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

I have brewed a couple of times, but the bottom line is, I don't usually drink at home, I mostly drink when I am out and about and being social, so I feel like my brewing efforts would not really be worth it, since there are just sooooo many great beers to try already and drinking my own would cut into that.

 

Mostly time. Specifically, a long block of undivided attention, potentially multiple times per batch.

I used to homebrew before kids. Now? If I can get 4 straight hours to myself, I'd rather spend them with friends and/or getting out of the house.

Of secondary importance is I like the variety and quality of what is out there too much. Even a 5 gallon batch of my own beer is too much - I might enjoy it for a session or two, and suddenly I have 40 bottles left... I'm by no means a world class homebrewer, so if I were better I may feel differently, but as it stands I already have more great beer to drink than I can consume.

I'll also add in the cleaning, which is part of 'time', but something more. Cleaning sucks. If I could just brew and have somebody else deal with the cleaning, I'd be much more interested in getting back into the hobby.

 

I recently moved to RI, so I guess it's different here. I just have to be there when UPS shows up.

 

I can relate to this.

 

I brew 5 gallon batches with a friend. So that's about 24 per person. Out of those 24, I'd say at least 6 go to my girlfriend and other people. So I'm left with three six packs of the freshest possible beer from the recipe that I enjoy the most.

 

I am a homebrewer. I also know I can make very tasty beers, as I recently came in 2nd place at a local competition with an Oatmeal Vanilla Stout. It was a very small competition (13 other brews), but this was an extract and I beat out several all-grain brews.

You can absolutely make great beer, but you can't make great beer on the cheap. It takes a lot of equipment and while you can get information freely, there is a lot you need to digest.

If you enjoy cooking, you will enjoy homebrewing...just be prepared to spend a lot of time learning, and expect it to drain your wallet.

 

I did it once and really enjoyed doing it, the beer turned out good as well. However, I ended up with a lot of beer that was good, but not world class by any means. I ended up giving a lot of it away, which is fine but brewing the beer cost $$. Realized that when drinking I want to either try something new that I have not had before, or drink something that is world class or a personal favorite. Brewing accomplishes neither of those after you've opened your first one.

That being said, I LOVE going to homebrew parties and trying other people's stuff or opening some beers with friends while watching/helping them brew.

 

I would love to brew my own and see what I come up with but right now it seems, to do it the way I would want to, it would take a big investment. I plan to do it one day.

 

I work in the craft beer industry, and spend 45+ hours a week thinking about, writing about, reading about, and teaching about beer. I've also recently given in and started trading beer. It is a conscious decision I've made to limit beer as a hobby (sometimes a fight i lose), and explore other interests (diving, travel, humanity). I don't want to look back on my 30's when I'm 60 and not have any memories that didnt involve beer. Though i suppose i do drink right after i get back to shore... and the entire time I'm traveling.... Screw it. maybe i SHOULD be brewing...

 

I'm asked this often by my friends. They always suggest that it's an inevitability and seem dumbfounded by my total lack of interest in home-brewing. I simply don't see enthusiasm/advocacy as necessarily one in the same with creation or the desire to contribute toward the process of what you enjoy. Not all music lovers are musicians, nor should they be. I never learned the fine art my favorite sushi chefs have mastered, yet I still emphatically appreciate and enjoy excellent sushi. If everyone who laughed at a comic thought that they themselves should be comedians...you get the idea.

That, and I'm lazy as shit.

 

When I don't have the money to buy or time to drink all the truly great beers being made out there, and when I think of the many mediocre home-brews I've had over the years, I can't justify it. I don't want to feel obligated to drink my potentially crappy beer instead of a Surly Furious.

 

I would like too at some point but right now I don't have the time.

 

I see a connection here...

 

i don't have the patients

 

Two jobs.

 

1) No desire to
2) Seems difficult to do properly
3) I have an obsessive personality when it comes to hobbies. If I got into it, I would spend way too much time and money. Same reason I never tried drugs
4) There are so many wonderful beers out there already
5) Wouldn't even know where/how to start

 

I'm sure some of your friends would gladly serve as your patients. Or victims, whatever you prefer...

 

I'm in the "all of the above" category, but there's more to add here. I really don't have a good area to work in. If I could build a nice shop in the back yard with some A/C, then I would definitely give it a try. I have helped my bro-n-law and another friend brew a few batches and had a great time. So I know that if I had the space that I would become totally obsessed constantly chasing down a better system and never happy with what I made...just like chasing beer now, but spending more money.

 

Ahh, you should update your location then

 

For me it's the space required. I have a small kitchen/ refrigerator / storage area. That and the smell would piss my room mate off (...AKA the wife).