Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home brew

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Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home brew

Postby fullbottle » Tuesday Jun 12, 2012 4:03 pm

G’day All.

My name is Jim. I'm a very enthusiastic rookie brewer, and an anthropology honors student studying at the University of Western Australia. So basically I was hoping that the community here could help me with a little research for the thesis I am writing relating to home brew beer.

I want to know why you guys (and girls) brew your own beer. What got you into it? What is it that you find fulfilling about home brewing?

Some background on the thesis: The thesis I am carrying out is being written in response to a growing body of research that links consumerism and the pursuit of materialistic pleasures with an array of negative ecological, social and personal byproducts. While materialism is increasingly seen in academic discourse as unrewarding, it is also recognized that the pursuit of materialistic pleasures prevent other more rewarding experiences of pleasure. In this thesis I am suggesting that home brewing can be seen as a form of consumption that involves certain non-materialistic pleasures that cannot be experienced through commercially packaged beer.

I have an ethical responsibility to make sure you understand a few things about this research: Firstly, any responses you provide here will be collected anonymously and will only be used to support my work on this particular thesis. By contributing to this discussion I will assume you are providing informed consent. However, you have the right to remove this consent at any time. Simply state that you do not want to be included within your response, or message me.

I have only given a brief rundown of the thesis here, so please feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding this research or the thesis in general (or you are welcome to post them in this thread as well). I would be more than happy to get back to you asap.
Last edited by fullbottle on Tuesday Jun 12, 2012 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby Sonny » Tuesday Jun 12, 2012 4:37 pm

Fullbottle, I think most around here speak straight 'English'. Maybe there are a couple of scientific people here, but in general it's either English or Swaheli, although I am also fluent in New Zealand bro' and Tasweigen languages.

I have always had an interest in brewing. Probably for the same reason that I got into it about 18mths ago. It's the opportunity to be creative and produce something that can be really enjoyed, even savoured as it matures. The flavours in beer are exiting. The texture or maybe the viscosity, but the body and the cream, or the fruity tastes or the hoppy aromas. Homebrewing is to develop something that satisfies your palate.

Taste, it's a wonderful and powerful sense.

I gave up smoking in Sep10, I was aware that this taste sense would become stronger. I also wanted to give myself a reward for quitting. I decided now was the time to brew, to make something that my soon to improve palate would really enjoy.

That's why I brew.

I brew mostly dark, roasty beers, as they're my favourites. Although I like anything interesting; Hefeweisen, hoppy, Oak flavoured etc. I am a partial grain/pre-hopped malt brewer and I make some nice beers, but currently my best are actually pre-kitted recipes called Wetpaks, available from 'The Country Brewer'.
My brews cost $50 odd for about 20L/two cartons. If you looked at price, well you just can't buy what I brew???

Hope this info helps.
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby fullbottle » Tuesday Jun 12, 2012 5:45 pm

Hey Sonny, Cheers for your reply.

While I'm tied down with uni this year I'm just an extract brewer, but I've been looking into going all grain the moment I get a little more free time. Even with just the extracts, I feel like I have a more original, enjoyable product than the things my mates bring over. Even though I don't have as much room to be creative, I still feel like I really 'own' the beer I'm drinking. It's a great feeling.
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby big dave » Wednesday Jun 13, 2012 5:44 pm

Welcome FB

I love drinking beer. I love big hoppy IPA's, dark roasty stouts, smooth English ales, light pilseners, interesting foreigners like belgian trappist ales, doppelbocks, and saisons and even boring local low-carb beers and mega-swill (but not Fosters, or light beer :| ). A mate and I travelled thru France, England, Belgium and Luxembourg, and every afternoon, stopped for a beer. Every day we would reaffirm, "Once again, I'm not disappointed by beer."

I am no expert, but since I have started brewing for myself, I have got a better understanding of, and appreciation for beer, and what it is that makes it what it is. What impact is made by changing the mash temp, using different malts, timing the hop additions, changing yeast strains, differing fermentation temps.... I love that I can taste these things in beers that I buy, and that I can sometimes replicate (or approximate) them. Sometimes we even go past the benchmark. One of the legends hereabouts is the good Doc. He came up with, and then tweaked and tuned a recipe for a clone of James Squires Golden Ale, a beer which I liked very much. I have had a couple of attempts at his recipe, and it is amazing. My latest attempt is similar to the original, but has a heavier mouthfeel, is maltier, and has a bigger Amarillo finish. I like it more than I like the original. How cool is that? And it is extra special because I made it. In pure monetary terms it is a bit cheaper than packaged commercial beer, but when you work out what your time is worth, it comes into perspective. At least the money isn't going to Coles-Myer or Woolies.

