My reason for getting involved with the home brewing hobby was due to the many advantages of the hobby. A few of those advantages are in the following list; creative challenges, inherent rewards, time required, low cost, Quantity vs quality, imagination, health benefits, social and variety. Of course, many of these I was not aware of until a few years after becoming involved with the Home Brewing Hobby.
My new hobby eventually lead me to other challenges, like building a Brew house, designing and building an Automated Electric Brewing system with the control panel. All of these challenges I will blog about in the future.
Creative Challenges.
Finding a commercial quality beer to clone using recipes developed by you at home is a challenge. First, prepare a recipe for the beer you want to brew. Second, hit all the targets you have set within the formula that makes it possible to create a clone with the same characteristics of the original commercial beer. It is satisfying to share your creation with friends, especially if it was a complex and challenging style to brew.
Inherent Rewards.
There is something intrinsic rewarding with the creative process of brewing beer. It is very satisfying to say my beer created with my own two hands, not just any beer, Actually all hobbies are based on these two advantages, challenging and rewarding.
Time Required.
Busy people love this hobby. The time needed to brew a batch of beer can be spread over a time period of a couple of weeks with just a few hours during the days that the brewing requires their attention. Different brewing techniques require different time requirements, examples: extract brewing requires perhaps a few hours a day while all-grain brewing will add a few hours of addition work. An adjustment of the time necessary can be made to work within your busy schedule.
Low Cost.
An all-grain home brewer can brew a 5 gallon batch for much less than the cost of high-quality commercial beer. In a later blog, I will break down that cost for a Russian Imperial Stout that I regularly brew vs. going to the Liquor Store and buying the same quality commercially brewed RIS.
Quantity vs. Quality.
Handcrafted home brewed beer means techniques and ingredients are used that are not feasible for commercial brewers. Rarely does a home brewer use less expensive additives thus the home brewed beer has a full-bodied and all-malt flavor and aroma. The commercial brewer is always watching their bottom line, so some of the labor intensive brewing techniques are not used.
Imagination.
Home brewers experiment with brewing techniques, ingredients, styles, and sometimes equipment that opens up a whole new world of results. Only the Brewers imagination is the limiting factor.
Health Benefits.
I can hear someone saying “How can that be?” Alcohol used in moderation to 1-2 drinks per day provides a number of health benefits (per a number of medical studies). Drinking in excess can and usually has a negative effect, so drink in moderation always. Dark wines provide high flavonoid content to promote a healthy heart and so do dark beers. Natural ingredients, Vitamin B and brewers yeast provide additional health benefits.
Inherently Social.
Home brewers find that their neighbors, friends, and family are always dropping by often to sample your latest creation. We always welcome them after all we are passionate about our beers. If we have a new Clone creation, we may have a six pack of the original commercial beer for side by side comparison sampling. Feedback is always welcome. We are 2.5 million strong in the US and we are a growing and vibrant community made possible by our ability to reach out to attract new brewers all over the world.
Brewing Knowledge.
The scope of brewing knowledge is unlimited, starting with the four main ingredients of beer. water, malt, hops, and yeast. Then we can turn our search for beer knowledge to other adjuncts added to recipes enhancing flavors, aromas, appearance, mouth feel and overall impression. Here is a short list of adjuncts:
- Starch adjuncts; corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum and more.
- Sugar adjuncts; maple syrup, honey, molasses, candi sugar, corn syrup, sugar beet and sugar cane are a few of the sugar adjuncts used.
- Fruits adjuncts; Every variety of fruit imaged can and is used to add flavor and aroma to beer, the same goes for vegetables.
- Flavorings; spices and herbs are frequently used when brewing beer, a short list; allspice, anise, cinnamon,;clove,coriander, ginger, hot pepper, juniper berries or boughs ,licorice, nutmeg orange or lemon peel, peppermint, rosemary, spruce needles or twigs, wormwood, yarrow,. This list is in alphabetic order not as frequency of use.
- History; Studying the history of beer brewing across the generations of the human population on this old mud ball we call “earth” is very interesting. Not necessary for brewing craft quality style beer, but does give an understanding of why certain beer styles were developed. Many of them due to water properties of the region they were brewed in.
Brewing equipment and gadgets.
With my engineering background the ability to design, build and just plain tinker was another reason to get involved with home brewing. As my list of my projects will show, I do like to tinker with different ideas for developing brewing equipment and gadgets.
Variety.
A world of beer styles awaits the home brewer, taking us outside the limits of traditional commercial beers. (Miller, Bud, etc.) Home brewers explore fresh made and at its peak flavor world-class beers from other home brewers that the average US beer drinker will very seldom ever enjoy.
Is it legal! Yes, if small scale brewing for personal only use in every state.
As the content on this site develops I will cover all of these subjects and more. I intend to add a list of brewing terms with short definitions using a internal link for the reader to jump quickly to an unfamiliar term.