Why Has Home Brew Become So Popular?

[trustyrusty]

Hi AHB!!!



I was interested to know why homebrewing has become popular?

for the die hard fans that have been doing for a while it probably has not become popular for them.

But if you look around the web and I have seen a few stores open up recently..

I am considering do an article on it and was trying to get an ideal of why this might be for each person,

thanks

Rusty

 

[petesbrew]

Is it popular? Or is it just the same theory where if you buy a blue car, you suddenly notice blue cars everywhere?

 

[tones0606]

just thinking the same thing <_<

Is it popular? Or is it just the same theory where if you buy a blue car, you suddenly notice blue cars everywhere?

 

[Nick JD]

Buying a case of beer a week and drinking 3-4 stubbies a night costs about $2000 per year for 470 odd liters of beer.

Spending $2000 per year on ingredients to make homebrew will make between 2000 and 4000 liters. And it's far superior beer.

Basically it's between 4 and 8 times cheaper. A box of 24 stubbies equivalent (making Carlton Draft at home) costs $4.50. Yup, that's right - a whole carton of beer for the same price as a schooner.

If you use the finest ingredients, in the world and make speciality beer from around the world ... it'll cost about $10 for a carton.

Don't publicise this awesome tax dodge!

 

[DU99]

these are the reason's i make home brew
1 Is price
2 Is Quality
3 All the different styles
4 No preservatives,nothing artifical
5 you meet other people with the same interests(clubs)

this article give better idea's
http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2009/02/01/t...me-brewed-beer/

 

[mwd]

I brew for fun and also it is so much cheaper than buying beer all the time. I still buy some beers but $50.00 for six Duvels is ridiculous as is $60++ for a carton of LCPA

 

[chadjaja]

Because of the internet imo improving the quality of beer being made its lost its 'moonshine' label. Most of my friends put my beer in the craft category as thats the sort of beer it resembles the most. Its gone from just being marketed as 'cheap' to making quality beer.

In the last year I've had 5 mates go AG from basically no kit experience whatsover and nearly all are planning or built home kegortators as well.

 

[Quintrex]

I was interested to know why homebrewing has become popular?

I'd say that as microbrewed beer has become more available and peoples tastes are being awakened to things other than "draught" they've realised that craft beer is more than a means to an end and can be bloody tasty. People are getting into the creativity of making your own beers.

Plus I think there's a real diy culture that has blossomed over the past few years, especially with the vast amount of both information and suppliers that cater to diy hobbyists (Coffee roasting, cheese making... etc).

Some do it for the money saving, others do it for the taste/creative side.

Q

 

[komodo]

I like shiney expencive things.
Brewing gives me a chance to get shiney expencive things.

Its cheaper than the other shiney expencive things I play with - cars...

 

[WarmBeer]

How many ways are there to skin a cat?

- Self satisfaction of making something from scratch with my own hands.
- Friendship. How many places, other than on the sportsground, can a 30-something bloke with kids make new friends? I've met a couple of good mates through this forum, case-swaps, and the brewing club I belong to.
- Gives me a legitimate excuse to get out of the house and into my garage for a couple of hours a week. A man needs his shed time.
- There's plenty of gadgets and bling you can buy and assemble.

 

[Nick JD]

For someone who is interested in expanding their hobbies and inclined to look for alternative ways to create while saving money, the monthly ISP bill is without doubt money well spent.

I can't imaging how dumb we were without the internet - and I like to contribute to its vast brain, even if it is often ill-gotten knowledge and Chinese Whispers.

Lager at 27C everyone!

 

[RobH]

I started home brewing because of the cost of good beer - I tasted some homebrew that a workmate had done & thought if he can do it that good, so can I. I still do it for that reason, but other reasons have developed over the past 18 months or so since I started... I enjoy it like a hobby - gives me an excuse for time-out from my day-to-day & other domestic activities, there are social advantages like meeting people on this forum & other home brewers in my local area ... there, that's two more reasons I can think of right now

 

[Dave70]

Because beer's that give aficionados wood in Australia are pretty much par for the course OS.
If you crave variety, you either pay through the nose for it - like $9 for a little o'l bottle of Chimay or you make it yourself.
I didn't realize how woeful the situation here was until we spent a month tooling around central Europe.
In the Czech Republic I could get half a liter of Pilsner Urquell in an attractive glass for like $3.50 AUD anywhere all day and night for example. And that was like their default beer.
Here, its like $19 for a six pack of .330ml bottles.
Anyway, what the hell is it with this .330ml ********? Teensy, tiny wittle bottles of beer - what a gyp...

