… on Aussie Home Brewer forum. “Home Brewing – an expensive way to make cheap beer.” It’s funny, because it’s completely true 🙂
But, to me it’s a lot more than just a way to “make cheap beer”. It certainly does end up being a lot cheaper than buying commercial beer (on a strictly $/L basis), and when done well, it can taste better too. Even better than a large number of the ‘craft’ beer you see in the shops today (craft beer. I dislike the name. But, that’s a topic for a rant for another day). You can adjust it to suit your exact tastes, and you end up with a decent quantity of it after just a few hours invested in your brew day. You know precisely what’s in it, the good stuff and the bad, and that alone makes it better for you.
It’s also a way to connect with other like minded folks – all the home brewers i’ve met in real life so far are all fantastic people, and even the dickhead trolls on AHB are probably even OK in real life too.
It’s a great hobby, you can get super involved and go all-grain, or just brew occasionally and stick to extract. Either path is good fun. Personally I get a lot out of the all-grain process, I enjoy the process of making beer from base ingredients, and I’m lucky enough to be able to get the time to do it. But, i’ve also done beer-cordial recently (extract), when the kegs were empty and I wanted something on tap. Came out really well, too!
It’s re-awoken my DIY and tinkering side, and this brewery build is letting me express myself more than I have done for a long time, but not only that, it’s combining many skills I’ve learned over the years, and demanding that I put them into practice again, and do it well. Software development, electronics (a new-found interest!) and Metal Work. Metal work has always been an interest, but I haven’t had the time, space or reason to do anything until recently.
I love this hobby! 🙂 (and no I haven’t even been drinking tonight!)
