Why do you brew?

[Titus A Duxass]

I too have a curious mind and I can't get a pint of bitter over here.

 

[jonewer]

Always liked beer, and as is the case with anything someone likes, they are naturally inclined to make their own....

... and to save money..... So started with kits as the cost per pint is much better.

Then it becomes a hobby, and you get really into it. Buying/making extra bits of kit, trying to improve the beer you make and understand the brewing process.....

So does it really save money? Probably not. A bit like my allotment really. You fancy growing your own veg to save money and before long you've spent about £500 on strimmers and rotavators, compost, fencing etc....

Its a hobby. I do it because I like it.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

I have a loving passion for brewing beers, I also enjoy the end result but overall the brew day is my escapism from family life and w*rk nicely tucked away within my shed. :party:

I don't care about the alcohol aspect, just the pleasure from making a brew that friends and family enjoy when they visit..

BB

 

[Cononthebarber]

I like to make lots of things myself - I grow lots of my own veg, NEVER eat or buy processed or microwave meals (always cook my own grub!) and I even made my own campervan...I like beer so thought maybe I should try making that too...I love making beer now as I have found I can make beer just as good (usually better) than any beer you might find in a pub, at a lot cheaper price and I get the pleasure of knowing "I made that". Also pub beer (if you can even get a decent pint of beer not watered down commercial lager crap!) is usually overpriced and boring...I'd rather make my own, and know that it will be just what I want :)

These days I don't go to pubs to drink really, I go there for the atmosphere and to meet other people. Couldn't imagine I would ever go and have a pint in a pub on my own just for the beer...

 

[BIGJIM72]

One night 20 odd years ago someone asked the question 'how hard could it be to make beer?'

It just snowballed from there.

Overpricing,the smoking ban & a mass produced product ruined pubs for me + no local any more.Lack of variety in the supermarket put me off shop bought beers.

AG was a natural progression.

 

[Swazi]

I love good quality alcohol (Beer, wine, brandy, whisky...) and I like to make stuff. It's just a hobby (that I'm a little obsessed with).

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

My passion came out of the blue. Having time on my hands during the day and bumping into an old bloke that used to brew... I thought that it must be fun. I, like most others, bought a starter kit and made a brew or two.
Then I found YouTube and saw what the Americans were doing in their garages and sheds. That was it then. I wanted a little AG brewery in the garage and to brew my own beer, the beers I like to drink.
Then the process got me, the different yeasts, hops, temperatures etc. I now brew beer that mates love to drink when round for BBQ s parties etc. I doesn't matter how much I brew, it disappears.... I have upgraded to 100litres and have a couple of 9 gallon casks. I have had some good results from completions. This for me is the way to go.
When brewing, I change identity. I am not the boring mortgage advisor. I am the head brewer in my own brewery, working on its pilot plant concocting brews with different hops, capturing odd yeasts from bottles etc...

 

[Andy.H]

Truthfully? I'm not entirely certain! I did a couple of Youngs Alcopops kits over the past couple of years and had seen the beer kits alongside them. Then one day out of the blue, I said to the missus "I wanna brew lager"... so she got me a Coopers starter kit for my birthday. Started that off, found this forum looking for a bit of advice, and next thing I knew, everything went a bit tonto!

Was all a bit sudden if I'm honest :lol:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Just thought on now I'm half baked, it makes the wife look attractive and made me reproduce...TWICE :shock: :shock:

BB :drink: :drink:

 

[Boomerang Bender]

I brew to get a pint with body and taste not realy interested in the alchohol being high if I could brew it at 1% and keep the body and taste I would be happy . How do I do this using kits anyone know ? :hmm:

 

[alawlor66430]

Just thought on now I'm half baked, it makes the wife look attractive and made me reproduce...TWICE :shock: :shock:

BB :drink: :drink:

Hope you're wife doesn't see that lol :pray:

 

[narmour]

I love the process of hedgerow wine making, from impatiently awaiting the ripening of various ingredients throughout the year, going on long walks trying to find the best trees / shrubs / hedges and coming back time and time again waiting for the payload of green berries to ripen, the excitement when you see the tree laden with free fruit, coming home with kilos of whatever it is, and spending hours in the kitchen washing, weighing, sorting and freezing your haul. Then hoking out your recipe book and getting the brew on the go right through to tasting the final product!!

I think you could probably say it's a bit of an obsession. I probably find the picking and the brewing my favourite part, the drinking is good, but I really don't enjoy being drunk so it would be fair to say I brew a lot more than I drink!!

