At a brewing crossroads

[mattdee1]

I totally agree with the second highlighted statement. If you feel the hobby has you drinking too much, or feel you are at any risk, stop before you have a bigger problem....

I don't understand this advice.

If you choose to brew your own beer, it can take 5-6 hours of work to make 2 cases. If you choose to buy beer, you stop at the store on your way home from work and pick up as much as you want in a matter of minutes. I guess what I'm saying is, you either drink beer or you don't. How can you blame the most effort-intensive route for exacerbating the habit?

If anything, this hobby has made me drink less because I regard the fruits of my labor as a "treat" that I want to last, rather than a commodity that I chug down at will, like I used to do when I drank Busch.

 

[brewcat]

Sometimes I'll get kind of manic depressive about a beer batch. One day it will be great then not good enough then great again.

I tend to create new recipes then go back to something I have down. Then go back to a recipe that showed promise and tweak it. If I feel the recipe is complete then I leave it alone.

Temp control seems to be the issue. That is my next step as well. Then I can actually brew in the summer.

 

[GaBrewZoo]

I agree with PassedPawn. I've been brewing about two years and I'm still in the obsessed category. I spend almost every waking moment thinking about something about beer. If you've lost that passion, it's time to put it away for a while. Plodding along is not going to make it better. Maybe something will trigger that passion again, ie, someone wants to know how to brew, you show them, and boom, you get the passion back. But don't force it.

 

[ericbw]

I don't understand this advice.

If you choose to brew your own beer, it can take 5-6 hours of work to make 2 cases. If you choose to buy beer, you stop at the store on your way home from work and pick up as much as you want in a matter of minutes. I guess what I'm saying is, you either drink beer or you don't. How can you blame the most effort-intensive route for exacerbating the habit?

If anything, this hobby has made me drink less because I regard the fruits of my labor as a "treat" that I want to last, rather than a commodity that I chug down at will, like I used to do when I drank Busch.

I think I drink beer more frequently, but maybe less overall. With a keg, I can get a 10 oz "lady pint" and I'm good with one.

 

[Grannyknot]

Thanks everyone. All good advice.
I've been brewing quite a while, and employ most of the techniques discussed here already.

I've got several ounces of fresh whole leaf hops in the fridge, so plan is to brew a fresh hop IPA next weekend, see how that goes, and since i'll be out of ingredients at that point make my decision. Maybe it is best to take a break for a while. Or maybe i'll remember how rewarding and fun it can be.

 

[Homercidal]

Thanks everyone. All good advice.
I've been brewing quite a while, and employ most of the techniques discussed here already.

I've got several ounces of fresh whole leaf hops in the fridge, so plan is to brew a fresh hop IPA next weekend, see how that goes, and since i'll be out of ingredients at that point make my decision. Maybe it is best to take a break for a while. Or maybe i'll remember how rewarding and fun it can be.

As has been stated, it's a hobby. I was in a slump a while back. My life was busy (still is) and I didn't feel like I was brewing to have fun, but just to have beer. And the beer was mediocre.

Now I brew when I feel like it. If I run out, I buy beer. If I brew, I put my thoughts into brewing mode and try to do the best I can. I've had more fun brewing with someone and showing them how I brew too. Their newfound interest in brewing can spark your own re-interest, and they may ask questions that you have to learn to answer.

I generally make beer that I enjoy, but I don't always make beer as good as some of my favorite craft beers. Again, I think the specific recipe and process probably only needs to be "tweaked". That may be all you need to do to certain recipes to get over that hump and make what you think is world class beer.

 

[kh54s10]

I don't understand this advice.

If you choose to brew your own beer, it can take 5-6 hours of work to make 2 cases. If you choose to buy beer, you stop at the store on your way home from work and pick up as much as you want in a matter of minutes. I guess what I'm saying is, you either drink beer or you don't. How can you blame the most effort-intensive route for exacerbating the habit?

If anything, this hobby has made me drink less because I regard the fruits of my labor as a "treat" that I want to last, rather than a commodity that I chug down at will, like I used to do when I drank Busch.

]

It doesn't necessarily mean that homebrewing will make you drink more, or that if you don't you will buy it anyway.

I don't know what size batches you do but 5-6 hours gets me 4 cases. 12 bottles per case. 50-56 bottles/batch.

But if you brew and you drink more... -- I do! -- I didn't buy very much beer before I started brewing. Now that I brew my own, I like to drink it. I also brew enough that I don't feel I need to make it last. I do feel it is a treat. I take a break every once in a while to make sure I never say I NEED a beer.

If you even think homebrewing MAY lead to a problem, at least take a break, or give it up...

 

[balrog]

...focus on one or two beers...bouncing from a pale ale to a dunkel to a hefe to an IPA to whatever...

+1

Consistency at the homebrew level is difficult..

+1 It's like golf. Or playing the violin. But surely it's like playing golf with a violin.

I hate drinking the same thing every time. I want something different to drink all the time...If I run out, I buy beer. If I brew, I put my thoughts into brewing mode and try to do the best I can...

This.

 

[NewJersey]

Whoever in here said, "it's the journey not the destination" has it right.
For me the beer is almost secondary to retooling my setup and tweeking my process.
I brewed Wednesday and didnt get a chance to really clean up until today (this is very rare for me)
I had to run pbw through the hoses and plate chiller. Also took my 3 keggles outside and cleaned with barkeepers friend.
Straightened up in general and started thinking about a major cleanup and maybe adding a sheet of ss behind my burner. (I brew in a pretty idral basement location next to a ground level set of bilco doors with three windows near me)
It was sorta fun to get everything clean and orderly.
If you dislike any part of the process just stop for awhile or sell off your stuff and grab bottles at a store.

 

[Psylocide]

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I've been brewing quite a while, and employ most of the techniques discussed here already.

Including fermentation temp control?

 

[bacgabe]

Agree with bwarbiany, this is an important question you have glossed over. Based on you initial description you have a big enough pot and mash tun and a nice method of drinking your beer. A great deal of critically important information is missing that could have profound impact on your beer. In particular, temp control and healthy fermentation (i.e., a starter or adequate yeast) have a huge impact on beer. A world class IPA recipe such as Pliny or sculpin would be garbage if underpitched and fermented at 80.

Instead of offering generalities (such as "I do most of those things" or "my beers just seem off"), if you give specifics such as your actual recipes and your process in detail, this terrific community will help you really hone in on the means to make great beer, which is in fact quite obtainable, in my opinion.

 

[MVKTR2]

Here's the thing....I started brewing for the wrong reason. I brewed, partly because it was interesting at first, but also because it made craft beer cheap.

The crossroads I'm at is that the cost of making my beer better is substantial.

I'm also starting to wonder if drinking 2+ beers a day for the rest of my life is really good for me. It sure would be nice to NOT be tempted to kill a homebrew as soon as I get home.

Others are covering the brewing part well. I'm wondering about the above exerts ... Is there a link between cheapening the cost of beer and 'killing' your homebrew? What I'm asking is, might this actually be something of a realization that you're drinking too much and/or have a problem?

Let me say a perfectly rational way of dealing with onset of addiction is to remove temptation/access. Removing opportunity is actually a fine way of preventing temptation and the reason churches and other organizations have 'safe sanctuary' rules such as doors must remain open during counselings, etc.