Why I love making beer - magical and mysterious ways

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Willy

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After about 10 years into the hobby, I wondered why I love making beer so much. Because YES! I LOVE IT.

Sure, high on the list is sharing a cold one with friends. You never really worry about a friend drinking a large bunch of your home brews. Cool! (Somewhat different if you bought a case from the store). Home brews are never about money as much as the love that goes into making it.

Brewing day always includes some kind of human error (at least for me). I forgot to add yeast nutrient, or burned my hands or dropped my glasses into the mash... Whatever. Brewing keeps you humble.

And my big one... The magic! This for me involves the glorious little yeasties and how they magically transform super sweet wort into the perfect beer on the back porch. The Krausen, the bubbles, the heat created - fermentation is so cool and mysterious and I will never understand how or why.

I am reminded each beer day what a magical, mysterious, and inspiring- the world is better for it. In all the little things that go into making a great beer.

So tell me... Why do YOU love making beer ?
 
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I like:

1. The science of homebrewing. The geekiness of water chem, hops, fermentation, etc.
2. The fact that it takes time start to finish, and there's no instant gratification. I have to wait to see how it turns out.
3. That the hobby is easy to get into, but more of a challenge to do well. Always room for improvement and growth.
4. The freedom to build a recipe, even go off on a tangent. Select my own ingredients, make my own beer.
5. The DIY angle. Building some of my own gear.
6. Drinking and sharing the final product!
 
4. The freedom to build a recipe, even go off on a tangent. Select my own ingredients, make my own beer.

This is it for me. My favorite part of brewing has always been coming up with my own recipe, selecting my own ingredients, my own process, and learning from that (though I've never been the type to want to figure everything through trial and error, so I've long read tons of brewing books, interviews with professional brewers, and asked for advice on forums like this one -- much like how I ask for advice from more experienced chefs than myself when coming up with a complicated recipe for a dish I'm working on).

I also agree with the OP about how it's kind of weird that I would mind if a friend just came over and drank a bunch of pricy craft beers I bought, but I wouldn't mind at all if they came over and drank a ton of my homebrew, even though the ingredients and time are worth just as much (if not more when you consider the time element). I think it's because I enjoy someone saying that they really like a beer I brewed, much like I enjoy someone saying they really like a dish or dessert I made. And, similarly, coming up with and adjusting recipes for food also happens to be what I like about cooking the most.
 
When I was a kid I wanted a mini-bike but I couldn't afford one so I picked up all the work I could get and spent my hard-earned money on buying the parts to build my own. The engine (a 4.5HP Briggs & Stratton), came cheap because it wasn't working... I asked my dad to fix it but instead he handed me a book from the rack in his shop titled; "How To Get Along With Your Car" (https://www.amazon.ca/How-Get-Along-Your-Car/dp/B000HCQUDW) and turned to the pages that had diagrams and explanations of how the internal combustion engine works, then told me I could use his tools as long as I cleaned them and put them back when I was done. After absorbing the material in the book, I opened my first-ever crankcase and could clearly identify the parts and see that the cam shaft support on the housing had fractured and the cam shaft had slipped out of position. I went a few blocks over to a construction equipment rental place that always had a full scrap-bin of small motor parts and found the new cover I needed so I walked in and talked to the boss and negotiated to clean up the litter and cut the grass in front of their business in exchange for the cover. I spent the evening lining up the cam shaft and installing the new cover, took the bike I had built myself into the street, hammered a couple washers into the centrifugal clutch and pushed it about 5' and hopped on as it chugged to life and the washers flew out. The pure indescribable feeling I got from feeling the power of something I built myself has revisited me everytime I 'make something from scratch' and it works.
Drinking my own homebrew, and equally; having others possessing a palate enjoy it gives me that exact same magic....Personal Accomplishment for its own sake.
Thanks for the post.. I get to feel it again just typing about it.
:bigmug:
 
The magic hit me during first all grain brew day (12 years ago). I was able to put my hand in a bag of malt, smell the mashing, taste the wort while sparging, crumble dried and pressed hop cones before boiling the wort. This turned out to be key - sensual experience: feel, smell, taste.

Just like with reggae: first proper soundsystem experience teaches you more than hours of listening reggae on your laptop and/or reading about it.
 
Yes! The magic. I am compelled by brewing for the same reason I'm compelled by gardening and having children: I like to put myself in a good position to observe a miracle.

yeah but i can (afford to) brew thousands of batches. . kids, not so much..