For me, brewing beer is similar to tying my own trout flies. Yes I can buy them already made up for a couple of backs a pop, but the end result has so much more meaning attached if I made it myself.
Currently drinking: BIAB DrS GA, BIAB Californian lager, doppelbock of sorts
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Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home brew

Postby bullfrog » Thursday Jun 14, 2012 11:22 am

Hi FB,

I was originally encouraged to get into brewing by my wife for fiscal reasons (the first time we were a single-income household) and got hooked by the science behind it.

I think the thing I like most about brewing is that it can be as simple or as complex as you'd like it to be. Don't have the time or knowledge yet? No worries, get a tin of goop and these few additions and your brew day will be 30 minutes. Want to go over the top with complexity? No worries, do a stepped mash with decoction, 90 minute hop-burst IPA with harvested yeast and put in an 8 hour day.

There are also so many ways to perform each step, so many methods to experiment with and an inexhaustible amount of ingredient combinations that there's always something new to learn or experiment with. The bloke who doesn't get mentally stimulated by brewing is doing it wrong!

Prior to delving into brewing, I admit to being a megaswill drinker. Most weeks I'd buy New, but on the days I thought I might splash out it was just a 'premium' megaswill that I'd come home with. I really didn't know any better. It wasn't until I started to gain an appreciation for the individual recipe components (ie. malt, hops, yeast) that I learned that beer can be so much more than slightly bitter alcoholic mineral water.

These days I brew stouts, porters, ESBs, IPAs, APAs, and just about the rest of the alphabet. There are few styles that I dislike or can't find something to appreciate in.

I suppose the only down-side is that when lack of stocks lead me to have to drink commercial beer now (been the case for the past few months due to an injury,) I'm having to pay quite a bit more than just the cost of New so that I can at least enjoy what I'm drinking.
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby warra48 » Thursday Jun 14, 2012 6:06 pm

I got into homebrewing about 5 1/2 years ago, after I went on long service leave prior to retiring from 43 years in the workforce.

My daughter and son bought me a HB set up for my birthday. I had planned to get into HB as a hobby for my retirement in any event, so I guess that's what motivated them to get to set up for me.

I started with just the kit and kilo, but realised early on it wasn't the way forward for me. I got into kits and bits, then extract, extract and partials, and by batch 13 I was into All Grain exclusively.

I've never been a fan of the standard Aussie major brewery products, and have always enjoyed beers with more character. I really enjoyed JS Amber Ale, and Little Creatures Pale Ale, so they were the first brews I got into attempting to emulate.

My favourite styles include APA, AIPA, American Amber, Dunkelweizen, Munich Dunkel, Alt, and UK Bitters (from Milds to ESB). I almost never brew pale Lagers as life is too short and I don't really drink enough of them.

The things I really enjoy about brewing is designing recipes, culturing yeast, milling, mashing, lautering, boiling the kettle, chilling, transfer to the fermenter, aeration and pitching yeast(the day gets me into the garage downstairs and from under mrs warra's feet), bottling my brews (most others won't agree with that one), forum participation, and just the extra enjoyment from consuming my daily longneck knowing I've been involved in it's production from beginning to end.

The much reduced cost compared to commercial beer is certainly a bonus when you are a self-funded retiree (reducing interest rates may be great for those with a mortgage, but us forgotten self-funded retirees need them to stay up to maintain our income).

There's nothing better than sharing one of your brews with friends, and having them really enjoy them, and wonder how you make them with so much aroma, body, and flavour. My son doesn't like my brews, he says they are too malty and too hoppy, but that's exactly the way I like them!

Provided you drink in moderation, it's a great hobby.
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby tazcat » Friday Jun 15, 2012 8:38 am

warra48 wrote:I've never been a fan of the standard Aussie major brewery products, and have always enjoyed beers with more character. I really enjoyed JS Amber Ale, and Little Creatures Pale Ale, so they were the first brews I got into attempting to emulate.


