Why Has Home Brew Become So Popular?

[Frag_Dog]

If, when I started brewing, I lived in the US where there is an incredible variety of awesome beer that are also waaaaaay cheaper than any beer in Oz - I would probably not have begun brewing.

As it is, there just wasn't/isn't the diversity of good beer that is easily available in Australia for me to consider not brewing.

Same. I started due to the cost, then found the taste side of things. Now I can't drink Extra Dry or Super Dry (use to be my favs).

IMHO the USA a better beer culture then Australia, at least as far as it relates to selling different types of beer. The fact that you can walk into any place that sells beer and pick up a micro beer makes drinking good beer so much easier. At my Bottle-O I'm lucky to find a Coopers. And if I make the journey to Uncle Dan's chances are I'll get some bottle thats been sitting in the sun for 2 weeks.

So I started brewing for financial reason, I now brew because I like the beer I make more then the beer I buy...

 

[Gormand]

I started doing it as 2 other friends were doing it and it was a way of meaking cheap beer.... Then I got hooked.
Bought everything I needed for my first 2 batches (Including all my equiptment, bottles the works) and it cost me the same as if I had just bought 4 cartons of beer. And I made around 4 cartons of beer, every cost is immediatly offset by the savings over the cartons... although now I drink more

Im planning to get a second tub soon (Mostly for bulk priming, and likely some dry hopping or other 2nd fermentations) and I also plan to start on AG just as soon as I can afford a decent 50l pot with tap and a decent burner to go with it.

I think a lot of it is as someone above said, its losing that negetive spin it had on it, places like U brew it help as well and once people look into it the cost would win many over.

Also i think all SWMBOs who want to get their guys to clean more should get them onto home brew

 

[Nick JD]

Also i think all SWMBOs who want to get their guys to clean more should get them onto home brew

That reminds me of another aspect of homebrewing - you gain an intimate knowledge of spoilage microorganisms. When you see certain situations you think, "That's fine, it'll get killed by the heating, or the cleaning." Other times you think, "Ewww. That's ****** rank - wouldn't touch it with a barge pole."

Others just don't "see" microorganisms.

I won't let the dishcloth that sits on my bench near ANYTHING. It's the worst source of infection in the kitchen. That and chopping boards. Wiping the floor with the dishcloth makes the floor dirty.

Homebrewing gives new meaning to the word "clean". Who out there hasn't thought - probably covered in bugs - I'll just give it a quick squirt of Starsan, that'll sort it out! Meat's lookign a bit green round the gills, STARSAN and ON THE GRILL!

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

That reminds me of another aspect of homebrewing - you gain an intimate knowledge of spoilage microorganisms. When you see certain situations you think, "That's fine, it'll get killed by the heating, or the cleaning." Other times you think, "Ewww. That's ****** rank - wouldn't touch it with a barge pole."

Others just don't "see" microorganisms.

I won't let the dishcloth that sits on my bench near ANYTHING. It's the worst source of infection in the kitchen. That and chopping boards. Wiping the floor with the dishcloth makes the floor dirty.

Homebrewing gives new meaning to the word "clean". Who out there hasn't thought - probably covered in bugs - I'll just give it a quick squirt of Starsan, that'll sort it out! Meat's lookign a bit green round the gills, STARSAN and ON THE GRILL!

Glad i'm not the only one. I thought i was a bit strange.

And i reckon Home Brew is so popular because it is Rad!

 

[Jimboley]

Everyday I have customers tell me how they went and bought a carton of specialty beer...let say JS Golden or Fat Yak, only to be completely disappointed and feel ripped off.
i could agree more, it's not just that the beer I make taste better then commercial swill, it's because the big brewers cut corners every chance they get to save on time & money, in turn make crap beers.

I can sum up home brewing popularity to the fact that there's not any good beer out there....because there is some good beer to be had. But if I had a dollar for every time someone said "I forked out for a carton of..... and it was ****...I'd rather drink XXXX" Id be a rich man.



At Christmas I bought a carton of beer....I know my bad but we had too many guest for even my supplies. 24x 330mL fat Yak for $60.... Tasted like crap. Whether its the transport across the Nullarbor, but it tasted skunked. It was bitter, but NO AROMA and poor taste...truckload of hops my arse!



I couldnt drink it at all. And I can drink VB or Cold or XXXX. I dont like these beers but I would of happily swapped a XXXX for a Fat Yak from that carton. I read a thread fat yak tastes like crap- Well I havent had a JS Golden with ANY hop aroma for a while and I dont know anyone that has for a long time. Even our beloved Little creatures keeps playing with there beers, one carton/keg is great, then the next is crap.



Commercial Breweries make a great product, market it as that. It gets a good reputation, so they keep the same label and fill it with utter swill.

Peoples perception that what they are holding and drinking as a premium beer, but its not.

