Why Has Home Brew Become So Popular?

[shimple]

As said in other posts, we live in a society where Social media drives trends....

In saying that though, I reckon it has been popular for a long time....My uncles and their mates brew, they have been doing it for a long time, over 30 years.

For me, price has never come into it....One day tasted a mates homebrew, and was amazed at the flavour. Never tasted anything like it...Brewed my first batch the next day...8 years ago. I will never turn back....Without hobbies like this i wouldn't have the excuse for shed time too - a comment shared by many.

 

[kenlock]

Why has it become so popular?

Not necessarily in this order:
1. Range and quality of ingredients that are now available - who knew grains, hops and different yeasts could be had 20 years ago
2. Draft systems. What a great feeling to be able to pour your own beer, and no more bottling.
3. Accessibility of information. Who here hasn't taken a quantum leap in terms of knowledge in a short time.
4. Accessibility of 'better' beer to expand the palate. Microbreweries/Brewpubs, Dan's, Beer Bars/Pubs, etc
5. Now a hobby, as opposed to a cheap way to get drunk, with related magazines, podcasts, vidcasts, etc.

My 2c :drinks:

 

[nathanR]

I had a new baby and had to make cuts and did not want to stop drinking so ,I thaught it would be a good idea to make my own beer

now I make reasonably tasty beer 1 year later I find it hard to drink crap beer that I use to think was tasty

The only bad thing is now i have to try every exotic beer and I spend hours a day thinking about what I want to make next

 

[Midnight Brew]

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

SO true. I started with a Kit n Kilo as one of my dads mates taught me. Wasnt too pleased when I stumbled across AHB. Really blew the whole thing open for me. I was 16 when I started and needed a distraction from homework and did a bit of a search and bang! AHB! Such a good resource, I didnt even know I could buy hops or malt extract other then what was on the shelf at coles.

 

[Rotgut]

Agree with all replies here. Don't think kit brewing is any more popular than it has been, but extract & AG have taken off due to availability of equipment, ingredients and information via the net.

 

[InCider]

To answer you in short, I must say that I found like minded people who love inflatable sheep, GREAT beer and GREAT food.

 

[proudscum]

Because in most cases its now made better.Its been a quick crawl since it was legalised in 1973
when you couldnt brew anything over1%.I actually met the man who put forward the new law when i lived in Canberra, whilst having a homebrew.

 

[trustyrusty]

OMG !

This is definetly the busy forum that I have ever visited! So there is definetly something happening.


I was wondering whether Coopers or one of those makes suddenly had or made a product that was so easy to make ( as it is now ) as apose to a few years ago when you had to make your own wort.

I spoke to some today at coopers and they say that they had their first concentrated wort in a 1.7 kg can in 1984.

Why has this taken so long for shops to suddenly appear? What happened recently that has created this buzz?.

price - economy - easy making - keg systems?

thanks

 

[kelbygreen]

for me and prob most of the people here it starts off with having to watch the pennies and the point of giving up drinking always comes up from SWMBO then you go but wait! I can cut that $70 a week down to $25 a week by doing it myself lol

 

[scott_penno]

Significant other suggested that I worked too much and I should get a hobby. I've always been partial to a beer and walking through a large discount type store saw the Coopers starter kit and said I wouldn't mind having a crack at brewing as a hobby. And have never looked back... Although my wife has regretted suggesting I should get a hobby ever since...

sap.

 

[thedragon]

I have a mate who home brews, but before I got in to it I just assumed that his stuff was crap. He'd drink home brew and I'd drink Carlton. How wrong and narrow minded I was.

For me it all started when we moved from paying rent to paying a mortgage... the transition to homebrew was purely economics.

But now about 8 months on I'm not looking back. Yes, home brew is a quarter the price, but more importantly it's all about the taste.

 

[fcmcg]

I started brewing , about 15 years ago.At age 23 , it was all about cheap beer . The homebrew shop was a bit dusty and cluttered.It seemed to be the hang out of a strange crew...and they spruiked the can of goo as being the bees kneez's.The shops existed. They just were a small "specialty shop"
All grain brewing was discussed , but it seemed to hard and access to ingredients was pretty average.
As i have grown , with the hobby ( to full AG) , the hobby has also exploded.
I reckon it's because of....
world trade (who knows what %).People have access to alot of better beers.They want to make these beers.
Information.The internet...it's a real vibrant , sharing community, where pepole learn what others have done and do it themselves
Access to worldwide supplies be it either imported yeasts , grain or brew toys...all because of the internet.
A growing domestic craft brew scene...this also means the larger brewshops are supllying commercially and at retail level...again better access to everything
Conferences , Australian beer magazines, beer showcases...a growing awareness that there are other and better beers than vb or low carb...
And this brew scene is doing for beer what master chef did for food....
And most of all, people who do homebrew would like what they do. It's a craft...where you get to drink the results !