Well said. Same for me, I am a garden hoe.
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for me its the end product. i love all of it, but the fact that i can do this:


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is what's most satisfying.

so because the end for me is the best it makes all of the process to get there very rewarding.
 
yeah but i can (afford to) brew thousands of batches. . kids, not so much..


View attachment 854746

?


for me its the end product. i love all of it, but the fact that i can do this:


View attachment 854747

is what's most satisfying.

so because the end for me is the best it makes all of the process to get there very rewarding.
Yup. Awwww. A pilsner recipe. So perfect for summer.
 

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summer time lawnmower beers are my favorite. pilsner kolsch mex lagers american lights i love them. i still cant get into the hopped up 8 percent ipas.

i love how that beer is almost orange / copper in the sun,
i like the lighter beers cause the slighest changes in specialty malts makes the color different.
do you remember what malts you used to make it that color.
 
summer time lawnmower beers are my favorite. pilsner kolsch mex lagers american lights i love them. i still cant get into the hopped up 8 percent ipas.

i love how that beer is almost orange / copper in the sun,
i like the lighter beers cause the slighest changes in specialty malts makes the color different.
do you remember what malts you used to make it that color.
10.4 lbs pilsner
8 oz flaked corn
7 oz honey malt (L 25°)
3 oz caro 40 (L 40°)
 
After about 10 years into the hobby, I wondered why I love making beer so much. Because YES! I LOVE IT.

Sure, high on the list is sharing a cold one with friends. You never really worry about a friend drinking a large bunch of your home brews. Cool! (Somewhat different if you bought a case from the store). Home brews are never about money as much as the love that goes into making it.

Brewing day always includes some kind of human error (at least for me). I forgot to add yeast nutrient, or burned my hands or dropped my glasses into the mash... Whatever. Brewing keeps you humble.

And my big one... The magic! This for me involves the glorious little yeasties and how they magically transform super sweet wort into the perfect beer on the back porch. The Krausen, the bubbles, the heat created - fermentation is so cool and mysterious and I will never understand how or why.

I am reminded each beer day what a magical, mysterious, and inspiring- the world is better for it. In all the little things that go into making a great beer.

So tell me... Why do YOU love making beer ?
Great post. I relate to every single point you made! Especially the human error! lol
 
I like drinking good beer. So being able to make whatever I want to drink is why I started doing it. I immediately loved the process. I like to be as natural as I can (back when I started pellet hops were new) I really wish leaf hops were more available, but I've learned to deal with pellet hops.

Plus I love chemistry. So I eventually got into yeast culturing. The test tubes, the flasks, the stir plates, all fed the chemistry geek in me. I was finally able to do something with all that stuff I practiced with as a kid. I make pitchable vials from single cells and when I get buzzed off something I made, that's satisfying. I see the yeast cake at the bottom of my fermenter and I know... I made that from 1 single cell.

Also in the unlikely event of another prohibition, I wanted to still be able to drink beer. One of these days I'll get into growing my own hops, and at least I know how to grow and malt grains even though I've never done it yet. But just in case...
 
I’m going to take this a different direction. I like homebrewing because it takes the mystery OUT of it for me!

Who knows what they put in that beer back in the mega-beer factory? Where did that water come from, and what was being dumped in the river upstream? Are those cans cleaned up well before they fill them? Heck, I don’t even know how they fill and seal the can!🤣 Who knows what politicians and other bizarre people/things they are supporting with money I have spent on their beer?

I know my water, and how I filtered it. I know how my gear was cleaned. I know my process and how it became beer. I know how it was handled and packaged. I know I am not settling for just a mediocre taste, but a beer I like!

I eat and can my garden produce for same reasons. I have laying hens and I make my own sausage and brats.

I still have to rely on way too many things that are out of my hands. I don’t know what might have been used in the barley fields. I don’t know what is in my chicken feed, or in the pork I buy for my sausage. Some of these I intend to work on. But I say, taking the mystery out of the beer is the greatest thing about homebrewing!
 
I’m going to take this a different direction. I like homebrewing because it takes the mystery OUT of it for me!

Who knows what they put in that beer back in the mega-beer factory? Where did that water come from, and what was being dumped in the river upstream? Are those cans cleaned up well before they fill them? Heck, I don’t even know how they fill and seal the can!🤣 Who knows what politicians and other bizarre people/things they are supporting with money I have spent on their beer?

I know my water, and how I filtered it. I know how my gear was cleaned. I know my process and how it became beer. I know how it was handled and packaged. I know I am not settling for just a mediocre taste, but a beer I like!

I eat and can my garden produce for same reasons. I have laying hens and I make my own sausage and brats.

