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Expected Trajectory of the Beginning Homebrewer?
All,
Pardon the introspection but . . .
I got into this fairly recently, but have, in the last week, made three trips to homebrewing supply stores, purchased enough equipment to take up a quarter of my living room, and have actually dreamed about wort. I've gone from zero to 1.060 in no time, and my credit card is complaining.
Do all beginners ramp up like this, only to put the brewing on the backburner in a few weeks, or I have found, finally found, something that I will love doing for years and years?
My wife always complains that I get into some hobby or another and go total gung ho with it for a while only to loose complete interest in it a few months after. She thought brewing would be the same way. Now, I will admit that my interest has peaks and valleys, but I have been brewing for 7 years and coming up on my 8th very shortly. I still enjoy either coming up with or finding a new recipe to try and I definitely enjoy my beer much more than most store bought beers, so I think this has led to my continued interest in this hobby. I would bet that most people who pick up the hobby stick with it.
I don't pay attention to what everybody else is doing. Whether another brewer does one batch every 3 months, or every week. Same with equipment. Doesn't matter to me if a beginner buys everything at once or slowly over time. It's just like any other hobby. Some go all out, some don't.
I myself have about 14 fermenters, 10 kegs, and right now I have 35 gallons fermenting. My former hang out had some guys who only brew every several months. (Why even bother?)
So it really doesn't matter what everybody else does. Some take it more seriously than others.
To date I have had about a dozen people come over to brew with me. Out of all those, I would say 2 seem to be really interested, the rest just wanted to see the process. I expect most of them to never really pick it up. This hobby isn't for everybody. They saw how much cleaning there is, and a few even thought you brew and drink it the same day. Doesn't work that way.
You might shelf it after 2 months, or brew for 30 years.
My wife also accuses me of going into a hobby 'full speed.' My first batch is still bottle conditioning, and I have already developed my next 2 brew recipes. And I ordered the supplies 3 days ago. But she knows with brewing I have been wanting to do it for some time. We just never had the extra cash to go out and buy everything. So a beginner kit as a gift was perfect for me. This is definately a hobby I will be doing as long as I am still breathing.
I got all ramped up when I was getting started.
I brew a five gallon batch each weekend.
And I still look forward to the next batch. Right now I am waiting for my irish ale to cool enough
so I can pitch the yeast.
I may be brewing for years to come.
I am a bit of a perfectionist with my hobbies. I like to be successful with anything I take on, so in that sense, I can see myself brewing for a long time. Not only do I love home brewed beer, but I can still see I have much to learn. Every brew day is a new experience, and that is what keeps me coming back for more.
It sure is easy to spend a lot of money on this brewing thing. I too went a little crazy at first. now I have made the jump to all grain, (even more equipment) LOL. And yes, I too dream of boiling worts, bottling the "perfect" beer. Hey, just have some fun, the more you do it, the funner it becomes.
When I first got started I bought the beginners kit and it had all the stuff for bottling and everything else. Now I knew in the end I wanted to keg my brew, but I went a head and got all the bottling stuff and used it for a little bit. This initial investment bought me time to hold out on a great deal on a co2 tank, cold plate and a few other items that allowed me to make the move to kegging.
In my experience, there is not much I don't use with brewing. If you find something that seems like you will never need it again, put it in a drawer where you can find it because you never know when you will need to stick a square peg in a round hole.
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