Should we put a stop to homebrew?

[cushyno]

When I was first married in the late 70's home brew was the only access to alcohol I had. With a mortgage costing three weeks of my monthly wage there was no spare coinage for visits to the pub. So a bucket an a visit to Boots it was.
...
Yeast selection based on the final requirements of the brew rather than Boot's 'Beer' Yeast .
...
Temperatures, now controlled - not shoved next to the hot water tank.

I'm just a youngster of 47 but have vivid memories of my Father and Grandfather brewing in respective kitchens in the 70's and 80's. My parents had little money at the time and even less for spending on meals out or drinks in the pub. Even though the kits in those days were no doubt poor, my Grandfather had a decent little cubbyhole under the worktop in one corner of their kitchen that I bet was a stable temperature. He seemed to take care of his Rotokegs and the many 2l lemonade bottles stashed away in that secretive store. However, my Dad seemed a little less planned in his brewing and always seemed to be drinking some murky liquid freshly bottled and very yeasty.

The brewing, sharing and comparing was a sociable thing that I now appreciate they had together. The quality of the beverage seemed secondary.

 

[Clint]

DOJ...get ya coat...

 

[Chippy_Tea]

It still amuses me how many introduction forum threads start with something like "I used to make beer many years ago and gave up because it was awful" or "My dad used to make beer year ago and it was awful" notice the pattern.

 

[ChilledGecko]

It still amuses me how many introduction forum threads start with something like "I used to make beer many years ago and gave up because it was awful" or "My dad used to make beer year ago and it was awful" notice the pattern.

I resemble that remark

I think there was a general DIY ethos around in those days, driven by finances.
Cars were 'do-er uppers', house maintenance was all DIY - get a man in? Are you made of money?
Along with that of you wanted to sup a pint, get brewing!

 

[Graz]

I'm just a youngster of 47 but have vivid memories of my Father and Grandfather brewing in respective kitchens in the 70's and 80's. My parents had little money at the time and even less for spending on meals out or drinks in the pub. Even though the kits in those days were no doubt poor, my Grandfather had a decent little cubbyhole under the worktop in one corner of their kitchen that I bet was a stable temperature. He seemed to take care of his Rotokegs and the many 2l lemonade bottles stashed away in that secretive store. However, my Dad seemed a little less planned in his brewing and always seemed to be drinking some murky liquid freshly bottled and very yeasty.

The brewing, sharing and comparing was a sociable thing that I now appreciate they had together. The quality of the beverage seemed secondary.

Pretty much the same story here, both my Dad and my Mum's Dad (my Granddad) brewed their own along with quite a few of the relatives. My parents were generally quite relaxed about alcohol so me and my brother had sampled my Dad's beers and wines from quite an early age, usually by way of a weak shandy and a bag of crisps on a Friday night or a glass of watered down wine with Sunday dinner. Never thought any of it was that bad and eventually moved on to drinking it without it being watered down first probably before a legal drinking age but enjoyed it as I didn't really have much else to compare it with.

I think my Dad mostly brewed kits, and stuff from Boots certainly featured. There was also quite a good homebrew shop on the road into Southend that we used to visit sometimes to buy stuff, still going as far as I know and owned / ran by Cliff Moyet who's related to another famous Essex based Moyet of 80s fame. I'm pretty sure that my Dad also dabbled with grain brewing at various points as he had a Burco boiler that he'd done some sort on conversion to or maybe he just boiled up extract. Shame he's still not around (f**king cancer) as it would have been great to be comparing brews now, doing the odd bottle swaps and asking him a bit more about his early brewing exploits. The wine was not so good as he largely favoured the "7 day" type kits which as any wine maker on here knows aren't the greatest although you get a quaffable wine that gets you pissed I suppose.

 

[foxy]

I have a neighbour who would drink anything but has sampled my beer, cider and wine and actually prefers mine to the pub or tins he'll buy.
Doesn't seem to matter what I brew he'll taste and tell and is always good with the comments.
My niece was up for a birthday party last year and she is 20 now but had landed with her choice of drink, so I asked why was she drinking Punk IPA and said she wasn't too keen on the run of the mill beer available so I offered her a homebrew and to my horror she didn't drink anymore Punk that night but availed fo mine and took her own home.
TBH you still get the usual replies but there are a lot of folk that seem to change interest when you tell them you brew your own from scratch and serve it through a proper tap..

 

[ChilledGecko]

There was also quite a good homebrew shop on the road into Southend that we used to visit sometimes to buy stuff, still going as far as I know and owned / ran by Cliff Moyet who's related to another famous Essex based Moyet of 80s fame.

The shop is still there in London Road but the original owners (assuming Cliff Moyet) sold up and retired.
I'm waiting for this lockdown malarky to end so I can have a visit

 

[Bjorn Toulouse]

"Different sugars in kits. No more Tate & Lyle, LME's & DME's are the options du jour. "
silver spoon mate
"Temperatures, now controlled - not shoved next to the hot water tank. "
I wish I had a hot water tank!
"Yeast selection based on the final requirements of the brew rather than Boot's 'Beer' Yeast"
OK it was rank, but I still wouldn't shell out £5 for yeast!

I did a bit of home brewing in the 80's Atomic Sake anyone?

