Why Do You Brew?

[Mike Neilson]

I have been thinking this for a while, some people knit some people collect stamps and some of us watch birds.

But I brew!! Why do you Brew?

[denimglen]

Because this shit's addicitive.

Because it's easier, and cheaper, to brew 20L of an IPA than it is get 20L of IPA in NZ, or any other hard to find or rare beer style.

Because it's absolutely fresh.

Because it's what I want, not what the brewer thinks I want.

Because it gives me a beer buzz.

Because it's FUCKING FUN!

I love brewing, this hobby (obsession?) is just straight up, goddamn, fucking awesome.

[Bambule]

Good question!

I think for myself, like many others I suspect, it comes down to a love of beer. If that's not at the core of it, why bother? It would seem like an awfully tedious way to waste 5 hours otherwise. I could leave it at that, but as I'm prone to reverie I'll continue.

My first experience of beer was as a pimply 14 something year old, nicking a couple of XXXX stubies out of dad's beer fridge. The taste was I recall extremely bitter and I could see very little future in a lifetime pouring this foul brown liquid down the throat. There was a mildly intoxicating affect the culminated in making my face go numb and my mouth babble, enough to suggest that it was worth persisting with.

Flash forward 6 years and I was a student in Brisbane, who would have been quite happy with that 6 pack of XXXX. Being on a typical student budget and having over time carefully nurtured and developed my love of the hop, I stood arms akimbo in my laundry armed with a coopers real ale can, a kilo of sugar and 30 degree fermentation temps. The results were predictably astounding, and barely potable. I'm sure this is a story familiar to many.

Jump forward again, traveling through Europe I arrived in Germany. I say down in a bar in Dresden I think it was, and was handed a beer menu. A beer menu! Man, I felt like I had arrived, I wasn't crazy, it was ok to like beer, nay love beer and drink it in many different and sophisticated styles. I ordered a Berlin Weisse and another important moment passed in my formative beer education.

Years passed, I found myself graduating through the stages of beer drinker to the my present life as a beer snob and I take that as a compliment. Beer brewing faded from view for the time being, I could not reconcile going back to kit beers, as I knew I would only come crawling back. All grain brewing? It seemed unfathomable to spend the time sourcing the ingredients and equipment.

The moment came after moving to the Wairarapa. I was living in a 15m2 cabin with an attached caravan waiting for a house to be built with my wife and 18 month daughter. It was put to me that I was spending to much money on beer and the ultimatum was to either start brewing or curtail the beer budget. Fortunately I stumbled on a source of malt through the Peak brewery at the farmer's markets. He was more then obliging. My first effort I recall was an ESB, made in a caravan too. I've said it before, the moment that golden (or whatever colour, but the first time for me it was golden) sweet wort flows out of the mash tun, there was never any chance of return. I've had since then a few failures and a few triumphs, and I now live in a house. But the endless possibilites on brew day and the ensuing rewards will keep me entranced for a life time I swear. That's why I brew.

[Stu McKinlay]

Tony, I almost shed a tear reading your words...

[Ally Mcg]

PKB mark I.
Simple. Drank it in a pub and thought "damn, gotta try and brew something as outrageous as this". Had a friend into home-brewing so that helped. I'm inspired to try and make things you don't see in a pub. That said I haven't brewed anything revelatory but I'm trying.

Now I'm into it i just love the variety of different styles to brew or ignore. As i tell my mates,in a bid to justify what I do in my spare time - it's not the drinking - it's the science - there's always something new to learn or absorb.

I love being able to brew a beer and think its as good or better than something I've had recently. Sometimes i think it too cold and I can't be bothered with mashing and waiting for the hot break but i come back time and time again because i love taking the first hydro sample and saying 'best beer yet'.

The people on RB and in craft brewing in NZ help a lot. There's a bunch of guys that are happy to help or to inspire and there's a tiny groundswell out there that's interested in what we're all doing.

Its fun trying new beer, then trying MORE new beer, then finally perfecting the recipe you want. Is the late boil additions gonna be too much. Is the malt gonna balance the hops. Is the yeast gonna work and let the hops shine, or the malt work. Its the challenge.

I think I'm being way to serious here - i brew cos its fun

[Stu McKinlay]

PKB mark I.

Awesome... Cheers. That'll always go down as the ultimate compliment. It's so much better than someone just saying they love the beer.

Now I just hope you like Mk2! It's a step towards the final trial before Mk1 - more abv, more flavour hops, more bitterness (but less perceived bitterness) and no dry hopping.

And I'm already planning Mk3. It's a step in a different direction again.

