what does home brew mean to you ?

[PD]

As most home brewers know, when you first start out you get involved it it totally, many moments in the day you find yourself thinking about brewing bear, you bore your none home brew mates to death. Ha and I bet you try and spread the word and get these into this as well.
But what do you do it for ?
As above in general conversations with none brewers if you asked them what they think is the benefits and main attraction of home brewing is I can guarantee there reply will be..... Cheap beer ! Lots of cheap beer ! Save me a fortune on my beer bill because its so cheap !
Is it that cheap ? Is that the only attraction of home brewing ?
Well to answer question 1. Yes and No. After your first few brews it does become quite cheap and you can make some good beers Ciders and wines at a fraction of the commercial brews. However supermarket lagers etc do eat into the profitability quite a lot. ( we are not talking quality ales here ) but for the lager swillers the supermarket prices are well in keeping with the costs of homebrews. And they are instant,,, go fetch a crate of lager home for £8 .....sit and guzzle...
Starting your first home brew is not that cheap ( although it can be done Heath Robinson style on a shoe string ) Fermenting vessel demi jon sterilising stuff air locks bungs and bottles etc soon mounts up, then there's the beer kit to buy. Then there's the wait, brewing time conditioning time and so on.
Not what you would call instant.
However each subsequent brew will get cheaper and cheaper, and we eventually get back to supermarket prices.
Quality wise.... I'll not discuss that, if you like your supermarket lagers thats fine continue to guzzle. There is no comparison to home brew to be made.
I really get annoyed when folks hold up a pint of my ale and say... how much does it cost to make.
As the posh car salesman says... if you have to ask you can't afford.
Home brewing is a hobby enjoy it as such and let the monetary aspect fall away. Its a hobby. a past time but with an end result that hopefully you can savour.
You cant buy that feeling from the supermarket that you get when " your " brew, whether kit BITB or AG exceeds your expectation, even if it is your third attempt at that particular ale !
Enjoy your brewing, and strive for good ales.

Climbs off soap box and pours a glass of latest concoction.

 

[abeyptfc]

cant remember why I got into homebrewing to be honest, I think I seen this on a website somewhere and thought that looks easy!the brewzer kits - http://www.boysstuff.co.uk/product/brew ... ts-bitter/
Well the first batch was disgusting, I thought I had done something wrong so bought another few of the kits and the 2nd and third were awful so threw it out,for some reason I still had the bug at that point and then started looking into kit brewing, finally took the plunge as I thought it would be a cool hobby, I bought my kit and registered on here and have been hooked ever since. I'm not doing it to save money, I enjoy the process and the continous learning, and I suppose having a continous supply of 4 or 5 cornies of beer to drink in the house helps. If it wasn't for the folk on this forum being so helpful and having some great banter I would probably have chucked it after a few kits but I loved coming on here at the weekends for the chat and just kept up the hobby. I always thought I would go all grain one day but in a 4 or 5 years time, after 23 months I have now crossed to the dark side. picked up the AG bug when visiting Dunfies brewday and trying his and andymacs AG beer, and you know what they say, once you've crossed to the dark side theres no way back! Is it wrong that I think about brewing every day? even at work im thinking to myself 'what will I brew next?' I feel like the actual brewing process is like an addiction, not drinking the beer itself (although I bloody larve it!)

 

[lagerlout]

I first started homebrewing because i found myself getting bored in the winter evenings. I'm not one to sit and watch crap on tv so i thought i'd find myself a hobby - and being a beer drinker it all made sense

I do still buy beer from the supermarket but mainly because i find 500ml bottles too much to just have one with my dinner every evening. I usually have a cheap n nasty 250ml stubby, and then enjoy a few of my own brews at weekends.

I also take my own beer out when friends have a bit of a gathering, and i must admit it is satisfying when others try it out and enjoy it too. Usually as soon as you mention home brew people immediately think of some potion that has been brewed incorrectly and will blow their head off :grin: So it's good to show folks that it can be pleasant and easy to drink too :

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Mine was pure curiosity,

I had brewed when a teenager, absolute ***** and threw it all away, used the bucket to clean the car at weekends.

When turning 40 had some time on my hands and always had an interest in real ale and brewing, a brewery tour at Blacksheep in Masham sewed the seed again and away I went.

first a couple of kits again, coopers IPA and a coopers mexican cerveza, drinkable beer, then I discovered You tube and here. You tube showed me how americans do it with big shiney things in corners of garages. I thought, I can do that, not much more complicated than a big pot noodle. i want one...

Here taught me the basics of AG and in I went...

I now have a 100 litre set up, always have beer on tap whenever I want (better than most pub beers too). Friends are more than supprised when they try the beer. Its more satisfaction that "I brewed that" than the cost or the time spent

 

[simonkidder]

What made me so curious is my uncle used to brew a few batches every Christmas and my brothers used to go and get on it with him and because I was too young at the time I never was allowed to get involved. So I guess you could say it was curiosity. My mrs also bought me a DIY homebrew kit brew in a barrel type thing ( which was *****, but its the thought that counts) and it never really worked so I wanted to have a go with some propper equipment and see what happens. The monetary aspect wasn't really a thought as the first few buys wasn't cheap. But I've enjoyed it all the way. Even if I have made some crap, the good stuff makes up for it.

 

[Abstract]

to be honest the only reason home brew wine is because its very cheap and me and the missis drink too much ,and atm work wise times are hard and i have 4 kids to feed :thumb:

 

[fbsf]

It's not really a cost thing for us - we don't drink enough to make it an issue either way (maybe a bottle of wine and two or three bottles of beer a week). It's more of an interest/hobby. I like tinkering with things, and the thought that my tinkering can make something nice to drink is an added bonus.

At the moment, I'm happy to tinker with beer kits (after buying quite a few cut-price ones recently) and basic wines/ciders - WOWs and TCs and the like.

But I have a small simian on my back that I have a feeling is going to turn into a fully fledged ape. At that point, I can see myself progressing rapidly from kits to extract, and then onto the dark side.

However, with 5 kits still to go, the chances are that won't be until about this time next year...

...and if someone can remind me of my comments in this thread just after Xmas when I mysteriously seem to have built a mash tun... :lol:

 

[PD]

fbsf

see my other post I've just this minute typed and added

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=27055

 

[plumpton]

I started because i wanted to try and see if i could make something drinkable...whoa and behold it was bloody good!

I think when you succeed and like you say the initial outlay is fairly expensive, you tend to get the bug!

I have now done 5 wine kits with great results and 17 different beer kits.

I do think I will end up in the AG gang (or Darkside), however i think i will go to my local homebrew shops Mashing day.

I do love the hobby but should really focus on 1 kit often rather than 6 beer kits and 2 wine kits in 2 weeks which is what i have just done.
When you do that it is still fun but it does slightly become a chore, still had to be done with party in 4 weeks time.

:

 

[critty]

To me it was a curiosity thing. When I thought of home brew I thought of beardy men huddled over oak barrels concocting things out of nettle and pettles. I suppose its kind of a sterotype that is enforced by people without realising they are doing it. I had been to Barnsley market and actually discovered a diy kit that they were selling for £25. My wife convinced me to give it a go and I have enjoyed it since.

Also I have found that it helps to relax me when I feel crap with my anxiety and mild depression. I suppose that's another reason why my wife probably convinced me to get into it. It fits in well with my working life and I can get a brew day going between shifts. And while I am waiting for the boils to to finish I can get some time in with my retro gaming collection. It just sort of fits in nicely with everything and I get an enjoyable drink from it. My friemds and family love the wheats I have been doing.