A river of beer, flowing freely from your refrigerator as sexy bar-maids ladle it into frosty mugs for you as you watch the latest game.

Nice dream, huh?

Of course, dreams are not reality. Let us face the sad facts: There is no such thing as free beer.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but home brewed beer or wine is anything but free, as any hard-working brew master will tell you. So before deciding that you are going to be the next “craft brewer success story”, let us look at the dirty side of home beer brewing.

First of all, brewing beer and wine means hard work. There are lots of little steps that you’ll have to take in order to start the brewing process of course, and most of those steps (especially bottling) require big boxes of bottles or bags of ingredients And think of all of the fruit required to make wine!

On top of that, all those items can be expensive…and we have not even discussed all of the tools and equipment required to turn those heavy items into beer. Hops, barley and yeast are all pretty expensive if you plan on brewing a good amount of quality beer. That’s just the cost of brewing, but even the equipment carries a hefty price tag. A brewing “starter kit” can often carry a pretty hefty price.

And of course, all of this will be regulated by the FDA. Add that to the fact that it’s also an alcoholic beverage, and undertaking brew-mastery carries more liability than getting drunk at a singles bar. For example, states like Alabama and Utah currently prohibit home brewing! So double check with your local government before you start sending away for hops and stills as it could cost you more than the price of ingredients and equipment to make that tasty brew.

All of this is not to say that you shouldn’t get into home brewing…unless you live in Alabama. Then you should move. Other than that, it’s important to realize that while home brewing can at times be complicated or work intensive, the end result is beer that you brewed yourself.

For more information on great tasting brews or starting your own home brewery cheap, click the links on this page.