I Stopped Home Brewing Years Ago

I stopped home brewing years ago long after I had started back in 1992. I started simple, with an extract kit plus some whole grains to steep. The process was simple and I was just tickled that I could actually make my own beer.

Side note: What we in the U.S. consider “home brewing” is referred to as “craft brewing” internationally. In the U.S., the term “craft brewing” typically refers to someone who has taken their craft to the next level and are making a business out of it. But trust me, when we make beer at home we are striving to craft incredible beer.

I was just married back then; no kids, no dog, rented, and thus I had a lot of time on my hands. Home brewing was an inexpensive way to get pretty good beer. I got to the point where I was brewing just about every other month, which, as the primary consumer of the brew, was just about enough time to go through the approximate 2 cases of beer and have a couple left over to have “not worrying” while I made my next batch.

A couple years later we moved to a new house and I tried to keep up on my brewing, but with the addition of house maintenance and a dog, my weekends just weren’t as free as they used to be. I was expanding into partial and whole mashes, which took more time. I was also starting to have problems with quality control. All of my batches were starting to pick up off flavors.

Assuming that my problems were related to sanitization, I did an overhaul on my equipment hoping that old scratched plastic buckets and such were to blame. I was on the verge of quitting altogether, because if I couldn’t brew good tasting beer, it obviously wasn’t worth it. Plus, better beer was becoming more readily available at the local stores and I was also at an age where I could start to afford it.

I added new glass carboys, started to formulate my own recipes, and the biggest change was that I abandoned bottling and went to kegging. I remember that first brew from the new system… I was a brewer reborn. (The beer I brewed I named “The Dragon Reborn” after the Robert Jordan series I was reading at the time.)

I was all grain brewing, even had my own grain mill to crack the barley. I took the time to journal every entry. I would brew a whole keg just for friends. …and then I had kids.

The frequency of my brewing sessions quickly became far and few between. I brewed a few more times, including a great Belgium white for my daughter’s Christening celebration. Then sometime in 1998, I just stopped.

I did try a couple more brews since then including my kids in the process which was fun and educational. (Turning starch to sugar is a great chemistry lesson – and you can never be too young to learn how to brew… can you?) None of these brews were anything to write home about, but they were ok.

Home brewing is a great experience and can give you a great sense of accomplishment. With practice and a bit of luck, you can make the best beer in the world catered to just how you like it. It can also be a frustrating and daunting project. There is a lot of preparation and education involved, you better like cleaning, and it still won’t always come out great.

It’s not any cheaper for the casual, a couple-three times a year, 5 gallon batch, home brewer to brew their own, either. It makes little sense why I would even have any yearning to brew my own beer given all of the potential downside and the fantastic selection of craft beer I can get at my local candy store, like Victory, Southern Tier, Brooklyn, Rogue… and the list goes on and on. Why would I even bother? That’s why I stopped.

But, I never said I quit…