The vast number of beer drinkers find themselves being satisfied with just consuming commercial brews (whether domestic, import, or craft) and this is fine and good. However there are some people who eventually start to think to themselves, “hey, I think I’d like to try my hand at brewing my own beer.” From this stock we get homebrewers, a group of people with whom I am pleased to be included.
In 1978 the U.S. Congress passed an Act (then signed by President Jimmy Carter) that allowed for individuals to brew a certain amount of beer (200 gallons a year), for personal or family use, that would be exempt from taxation. While it is generally assumed that this makes homebrewing legal across the board in this country, it should be noted that the Act specifically still allowed individual States the right to regulate or prohibit homebrewing, and while it is legal in most states nowadays, one should make sure to determine specific state laws in regards to homebrewing legality (Alabama is probably the best known for laws against homebrewing). Basically though it comes down to this, if you’d like to brew you’re own fucking beer than you probably can (except in Alabama).
I personally have been brewing for just about a year now, having brewed eight beers* of my own and having partaken or aided in the brewing of easily a dozen others with fellow brewing friends. While I am at the point in my personal brewing experience where I have a pretty good idea what I am doing in all the important aspects of brewing, I claim no major expertise in the hobby (though I have migrated to primarily doing all-grain brews which is a big step forward).
Maintaining my humbleness on the matter I do not intend here to provide a detailed step-by-step procedure for making a homebrewed beer, but instead would like to offer some things that I think of as being important considerations for all homebrewers (whether just starting off or having done so for years). I hope that these consideration might help some of you all out in deciding if homebrewing is the thing for you (and if it isn’t remember there are plenty of other fucking hobbies out there, like god-damn knitting, or the collecting of acorns that look like former presidents, just to name a few). So starting off here are some things that are important (if not essential) for producing quality homebrewing.
Sanitation
I list sanitation first and foremost because if you have no sense of how to keep shit clean then you are going to produce disgusting sour shitty-ass beer every time. Seriously, good sanitation is key to brewing good beer, and you will hear this stressed again and again by fellow homebrewers or in books about homebrewing.
To make beer a sugar loaded liquid called the wort needs to be left to ferment for a period of time (the time can very between different styles). As it is fermenting yeast is consuming the sugars and farting out alcohol (for those of you not in the know, alcohol in fermentation is a waste product of yeast getting all fat and happy on sugar). Because you are dealing with a sugar rich liquid there are a lot of other microbes (foreign yeasts, bacterium, etc.) that would love to munch out on the wort too. These contaminates will alter the flavor of the beer. So basically you gotta keep stuff nice and clean. That means everything; your equipment, your brewing area, yourself, so on and so forth.
Fortunately there are a lot of sanitation and cleansing products available to brewers. I personally have used Star San or iodophor (here are some pros & cons for both) but know that other sanitizers exist. Basically whatever works for you. Just make sure that you get everything clean. I have only had one beer come out soured and there is some debate as to whether this was due to poor sanitation or if it was other elements (the specific yeast strain, the herbs used to flavor this beer, etc.). basically I pursue a cleaning philosophy of “it’s better safe than sorry” because I would rather spend a little extra time cleaning than have to dump out an entire five gallons of beer because it got nasty from rushing the sanitation job.
Patience
In some ways sanitation could fall under the category of patience and like sanitation I will stress that this is a vital skill (and possibly one of the hardest to achieve).
While it would be super awesome (like bad-ass to the fuckteenth degree) if you could just say abra-fucking-kadabra and have some delicious beer ready but that just isn’t the case. Brewing takes time in pretty much all aspects of the process and if you don’t have the patience to take the right amount of time you are going to fuck shit up and make crappy beer (and you’ll have nobody to blame but your own god-damn self for having tried to rush shit).
Part of patience requires waiting for water to come to temperature and also to boil (and just think of the watched pot proverb here and you’ll get a bit of the picture of patience). Part of it is waiting on the fermentation process, which will in the very least take a couple of weeks. Part of it is for bottle aging. Part is for sanitation. And part is just all the little shit you need to do here or there in the process; measuring, pouring, tasting, bottling, etc.
