Introduction: You, Too, Can Homebrew!

brewyourown — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:53:13 +0000

When you think beer, what comes to mind? Do you think of the national breweries, the big, bad giants of the beer industry, who produce cheap beer that is transported across the country? Perhaps you think of New Belgium and Odell, the local breweries providing fresh brews to people like us right here in Fort Collins. Maybe the local brewpubs like Coopersmith’s come to mind. Or, possibly you consider imported beers like Corona first. Maybe even a fair few Fort Collins residents think of their own homebrewed beer first. When we have so many options for beer, how do we, as consumers in Fort Collins, choose what we want? It depends on your desires as a consumer of course; maybe you are just looking for cheap beer. Maybe you are just looking for local, tasty and fresh beer from microbreweries or brewpubs. Maybe your beer decision depends solely on the sustainability of the microbrewery. What if, however, we could have our desires of cheap, local, and sustainable beer met, all by one, simple, easy, relaxing and fun method of brewing beer?

We can! Home brewing offers benefits not only to you, your taste buds and your wallet (if you normally buy higher-quality craft beers from microbreweries) but it also benefits the environment by significantly reducing the amount of product miles and carbon emissions from producing and transporting the beer.

You might ask, “Why homebrew now? What is it about this specific moment that is calling me to start home brewing?” Well, if you mostly (or only) buy craft beer, also known as specialty beers from microbreweries, you can benefit by home brewing because the price you are paying for the beer will go down. Whereas a 6-pack of delicious microbrewery beer is $9.00 on average ($1.50-$2.00 per beer), you can get a total of 50-60 beers from one home brewed batch (5 gallons of beer, around 9 six-packs) at less than $1.00 a piece!

If saving money doesn’t appeal to you in this tough economy, consider how much you can reduce your carbon footprint by home brewing. How often do you hear “buy local?” It is certainly not a new concept, but it is also one that is not often practiced or understood, especially given the American mindset in which we feel entitled to get whatever we want, from wherever we want, whenever we want. Buying locally (whether that is food or beer) helps to combat the large industrialization of the food (and drink) market and pumps money back into your local economy, paying your neighbor’s salaries, boosting local government revenues and so on. That is not the only advantage, though! You can also do your part to reduce carbon emissions and get some of those gas-guzzling trucks off our roads by supporting the homebrew movement, drinking beer that is as fresh and close-to-home as you can get. Everywhere we look, we are seeing “go green” campaigns and advertisements. Many microbreweries are taking the “greener” path, but is it enough? Why wait for others to complete their “go green” goals when you can be saving the environment today? With so much concern about the environment, there is an easy way to cut out your carbon footprint. Every beer that you drink from a brewery causes a lot of pollution – processing, and transportation. By brewing your own beer you can dramatically reduce this environmental impact.

In our everyday life, we are exposed to different ways to save money and to protect the planet every day. We, as consumers, are becoming more aware of the positive or negative affect we are having on the environment by buying certain products that are either sustainable or unsustainable. We are also becoming more attentive to the money that we spend every day as we see the economy going through a rough time with the recession and as we see how our habits of spending are affecting our everyday lives. In this context of consumers recognizing how our choices affect the future of the world as a whole and the future of our economic standing, it is important for the consumer to recognize that by changing a small habit, like consuming beer from your own home rather than from a huge corporation, we can take part in not only saving money, but we can also reduce our carbon footprint and we can support our local economy to keep the rich, unique culture alive (like in Old Town).

If your interest has been sparked, click on the page above titled “Is Home Brewing For Me?” to see whether this hobby is one that would fit your lifestyle. If you still aren’t convinced, explore the “About Home Brewing” page, the “How to Homebrew” page and “Resources For You to Homebrew” page to see what home brewing can offer you. After all, you, too, can homebrew!

You Can Brew It!

Introduction: You, Too, Can Homebrew!