If you are looking for a new hobby home beer brewing probably shouldn't be on your short list. Homes, apartments and garages everywhere are cluttered with all of the things brewers think they need. Large pots and fermentation bottles are taking up space in the corners of home brewers just waiting to be used once again. Refrigerators are always stuffed to the max with beer bottles just crying to be sipped upon, even guzzled. It is as though once involved in the hobby all other interests and relationships are thrown away and the pursuit becomes an addition.
Here are just a few reasons you make not want to try making beer at home:
1. The required and endless string of social requests can become overwhelming: When the word gets out that you are a home beer brewer, and once friends have tasted just one of your precious bottles of ale, you will constantly be asked a multitude of questions. The questions will come from people you don't even know: When will your next batch be ready for tasting? Do you make winter brews? Can I get in on the tasting? Would you make me a batch? Like a newly discovered shrine the constant influx of visitors to your home will stretch around the block. You'll never get any peace and quiet and forget the mental image of joyfully opening up your refrigerator after a hot day to grab a peaceful cold beer. That time alone you had hoped for as you sat in the hammock sipping your precious creation in peace and quiet will never happen.
2. The hobby will quickly upstage relationships and everything else important in your life: Starting with a few books and articles about beer brewing, looking at the hundreds of possible recipes and setting out to make them all are only the beginning. You'll also soon discover that mountains of gadgets and steins of every kind are just of a few of the options waiting for the home brewer. Shelves will need to be put up in the basement to house your growing collection of bottles. You'll eventually want to build a walk-in cooler, or walk-in cooled house, just so you have room for not only your own perfect brews but those from other brewers you need for "research". You'll soon find that beer is all you think about.
3. You will be an immediate sensation: There is something about coming up with your own tastes and recipes, particularly if the word gets around you can do it well, that has captured the public eye for centuries. It draws attention. Your local newspaper will know you as the ‘brewer' and while they may not know your name they will know how to find you. You'll get solicitations from non-profit organizations that want to have a fund raiser in the town square, asking if you can donate a keg or two. Local beer distributors will have your image engraved in their memories with a bounty on your head. A few local stores will send you special event sales flyers made just for you, because after all, you'll spend way too much money and time studying their shelves as you buy bottle after bottle so you can try and duplicate famous recipes.
Before you begin making your own beer make sure you want to put up with all of this nonsense. Making home brew is not for the faint at heart. It requires severe dedication to people you know and people you don't and a dedication to your new hobby. If you can't envision these possibilities you probably should not become a home brewer.
If there is a tip, perfect recipe or home brewing suggestion Doug Van Kempen knows it. He has spent a great deal of time traveling the U.S. in search of home brewers. He has gotten inside some breweries the public never sees. Now all of his tips and suggestions for home beer making can be found on his website, www.GreatBeerMaking.com. If you are looking for ideas and wonder if making great beer at home is possible you need to visit www.GreatBeerMaking.com!
