If you are interested in becoming a craft brewer but are sitting on the fence, maybe these benefits will convince you to join the homebrew movement. Let’s get right to it! Here are eight benefits of brewing your own beer.
Make amazing beer
Your beer is handcrafted, and if you’re already thinking of becoming a brewer, chances are you care deeply about the quality of your beer. It’s that care that will help you brew spectacular beers. You can use ingredients that commercial brewers simply can’t because you don’t have to worry about mass production or making recipes that will sell to a large enough customer base. You can brew the beer you want to taste, regardless of how many different types of ingredients you want to use.
Save some money
While I certainly don’t advocate you get into homebrewing strictly to save money (you should get into it because you love craft beer), it’s certainly an added perk. You can often brew beer at half the price you would pay for commercial beer. Of course, if you’re packing your beer with exotic and expensive ingredients, the math might not work out that well, but in general, you come out way ahead when homebrewing AND you get better beer. It’s pretty much a win-win.
Greater amount of freedom and variety
You can tinker with a recipe to your heart’s content until you get it just right. Do you have a crazy idea for a beer? Go for it! You can go beyond the limits of commercial beer and explore all types of beer styles or experiment with different flavors and techniques. Pushing boundaries can be lots of fun and a great way to learn more about beer.
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You don’t need much equipment to get started
I’m a big advocate of starting with small-batch 50L brewing when getting started. You don’t need much gear. You really only need a brewhouse, a fermenter, and sanitizer solution. Sure, you can add bells and whistles over time, but you can get started with these bare-bones items to get a feel for it.
You don’t need much time
As with all things, your first couple of batches may take more time than usual as you familiarize yourself with the brewing process, but once you get there, brewing doesn’t take a whole lot of time. I brew every other Wednesday night, which lets me bottle the previous batch on the same day. This means I have cut down the entire mash, brewing, and bottling process down to three hours, total. And that’s assuming I only focus on brewing. I often multitask during brew day, as I don’t need to be at the stove for the entire mash or the entire boil.
You’ll discover a whole new community of passionate brewers
As you’ll soon discover, homebrewing can be quite a social hobby. It’s amazing how many friends and family have grown curious about my hobby – they always want to taste my latest experiments or ask that I serve one of my own beers at dinner instead of the commercial craft beer I planned for the meal!
Enjoy the benefits of ‘live’ beer.
Most commercial beers are pasteurized, which means that the beer has been cooked and doesn’t contain live yeasts like homebrewers do. We welcome live yeast in our beer! Yeasts add vitamin B, which helps prevent hangovers for those times you may have splurged on your own beer. Vitamin B is good for your liver, so drink up the live beer!
And yes, enjoy the health benefits of beer.
As with all things in life, moderation is important. Beer, in moderation, is good for your health. Overdo it, and your body will hate you for it. Beer contains lots of nutrients: fiber, folate, vitamin B, and antioxidants, among others. Researchers in the U.S. and Europe have found that we’re 30% less likely to suffer from a stroke, heart attack, or heart disease if we drink one pint of beer per day. That’s because B-vitamins and phytonutrients available in unfiltered beer are good for the heart.
Happy Brewing!
