Home Brew Enthusiasts Vs Swillers

[ajdougall]

I am fairly new to brewing and have been trying to strike up interesting home brew confersations with people I know. Just thought I would share my experiences.

A bloke I work with proudly told me he had done 60 brews. I thought great, and quizzed him. He then went on to say he has done Coopers Larger as per instructions for all sixty brews because he likes it. I guess you can't argue with that logic.

Two blokes I play golf with proudly tell me after fermenting a Toohey's kit as per instructions they top up the fermenter so they can bottle 70 stubbies instead of sixty. More value for money. I guess you can't argue with that logic either.

Another bloke told me how he allways uses clear plastic PET bottles. I asked him if he worried about the flavour being spoiled by sunlight and he said no I drink them before that can happen. Yep, can't argue with that logic either.

So thanks to AHB for bringing together the enthusiasts rather than the swillers.

PS they are great blokes even though they are swillers!

 

[phinnsfotos]

Do what makes you happy. You can do a lot worse than that.

 

[Pumpy]

I suppose you can get used to drinking anything , there are plenty of homebrews made from a can which are quite drinkable, The keys to making a descent drop of beer even from a can, is :

1)l using a good quality liquid yeast
2) good temperature control of the Fermentation process .

We all start somewhere some are happy with our lot .

Some wish to progress to

Extract brewing where you have more control over the recipe or

All grain brewing which offers more body and flavour to your beer however it involves more investment in equipment.

I am sure the guys who water down thier beer enjoy it perhaps it is more of an economical way of getting beer , although it may not be to everyones taste

Pumpy

 

[Scruffy]

It's guys like that that fuel the home-brew economy. Bless 'em!

 

[Bizier]

It's guys like that that fuel the home-brew economy. Bless 'em!

Cheers to that.
Hopefully a good portion are going to LHBS rather than the supermarket.

 

[fcmcg]

It's guys like that that fuel the home-brew economy. Bless 'em!

Speaking to the owner of a home brew shop at a brew comp , who owns a herms , does not sell much grain because he loves kit brewers...he said to me " all gainers are tigh arses...kit brewers once they get into it will keep spending money" Can't argue with that either...

 

[roo_dr]

I once had a mate turn their nose up at my home-brew when i excitedly presented my first hoppy APA. Didn't even have the decency to sampler even a taster before pushing it away...

"I don't like beer made with hops!!"

Passed over a long-neck of mass produced commercial swill and he was happy.

In fact we both were - it's good to have someone who'll provide long-neck bottles and not want some back re-filled!!! :icon_cheers:

 

[Bribie G]

If it wasn't for my love of UK real ales I would still be doing 'enhanced' kits because you can't do authentic Bitters, milds etc using a tin. Not even a Muntons, sorry. But my other preferred style - Aussie lagers - can be cranked out just fine using a Coopers Canadian, LDME, sugar, carapils, a better yeast and a splash of hops for a bit of character. Now I'm full-mash I do make Aussies on grain, but I'm not sure that they are a quantum leap over the above version.

If I feel like a German beer I'll buy a slab of Oettinger because I can't be arsed waiting three months for a full lagering. Agree, there must be a heap of kit brewers out there, whenever Coopers is on special at the supermarkets here it gets cleaned off the shelves.

 

[Halfbeak]

Speaking to the owner of a home brew shop at a brew comp , who owns a herms , does not sell much grain because he loves kit brewers...he said to me " all gainers are tigh arses...kit brewers once they get into it will keep spending money" Can't argue with that either...

Along those lines, I imagine fresh wort kits must be high margin items, as my LHBS guy pushes them like crazy. He says things like "you don't need to go to all grain brewing. You can make just as good a beer with these (FWKs) in much less time."

And that's why I only buy from Ross these days!

 

[wambesi]

I learnt early on not to push my brewing beliefs and likes onto others.
One main reason I joined MALE was so I had other like minded people to talk with - on the AG side of the house. I joined AHB when I was starting with kits and learnt a hell of a lot to improve on those.

Where I work there are usually plenty of blokes who brew kits and don't go much further - and that's what they like so instead of talking AG I find out what they're doing and discuss different things they do/could do without resorting to AG/extract and you would be surprised how many are interested and want to try it, but 9 times out of 10 they wont because it takes too much effort and they like the simplicity of adding can to water and adding yeast.

Everyone enjoys things differently and for those who do like to do more will usually search out for resources and usually end up places like here.

Most of the smaller HBS's will sell more kits because that's what so many people think home brewing only is, it's all over the supermarkets and variety stores and it sells, especially when they market it with the current economic status. Some of the larger ones (or independent) may do more grain sales but otherwise you have the mail order places which are pretty damn good prices delivered anywhere.

 

[Halfbeak]

I gave a guy I work with a couple of bottles of a weizen and a JSGA clone and he came back and told me they were WAY too bitter. He said it wasn't so bad that he tipped them down the drain, so they weren't a waste, but it was clear he wasn't a fan. They were about 20 or so IBU... I think if what you know as beer is VB or Tooheys, real beer can be a bit of a shock. I can't imagine what he would have said if I had given him a 90+ IBU IPA!