Only drinking what you brew

There was a point where I was brewing 30 gallons every 2 weeks on a pilot brewery in my university. For that year, and about 6 months later, I was drinking nothing but that stuff. It literally would have been a waste of money to buy commercial. It was pretty cool.

 

Why I don't do this:
1. Time limitations. I don't brew often enough.
2. Periodic desire for variety. I might enjoy drinking a witbier or some high gravity Imperial whatever now and again, but don't need a lot of it in the cellar.
3. Learning. I might want to taste 6 different IPAs to help me focus on what sort of beer I want to brew next.

 

Only drinking my homebrew would seriously limit the process of learning about beer, and it would limit the variety of beer I have to choose from. With only 12 taps(8 running right now) I don't have nearly enough choices for the beer to cook with, to have with dinner, for doing the dishes and then just relaxing late into the evening.
I have employees who have moved here from around the country, they often go home to visit family and will often bring me back some of their hometown favorites. I can't disappoint them by turning their gifts away. I also bring local beers back whenever I travel. Tasting new and different beers is the only way I know what I want to brew next and knowing that what sounds good may actually taste like shit and should never be attempted.
As for the cost of homebrew vs store bought, if you brew often and for years equipment cost per batch is minimal, if you buy everything in bulk, homebrew is far cheaper than store bought. If you brew 3 or 4 times per year or quit after a few batches, store bought is much cheaper.

 

Huh? You use beer to wash your dishes? From time to time, I brew a batch that tastes like dishwater, too, but I usually just dump it down the drain. You've taken resourcefulness to a new level!

 

It's not arrogant if it's true. Unfortunately I've tasted homebrews (at brewclub meetings mainly) that the brewers thought were the tits, but really weren't close to even average commercial beers. Still, I don't know if I would say they were arrogant. More like delusional. Cellar blindness can be debilitating when it makes someone think their beers have arrived and there's no room for improvement. Please give generously to cellar blindness research.

 

I've never met anyone who thought they had an ugly baby either. Sunk costs and emotional investment

 

I drink 80% of my stuff and 20% give away to friends, family, co-worker. The only stuff I buy is lagers, preferably Czech lager or pilsner. Once a week I pay a visit to the Eagle Provisions and grab couple of Czechs.

 

I lean more toward paranoia than delusion. Most of the more seasoned members of my brew club pull no punches when tasting each other's beers, and I'm no more merciful than they are. We share quality feedback - one of the things I love about my club. Some of my beers that I'm not comfortable with get very high compliments. Happily, none of those that I've been particularly proud of have been trampled. Thus, I don't think I'm a victim of cellar blindness, though I think I've seen the symptoms.

 

I know ONE thing its amazing how much BS is going on when your "friends" are drinking your free home brew you gave them...

I know some beers are frankly shit,. most are average, and some were good, 1 was outstanding. 5 or 6 were very good.
that is 103 all grains. still learning....lol. I know I saved a ton of money I spreadsheet every beer in excel and Beersmith. my standards are very high. If I make a beer I expect it to be perfect.
crazy I know.

one day I will brew every beer as good or better. I hope.

 

In ~10 years of brewing, I've made two beers that I really wish I had made more of (fruit sours). The rest -- even the ones that I thought were really quite good, I was tired of before the end of the keg. Since I tend to drink at most a pint a night and I prefer not to drink the same beer more than a couple days in a row, even 5gal batches last too long and I end up giving away or dumping (distilling) a lot of beer. I messed around with 2 and 3 gal batches but never managed to scale my process down in a way I like. So it's back to brewing for aging or brewing for an event where I know I can blow through a keg in a day or two. Most of my everyday drinking is commercial stuff.

 

We are about 50% homebrew, 50% commercial, I hope to ramp up with some system improvements.
Cheers

 

Let me clarify. A glass of Rochefort 10 at 50-60F makes doing the dishes much more enjoyable. Since I've never duplicated the bliss and perfection that comes out of a bottle of Rochefort I will have to continue to buy it.

 

That can go both ways.
Trying the occasional new commercial brew can also serve as a reminder that it is totally possible to make better beer at home than what a lot of current craft breweries are putting out (that's not too far fetched of a notion, when you consider that the vast majority of new brewery startups is by former home brewers).

As to cost savings, in the early 80s I spent well under $200 to cobble together the dedicated all-grain electric "brewery" in my basement, which I've been using ever since. It paid for itself in about a year versus storebought beer, and over the last 30 years I've lost track of the crazy amount of money it has saved me versus commercial beer (especially considering that my tastes run towards fuller, richer brews).
Bottom line is that even with the dramatic increases in ingredient prices, it's still possible to make 10 gallons of commercial quality (or better) brew for not much more than the cost of a comparable sixpack in the stores.