 

[calumscott]

It started with cost for me. I was spending rather a lot on decent bottled beers so in an effort to reduce cost but not have to resort to supermarket cans of sh*te I gave it a whirl.

I started low-grade. Youngs Harvest Bitter, brewed straight with dextrose. Was pleasantly surprised that for the sum total of about 13 quid I had 40 odd bottles of drinkable beer that was definitely better than j**n sm***s.

I did my sums and quickly realised that even with premium two can kits and hop additions I could still save a massive amount of money.

So now I brew all my kits (one or two can) with the best additional ingredients (LME for one cans and pouches, DME where colour is important, hops fresh from Rob, candi sugar for brewferm kits etc.) and still I come in around a third of the price of supermarket ales and most of what I make is better than most of what you'll pay 2 and a half quid for in Sainsburys.

It became a no-brainer.

That and it is great fun, the sense of pride and acheivement when you produce a belter of a beer, the bigger sense of pride when your mates go :drink: :shock: ... "YOU made THIS?", the ability to make beers the way I like them in terms of flavour, aroma, fizz etc...

...and all that's just from kits! Extract and AG will open up a whole massive amount more possibility.

It's turned obsession now hasn't it...

 

[cutnrun]

For me it started as a way to make some cheap beer, however I didn't realise how good kits could be these days.

Then i started AG with the aim of brewing beers i actually want to drink. Here in the grey corner of slough, i can get to plenty of pubs that sell fosters, carling but the closest to an actual ale is... J0hn 5m1ths (numbers used to avoid offening people!) :nono:

I can find a pub that sells winsor and eaton beers but that is at least a 3 mile walk and i am not that blown away by them. So making my own gives me a nice selection of what i fancy when i fancy it.

Also i keep seemeing to gain cornies and i have to fill them when they are empty. :whistle:

 

[BrotherMalice]

It's turned obsession now hasn't it...

You are not alone, I spend far more time on here than I should in work and the same at home :nono:

 

[zgoda]

I considered homebrewing in 2005, when I found 1st homebrewing shop in the web... But immediately got into "i don't like beer, this is not for me". Turned out I didn't like megacorp's crap.

Then in 2010 my wife asked if I want some hb starter kit for birthday. She wanted me to have any "safe" hobby, cos I was after touring car racing. Well, why not I said. I got 2 can kit, buckets and stuff, for mere €50. She was happy, it was safe and cheap.

Then all the LOL moments started. First was a boiler, still only €25. And more buckets. And grains. And finally cornies and stuff, like fridges, co2 bottles and so on. Every other Friday night is brewing in the kitchen, basement is stacked full of grains, buckets and crates, freezer is half full of my hops and yeast occupies these precious places far from fridge doors. I'm happy with this but she is not. I guess she regrets I'm not racing anymore.

 

[alanywiseman.]

I considered homebrewing in 2005, when I found 1st homebrewing shop in the web... But immediately got into "i don't like beer, this is not for me". Turned out I didn't like megacorp's crap.

Then in 2010 my wife asked if I want some hb starter kit for birthday. She wanted me to have any "safe" hobby, cos I was after touring car racing. Well, why not I said. I got 2 can kit, buckets and stuff, for mere €50. She was happy, it was safe and cheap.

Then all the LOL moments started. First was a boiler, still only €25. And more buckets. And grains. And finally cornies and stuff, like fridges, co2 bottles and so on. Every other Friday night is brewing in the kitchen, basement is stacked full of grains, buckets and crates, freezer is half full of my hops and yeast occupies these precious places far from fridge doors. I'm happy with this but she is not. I guess she regrets I'm not racing anymore.

:lol: :lol:

 

[prolix]

25 years ago to get drunk cheaply a kit and and extra kilo of sugar wonderful

now to drink good quality beer and get drunk cheaply, a sack of grain and my own hops £30 for 240 pints or £650 down the pub saves me about £1000 a year :hmm:

 

[oldbloke]

I started coz my wife is coeliac. Happened on a GF ale kit while Googling gluten-free stuff. It'd gone off the market by the time I got round to buying the gear so I did hedgerow wines instead, then GF pseudo-beer, then TC, then branched out into weird experimental stuff like millet ale. Just finished a sorghum lager that's OK but not great - mind you it has no age yet and I brewed it stupidly short so it's well overhopped.

 

[mickthetrick]

i brewed a little 20 odd years back when i would down almost anything that would get me drunk.
started up again all these years later just for something to fill a bit of time in as i'm in the house allot due to my health.
must admit i'm enjoying what i make ,were as before it was just tramp juice that did the trick