If you don't brew beer...why not?

White mocha coffee stout! That sounds delicious

 

I'd love to learn and I'm just skimming the surface of understanding the complexities of various styles and malt profiles, but it requires patience and money that I don't have at the moment, especially when I know my first few batches are going to suck. I'm trying to read more about it, but all the literature in the world doesn't compare to hands-on experience.

 

I don't for several reasons.

In order of most significant reason:
1. I am very intimidated by it
2. I don't have the money to invest in a decent set up at the moment
3. I don't have the space for it
4. I don't quite have the time to invest in it at this point in my life

2-4 will change after I get married and move. #1 is the one that's going to be a bitch to get past. I would like to eventually give it a real shot but I would like a friend to do it with. None of my local friends drink decent beer.

 

Interesting comments.. Been homebrewing a little over 7 years now and got my start by researching and asking questions in the Homebrew Forum then hooked up with a couple local BA's who used to post on the forum to get hands on experience. Time can be an issue especially when you 1st start but the more you brew you realize there is a lot of downtime during the brewing process, so I multi-task as much as I can, wife and 2 kids vying for my attention. Once you get experience and are comfortable with the process you can knock out a beer in as little as 3 hours. Space is another issue that keeps cropping up. You can go as big or small as you want with your equipment. I still use my old igloo ice cube cooler and 10 gallon kettle. My garage is packed with stuff, but these 2 items and a couple fermenters are tucked out of the way. Finally, I still search for the new and hard to get. New beers can/do inspire me to make something similar and don't let anyone tell you that you can't make a beer as good as the commercial guys, some of the best beer I've ever had have been homebrews. Take step over to the dark side, you won't regret it.

 

you don't have to brew 5-10+ gallon batches...
I usually brew 3 gallon batches and experiment with them

 

I have on occasion done some brewing, but it's been far and few between.

1. I have less time
2. I am stuck with a lot of the same beer, which while good or excellent gets me bored after a week
3. It does have a strong upfront investment startup cost
4. It keeps me away from trying other beers

Basically you can dabble and it's a logical progression if you are interested in beer. But all the reasons above really don't get me that interested.

If I had more time, I would probably invest in an all grain setup, but that's a lot of effort.

I know plenty of brewers and basically the difference between us is that you basically go down one of 2 rabbit holes. You either brew a lot like crazy (them), or you drink a lot of different breweries beer (me), each involving a lot of financial investment and resources (particularly with the amount of reviewing that I do), which is why it is also hard to do both.

So that's why I don't do a lot of homebrewing, but have done some. Right now I have a simple Furious clone going, but the only reason I was able to do that was cause I just in the past 2-3 weeks have been stuck at home recovering from flu and pneumonia, and on antibiotics which forced me not to drink, plus lots of down time.

 

Time and space issues.

 

i'd love to, but don't have time. plus, if i add another hobby, my wife is going to add another husband.

 

My reasons are time and space, but also the wife and I have different work schedules, so when I'm home I spend all my time with my 18 month old. He doesn't make it easy to do ANYTHING in the kitchen...

 

Can be done and it being enjoyable in the confined space is more what I'm worried about. My kitchen doesn't even have drawers. I need to move. What's the odor situation when brewing?

I was looking into it with the recent thread that was started. It sounds very doable and fun. I don't have lofty brewing goals I'd just like to get some tasty low abv english style beers going and I'd just buy the higher abv stuff I crave.

 

'Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines'

Though I deffinetly plan on attempting it in the near future.

 

deliciousness

 

I don't even have a spot to store my beer now, let alone the space to home brew.

 

To a non beer loving woman?

 

Fantastic attitude. You are the perfect person to experiment and refine your skills over time- unless, of course, you're old as dirt (like me). Cheers and good luck. I've begun homebrewing with my son and his best friend and we have been making better and better beer, and I swear it's like magic!

 

Because I live in a 500 square foot 1 bedroom apartment

 

By the time I would be done setting everything up, I could drive to the store and be back with something that will be better than anything I could ever produce.

I have no interest in it. I have never had any interest in it. And I would bet my last bottle of Westy 12 that I will never have any interest in it.

It's like my friend's obsession with hockey. If you like it, have at it. Enjoy it. Have big fun with it. But, for me, not so much. To each his own.

 

Time and space primarily. I used to brew extract with some added grains and I thought it was pretty good at the time. If I get back into it, which I may do when I retire, it will need to be all-grain. I had the opportunity a few years back to do my BJCP, so now I get the opportunity to drink and judge a lot of the excellent homebrew produced around Atlanta anyway. The best of both worlds.

 

more empirical than intellectual wouldn't you say?

 

Take your "woman" to an actual brewery for a visit... your home will smell like that.. that's what she is in for.