Hobby or Job?

[JGowls]

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...

 

[Colorowdy]

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.

 

[duboman]

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.

 

[DrinkNoH2O]

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.

 

[tally350z]

Hobby right now, but how to turn pro eventually. Just taking it one step at a time..

 

[IffyG]

Homebrewing is just a hobby for me. I fear that even considering it as a career would ruin it...

 

[Subsailor]

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.

 

[chip82]

I have noticed a few guys in the industry that I work with have lost the passion for homebrewing.

 

[Yooper]

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!

 

[wkaidy]

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

 

[duboman]

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

 

[static]

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.

 

[beergolf]

+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.

 

[Phunhog]

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.

 

[jonmohno]

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.

 

[xmacro]

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

 

[bottlebomber]

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.

 

[bob1852]

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.

 

[SHBSJon]

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.

 

[JGowls]

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.

 

[Barnstormer]

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!

 

[mlyday]

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.

 

[bovineblitz]

Oh god, I read this as 'hoppy or job' and starting thinking about whether I would give up IPAs or quit my job first.

 

[dfess1]

and starting thinking about whether I would give up IPAs or quit my job first.

that's a tough one...

 

[AnOldUR]

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.

 

[Lgaddy44]

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.

 

[Christ872]

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.

 

[ktblunden]

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.

 

[rexbanner]

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.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Its the standard pipe dream of most HBT'ers when they first start out and the obsession sets in.