So it tastes good to most people (perception IS reality)

Hey I'm not complaining about there tricks, I'm glad they cut corners, pasteurize add chemicals & filter that **** because I'll get more business from people chancing the flavours they love but can buy anymore.

 

[jonocarroll]

the big brewers cut corners every chance they get to save on time & money, in turn make crap beers.

I think you'll find that there is very little 'cutting corners' involved in big brewing. In fact, it's mostly going the long way 'round.

The fact that the beer is crap is due to the demand that the beer be reproducibly and reliably drinkable 100% of the time. Throwing out a batch is where the money can be lost, and thus the saving in not doing so.

So it tastes good to most people (perception IS reality)

Heh. I'm currently wearing a t-shirt with 'Deception is reality' on it, care of the International Spy Museum, Washington D.C.. I agree with this one more, particularly in the context you posit above.

 

[brett mccluskey]

If good beer was cheap, I'd still make it.

+1 I brew for a lot of reasons,but price is way down the list.I started brewing about 20 odd years ago ,after tasting a k+k CSA.I remember it as being an exceptionally good beer .This was around 1989/90,and the variety of grains,hops,etc from my local lhbs was thin, to say the least. Then some aussie brew mags like Australian Home Brewer and Ausbeer appeared and information started to flood in.I discovered Southern Home Brewing,now G+G.I started to partial mash,using liquid yeasts,which had just come to Oz,and that was a revelation in what i could brew myself,that was as good as i could buy.Forget the internet ,that didn't exist,for me it was books,magazines,and trial and error.Ive been AG for 15 or so years and if i put a monetary value on my brewing time,$p/h,it wouldn't be any cheaper than buying it.But i brew because i love the variety of beers i can make that NO brewery is making.Bittered how i like it,malt profile that i like ,flavour and aroma as I like it,and if i want to experiment i can,etc I'm not constrained by some knobhead accountant telling me that using X or Y ingredient isn't cost effective. If all the currently available beers in the world suddenly cost $1 per litre ,i'd still be brewing my own beer :beer:

 

[argon]

If all the currently available beers in the world suddenly cost $1 per litre ,i'd still be brewing my own beer :beer:

I'd like to think that... but hell, if could get Westvleteren 12 or Pliny the Elder for $1 a litre i reckon i'd probably brew a little less :lol:

 

[warra48]

Because it's fun.

 

[Cocko]

Because it's fun.

And you end up with beer.

win win.

 

[brett mccluskey]

I'd like to think that... but hell, if could get Westvleteren 12 or Pliny the Elder for $1 a litre i reckon i'd probably brew a little less :lol:

I'd be brewing a little less too,in that style .. :beer: but i'd still be brewing..

 

[Guysmiley54]

That reminds me of another aspect of homebrewing - you gain an intimate knowledge of spoilage microorganisms. When you see certain situations you think, "That's fine, it'll get killed by the heating, or the cleaning." Other times you think, "Ewww. That's ****** rank - wouldn't touch it with a barge pole."

Others just don't "see" microorganisms.

I won't let the dishcloth that sits on my bench near ANYTHING. It's the worst source of infection in the kitchen. That and chopping boards. Wiping the floor with the dishcloth makes the floor dirty.

Homebrewing gives new meaning to the word "clean". Who out there hasn't thought - probably covered in bugs - I'll just give it a quick squirt of Starsan, that'll sort it out! Meat's lookign a bit green round the gills, STARSAN and ON THE GRILL!

I own a cafe/restaurant and I have some lazy staff in the kitchen... Let's hope they never find out about Starsan!!!

 

[Yob]

Because it's fun.

absolutly... it's not a $$ thing for me, not that Im wealthy by any stretch.. but cheaper beer is a byproduct of the best hobby Ive ever had.. :lol:

as well as all the learnin.. the triumph after failures.. the people.. and at the end of the day... it's the :icon_drool2: from your own hand

:icon_cheers:

 

[Steve@PMF82]

I wanted to see what it was like to make my own beer, pretty simple.
Growing up i had always seen the kits in Kmart ect and always thought if thats how beer is made why doesnt everyone do it?

After doing my first kit, follwing the instructions given to me by LHBS, the results were not pleasing.
I turned to the internet...ahh google, found my way here.

Next brew was a partial, then AG. Have not looked back.
Anyway i needed a hobby, so making my own AG beers is it.
I am inspired by it, the whole process, the thinking and planning that goes into making a good brew.

Exercises the creative part of the brain as well as the logical and analytical side of things.

Its a hobby that offers so much , always something to learn.

 

[Linz]

the Kiwis have published this...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/467...stubbies-a-year

interesting bit is at the bottom...

ALCOHOL AROUND THE WORLD

28.8 per cent of alcohol consumed around the world is homemade. so it is popular??

the rest of it seems to be a scare campaign...

New Zealand's own problems, including an unregulated alcohol environment that was like "the wild west"....gees, then Australia's must be draconian with the overt regulation and complex taxation...