Where have the innovators gone ?

[nala]

Thanks to all who replied.
Been very interesting to see how others feel.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

man what is with that bizare text layout? Please Help!!!! , quick responces please!!!! Now!

 

[Tony]

Trial and error is a great teacher.
The disasters make for great storys, like never EVER open a stubby of yeast given to you by Ducatiboy Stu!

Soo many spend soo much time googling and not enough time "doing"

 

[Moad]

It's the natural evolution of internet forums, luckily there are still enough experienced brewers/engineers/funny /smartass blokes on here to keep it entertaining and educational. It's the only forum I check daily, I think there is just a higher volume of new brewers lately that dilute the quality of threads. That can only be a good sign for the community and industry in general.

I'll be building a home bar soon and I know where I'll go to get all the answers to my questions.

 

[manticle]

Trial and error is a great teacher.


Soo many spend soo much time googling and not enough time "doing"

Bang

 

[spog]

I haven't seen a new inovation on this forum for a very long time.
What used to be essential reading for me on a daily basis,now has very little to offer.
I don't know whether the availability of the Braumeister and the Grainfather have negated the once great inovations conceived on this forum.
The absence of contributions from some of the great thinkers...Thirsty Boy, Wes Smith et al,too many to mention,in their place we have some very patient well meaning cintributors answering the same mundane questions virtually every day.
Has the forum become a social media/agony aunt site ? Some of the question to start a topic are to say the least pathetic.
I learned what I know about brewing from this forum, and am most greatful for that,however, I did try to ask what I would consider sensible questions in the first instance having read a book on brewing, and needed some clarification.
Or,maybe,I have moved on and the forum is just as good as ever!

I have read as far as post#5,but I get the gist of the topic.( I will read all posts).
So here is my take.
Yeah some of the long standing ( founding) members may not post as much here,perhaps they have found they no longer need to or have moved on.
Since the tightening/ changes of rules and indeed ownership of this site people have made a decision .
Some knowledgable people have been banned. Rules.
Since I joined ,the site has progressed along with experimentation in procedure ,styles and equipment etc.
AHB has many newbies joining each year,asking the same old questions or making the similar enquiries , but the DASFFS. Has gone?
This sites topic base gets larger by the day so little wonder that newbies ask the same questions,they want to learn,it's easier to ask than trawl through X amount of posted ...well posts.because practices change. A prime example being transferring to secondary.
Cheers....Spog.

 

[spog]

Just read the remainder of posts from # 5 onwards.
Oldies..........Tonyyyyyy........

 

[Nizmoose]

As someone who is 22 and only started brewing a year and a half ago I can say that I really have had it easy compared to some of you guys that have been around here for ages, it's easy to take it for granted but the hard work and trial and error you guys have done over the years has made my brewing hobby a much faster learning process and a much easier one. When I started it was Ian's spreadsheet that taught me how to balance an extract recipe, it's the threads on this forum that allow biab to exist let alone teach me how to use the method. In less than three batches I went full all grain and am making great beer almost entirely because of this forum. I think maybe a lot of us new guys and particularly young ones don't say thanks enough to a lot of the guys here answering silly questions, if it wasn't for ahb I'm not sure I'd be brewing beer, in fact I'll even go as far to say beer has become a passion in a very short amount of time largely due to the enthusiasm and encouragement from this community. A few weeks ago I was short-listed to become a cadet brewer for coopers. More than 50 people applied and around 15 got short-listed and we got to tour the brewery and meet the brewing team, they needed one person, the only person hired as a brewer for years. I didn't make the cut unfortunately but the fact that I even got that close made me realise how close beer came to really changing the direction my life was heading, and to then think none of that would have been possible without the help of this forum and the guys that have been here for so long is a humbling experience to say the least.

 

[Steve]

I still use a 2 litre plastic jug to transfer my strike and sparge water to my mashtun. I then come in to work and I sell Grainfathers to guys that have only ever done kit n bits, without any knowledge/research of how to do all grain beer. They take them home and boom....another AG brewer is born. To see the excitement on their faces every time they come back in for more ingredients is fantastic. Had one of the guys bring in a couple of samples yesterday. Bloody great beer. When I tell them about my 3 vessel system of 3 old kegs, jugs, no pumps just gravity their eyes glaze over. I love it.
Cheers
Steve

P.S. And you know what, every time I sell a starter kit I hand the person a note with the AHB website address hoping that they learn as much as I did from this site.

 

[KevinR]

stillkicken around

 

[Bribie G]

As posted in an earlier comment AHB is following a similar life story to other forums. A perfect example of this is DTV forum. I joined in 2003 and for a few years it was not unlike AHB back in the days of the_new_darren. We even had our own version who threatened to come over to Bribie Island and slit my neck.

