This is What Annoys Me

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bL@De

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Below is a snippet from the Aussie Brewing Group by a guy named *** **** who has opened a brew shop in Adelaide called ****** ****. The stuff below really annoys me! How is anyone meant to learn?

I have been a member for a few months and tried to read what they are talking about but a lot of it is just rubbish which has nothing to do with making a better beer. Here of course is a real alternative and I'm throughly looking forward to becoming a better home brewer with the rest of you.

EDITED: Sorry about the personal attack, bad day, bad timing etc etc.

dickwads making beer with just 1.7K malt extract out of a tin, nuttin else, leaving
shop with one of my booster bags, they will make BEER for the first time in their life

dickwads with closed minds, well, they finance those making BEER!
 
....it seems to take a certain personality type to run a brew shop....

I've found every one I've been to has prejudices and arrogance beyond belief! They all damn anything new to their ears and claim to have possession of the only true and ultimate brewing knowledge.

....of course they "recommend" what they sell :p

I'm sure you'll find better encouragement here :D

cheers!
 
I totally agree it does take a certain personality, some of those guys just get on my nerves. Not everyone has the knowledge or time to go that one step further and do mashing.

Here in Adelaide I go to a guy called Vince who runs North East Home Brew on Payneham Rd, this guy is great, he doesn't treat you like an idiot and helps you out whenever he can.

Most of all he treat's everyone differently depending on your skill level and doesn't give you the hard sales pitch instead recommends alternatives if there are any.

I went in and saw Vince when I first started brewing and I could understand every word as like some others speak with terms which are way over your head.

Anyway this is the guy I recommend and wouldn't go anywhere else to be honest.
 
Hey buddy,

1.7k liquid malt would make a thin beer, no? The people leaving with my booster pack, or those happy to have smelled some just-crushed crystal malt and eager to incorporate it in their beer obviously don't have closed minds. I get a real kick out of helping these guys.

They are people who do it one way and won't even listen to suggestions to improve.

I remember my kit days very well, they were only in 1999! However, I was very quickly bored with just puring in gloop and a K dextrose, and moved on to try extract once and then to part and fullmash beers. Managed to win prizes and impress a couple of pro brewers.

Now, if you can't make head or tail out of OKB, well, did you ever ask a question? Perhaps try that. And visit my shop before you sling off about it, OK?



Tom
 
Lets try to keep the personal attacks out of the discussions and keep it to what we are all here for : BEER!

As has been said, people do have different styles, and if you read up on home brewer every man and his dog has a different style of doing their brew.

Hopefully with the wealth of knowledge that will come from the board, we can try to put this all together and help everyone to start making great brews!! :D
 
Tom_Smit said:
Hey buddy,

1.7k liquid malt would make a thin beer, no? The people leaving with my booster pack, or those happy to have smelled some just-crushed crystal malt and eager to incorporate it in their beer obviously don't have closed minds. I get a real kick out of helping these guys.

They are people who do it one way and won't even listen to suggestions to improve.

I remember my kit days very well, they were only in 1999! However, I was very quickly bored with just puring in gloop and a K dextrose, and moved on to try extract once and then to part and fullmash beers. Managed to win prizes and impress a couple of pro brewers.

Now, if you can't make head or tail out of OKB, well, did you ever ask a question? Perhaps try that. And visit my shop before you sling off about it, OK?



Tom
Tom has a good point here.

I cant say I've ever used his store, but I've always found the people at my local brew store to be very helpful. They've allways recommended I try new things to make my brews better. I'm still using kits at the moment, but my next brew will be a extract / mini-mash.

If you're still using a tin and a kilo of dextrose, try using some pure malt and extra hops. Nothing like the smell of malt and hops boiling away in your kitchen :)
 
kook said:
Nothing like the smell of malt and hops boiling away in your kitchen :)
Heheh I agree!!! I did a big cook last weekend for a lager that i fermenting atm. It was the first time that I had cooked all the ingredients before (most kits just reconmned to add boiling water to fermenter and dissolve) and the smell of 1kg of Malt and 24grams of Hops was wonderful!!!

Makes cooking fun!
 
hehehehe

the whole neighborhood knows when I brew. . .40L wort and 150g hops tend to let themselves be known :)
 
Sorry Tom I just got a little worked up earlier when I saw that message and sort of thought you were stereotyping kit brewers. I may not post in the OzKitBeer Group but I try to read them and understand it.

To be honest I am half bloody scared to post that I do kits as I know from what I have read a number of people simply think they are crap, sure they might be but we all have to learn somewhere.

Trying to learn brewing from scratch has had many rewards and not so many rewards. As much as I would like to progress I just don't have the knowledge. Basically I'm just chucking in the standard tin (1.7kg) with roughly 5 - 25g hops and booster packs. I don't feel confident doing mash of any kind at this stage not that I know exactly how to go about it.

