Should Have Started Doing This A Long Time Ago

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LHBC said:
So anyways..... I racked the Belgian Red with a dry hop addition yesterday. And it tastes great. Technically the dry hop should soak for up to two weeks but I am out of beer.

The new batch I cooked up is a Dunklewiezen made with 6lb. of dry extract 1lb. liquid extract and 1.5lb. of steeping grains with only 2oz. of hops. The powder went in a bit clumpy but smoothed out as the boil progressed.


Also when I force carbonated this time I used the lay the keg on its side and roll method. It worked much better than the standing straight up and shake.
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Congrats on the brew and welcome to the addiction :rockin:

While this thread degraded into the whole cost of your time issue I am curious how you feel about it now. Is it still worth your time to brew or would it be better to buy beer?
 
For me it is a good value to make my own Beer. Not only am I saving money over purchasing Ales of similar quality. I also get the pride of doing a thing myself. Now when my keg is empty instead of going to the Brew Pub and filling a growler, those funds are put towards ingredients and/or materials for the next batch.
 
I make this argument alot, and I'm usually flamed for it...but here I am doing it again. People do some creative accounting to justify their brewing. They obsess over saving $2-3 on a pound of hops, but figure that the 6 hours they spent brewing is somehow "free".

I'm all for saving money when you can and lowering the price/bottle; but to say you can actually make beer cheaper than what you can buy it for is a bit of a stretch.[/QUOTE]

Depends where you live. I am in Canada where I pay $30 for a 12 pack of domestic. More if I want craft beers. I am on well water, so thats not a cost, just energy to pump it, which would be next to nothing.

As far as time spent brewing, its recreation to me. If I did another recreational activity that day instead of brewing, Im sure it would come at some cost.

Point being, its all relative to where and who you are.
 
Agree with drunkcanuck. Ive spent probably $140 on equipment. $80 on ingredients and I have an equivalent of 8 cases of beer on the run. (8 cases of beer, average $40 a case = $320). So I've spent $220 including equipment and I've saved $100. And the time to brew is horse ****e if you are calculating it.

I can sit down while its mashing for an hour and a half and play with the kids or relax. Then as soon as it hits 212F during boil, I relax for another 90 minutes. Physically I'm doing probably 1.5 hours MAX brewing a 5 gallon batch including bottling. So as for leisure time, it's not even that much of it. I spend more time watching soccer or jogging than I do brewing.
 
DrunkCanuck73 said:
I make this argument alot, and I'm usually flamed for it...but here I am doing it again. People do some creative accounting to justify their brewing. They obsess over saving $2-3 on a pound of hops, but figure that the 6 hours they spent brewing is somehow "free".

I'm all for saving money when you can and lowering the price/bottle; but to say you can actually make beer cheaper than what you can buy it for is a bit of a stretch.
Click to expand...

Depends where you live. I am in Canada where I pay $30 for a 12 pack of domestic. More if I want craft beers. I am on well water, so thats not a cost, just energy to pump it, which would be next to nothing.

As far as time spent brewing, its recreation to me. If I did another recreational activity that day instead of brewing, Im sure it would come at some cost.

Point being, its all relative to where and who you are.
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[/QUOTE]

I guess it is all how you look at it. For me it is time I am not watching silly movies with the wife or stuff. Heck some days I kind of feel like I should pay to brew just to get some alone "my" time.
 

I guess it is all how you look at it. For me it is time I am not watching silly movies with the wife or stuff. Heck some days I kind of feel like I should pay to brew just to get some alone "my" time.[/QUOTE]

Cheers to that
 
Counter-side of the coin... It gives your wife a break from you so she's not at your throat. And there are only so many movies out there worth watching not to mention if your wife is like mine and would prefer reading. If you have things you'd rather do with your time by all means buy your beer if you wish... But assuming people are ignoring their time spent doing a thing (which might I add gives you an excuse to drink, the only justifiable reason I see for the existence of golf) not to mention an excuse to light a fire seems rather short-sided. Not flaming you for your opinion mind you... Just tting to consider and present the other point of view.

Now to further ponder the idea of streaming rice over the boil......
 
Another side of the coin (Wha? Three-sided coin?):

Speaking as a wife, brew day is actually one of my favourite ways to spend time together. YMMV of course... ;)
 
No offense taken :)

Neither my wife nor I work so we spend all day every day pretty much together. Man reading that it sounds bad and it is not. It is good though to have some time alone and since my wife frowns on hookers I guess my alone time will be spent brewing:mug:
 
In Britain home-brew is far cheaper than buying commercial beers.
We are very heavily taxed and the tax is based on % of alcohol content of the beer.
3 pints of barley wine costs over £7 approx $11
I have just made 40 pints for a total cost of £18 and even though it was a kit it tastes better than the commercial crap we get fed over here.
 
This thread will not become a debate on the financial aspects of Buying into Marriage vs. Renting Prostitutes.
 
I do like home brewing and would like to keep focus on the subject. It is so satisfying to come home after a hard Ride and pour a glass of beer that you made.

So I got a book titled Cottage Economy. Among other things the author goes on about the Public Houses adding "drugs" to their beers. Now this book was written in the early 1800's.

My question is do any of the commercial breweries continue similar practices to make their beer more desirable?
 
That was common in the 19th century,but now it'd be,at the least,a federal crime. Seems to me brewers of Burton ales were accused of puting drugs in the beer as well.
 
LHBC said:
I do like home brewing and would like to keep focus on the subject. It is so satisfying to come home after a hard Ride and pour a glass of beer that you made.

So I got a book titled Cottage Economy. Among other things the author goes on about the Public Houses adding "drugs" to their beers. Now this book was written in the early 1800's.

My question is do any of the commercial breweries continue similar practices to make their beer more desirable?
Click to expand...

They make their beers more desirable by making them cheaper by adding adjuncts like corn sugar (etc.), but that's the worst...gives the domestic beers that rather stale taste.
 
Could be mistaken but I don't think US drug law applies when you're not in the US unless you try to bring them back but ianal. In any event, no rumor necessary.
 
I'm not sure about drugs but I suspect they add some sort of bicarbonate of soda to certain cheaper beers in the UK causing bloating.
It has the effect of not being able to drink too many beers .
The same product can be bought in more affluent area's without this bloating effect.
Yet in the less affluent every can I have drunk has this effect.
It doesn't have a mouth feel of being over gassed but I find you have to stop drinking after about 8 cans.
My wife has also noticed the difference.
Also one of my brother in laws runs a restaurant over here and it is a known practice in the trade to add a little more salt to the meals to increase drink sales.
IMO you can't trust any of them when profit is the only driving force especially in the UK.
 
Burger chains over here have over salted the fries for decades to increase drink sales. Only to load the drinks with crushed ice to boot.
 
Oh please dear god tell me that's an April Fools Joke? I can't stand crappy fries that are barely salted. I'd just assume they steal my $5 and send me on my way. I would be less irritated about it.
 

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