Pilchard
Mate, and undoubtedly fine brewer.
I started brewing in 1980 aged 14 , in a bucket, using stinging nettle I plucked from the compost bin where the chickens in my back yard used to poo. When my mum gave me this silly book on how to home-brew by this english chap with mutton board chops - and I had zero money but a penchant for a mad science experiment. FWIW It tasted like **** except when you made it into a shandy. From that point on I was kind of hooked. Made many heinous brews using god knows what ingredients but it didn't matter - we all start somewhere.
I have brewed in systems ranging from Bucket 'o death, esky with a chunk of braided hose stolen from a BBQ burner hose, 2 Vessel, 3 Vessel - 10L, 20L, 50L the 2nd last system I had was a 100L tippy dump I brought of Rossco. I have fermented in 4.5l glass carboys, buckets, 30L fermenters, 30L stainless conicals, 60L black backbreakers. I made my own grain mill, my own CFWC, 'borrowed' 50L kegs, have more swagelock fittings than a modern process plant, STILL have a $100 4KG pretty red fire extinguisher that I brought from a place in perth as my CO2 supply.
So its kind of been an obsession --> progression. Proud to say I still have most of the kit I used to use (except of the 100L system) - and would go back there in a heartbeat if I had to.
Now I have a BM20 and a WW basically because I like the minimal footprint and simplicity that it offers, and I make better beer than I could ever dream of - as reductive as I can be, very simple, set and forget fermentation, automatic carbonation, simple keg transfer - G2B in < 7 days.
More importantly - like a lot of the people I have met in the 8 years I have been on this forum prior to you joining, I have dragged a lot of people into this hobby/obsession.
So please don't tell me where I am posting - I refined my brewing methods by listening to a lot of people that for some reason don't post here anymore. Yes I enjoy a wind up - especially when there is a trans tasman flavour to it - I admitted that the OP was a troll.
Seriously I couldn't give a **** if WW never sold another fermenter - despite knowing the inventor a little bit and living 10 minutes from their factory. But they will sell them and is that such a bad thing? Some people tip goo and powder into theirs and win international awards. I labour endlessly over recipe design, ingredients, yeasts --> you know the score - aim for perfection - usually miss the target by a wide margin.
I can't actually think of a way to wrap this rant up.
So I won't - I will however enter the exclusive WW beer awards next time they are held - because I can.
RM