Brew it or buy it?

Imo you do need an educated palate, if you don’t know where you missed then what? If you’ve got a nice palate and you understand the end goal you have a shot, I have a dumb palate. I accept that there’s beers I like, and those that I don’t , but it is what it is. I can tell obviously when a beers off, but I’d have no clue at all on how to fix that for the next batch. A talented palate is imo necessary.

 

It does not take 20 years to homebrew tasty beer. My very first beer was a Munton's kit beer labeled as Traditional Bitter. That batch turned out wonderful and it very much reminded me of the cask Bitter Ales I enjoyed drinking in Great Britain.

Well, that is an issue of priorities and entirely in your domain.

Cheers!

 

I hear ya man. Whenever somebody suggests a new hobby to me, I tell them that I don't have as much time as I'd like for the stuff I'm already doing. It's all about priorities.

 

You picked up on some of it.
-The learning curve is long, but not particularly steep. What I mean by that is that I think most of us expect to learn about making beer forever, there is always something that someone can teach us, something else to learn. However, the barrier to making decent beer is less difficult than you might believe, especially if you take advantage of the various sources of information and feedback that are available.
-The cost thing is mostly an illusion of whatever accounting tricks you employ to justify the argument. Ultimately, it's a hobby. If you aren't getting enjoyment out of it, it costs too much, and if you are getting enjoyment out of it, it doesn't. Don't get into it to save money.
- Brewing something original? For some, this is important. For me personally, the best beers I brew are somewhat traditional, not the off-the-wall creations that drive some.

Other thoughts:
- DIY tickles the creative pride of some folks.
- The premise that you can get a nice selection of commercial beers is probably true for most, but there are some beer styles that are difficult to find commercially, and you might like to brew them. English and Belgian beer styles are very rare finds in beer stores near me, and account for something like 1/3 of the beers I brew. Even if you can find your favorite Belgian beer near you, can you easily find (and pay for) 2 cases of it? Because if that's what you want, you may be better off brewing it.
- The science aspect of brewing fills a life-long learning void for many who otherwise stopped studying science.
- Even just sticking to the four basic ingredients of beer, the variety within ingredient type is so plentiful that some of us thrive on exploring them (so many malts, new hop varieties every year, so many types of yeast, different ways water chemistry impacts brewing process and beer flavor).

 

the Alchemist uses Scottish malt for Heady Topper, so you are in good company.

 

Try getting decent Mexican food in Vermont. Unless you are in Burlington you can't even buy acceptable ingredients to make your own. I make edible to decent smoked meats but would not dare toot my horn about it... Montreal is nearby. A guy at work makes incredible cured sausage but it sounds super labor intensive, and unlike beer, a mistake could make me sick. Might still try it someday.

 

Why homebrew,,,,,,,,

1. Creativity, I can make what I want when I want, and at a savings.
2. I'm a do it yerself dude, and have way to much energy to sit around drinking old beer, fresh, in most cases, is better.
3. As said earlier, your cupboard has lots of ingredients one can use to make brews one won't find on the shelf every day.
4. After a while, one can make their standard brew, then specialty brews and have them all whenever they like.
5. Ask anyone on this forem, I'm the last guy to be technically correct , go by the book or anything that would be considered standard in brewing practice, and I don't care. My beer tastes great to me and mine and that's the way it should always be.
6. Last but not lease, it's a blast homebrewing making a great tasting beer and enjoying it.
Also makes great gifts.

So give it a go, who cares if you dump a batch, most everybody has, but in time you will get it right and then YER HOOKED.

 

Although someone briefly mentioned it above, but I'll repeat it about clone brewing. Although I didn't start the hobby with that in mind, after I brewed a number of standard styles to satisfy my curiosity about homebrewing, etc, I realized that clone recipes are usually available for beers that are hard to get. So that became my thrust for the selection of which beers I would brew, and I've brewed Zombie Dust and Pliny the Elder with great success. I have a recipe for Pliny the Younger that I'll brew someday because I have no chance of ever tasting that beer otherwise. So consider beer clones as a reason to get started.

 

Yup, brewing clones of beers that are unavailable for purchase is another good reason to homebrew. In the next few days I will be brewing my version of Weldwerks Juicy Bits and in a coupe of months I will be brewing my version of Pliny the Elder.

Cheers!

@PapaGoose03

 

I like brewing because I like cooking. It's that simple.

 

I like to see my friends enjoy something I made!

 

I homebrew for a multitude of reasons, but I guess the primary 2 reasons are to engage my creativity to create something that is truly unique, and to prove to myself, family and friends that with a little effort we(anybody) can create an essential food substance that countless millions have come to believe is magically made in some far off place. Also having done it as long as I have my equipment is paid for and it is really cheap for me to brew delicious beers.

 

Even though you’ve already made your decision I’ll throw in my two cents:
I brew it and buy it and am pleased with both.

My situation sounds similar to yours about friends/family that don’t drink much beer. On the semi-rare occasion that one of my beer-drinking friends does take one of my homebrews, it always feels like a feather in my cap when they say, “You made this?....this is good”. Conversely, one of my favorite homebrews got a “Meh” reaction by someone who prefers Miller Lite or UFO White.
Having gallons of bottled beer sitting around that might go past its prime before I drink it has been an issue. I’m now considering making smaller batches of 2.5 gallons (about a case of 12-ouncers). What I personally wrestle with there is that the time involved to make 2.5 gallons is not much less than for making 5 gallons.

Buying it gives me the opportunity to try some one-offs that I probably won’t brew, at least not soon (sours, lagers, wild yeast, etc.)….or give me ideas for brewing something I haven’t had or seen.

Glad you got the info you needed to settle on what will work for you.
If you ever decide to take up the challenge, there are good folks here who are eager to share their experiences and offer up some phenomenal guidance.

 

In all honesty if I were in your position today I wouldn't consider homebrewing. There's a pretty steep learning curve with homebrewing and it takes mounds of patience, even when you've got the process down. But a lot of us who started homebrewing long ago did it because of the lack of high quality, interesting beers available on the market. If we wanted something besides pale, insipid lagers or an occasional dark beer we had to go overseas or brew it ourselves

 

Great thread and great forum.

I am originally from Seattle, and if I still lived there today I doubt I would homebrew - there is so much good stuff readily available and cheap(ish) that I don't think I could find the motivation (and Seattle is no California or New England). I moved to the Madrid area a long time ago and used to get excited about finding Chimay in the supermarket. This was - and really still is - lager country. Craft beer took off here about 7-8 years ago, and slowly but surely you could find American, English and Danish micros. However, the pain is great when you pay between 7-10 euros for a tallboy of good craft beer. Now with Covid I don't go into Madrid anymore, so I don't even have access to the beer shops. Ordering online tacks on another euro or so to each beer.

So I got into homebrewing mainly out of necessity and curiosity. I agree with posters above that you can brew a decent beer your first time. My first was a kit from Northern Brewer than was so old by the time it got to me that I had to throw out the yeast, hops and just use the malt extract. I went to a local supply shop and bought some yeast, a little malted barley and some Cascade, Citra and Chinook and made a damn fine IPA. When you factor in the freshness, the stuff I make is better than 80% of what I can buy.

As Papa Goose stated above, I love trying to clone whales that I could never get my hands on. In fact, my next batch will be the first one that is not based off a clone recipe. As I said, curiosity has always been a factor, as I worked as a cook for many years and love all things culinary. But I was a cook, not a baker, so following exact recipes and getting my head around the science is a challenge for me. I find people on this site very generous with their knowledge.

As I said, living in the US, I don't know if I would have gotten into brewing, but I do know that there's no going back now.