I started brewing again as soon as Alex Salmond uttered the words "Minimum Unit Pricing" back in 2007/8
since then I produce 10-15 gallon of beer and 5 gallon of white per month. (all from kits)

Most of my peers think I'm a skinflint when it comes to beer because I make my own. To me the game changer is Coopers Euro lager.
Add dark spray malt for dunkel in winter, Add Light for birthday beer, add silver spoon for every day beer.

I experimented with the brewferm kits and thought they all tasted similar so diched them, Like wise most of the other kits had a similar taste regardless of make or style (apart from stouts and porters)

My experiments with Corny Kegs was disasterous, Dry hopping wiped out more than a few of my brews.

I would love to make a lager that tasted like Tennents except 4.5% (don't care what you think I like it)
Like wise I would love to make lager that looked like Tennents.

Until then Euro it is, brewed in a bucket, left in the box room made with silver spoon.
Note: currently brewing Muntons connoisseur continental because its all I could get during lockdown, It tastes like homebrew, nothing like lager, probably the yeast.

So to sum up, in the past home brew was mostly rank, now a lot of kits are average, I would not buy them if served in a pub.
I do not have the time, space or money to go into AG, Its a commitment almost a lifestyle choice, no way my mrs would permit yeast cultures in our fridge!

I make beer out of necessity so its kits for me made simply, any one recomend a good lager kit?

 

[terrym]

It still amuses me how many introduction forum threads start with something like "I used to make beer many years ago and gave up because it was awful"

It wasn't funny at the time when you were forced to stop because the kits were crap

 

[Leon103]

I don't really care what people think but find the people who would normally turn their nose up are those that drink Carling and think they are a cultured drinker because they drink mass produced cider.
I find more people my age are into craft beers and therefore interested in watch brew. I post a lot info my beers on Instagram and get a lot of messages about how to homebrew or where can they can buy my beers, even had a message off brewdog asking about stocking my beer.

 

[MickDundee]

I find more people my age are into craft beers and therefore interested in watch brew. I post a lot info my beers on Instagram and get a lot of messages about how to homebrew or where can they can buy my beers, even had a message off brewdog asking about stocking my beer.

I need to start using Instagram more. I did start using it a bit before lockdown because an old schoolfriend of mine had just got a tattoo apprenticeship and managed to persuade me to be his first ever professional “canvas” so I reinstalled the app and shared the pictures of my tattoo and stuff for him. The guy is a top class “conventional” artist - his sketches and paintings almost look like photographs - but that doesn’t pay the bills so he’s ditched being a barista for drawing on people with needles.

It’s fallen off the radar again over lockdown but think I might start sticking my beers on there.

 

[Pilgrimm]

Still get the surprised response when friends try a pint ‘that’s actually really nice’

 

[MickDundee]

Still get the surprised response when friends try a pint ‘that’s actually really nice’

I got that at first, but now my mate’s tell people my beer is really good and I even got a request to make some for a friend’s stag do.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Homebrew? I don’t make that muck, I brew craft ales

 

[MickDundee]

Homebrew? I don’t make that muck, I brew craft ales

Someone I used to work with introduced me to her boyfriend by telling him “it’s Michael I was telling you about who makes his own artisan beer”.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

As has been discussed in the forum before home brew has a terrible reputation in the minds of most as it conjures up the stomach rot that was produced in the 60/70's by our parents and grandparents. At that time most of the hobby was driven by pour equipment and kits bought at Boots and a desire to produce cheap alcohol neither of which is recognised by today's home brewers.

Well, 80/90's since I was last involved, but our output was as good then or better than the commercially produced stuff. All the later, better equipment has done, is made it so much easier to produce good quality output. I will say that kits and equipment were much more easily sourced back then, because there were more local shops selling them.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I think there was a general DIY ethos around in those days, driven by finances.
Cars were 'do-er uppers', house maintenance was all DIY - get a man in? Are you made of money?
Along with that of you wanted to sup a pint, get brewing!

I am very much a product of that era, I do 99% of all the work and repairs around here, on my home, the car, caravan, electronics, electrics, plumbing and heating around the place. I tend not to trust anyone to do work for me unsupervised, besides - if something fails I can usually have it fixed much quicker than you could possibly get a man in to repair it. The longest my home has been without an effective heating system over the past 50 years, is 24 hours, that due to a complete boiler pcb failure.

 

[ChilledGecko]

I am very much a product of that era, I do 99% of all the work and repairs around here, on my home, the car, caravan, electronics, electrics, plumbing and heating around the place. I tend not to trust anyone to do work for me unsupervised, besides - if something fails I can usually have it fixed much quicker than you could possibly get a man in to repair it. The longest my home has been without an effective heating system over the past 50 years, is 24 hours, that due to a complete boiler pcb failure.

Harry, you are a man after my own heart.

I still do all my own work around the house, currently (slowly) building a keezer in between other demands.

Two days before we were due to go on holiday this winter my CH mixer valve failed. Drain down, cut out the offending unit, add two 2 port valves (move pump to a better position) rewire from Y plan to S plan. Done in a day.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yep, much less aggravation if you learn to fix things yourself where you can and a massive saving to be made. You can easily pay for the tools to do the work, with what you save on employing someone to do the work. I must have several thousands of pounds worth of tools and equipment, bought over the many years.

 

[Deadhead]

I'm a small batch artisan brewster

Well 95% of the time, I get people going 'When are you going to crowdfund and get your own brewery going?' and 'I'll take a bottle off your hands'

And 5% of the time I get the 'My Dad/Grandad/Uncle' used to make that stuff and it was disgusting!