"You-Brew" shops?

[mattdee1]

Back in the early/mid 90s my parents took a crack at "saving money" on beer by going to one of those brew-on-the-premises places where you go in, select a "recipe", mix ingredients together, they do all the intermediary stuff, then you come back later to bottle.

I remember my friends and I, slightly underage at the time, sneaking a bunch of those beers one summer and thinking they were utterly horrible (my friends still talk about it sometimes, in fact). Friends of the family apparently agreed with us teenagers; my parents literally couldn't give the stuff away, so after a few attempts they eventually just went back to buying commercial beer.

Now that I brew beer in my own home and have learned a few things about how beer is made, it's got me curious about what might have made those 90s you-brews so dreadful. I can still remember what they tasted like; they were carbed well enough, they looked fine, but the aroma and flavor had this weak, kind of fruit-juice character that I came to associate with homebrew (misguided, I know).

I'm guessing they probably started with big bags of cheap and stale extract juice, added water, and grossly under-pitched some half-dead dry yeast. Fermentation was probably in a big open room with no temperature control, leading to poor attenuation and esters (hence the fruity flavor I so vividly recall). Sound right? Anybody else try one of these outfits?

 

[Hello]

Lack of temp control, poor recipes, and definitely all extract but I can't say it was expired. Those were my three takeaways from a place where I brewed on site. They did indeed ferment in a large room in the back, the recipes were questionable and they used a lot of extract which may or may not have been pre-hopped.

 

[m00ps]

Im guessing it was just the general lack of quality ingredients and understanding of homebrewing back then. Ive seen a few small breweries that offer that kind of stuff by appointment. Sounds like if the beer was really that awful it was the places fault, not so much your parents

 

[cooper]

When I was growing up my uncle would homebrew with kits such as these. He'd mix everything up in a huge open crock and then cover it with a towel for about 4 or 5 days and then bottle it in 2L bottles that would swell up to the size of basketballs and he was constantly bleeding off the pressure. Not boiling or really even measuring. I remember it had a sweet fruity smell though that I always enjoyed when I'd go to his house and see it on the kitchen table. The beer was kind of sweet with a lot of alcohol and no hop presence whatsoever. It was awesome!

 

[mattdee1]

Haha, speak of the devil... here is a screen shot of an ongoing conversation with one of my high school friends...

 

[wardens355]

I only use the place for yeast and other small items, but Brew Lab KC does this and they have a pretty legit setup. You can see from their website pics how much money that put into their process:

Brew Lab KC

I have heard they do a good job there, but too expensive for me since I have already invested in my own gear.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

There's a place in Dayton, OH that does Brew-on-premises in their tap room, and it seems to be well-received. A friend of mine did it and he said it turned out very good, to the point where he's considering starting the hobby.

I'm not sure exactly of their prices, but I think his was $75 for 5 gallons. They ferment, and then bottle or keg to your liking (bottles/kegs not included in price). That's not a bad price considering it was an IPA, and he didn't have to spend a dime on equipment and a stable ferm temp was guaranteed.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

My LHBS The Brewers Apprentice has been in business since 1996. They're located at 865 Rt. 33 in Freehold NJ where they were the first in the state to offer brew on premise (BOP) as well as home brew supplies, their website says they have license #001. They've since added mead brewing and wine making on premise too.

 

[jessup]

My LHBS The Brewers Apprentice has been in business since 1996. They're located at 865 Rt. 33 in Freehold NJ where they were the first in the state to offer brew on premise (BOP) as well as home brew supplies, their website says they have license #001. They've since added mead brewing and wine making on premise too.

Tell Jo Ellen -Jesse says hi. I was getting supplies there since 2004 until I moved in 2013. Great people. They're BOP is better than average.

 

[Talgrath]

I would guess it probably had a lot to do with your folks wanting to make cheap beer, not necessarily good beer. The other side of it probably came down to it being an early operation with lots of issues with sanitation and temperature control.

 

[Murphys_Law]

That's actually what got me into homebrew this year. My daughter gave me a gift cert for Christmas to one in Colorado. They have a nice shop. You can do all grain, extract...pretty much anything you want to tackle.

You actually do the work and they supervise and clean everything for you.

I did it once in their place and went back the next day to buy my own stuff for home. And upgraded. And upgraded.

And turned a freezer into a kegger. And added more taps. And upgraded.

Damn you addictive personality!

 

[pvpeacock]

In Hermosa Beach, CA, we had a place called Hamilton Greg Brew Works. It had a dozen or so steam fired brew kettles. You would go in, select a recipe and then get started. All of the beer was made using LME. They would literally bring you pitchers of the stuff depending on the recipe. They also had pellet hops to add at the appropriate times. When you were done with the boil, they would drain your kettle through a chiller which, if my memory serves me correctly, also had some type of filter (diatomaceous earth filter I think?). They would put your wort in a plastic carboy and put it in their walk in reefer for temperature control. After a few weeks, you would go back and bottle the beer with a bottling machine that carbonated the beer before you capped it. They also had a labeling machine which let you glue your own labels onto the bottles. It was pretty cool, but definitely not a money saver. The beer was actually pretty good for the early 90's particularly if you liked pale ales.