Why Aren’t You Home-Brewing Your Own Beer?
Ask yourself this question. Take a minute to think about your answer. Ok, now think a little harder. Whatever popped into your head is not really that good of an answer, is it?
It may be you have never thought about it before. Maybe you have and you thought you couldn’t do it, or it would be too hard. It may be you just like to spend a butt ton of money on craft beer.
Most likely that last reason is not the case, but if you are like me and you really enjoy craft beer, then money could be a real hindrance to your beer drinking desires. If you like beer in general, it doesn’t matter if it’s a good beer, craft beer, or just plain beer, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t try your hand at brewing your own beer with a kit.
Whatever your answer is for my initial question, Why aren’t you homebrewing your own beer? is, if you enjoy a good tasting beer you need to give home brewing with a kit a shot. I did and it has been such an awesome experience for me that I have created this blog to inspire others to take that first leap of faith into their brewing days.
**** HEY Y’ALL, I WANTED TO LET YOU GUYS KNOW THAT AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN A SMALL COMMISSION FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES YOU MAKE FROM MY LINKS. HOWEVER, THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY SUGGESTIONS OF WHAT I RECOMMEND FOR YOU TO USE. IF YOU DO DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE, OUR FAMILY HERE AT BREW WITH KITS WANTS YOU TO KNOW HOW MUCH WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT. ****
Why I Brew
I love beer
When I lived in the States I lived in Baltimore for twenty-three years and Atlanta for four and a half. Both of these cities have great breweries.
In Baltimore, Union Brewery, and in Atlanta, SweetWater Brewery. If you’re in either of those areas I am sure you have heard of these breweries. They make great beers that I have come to love drinking. The only problem with this love is it can add up and put a hurting on my wallet.
The beer here sucks!
I haven’t lived in either of these places for the last 5 years. Actually, I haven’t lived in the United States for the last 5 years. This is a huge factor that directed me to homebrew with a kit.
In the country that I live, fortunately, there is beer. This is a good thing. In this part of the world, the fact that they at least allow you to buy beer is a plus, but it is taxed like crazy and is therefore expensive.
Another downside is that the beer is basically crap. Any beer is better than this beer! I used to think this. The first three years of living here, any beer is better than this beer was basically my mindset. On super special occasions or if it was offered to me for free I would drink a beer.
Other than that I would save up my dead presidents for when I returned Stateside so I could enjoy even more of those tasty Sweet Water 420’s.
Beer Kits are just a click away
Homebrewing with a kit has changed all of that in an amazing way. Homebrewing came onto my radar thanks to a good friend of mine. He asked if I would be interested in brewing beer with him at home using a kit.
It was like music to my ears. I had an epiphany! A long time ago I had thought of this solution to my problem, but figured there was no way to get supplies here. I would have never dreamt that they actually sold the materials to homebrew in my current country of residence.
My friend told me there was a company that sold everything online. After checking it out, I was convinced of the idea of brewing my own beer at home. I immediately started to research how to homebrew and learned as much as I could about the subject. At the end of my research, I had planned to go with brew kits.
Since ordering my first kit I have been enjoying the many benefits of brewing my own homebrew.
It’s so easy
Now you may still be thinking, “I can’t brew my own beer. It’s probably too difficult”. No way you couldn’t be farther from the truth!!!! When it comes to homebrewing with a kit, it can’t get any easier. Really it’s incredibly easy. Like, if you can boil pasta, you can brew beer. It’s that simple.
It’s budget friendly
It’s cheap, way cheaper than craft beers! Remember, I love craft beers. I am not knocking them at all. It is just the reality of the beast when you have a passion for craft brews. When you drink a lot of craft beers your wallet takes a beating.
You can drink your own homebrew with a kit that is on par with some of your favorite beers. These kits have a wide range of cost with many factors that can change the overall price.
*CHECK OUT THIS BLOG ENTRY FOR A MORE IN-DEPTH LOOK INTO THE COSTS OF BREWING WITH A KIT*
Some of these factors include:
All-inclusive kits– These kits include everything like wort (which is a malt mixture, the main ingredient for your beer), additions like hops or oak, brewing sugar, priming sugar (what you use to bottle condition your beer to carbonate it for drinking), and yeast (what eats the sugar and produces alcohol.
The all-inclusive kits that I have tried are super simple to use and the final product tastes great. I really suggest you try one of these as soon as you can.
Single brew kit or beer kit refills– This includes your wort (which is a malt mixture) and yeast.
Though it is not necessary, you can purchase additional ingredients if you would like to add to your beer. For example, any hop additions, or brew sugars would need to be purchased separately.
Even with just these single brew kits/beer kit refills and regular granulated sugar, you’re still going to be able to produce a quality beer that you will thoroughly enjoy.
It’s delicious
It’s so tasty, you’ll never taste another beer fresher than your own beer brewed at home. I know you may be skeptical about the taste. I sure was. Even up to the first time I tried the first beer I brewed with a kit, I was wondering, “could this actually be good?” Man, was I sure surprised. It blew my expectations out of the proverbial brewing water.
The only way you’ll ever be able to truly tell is to go out and get you one of these kits and try it for yourself. You won’t regret it.
It’s so rewarding!
Seriously, guys, it is really hard to describe how amazing it feels to be drinking your own great tasting beer that you brewed yourself. Drinking the beer you brewed yourself and sharing with people the beer you brewed yourself, is such an awesome feeling.
It’s fun
There are endless options while brewing with a kit. I am going to cover them more in detail on this blog. In short, you could take the cheapest kit you can find and brew it endless times with different variations and they will all taste different.
Just by changing the water you use to brew will change the taste. 
Then you have more noticeable variations you can make like adding hops or different malt options. Changing the brewing sugar will also result in a different product each time.
Brewing with a kit may be simple but by no means are your options for creating unique, great tasting beers limited.
It’s less time consuming than I thought
On average you can brew and get your beer kit started in 30-45 mins. Then you typically wait a week to 10 days (sometimes longer depending on the brewing sugar or the complexity of your yeast).
Once your beer is done fermenting you’re ready for bottling. This takes the most time, but there are ways to cut down on the time if you do it in stages.
Check out this post for time-saving tips to help you during your brewing routine.
You can knock bottling and clean up out in about 1.5 – 2 hours. Wait 2 weeks and place however many beers you want to drink in the fridge (the longer you have them chilled the better).
So really, the grunt work of making a batch is around 2 hours and 45 minutes, with a total average wait time of about 35 days. That’s pretty amazing when you take into consideration all of the perks and bonuses that come with homebrewing! Once chilled go ahead and crack one of those bad boys open. Trust me, while drinking your eyes will be opened to the gloriousness of having your own homemade beer from a kit.
Not only is brewing your own beer super tasty, a really fun hobby, and incredibly rewarding, but you’re also saving money while still getting to enjoy quality beer.
What are you waiting for?
Seriously think back to the question, Why aren’t you homebrewing your own beer? Now ask it to yourself again. I hope your answer has been affected by this post. If so, contact me and let me know. I would love to hear your story.
In the end, if you love great beer there really isn’t a legitimate answer for why you aren’t brewing homebrew with a kit right now! Trust me you can brew it! You won’t regret it.
Now go and brew your first homebrew with a kit today!
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