So i now posses a 3 vessel 40 litre brewery with march pump...heaps of serving kegs , silicon hoses ,and alll manner of brew gear lol
It's a craft. And i love it and most of all , i love sharing it with my friends.And because of brewing , i've also made some good friends.
Anyway..thats my humble opinion....
Cheers
Ferg

 

[dougsbrew]

i'd have to say living costs would be sending many the home brew way - morgages, rents, rates through the roof, food prices, petrol, elec + gas bills, gillards bottomless bag of cash thrown all over the place. once people get started it opens the door to how can i make it better....... then your hooked, switch to AG, more equipment, better beer, satisfaction.

 

[going down a hill]

Making beer is all sorts of great.

I threw a BBQ on the weekend and there is something to be said about making beers that you and your mates dig.

The other thing that will always make me happy is when you start adding all of that water to the wort in the fermenter; it really feels like you are sticking it to the man.

Cheers

 

[bignath]

I started brewing like a lot of brewers, to save some money.

I had a friend who did it. My dad used to do it when i was real young. I just wanted to have some beer that cost stuff all to make.

Then i found this forum.

Then i started discovering different beers.

Then i wanted to have much more control over MY beer. I went from K&B to All Grain brewing - havent looked back since.

I can create beer that is better than you can buy off the shelf for $50 a box, and it costs me $15 for two boxes worth of beer.
And it's better beer.

Went to a band meeting for my group last night. The singer brought along a sixer of Carlton Dry. I didn't have any beer with me as i was trying to be good and have a night off. I tasted it, and all i got was estery, thin cheap shit......He offered me a second and i politely declined.

I can make better (read: much better) beer than the usual suspects of megaswill bullshit, and at less than a quarter the price, and i love doing it. It's a hobby that completely fascinates me....

Why wouldn't you brew your own?????

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

...... I can cut that $70 a week down to $25 a week by doing it myself lol

What happens when that $25 goes back to $70??

 

[Guysmiley54]

What happens when that $25 goes back to $70??

A relevant point

I'm sure many have started because it's cheap (or it can be cheap...) but how many here have spent a LOT of money to make cheap beer? Still in Hobart, it costs around $70 for a case of Little Creatures Pale Ale so it all depends on what you drink. Even if money were no issue, after tasting my last batch (Argons Little Fellas Pale Ale) I'm sure it got to my glass in a better condition than the last LCPA I bought.

In homes with educated brewers:

Beer is stored at correct temperatures
Beer is served within optimal shelf life
Beer isn't transported (shaken up, splashed in the bottle in the back of a truck etc) more than 10-30 metres often.

So yeah, the beer I make is cheaper than the beer that I like to buy (although brewing can be expensive!) but the better I get at the craft, the more I'm certain that beer doesn't travel well and that my beers are more enjoyable to drink.

YMMV

 

[Strange Brew]

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 bullshit? Teensy, tiny wittle bottles of beer - what a gyp...

Too true. While I do like the Carltoohveebeex and the 20+ different labels its bottles under. I do occasionally like something with flavour and rather than pay $9 for a bottle I'd rather brew a carton of the stuff for the same price.

 

[bum]

Lucky it is only us reading this thread because most of you guys are sending the craft back 20 years.

 

[humulus]

I started brewing like a lot of brewers, to save some money.

I had a friend who did it. My dad used to do it when i was real young. I just wanted to have some beer that cost stuff all to make.

Then i found this forum.

Then i started discovering different beers.

Then i wanted to have much more control over MY beer. I went from K&B to All Grain brewing - havent looked back since.

I can create beer that is better than you can buy off the shelf for $50 a box, and it costs me $15 for two boxes worth of beer.
And it's better beer.

Went to a band meeting for my group last night. The singer brought along a sixer of Carlton Dry. I didn't have any beer with me as i was trying to be good and have a night off. I tasted it, and all i got was estery, thin cheap shit......He offered me a second and i politely declined.

I can make better (read: much better) beer than the usual suspects of megaswill bullshit, and at less than a quarter the price, and i love doing it. It's a hobby that completely fascinates me....

Why wouldn't you brew your own?????

HERE HERE Big Nath!!!!price does not even come into it its all for the FLAVOUR! still got mates that prefer that megaswill bullshit oh well their loss!