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

Yeah, "All of the Above." I like drinking lots of beer less than drinking very little great beer; it would take a lot of practice and investment to make great beer, and when it's just available on the shelf...eh. I'd like to, maybe at a different point of my life.

 

I homebrew, and I'm still intimidated by the complexity

 

Didn't answer the poll since I brew- but I'd say its probably because it's time consuming rather than being difficult to do. It wipes out a solid Saturday morning and you still have to wait around a month if not more, before you open up the first bottle. Definitely not an instant gratification hobby.

Despite all that, homebrewing is awesome and I highly recommend it!

 

I don't know how to.

 

Time consuming + I like variety (don't want to have to drink 2 cases of a single beer) + I doubt my beer would be as good as the stuff I can buy off the shelf

 

I love brewing beer but haven't brewed a batch in alomst a year now. The biggest factor would probably be time, it eats up a good portion of the day.

 

Up until 6 months ago I would've said "I'm satisfied drinking the stuff others produce", but as I fell deeper into craft beer I began reading more about brewing and tasting beer in an effort to better understand what was causing the tastes in my favorite beers. I think knowing how different ingredients/brewing techniques affect the final taste of a beer can only help my beer life.
Fast forward to last week when I got brewing supplies for my birthday and I'm ready to get going. No kit since I had been hinting at specific components that I wanted just to get my set up going, so I'm in the process of ordering the last few pieces I need and picking my first recipe. Not looking to go too crazy, just want to have 3 or 4 recipes in my back pocket for good house beers.
I liken it to cooking for my family. I'm an avid home cook, and for the last 5 years I've been striving to create the perfect mac & cheese recipe. It never deviates too far from batch to batch, but I make minor tweaks to see how it affects the end product. Really looking forward to many batches of pale ale to do the same thing.

 

I now brew, but what kept me away from it for my first 5 yrs of craft drinking was the complexity. What finally made me go for it was wanting to get to know and experiment with different hop varieties.

 

Most would say the time, work, or knowledge involved.

You can make the process easy and fast with malt extract. You can make the process long and grueling by doing all grain batches with decoctions, long boils, and chilling down to 45F for lagers.

It is not rocket science, unless you want it to be. I am an engineer, so it often turns into rocket science.

 

I brewed a few dozen batches and plateaued at a place that was acceptable but not wonderful. Plus, the time. This guy has too many hobbies, and brewing was the one that had to go.

 

Haha, I didn't answer poll because I am in the process of switching over to drinking nothing but my own homebrew, as my work has taken a nosedive and my hours have been sliced and diced (hopefully temporarily).

Came here to say that anyone who wants to learn how to homebrew May 5 is National Homebrew Day, and National Teach Someone to Homebrew Day is the 1st Saturday in Nov. every year. Mark those days down if you wish to learn to brew. Most, if not all, homebrew clubs will be welcoming folks in and happy to teach what is an easy, affordable, and fantastically fun and rewarding hobby that allows us to make beer as good or better than what we buy, cheaper too. In fact, if done right, it is much cheaper than buying at store.

 

At 25, it's probably a tad embarassing to admit it's simply because my parents don't want me to. I still live at home and they hate the thought of mess everywhere. We do have running water in our garage, so if I can figure out a system to cool my brews and then get all the stuff I need, I'll probably be good to go when I get my friend's second-hand homebrew supplies.

 

I used to homebrew, but living in a crammed one bedroom apartment with my girlfriend leaves NO space for it. There's also no place in my house that is a low enough or consistent enough temp to ferment quality brews at

 

have you thought of maybe getting a 1 gallon kit?

 

I'm satisfied drinking stuff others produce.
Given the amount of hobbies I already have, adding brewing to the list would be too expensive.
There are SO many brews out there, and so little time. I want to taste as much as possible.
I have friends that brew, and have used their equipment to try out brewing a few times, and I just don't have a real passion for it. The beers I made were decent, but, for me, not as much fun as finding a good brew.

 

I have homebrewed, and plan on brewing again, but I've taken a break. The main reason is I went about as far as I could doing extract brewing, and I'm not satisfied with my all-grain set-up.

 

Small apartment already overstuffed with things that will make sense once we move into a house but currently just line the walls and fill the closets...

 

Time consuming should be on the list. Biggest factor for me. Well that and the wife has put her foot down.