I've been tempted, but never tried it. How much time does it take?
Takes about 4 hours for the initial brewing (including boiling the brewing water, sanitizing everything, etc.), then 7-10 days for fermentation, another couple of hours to bottle (including sanitizing bottles), a week or so to condition (carbonate) in the bottles, and another couple of weeks of aging. It also takes about 20 gallons of water to make 5 gallons of beer by the time you've sanitized everything, cooled the wort in the tub, etc.
Blader is sort of right, though I'd submit he doesn't understand the issues one deals with living in Utah. When you have to pay the state monopoly $1.50-$3.00 per bottle for decent beer, and considering the extremely limited selection they offer, homebrewing starts to have a lot of appeal. Even to a professional type such as myself. Unless you start putting a price on your time, then it's actually probably much more economical to buy the $13 six pack from the state. Luckily, I actually enjoy brewing.
I've yet to have a batch come out that I considered "crappy." Today's batch is a California common ale, also known as a steamer. (Technically a lager, fermented at ale temperatures.) It will be roughly comparable to Anchor Steam.