But basically you have got to be patient. As you get more experienced you learn how to manage your time a bit better, but some things are going to take time inevitably. When people ask me how much it costs to homebrew I always ask them how they value their time as I think the time expense tends to be one of the biggest costs in regards to homebrewing.
Working with Others
This is something that could be argued as a non-essential but I intend to make my case for it.
I probably never would have picked up homebrewing if I had not known people who did it themselves and were willing to help me learn the processes. Not only is it valuable to work with others who know homebrewing themselves, but it is also just so beneficial to have an extra set of hands available throughout the process. Plus, because the initial stages (the mashing, the boiling, etc.) can be quite time-consuming, it is nice to have somebody to chat with in the process.
Again, while it is possible to brew alone, I think some of the whole thing is made better working with others. Besides getting some good beer, I think one of my favorite aspects of brewing is the social end of it.
Creativity
This is another thing that one could argue is not as totally essential. The reason why is that it is possible to stick to brewing just pre-set beer recipe kits, which if you do right will still produce great tasting beer. In fact using one of these recipe kits is how I strongly recommend starting homebrewing as they tend to provide everything that is needed and thus you don’t have to stress about other things. And for some people these set recipes will suffice for all their brewing.
I, and many others I know, like to push the limits some. This isn’t to say that we don’t use recipes, we still do, but we like to be inventive and daring. In many ways this is just like cooking. Following a recipe closely can allow anybody to cook a decent meal, but as one becomes more familiar with the flavors and elements of the food they may opt to change things up. The same with beer brewing. As we become more aware of how the grains impart flavor and color, or what different hops will do, we can opt to change things around. This is fun because this is when you really get to feel like you are in command of the outcome. To date have brewed beers flavored with ginger, honey, coriander, a gruit (which came out soured), orange peels, chocolate, and, most recently, Habanero peppers. I have altered grain bills, changed up hops, and even used different priming sugars (usually corn sugar is the standard, but I have made other concoctions).
Sure there can be a risk involved with creativity, but there is also that chance of creating something unique and kick-ass. I think that much of the modern craft beer renaissance is due to the desire to innovate and push the boundaries of creativity. I also think it allows for some of the most interesting and enjoyable beers.
and for the final . . . and possibly most obvious (I fucking hope)
LOVE BEER!
I have honestly met a brewer who said he doesn’t drink beer, even his own (besides small tastes). While he might be able to produce some fine beer I do not think I would ever try his brews. Why? Well because why the fuck would you pursue a hobby if you didn’t love the product? Again, I can imagine, considering the systematics of brewing, that one who does not love beer could still produce a fine beverage, but to me that is just silly.
I have loved beer for some time now and it was this love that was a big aspect of wanting to take the leap into homebrewing. Since I began brewing last year my appreciation of beer has grown even more so. I hang out with fellow brewers, I read about beer and beer making, and I write on this blog about all things beer. I fucking love beer!
And really I feel like this should be a given for any hobby one has. Love what you pursue or maybe look for another hobby. If you truly enjoy beer then brewing might be a good one, if you just are so-so then think of something else. Besides the above mentioned fellow, all the brewers I know are serious beer enthusiasts. I also know some beer lovers who choose not to brew, not that they can’t, just because the brewing doesn’t interest them as much as the drinking.
So I hope these points mentioned give you some perspective on things to consider if you are thinking about brewing beer. It is a fun hobby for those of us who do it, providing plenty of opportunities for enjoyment, discovery, and some healthy challenges. If you think it might be for you then I’d say “give it a fucking shot and brew some beer.”
*Beers I’ve brewed to date (in order, first to most recent): Irish Stout; Copper Ale; Ginger Wheat (also called HeffeBelgian); Dark Rye; Nut Brown; Gruit (the one beer of mine that has been soured); Belgian Whitbier; Habanero Stout (just got put into secondary, is likely the most intense beer I have brewed yet, both in flavor and alcohol content – it is almost at 11% abv right now). I will also be brewing a Brown Rye on Saturday with Brian from Untamed Beer.
