We owe a great debt to homebrewers

Homebrewing is the primary incubator for generating future commercial brewers and future craft beer styles. Without the homebrewing culture, we would have a much less robust craft brewing industry today. No doubt about it. So even with the over 9,000 American small commercial breweries, that’s why homebrewing remains so vitally important.

Attending last week’s HomebrewCon 2022 in Pittsburgh left me exhilarated about the health of our nation’s most popular alcohol sport. Conference sessions led by current top-level commercial brewers, who all began as homebrewers, gave me plenty of ammunition and hope for the future of the craft.

Homebrewers created an industry

Looking back to the late 1970s and 1980s, before craft brewing really took root across the nation, homebrewers were about the only place you could find a beer style other than a bland American Pale Lager or a Bud-Miller-Coors light beer. It was homebrewers who provided the skill, direction and momentum to get craft brewing started. And when you think about it, homebrewers are still just as important today.

First, consider that homebrewing gives you total creative freedom for your brew. Unlike commercial brewing, homebrewers have no profit motive. They can be more experimental. If you want to tweak this or that: Go for it. You want to add this or that: Do it. Pretty much anything goes. If a homebrewers does brew up an undrinkable beer, they can just dump it. Anyone can afford to lose five gallons, but a small commercial brewer with a 10- or 15-barrel system won’t be so chancy. Dumping 300 to 400 gallons of beer translates to a lot of red ink, so commercial brewers are much more conservative.

Just about all of the newer beer styles we drink today had their initial germination and gestation in homebrewing. Thank you homebrewers.

More fun, less drudgery

Homebrewing captures more of the fun and less of the drudgery. Commercial brewing is a structured job with long hours and hard labor. Homebrewing is a fun time, social activity. Commercial brewing is repetitive and can easily get monotamous brewing the same recipe over and over. Homebrewers can brew whatever they like, whenever they like.

Competent homebrewers brew just as good a beer as do commercial brewers. If done seriously and with purpose, homebrewing is a perfect training ground for prospective commercial brewers. Homebrewers, who spend several years making beers carefully done to align with published beer-style guidelines, learn all the basic brewing art and science that will translate well to larger systems and larger batches.

Homebrewers who regularly enter their beers in competitions sanctioned by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) receive invaluable feedback that can help them improve their brewing skills. Homebrewers who brew regularly and win medals in sanctioned competitions are brewers who will likely do well as commercial brewers, if given the chance.

West Virginia Homebrew Clubs

The best place to get started with homebrewing is in a local homebrew club. West Virginia has several regional clubs that can provide assistance and fun for those wanting to begin brewing. Homebrewers share knowledge freely telling about their experience with new yeasts, new grains, new hops, and new adjunct ingredients.

Here’s a list of West Virginia’s local homebrew clubs that have Facebook pages making it easy to check them out.

Wheeling Alers

Infamous Parkersburg Alers

Kanawha Valley Homebrew Club, Charleston

Appalachian Brew Club, Elkins

Appalachian Alchemist, Beckley

Greater Huntington Homebrewers Association

Morgantown Area Society of Homebrewers

Fairmont Homebrewers Club

Harrison County Homebrews Club, Clarksburg

American Homebrewers Association

The American Homebrewers Association is the national group that provides so much great information and other resources for homebrewing. Membership is open to all who are interested. Please consider joining this organization to help further your brewing acumen and help homebrewing remain strong in America.

Past Brilliant Stream homebrewing articles

Big Brew Day
Homebrew Competition