Just went and poured a pint and the question just popped in my head. Thought it could be a fun thread.
Aside from just the “I made this” aspect, For me, one of my favorite things is more to the aspect of kegging. I enjoy the end of the night and I just want one more taste but not an entire bottle/can. I can just pour a couple of swallows for a night cap.
Crack of dawn, sun just coming over the mountains and filtering early morning light through the trees. Cup of steaming coffee in my hand and the roar of the burner in my ears. The grainy, cereal smell of the mash as I dough in. And the grassy, floral aroma as soon as I add the first charge of hops.
The I made that feeling is great, but can be a double edged sword when things don’t turnout right.
The start of an early morning brewday is good too. It reminds me of camping. Everything is quite, got some coffee, and I’m just sitting watching a fire.
The best is the brew buddies. Most of my closest friends are folks I met in brew club.
To me it’s watching my friends enjoy the product. The look on their faces, the “whoa, you made this?” I had a friend turn down a bottle of Deschutes Inversion when stopping by on Monday. “Oh, I thought you had some more homebrew.”
Two words: culinary science. But beer is way cooler than rigatoni. Make it once, share it for a month. That and the future. My next beer is always my best beer.
Sure there are better beers out there but actually being able to select the grains, hops, yeast. And for some that mess with their water profile, their water. Then figuring out a mash and hop schedule, what temp to ferment at and the right dose of dry hops. Figuring out all of that and when done correctly, is something that makes me feel good.
Another plus of homebrewing is always having a good supply of beer on hand. Whenever I talk with a friend from out of state or a family member they always ask, what do you have in the fridge? or what’s brewing?
I agree with all this stuff, especially the early morning brewing, drinking coffee thing. But for me, I love working on a recipe until I get exactly what I pictured in my head. We’ve all made beers that weren’t totally what we envisioned, but they were damn good anyway. Happens all the time. But drinking a new beer with a buddy, knowing I nailed it, is a pretty cool feeling.
I really dig doing something that is so ancient; something that humans have been doing since they began civilization: something that practically defines civilization. Homebrewing has never been a distinct “hobby” to me; the reason I homebrew is the same reason I grow my own fruits and vegetables, raise chickens and keep bees. Its a way of life that is connected to the seasons and has no reward without first some learning, toil, and failures. Nothing beats drinking a homebrew outside near the garden at the end of a long summer day snacking on fresh cucumbers and tomatoes as the chickens peck at insects nearby and watching the honeybees gather nectar from the clover.
This is it for me too. At my age, most of my friends have a notion of home brew that was forged in the very early years when fresh ingredients, state of the art equipment, and the wealth of knowledge that we enjoy now in the books that are being published and on forums such as this one were non-existent, and home brew probably was sub-standard. When I offer them a beer, they hesitate and a look of terror comes over their face. The best thing is to see that look replaced with joy and disbelief as they smile and say, “you made this?”
But definitely the DIY aspect of homebrewing - from formulating your own recipes to making your own equipment. Currently in the process of setting up a my own mini yeast lab and enjoying every minute of it! Can’t wait to give it a run!
Funny, I hate getting up for working out or for work, but I never have had a problem jumping out of bed at 5am to get the HLT (and coffee) going.
Brewing has sort of turned into my version of meditation/zen practice in a way. On occasion, I brew with others, but the majority of the time, its just me and my dogs in the quiet garage just ‘being’, creating, and enjoying each other’s company. Its a special time for me, and one of the only times I truly get to disconnect and re-ground myself.
As for the product, I’ve gotten to the point with a few exceptions, a majority of the time, my beer is better, fresher, or more suited to my tastes than what I buy. Couple that with my love of cooking, I am able to put out some food and drink that is nourishing to my soul and that of my friends. There is just an intangible feeling of goodwill there that cannot be valued nor beat. Its not for compliments or approval, just feels good.