Amen to that
Why have a sixpak when you can have a keg
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby warra48 » Sunday Jun 17, 2012 12:54 pm

Oh, one more dimension to HB is that I've really enjoyed setting up the brewery over time.
Mine is all done in budget fashion.
My HLT is a donated 30 litre keg, but fitted with a MashMaster thermometer, and a standard ballvalve.
Mashtun is a 25 litre cooler, with a home made copper manifold, and also fitted with a standard ballvalve.
Kettle is a 40 litre alu stockpot, fitted with a 3 piece Stainless ballvalve.
Still using my original 30 litre fermenter, although I do have a couple of 25 litre ones as well. Barfridge fitted with a TempMate for fermentation.
I've used some cheap shelving to set it up using gravity feed. The only real lifting I need to do is at bottling time to get the fermenter up high enough for bottling.
Obviously, I have various other bits and pieces, and all the necessary brewing salts etc etc.
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby Sonny » Sunday Jun 17, 2012 4:38 pm

Warra, they stopped selling aluminium saucepans years ago as it was giving people alzeimers, apparently dangerous piece of kit. Somebody saw the big one I picked up for a bargain from St Vinnies last year and pegged it due to this, but I can't remember who???
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby Bum » Sunday Jun 17, 2012 5:37 pm

Load of rubbish. http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/d ... umentID=99

And you can still get aluminium cookware.

If I remember correctly, that is.
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby warra48 » Sunday Jun 17, 2012 11:49 pm

Been using aluminium for years, and there's nothing wrong with me, with me, with me, with me, with me, with me, with me, with me, with me, with me, with me, with me, with me, with me, with me,
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby tazcat » Monday Jun 18, 2012 7:51 am

I have a thick wall 30L Alum pot that I used 20 odd years ago. While the outside is in pristine condition the inside became badly pitted and it was taken out of service years ago when I went stainless. IMO given the nature of cleaning chemicals aluminium like copper and brass are not a long term solution to brewing. Whether or not these metals have any effect on human health I wouldn't know except for oldtimers disease which can be a bit of a worry at times.
Why have a sixpak when you can have a keg
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby SaazGorilla » Monday Jun 18, 2012 2:39 pm

Hi fullbottle,

I was introduced to the idea of home brewing several years ago when an acquaintance of mine told me about his foray into the home brew world. He was a fellow beer fan and he was very enthusiastic about it and highly recommended it to me. Foolishly, I put off diving in mainly because I thought I didn't know enough about it or I didn't have enough space to do it. I 'ummed and aahed' and didn't. As my beer tastes began to get more expensive where beers like Urquell, Budvar and Hoegaarden became 'regulars' rather than 'special occasioners', I decided that it would be more sensible to push my learning about and understanding of beer toward home brew.

Now I'm not a 'handy' person by any stretch of the imagination, yet I have really enjoyed the 'crafting' aspect of home brew (even though I'm just a Kit and Bits guy at this stage). I like reading about the different ingredients and techniques and comparing them in my brews. As an example, I recently I bought a pilsner that had Nelson Savin and Cascade Hops. As it happens, I'd made an Ale with those hops and 'click' there they were in the flavour, I was able to recognise and taste the similarities. I was rapt! In short, thanks to home brew I have found it is the making of something, rather than buying of something, that makes it all the more worthwhile. Another, unforeseen, enjoyment has been the planning of brews where I indulge in the bizarre mental gymnastics coordinating bottle space, cupboard space, maturing time, brewing season and drinking season (the summer/winter - ale/lager split). I don't mind admitting it to fellow brewers, but I get a real kick out of that sort of planning and coordination dorky as it may be and when it works, I've got plenty of beer to pick and choose from.
Beers of great men all remind us, we can make our life sublime
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby fullbottle » Monday Dec 10, 2012 12:20 pm

Thanks to everyone that helped out with the thesis. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out, so I treated myself with an upgrade to BIAB :)

The thesis went so well that I am thinking of publishing two papers out of it. Does anybody have any problems with this and would like any of the data they provided excluded from the papers? Obviously everything will remain completely anonymous etc.

Thanks again
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby warra48 » Monday Dec 10, 2012 2:26 pm

fullbottle wrote:Thanks to everyone that helped out with the thesis. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out, so I treated myself with an upgrade to BIAB :)

The thesis went so well that I am thinking of publishing two papers out of it. Does anybody have any problems with this and would like any of the data they provided excluded from the papers? Obviously everything will remain completely anonymous etc.

Thanks again


No, go ahead. Publish all you like.

Just donate the royalties to those of us who bothered to post (just joking).
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby Mad Dog » Monday Dec 10, 2012 10:43 pm

Aluminum... I hear there is more aluminum in one antacid than you would get from drinking water from an aluminum pot a gallon a day for the rest of your life.
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby Longwood-65 » Tuesday Dec 11, 2012 6:34 am

Hi Fullbottle,
If and when you get the papers published I'd be interested in reading them.
Just let us know when and where.
Cheers
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Re: Why do you brew the things you brew. A thesis on home br

Postby big dave » Tuesday Dec 11, 2012 8:00 am

Me too. I would love if you could link here, or let us know where to look.

Cheers
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