Cheers
Darren
 
No worries

We all start with kits

OKB I try to steer keen brewers to grains, but am happy to answer questions about any level of brewing.

Hmmm both Hank the Mad yank and Jase have stated they make AG beers for really good beers, kit/extract for quicky brewday to build up stocks.

I might suggest you try steeping some specialty grains, stuff like that: that is a long way from mashing, adding no extra time and only one small step and resulting in better beer, so next time just post!




Tom
 
Now when you talk about grains what exactly does this mean? Is this in place of the malt syrup in the can? Does this go in place of the booster or simply leave the booster there for the time being? Now I am getting in unfamilar territory!

I put some Dried Light Malt Extract in a brew I have going at the moment, that is a real mongrel to mix in! It loved to stay in clumbs, any auggestions on how to get that stuff to disolve? I just used boiling water which appeared to have done the trick.
 
quote fiscus;
"Lets try to keep the personal attacks out of the discussions and keep it to what we are all here for : BEER!"

AGREED! ...no calling beginners "dickwads" because they are starting with a basic kit without all the 'prize-winning' specialties.

.....remember that we here are "the few who dare" (to seek something better than anaemic factory-sterilised lowest-common-denominator suds)

we are not all lucky enuff to have a "local brewshop guy" who IS helpful,
that's where this forum can come into its glory!!

Tom Smits, welcome and apologies from me if my generalised comments unfairly reflected on yourself. My personal experience with brewshops has been utterly discouraging, listening to wankers regurgitating whatever spruik to dupe the customer. (some of them businesses of 20 yrs standing :blink:)....... obviously some people think they 'know everything', and years of opportunity to discard that delusion go unheeded.

I look forward to the benefits of your shared experiences as, do I those of ALL who care to post here, and hope I might contribute somethings worthy myself :ph34r:
 
hehehehe dry malt extract IS a bitch to dissolve :), but it is amazingly soluble, eventually!

Hmmm to close one unfortunate false start, the only people I call dickwads are those with the closed minds and in particular I meant the people I saw at my shop not wanting to change an iota about their beers.

Now, grains do indeed replace the extract. With full mash you can control your beer 100%. In particular, mash temp can be set to make a thin dry beer or a more filling, rounder, big mouthfeel kind of beer (my favorite!) Mash brewers, full or part, can also use adjuncts as described in my partmash post. On the downside, a full mash brewday lasts 6 hours pretty much, a slow sparge can stretch that out further.

Hmmm even full mash brewers steep at times: some stouts call for a fair bit of black malt or roast barley. To keep the ashy astringency down a lot of full mash brewers only add the dark grains at the end of the mash when they start sparging (pouring hot water through the grains to wash out the sugars the mash has created) and I certainly recommend that for any mash calling for 500g or more black grain.




Tom
 
blade if you want a real good kit beer try e.s.b they have a rep 2nd to none
look up'" how to brew "by john palmer on the net to give you some ideas ...
experiment a little at a time , another good site is grumpys brehaus (adelaide) you may find some good basic tips there
have fun

cheers
simon :chug:
 
Ok after doing a little bit more reading I think any form of mashing is out of the question well at least for the time being due to time considerations and study.

As I'm still a pre-schooler when it comes to brewing I'll just go along with the idea of a few little changes each time and see what evolves. My old man brewed over 25 years ago and was amazed how much had changed since he did it. I wasn't even born when he did it so I can only begin to imagine what it was like.

I have started to read the online material by John Palmer and will check back in when I have more questions, no doubt I will.

As for Grumpys one of them I find really approachable and the other not so, the guy I saw last time I was there gave me some really good ideas and I have fully utilised them ie one being racking which I had never done before.
 
G'day All,
I have been brewing for ten years, but managing a brew shop in Sydney for only five months. During that time I have found there are generally two types of brewers; those who brew to save money, and those who brew because they realise that in time they will be brewing better beer than they could find at the local bottlo. Now whilst I admit prefering to discuss beer and brewing techniques with the latter, there is absolutely nothing wrong with those who merely brew to make cheap beer. They are as important to the industry as the most devout "masher", and they should be encouraged just as much. Indeed many who start out along the "cheap" path (myself included) eventually turn down the road to quality and taste and leave the "kit and kilo" days far behind. Everyone has to start somewhere, and there is no easier way to start brewing than a kit and kilo.

Cheers and good health to you all
:chug:
 
very true , and i agree , have been brewing for 3years after 1 yr started to try and improve my kits by better ingrediants , but am only now starting to really try and improve the quality of brew by partial mash , like you say pmyers we all travel at our own pace and that is one of the points of "doing the brewing" you climb up a step when you are ready , but we all come from the same original spot .

:chug:
 
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