[jt]

I'm all fingers & thumbs and a crap knitter - so I brew instead !

And +1 for DG's comment - Because it's what I want, not what the brewer thinks I want.

[James P]

The cost of beer got me into it at university and that was when jugs were $4.50 or something crazy, alias kit and kilo turned me away from a budding love affair!

Nowadays, the cost of beer brought me back to it through a friend homebrewing to save some cash. I went over to help him and caught the bug again. I thought all grain sounded like a perfect next time consuming obsession in my life other than my wife and kids and here we are today.

Now it's all about the brewing toys and bling, making recipes I have never tried and generally not getting a hang over from crap beer (note that NONE of my beers are crap, some are just complex recipes that your taste buds can not appreciate).

Because it's what I want, not what the brewer thinks I want. Ahem to that brother.

[Barry]

For me it's the perfect blend of creativity and technical skill.

It appeals to my historical sensitivity too, I love the idea that man (or woman) has been doing this in his own home for centuries, that once upon a time all beer was like what I now make at home (maybe with a few less hops).

I'm also a very home oriented guy, with a young family I don't get out much. I need something that doesn't take me away from home, that doesn't interrupt being a father too much.

Then there's the fact that I have to travel at least half an hour to buy a decent beer. No pubs or bottle shops near me have anything I'd want to spend money on. And, if I only drank store-bought beer, I wouldn't be able to buy very much of it as the beer I enjoy costs quite a bit. So brewing at home gives me the beer I like to drink, an unlimited variety of styles, the cost of which allows me to have a great beer every day if I feel like it.

Quite a few reasons really.

[Reviled]

I started brewing because we had a baby, and I knew I wasnt going to be able to afford beer anymore... And then it just sorta snowballed, I went from thinking there were only two kinds of beer, lager and ale, to realising that a big beer related world is hiding just around the corner with multiple styles and an abundance of new and expensive craft beers to try...

Plus I just love brewing, I almost like it more than I like drinking :o)

[Greig McGill]

Several reasons, but one above all. It seemed a great way to further my beer education. I never really liked beer before I discovered craft beer. I used to think people all gagged the mainstream stuff down because "that's what you did". I still think this might be the case. I sure gagged down a lot of it when I was younger, and always felt let down, like "I waited until I was legal to drink THIS shite?"

Then I found craft beer. Wow. I wanted to know everything about it. I wanted to taste every one I could. I wanted to travel the world just to taste beer. I was thinner then. ;)

Brewing was the next logical step. It would teach me to make beer the same way the pros did it. I enjoy trying to really "nail" a particular style. I'm a methodical brewer, who aims for stylistic accuracy, rather than the wacko-but-amazing beers produced by the likes of Joseph, NVIOUS, Mike and co. But then, that's why I do it. I want to drink my beer, and think "there's no possible way I could have made a better X style beer". I'm not there yet, I may never be there, but I will keep trying and maybe work on some crazy brews as well, just to see what I can do!

I certainly don't do it for budget reasons. If I didn't brew, I'd just drink less beer. I still spend a fair amount on drinking great beer in sociable surroundings (Galbraiths, Hallertau, the RCC, the Cock and Bull etc), but I spend a LOT more on brewing. Fridges, temp. controllers, carboys, kegs, fittings, beer engines, a freaking BAR! It adds up! :)

I also like having beer on the bar at home. People know where to come for a pint at any time. That's important to me.

[vdog]

For me it's the enjoyment of making something with your own hands that you then get to enjoy over and over until it runs out. I like doing the research, including sampling the NZ craft beers out there (multiple times, just to make sure!) and I really enjoy the planning that goes into getting the gear, preparing a recipe and seeing it all come together on the day.

I first started after I had a beer 'epiphany' whilst drinking my very first Emerson's 1812, and thought: I wish all beer was this good! Short of spending loads of money on it though, I decided my best bet was to start brewing it myself. So far, so good.

Like a few others here I've got a young family and a wife who stays at home to look after our kids, so there's a financial consideration too - it's cheaper than buying even crap beer, let alone anything I'd really want to drink!

[JoKing]

Funnily enough - I was talking about this same thing with one of the brewers at the Beervana launch last night. I dont know if my reasoning went down well with the guy - but it made sense to me. First of all, it was that fresh bottle of Aventinus that got me started - I convinced myself that "I can brew something like this... surely?!?" 5 years on.... still haven't mastered it.

And the other reason (what I was telling this brewer)...

Most people brew at home because they are piss heads. I am a piss head because I brew at home.

It's like a juxtiposed oximoron type thing.