 

[Will88]

The variety is what keeps me going. Whilst the variety in the market is certainly increasing it usually comes at a higher cost so it's much cheaper to simply sample a range of styles that are commercially brewed then have a crack at doing it yourself. Once you've learned the ropes of brewing it's pretty easy to make something just as good if not better than what you can buy off the shelf.

 

[bum]

Hi AHB!!!



I was interested to know why homebrewing has become popular?

for the die hard fans that have been doing for a while it probably has not become popular for them.

But if you look around the web and I have seen a few stores open up recently..

I am considering do an article on it and was trying to get an ideal of why this might be for each person,

thanks

Rusty

Is it? Not if you ask Coles Myer.

It is just more visible now; not just fat blokes hunched over a fermenter, hiding from their wives in the shed - it has turned into fat blokes hunched over keyboards, hiding from their wives in the computer room. There's more info around for those who are interested to find it and greater access to more and better ingredients but I dunno if there's any reason to presume that means every man and his dog is doing it. No one I meet at social events has any clue about homebrewing and the old image of twangy, crap beer is still very much forward in most people's minds.

 

[RobH]

... and the old image of twangy, crap beer is still very much forward in most people's minds.

I know what you mean there ... recently offered a guest at my home a beer (getting to know some of the other parents from school), and then after he accepted I commented that I brewed it myself, his response was something like "oh... I had a rather interesting stout that a friend made once..." his tone of voice seemed to indicate that he wasn't so keen to try it now...
Anyway I served it to him in a "James Squire" glass (got a few when promo was on at local bottlo) & after taking a few mouthfuls he commented that if I had told him it was a James Squire beer, he would have believed me!

 

[matho]

For me I like doing things myself and this hobby give me lots of things i can make/do myself. As a hobby it is really cheap, but that wasnt the reason i started homebrewing, before i started homebrewing i would have probably bought a case of beer once a month so beer wasn't a huge expense for me.
There is also great people to meet in this hobby and there isnt anything better than sharing a beer that you have made and having other people enjoy it.
I do think it is growing as a hobby but it still hasnt shaken its old image.

cheers matho

 

[Barry]

I believe the the web has really reinforce the rapid expansion of interest. Specially so for younger brewers, lots in their 20's.

 

[pmash]

I'd say that as microbrewed beer has become more available and peoples tastes are being awakened to things other than "draught" they've realised that craft beer is more than a means to an end and can be bloody tasty. People are getting into the creativity of making your own beers.

Plus I think there's a real diy culture that has blossomed over the past few years, especially with the vast amount of both information and suppliers that cater to diy hobbyists (Coffee roasting, cheese making... etc).

Some do it for the money saving, others do it for the taste/creative side.

Q

I would say you are dead right! I'm pretty sure Oz's first homebrewers just saw a can of Coopers Draught as a means to an end of cheap beer. And then, one day, somebody shoves a beer into your hand that tastes nothing like the swill you have been drinking for the last 30 years, just to get pissed on and cool down on a hot day, at a bbq, after work, with ya mates, at the footy, where-ever! I can taste something , fruit......or chocolate.....toffee.....what's that yummy smell. Hello...........

It just needs someone to introduce you to the wonderful , flavour filled world that lies beyond blandness that the corporate giants pass off as beer, it ain't!

Cheers everyone,

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

For someone who is interested in expanding their hobbies

not to mention thier addictions.........

Seroiusly though, started brewing with the father in law when the **** hit the financial fan a couple of years ago. Simple, old kit and kilo....sometimes 2 kilo hehehe.

Since then my tastes have refined a bit . i still find its cheaper to brew a batch of whatever than it is to buy a carton of something similiar. Better still you can brew a beer that really scratches that itch, (pardon the expression.... ) something like no-other beer on the planet.