Five Reasons Why YOU Should Homebrew Your Own Beer

When I first journeyed into homebrewing with my good friend Philipp, it was pretty intimidating. The list of equipment to buy, the crazy-sounding ingredients, and a commitment to cleanliness... strike that... sterilization really threw us for a loop.

"Dive in head first!"

That has become our motto when we try something out of the ordinary in our make-shift brewery. Nothing out there that was ever any good was easy to get off the ground. Brewing beer was definitely a new venture for us but it sounded way too cool for us to not even try.

I hope this post gives you that little extra encouragement to get started. For me, the icing on the cake was a conversation with an experienced homebrewer friend of mine named Ian. He had brewed countless batches of beer and summed it up in a simple way that I'll never forget. I'll label Ian's description as the number one and two reasons to homebrew...

1.) Ultimate freshness
2.) ...and YOU did it.

"It's like grilling a steak at home. Sure you can order it at restaurant and it will taste great but it will be missing that satisfaction of self-accomplishment. For brewing, you'll take pride in knowing that you were the one that mashed the barley, you were the one that decided the hop schedule, you were the one that fermented it in your garage. Aside from all that, I can guarantee you it will be the freshest beer you've ever tasted."

He was right. Even the worst batch we've brewed is still better than most beers we can pick up at the store because it's so fresh and brewed with love. It really becomes a passion for anyone that has a desire to create.

3.) Clone / Tweak your favorite beers.

Once you've purchased the basic equipment, the sky is the limit for what you can brew. Not only that, but you can hit the ground running in familiar territory by brewing a clone of a beer that you've had before.

With the power of the interwebs, you can find a recipe out there for nearly any commercial beer. Say you love something as popular as Blue Moon. A simple search for "Blue Moon clone recipe" will produce many results. Maybe you love a less popular beer like Russian River's Pliny the Elder. Same thing, just search for a clone and you'll have an ingredient list and instructions.

Not every clone recipe out there will produce exactly the beer you'd expect, but it will at least be a good start. Once you get the hang of what flavors, textures, and aromas are produced by each ingredient, you'll be able to modify recipes to your own liking. This type of tweaking is where it gets really interesting... this is where new, great beers are born.

4.) Sharing a one-of-a-kind

Philipp was concerned when we first started brewing that people would think we were dorks for getting into this. I saw his point since it was out of the ordinary among our friends but I was able to convince him that it was actually "the cool thing to do."

Fortunately, the latter thought came to life when we first started sharing our beers with friends. Unless you're Michael Bay, it's not often any of us are able to create something and then share it with others for immediate feedback. And, for something as unique as beer brewing, I've yet to meet someone who didn't think it was cool.

Even sharing beers that didn't quite work out the way you intended is a fun experience. A quick line of, "well, this didn't turn out great, but you should still try it and tell me what you don't like about it." You'll be surprised to find that your fellow beer-drinker will start to stick up for the beer that you considered a failure. He / She will find value in it regardless.

That's a great thing about homebrewing... each batch is genuinely unique. The ingredients you've used, the way you brewed, the temperatures you fermented, and all other factors truly make each beer you make a one-of-a-kind to this planet.

5.) Save a little cash.

I hesitate to even put this on the list because it's a bit of a misconception...

It is possible to save money by brewing your own beer but don't be misled into thinking it'll be very much especially since you'll have to invest some money up front into equipment.

Budweiser and MillerCoors don't use the typical beer ingredients which is why you can buy a 30-pack of Bud Light nastiness for $12. For one, they use a lot of rice. This helps them make a clearer beer and they spend way less when brewing since it's much cheaper than malted barley.

Now consider some craft brews out there like DogFish Head. Some of their beer costs $15 and that may just be a four-pack. When you buy a good beer like that, you're buying a lot of premium ingredients and a well-cared for work of art.

The same goes for homebrewing. The more ingredients, specifically specialty ingredients, the higher the cost. A typical 5-gallon homebrewed batch yields two cases of beer (48 bottles) and can cost you anywhere from $15 (if you're doing the all-grain method) to $75 (if you're doing the extract method). As a rule of thumb, you can expect your average price to be around $40 which will obviously save you money compared to the retail price of most craft beer.

The pros far outweigh the cons so don't let any of this scare you because I promise it'll be worth your time and effort. Especially when it hits your lips!

The Brewline: Getting into homebrewing can feel like jumping into the deep end... but you'll come out with your head above water and head right back to the diving board begging another turn.

Drink Ales... Not Lagers.

A good friend of mine (Adam) suggested that I start a blog about beer since I drink plenty of craft beer and also brew my own.  Like wine snobs, beer drinkers also have strong opinions about their beer - it just comes with the territory.  You know exactly what I mean, don't you?

In the case that you're just a beginner, you should first know that beer is split into two main categories... Lagers and Ales.

Nearly all beers are made solely of barley, hops, water, and then yeast.  Yeast is the key word here because that is what separates lagers from ales.  Lager yeast and ale yeast are much different.  Their purpose is to ferment the barley from sugar to alcohol.  Ale yeast works best in higher temperatures (around room temperature) while lager yeast works better in lower temperatures (refrigerated) and is a longer process.  Most commercial beers are lagers...

If you've ever watched a football game (I'm not talking soccer, although I'm sure it applies to you too) you've been spoon-fed the word "lager" for decades through major beer commercials.  Budweiser, Miller, Coors, Heineken, Stella Artois, etc... these are ALL lagers.  Nearly every beer you've seen advertised on TV is a lager so why should you know any different?

At some point, you've heard the term "ale."  Let me tell you something... you've been missing out all along because ales are the good stuff.

I have an extreme hatred of the giant corporations that are Budweiser and the semi-recently merged MillerCoors which I'll refer to as BMC.  I'll expand on that hatred some other day but for now it's important to note because it does make me a bit biased.

Lagers have a very distinct taste with the culprit being the lager yeast.  The moment I smell it, that obvious lager yeast smell is the first to reveal itself.  It's nearly overpowering and seems to consume the beer and take over the experience altogether.

Now for ales... Ales yeast still has a significant effect but it stays in the background.  The flavor from the barley and the hops take center stage.  I want variety in my beer and I want those options available to me.  Lagers just don't make the cut when you look at it like this.

Don't get me wrong, I'll drink some specialty lagers from time to time but most lagers out there are coming from giant breweries with the goal of creating a tasteless beer while falsely advertising a flavorful product.  Whether or not you're a beginner beer-drinker, I must urge you to stick with ales if you really want to taste the broad range of flavors craft beer has to offer.

Today's Brewline:  Skip over the lagers and shoot straight for the ales.  You'll thank me later.