I still have to rely on way too many things that are out of my hands. I don’t know what might have been used in the barley fields. I don’t know what is in my chicken feed, or in the pork I buy for my sausage. Some of these I intend to work on. But I say, taking the mystery out of the beer is the greatest thing about homebrewing!
Totally get this - and agree. I don't like to go to restaurants for similar reasons, and I also like how I do the meal better. I use my garden produce and know how I made it. And also, the love that goes into it, I do care a lot that the meal is awesome. I am pretty sure you have a similar dynamic in big breweries - a lot of people don't wanna work there, like in restaurants. Not good for the final product.
 
I’m going to take this a different direction. I like homebrewing because it takes the mystery OUT of it for me!

Who knows what they put in that beer back in the mega-beer factory? Where did that water come from, and what was being dumped in the river upstream? Are those cans cleaned up well before they fill them? Heck, I don’t even know how they fill and seal the can!🤣 Who knows what politicians and other bizarre people/things they are supporting with money I have spent on their beer?

I know my water, and how I filtered it. I know how my gear was cleaned. I know my process and how it became beer. I know how it was handled and packaged. I know I am not settling for just a mediocre taste, but a beer I like!

I eat and can my garden produce for same reasons. I have laying hens and I make my own sausage and brats.

I still have to rely on way too many things that are out of my hands. I don’t know what might have been used in the barley fields. I don’t know what is in my chicken feed, or in the pork I buy for my sausage. Some of these I intend to work on. But I say, taking the mystery out of the beer is the greatest thing about homebrewing!
"Where did that water come from, and what was being dumped in the river upstream?"
1.jpg
 
Long time brewer here. I love brewing beer now more than ever. I am almost 70 years of age now and need to downsize my brewing equipment to match my beer intake which is much lower. Still though, brew day is still special to me. The prep before, recipe calculations etc... Love it all. I enjoy winter brewing in my laundry room tucked away from the rest of the house. Sounds corny I know.
 
I echo most everything stated above. I'm 72 yrs old and I grew up among southern moonshiners, Homebrewers and wine makers. My memory of the home brews and homemade wines fostered my desire to make my own and make it better. I began long before the ol interweb was invented. As a result I went to libraries and researched extensively the art of beer and wine making. Along my path I would visit hardware stores literally across the nation as I worked on a certain national passenger railroad. Before the craze of homebrewing in the 80s hardware stores were the best retail establishments to obtain ingredients and equipment. As the years past and homebrewing gained in popularity more and more shops appeared on the scene. That made obtaining ingredients, equipment and information more available. To this day I maintain that my drive to continue and improve is the gratification I receive from people who drink my beers. Additionally the smells associated with brewing captivate me with each and every brew. The smell of hops in the morning is the smell of success.
 
One of my favorite things about brewing beer lately has been the dumbfounded surprise of friends - that my home brewed beer is actually really tasty! Wow - that's really good! I wasn't expecting that!!! And then watching them gravitate to a particular style (I have 6 taps options - blonde ale, nut brown, pale ale, pilsner, American Brown, stout. ) current favorite is either the nut brown or the stout but it changes with the seasons
 
I hear ya @Willy I too have 6 taps and my beer drinking hounds love sampling my creations. And my crew typically has a favorite they consume the most. My wife thinks I shouldn't have 6 beers on tap at one time. Silly woman, what does she know. She don't know there is usually one in a fermenter and a couple more lagering.
 
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I hear ya @Willy I too have 6 taps and my beer drinking hounds love sampling my creations. And my crew typically has a favorite the consume the most. My wife thinks I shouldn't have 6 beers on tap at the one time. Silly woman, what does she know. She don't know there is usually one in a fermenter and a couple more lagering.
@T Murph - six taps but room for 8 cornys - 1 for lagering and 1 for "on deck".
Thankfully - my sweetie is into zymergy and is a master of bread making. That said, she took an old large baggie used for storing 10 lb of grain... For the dogs pig ears! So, I had to X out all my writing ... Do not use for grain! Hahahaha
 
There’s so much to love about the whole thing, here’s a few highlights-
- I thoroughly enjoy my brew day. I love to zone out and rely on muscle memory. From crushing grains to the clean up, the whole day I’m in a great mood.
- I’m not a whimsical person but there’s magic happening in those fermenters. Obviously, it’s science at work but I tend to rely on the former. I’m one of those brewers who, at the last sec will add a pinch of this or a handful of that to my cauldron, I mean kettle.
- the anticipation during fermentation and the first sip.
 
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