If you could do it all over again...

[Sammy86]

I would totally do it again...for me it started in college, late at night after campus security did their final rounds in the dorms. Buckets and pre-hopped extract and some dextrose or sugar.

I recently hit the 1K mark in equipment after purchasing an all in one system...everything else was basically second-hand and greatly discounted price.

I enjoy the brewing still, especially now that I don't have lug gallons of hot water from the stove to the mash tun, drain in a spare bucket, batch sparge and then back to the stove for the boil.

I also take solace that I'm going to teach my children an actual skill...my old man wasn't very handy, so through brewing I've learned ALOT of DIY things that I now can use around the house and teach my children...especially the skill of fermentation.

 

[pigroaster]

There are many reasons people brew beer. In my case, I got started because the brewery producing my absolute most favorite beer of all time changed the recipe. Changed...the recipe. It was a hit, they got a new brewmaster, and he thought, mistakenly, he could improve it. So I went on a quest to reproduce the original.

I like the beer I brew; more importantly, I have loved every minute of learning how to brew and brew some really good beer. The journey, as they say, was more important for me than the destination.

Now, if all my brewing equipment, keezer, everything suddenly mysteriously disappeared, would I replace it? I don't know. I have well in excess of $5k in my brewing operation, and that investment has served my obsession and joy with learning all this. But now that I know what I do, the joy of brewing is somewhat less. I've figured it out. What's next?

Some people say they do this to save money; others because they are in a search for the perfect beer; still others because they simply like the joy of learning and the thrill of the outcome.

**********

I'm a serial hobbyist; I get seriously interested in a hobby and plumb its depths. At some point, the learning slows down, to where I'm at the destination, and for me, it's the journey that I love. Usually that destination means I've mastered the craft to some degree, and the hobby loses its allure to some extent.

Golf: shot a round of par golf by the rules. Golf clubmaking: had a business doing it. Reloading ammunition: sub-1-minute accuracy. Rotisserie (fantasy) baseball: wrote game theory, published nationally. Trap shooting: broke 100 straight. Brewing: friends want to buy my beer at commercial prices, a local bar wants to sell it.

I still like brewing, but the learning curve has leveled off. The "joy" in brewing has been satisfied, i.e., I've more or less mastered it. So would I invest $5K+ if my brewing equipment suddenly disappeared? I have my doubts. The thrill of discovery is done.

FWIW: I recently started taking flight lessons on the way toward earning a Private Pilot License. Complicated. Interesting. Helluva learning curve. I'm back in my element. I'm on the journey!

But tomorrow, I think I'll brew.

Recipe quest. Any chance of you posting or sending me your recipe ? Thanks

 

[mullet6577]

Recipe quest. Any chance of you posting or sending me your recipe ? Thanks

In this thread already

Post #23