc.
- brew using suggestions from HBT that should or might make my beer better at any chance I can as long as I can reasonably become prepared for it (yeast starters(in progress), temperature control (done), etc)
- invest in equipment that will help me make better or cheaper beer in almost any way (AG, kegging, sinks, etc). I refuse to dream small in terms of capability and flexibility. Go big or go home (not necessarily 1BBL yet.)
- AG / cheapness of materials for AG will help me reduce per-brew costs considerably and lower my inhibitions towards trying new things

- ultimately: raise my standards and be able to brew some beer (not necessarily all) that is able to considerably impress myself as well as others. The novelty of brewing extract kits has practically worn off. Reduce off flavors to produce beers I can truly be proud of. Goal probably similar to making beers good enough in my mind to submit to competitions.

- pipe dream: Actually start brewing before sometime 1pm so I finish before midnight or 2am since I tend to make a day out of it. Ha ha.
 
BuonAnno said:
My goal is really to brew enough so that I only drink homebrew. There is something really rewarding about that.
Click to expand...

Wow... you must be drinking A LOT of your homebrew if you still are buying commercial stuff. Or you have a lot of friends that drink your stuff.....
I started brewing in January and I have now just polished off 135 beers from 3 or so batches.
 

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