Why did I want to know how to brew beer at home? A few different reasons. Mainly, I love my beer and I was frankly getting bored with the same old stuff that I was finding at my grocery store. I knew I could always go out to my local pub or microbrewery to get some new flavors but at $4 to $6 per pint, things were getting expensive quick. I did my research and found many resources to teach me how to brew beer at home, but a few in particular have been really helpful for me.
Looking at the super expensive microbrews in the grocery store really pushed me to take up the hobby and learn how brew beer at home. I love the taste (and not to mention the alcohol content) of a Belgian Triple and it has been one of my favorite beers to brew at home. While this beer can easily go for over $5 a pint at my local brewery I can make this at home for roughly thirty dollars for five gallons of delicious brew.After A year or so you will see A significant amount of savings that you can spend on the latest brew gadgets or different ingredients.
Learning how to brew beer at home is also a good idea in terms of tasting the freshest product possible. As beer sits on the shelf at the store, the hop oils in the become oxidized giving the beer the “skunky” flavor (a flavor that any of us beer lovers cannot stand). This means that all of the expensive microbrews at the grocery store sit around for months and the flavor that you are paying for is diminishing by the day, making for a lesser product.
One other reason I’m glad I figured out how to brew beer at home is that I get the opportunity to make many seasonal beers that are very hard for me to find where I live. For example, I am a big fan of Oktoberfest beers in the Fall, and where I live I can pretty much expect to see only 1 or 2 of the mass produced Oktoberfest beers distributed to my neck of the woods. However,by brewing my own beer I can get a very authentic recipe and make what this beer should really taste like: malty, spicy, crisp, and refreshing.
If you are on the fence about learning how to brew beer at home I hope that you take some of these reasons into consideration when making your decision.Brewing beer at home is a great hobby for any beer lover to make the freshest, authentic, most affordable beer around. Cheers!