Long were the threads on LCD vs plasma , how dare channel 7 claim 576p as HD and would we ever see 15 channels. Arguments raged over Blu-ray vs HD DVD and, most importantly would LCD ever be larger than 40 inches and cheaper than a grand.

It's all been sorted nowadays and the forum is now inhabited by a few geeks similar to our Arduino brethren plus newbies posting "should I get a curved screen on my 4K ?
The arguably biggest issue of the last decade, namely Torrentz, invites a ban similar to distillation on our main forum.

So it goes.

 

[antiphile]

Hi Tony (love your avatar btw) and Stu

In some ways I would have liked to be there in the early days when invention was the mother of necessity; and with many years passing you could look back with fondness.

Yet I have to admit, with only a few years under the belt, I'm happier to have started when almost all of the ground breaking had been done, when the internet has made so much information and advice available, and it's so much easier to learn from the mistakes of others. There's so much unadmitted gratitude owed to you guys and your ilk.

I only feel sorry, though Tony, that you weren't around when the relatively new innovation of dentistry started. :blink:

 

[mwd]

Hi Tony (love your avatar btw) and Stu


I only feel sorry, though Tony, that you weren't around when the relatively new innovation of dentistry started. :blink:

Now you know the result of many years opening bottles with your teeth. It prompted the Breweries to introduce twist tops :lol:

 

[takai]

When i first started brewing in 2001 it was a relatively arduous process on a manual 3v setup, although one of the guys had the gear to fill 50L kegs so we didnt have to bottle. THen in 2006 when i brewed again for a bit it was a pain in the arse on a 50L 3v setup sparging without pumps etc, and only having a tiny selection of grain from the LHBS, plus bottling... bloody bottling.

After restarting last year again it has become so very simple. Im now doing an Urnfather type setup, which has its difficulties, but i dont mind the gingerbeering. But BIAB is a complete revelation, as is the sheer range of gear available. So much easier now.

 

[Steve]

When i first started brewing in 2001 it was a relatively arduous process on a manual 3v setup, although one of the guys had the gear to fill 50L kegs so we didnt have to bottle. THen in 2006 when i brewed again for a bit it was a pain in the arse on a 50L 3v setup sparging without pumps etc, and only having a tiny selection of grain from the LHBS, plus bottling... bloody bottling.

After restarting last year again it has become so very simple. Im now doing an Urnfather type setup, which has its difficulties, but i dont mind the gingerbeering. But BIAB is a complete revelation, as is the sheer range of gear available. So much easier now.

"BIAB is a complete revelation". Some 6 or so years ago you would have been shunned like a leper for that statement :lol: so much so you would set up your own BIAB forum based website

Edit: I now refer to BIAB on a daily basis for people wanting to get into AG quickly, easily and cheaply.

 

[verysupple]

I've only been brewing a few years and have been a member here for almost that long. Between AHB, other forums and books there was so much information not only about how to brew but the why of things. I learned what needed to happen in the mash tun, kettle, fermentor etc. before I tried to do it. This lead to a very simple home made setup that I thought was pretty innovative. I was about to start a thread describing the system and how I use it, but a quick search showed that it was actually a really common setup. As it turns out i had reinvented maxiBIAB. This has happened a few times since, like with my great idea for a recirculating single vessel system like a Bruameister but wort returning to the top, not bottom. You know, like a Grainfather. Or QldKev and many other people's. Hmmm, I'm good at reinventing the wheel it seems.

So I think there are innovators out there, it's just that most innovations have already been written up.

 

[kaiserben]

$0.02
I don't think this phenomenon is just this forum I think it is all forums. Internet opened up doors to those with nous to search and research.

Not only that, but social media can negate the need for forums for a lot of people.

I've spent many hours pouring over the existing and excellent info on this forum, but these days I spend more day-to-day time on Facebook and see ideas relevant to me because of various pages I have liked and the many people commenting on them.

Social media also aggregates a lot of the beer info I'm interested in (by me liking various brewery pages, homebrewing association/group pages, and media organisations. Back in the day a forum would have been where I got all that info.

 

[takai]

"BIAB is a complete revelation". Some 6 or so years ago you would have been shunned like a leper for that statement :lol: so much so you would set up your own BIAB forum based website

Edit: I now refer to BIAB on a daily basis for people wanting to get into AG quickly, easily and cheaply.

I know. its pretty radical eh. In August last year i was going to pick up my 3V setup when i was next back in Adelaide, in May this year i sold it off to a mate instead and turned to BIAB fully.

 

[Benn]

I'm new to AHB but not new to internet forums, I've seen this same topic before. The core of brewing will never change i.e Wort+Yeast=Beer neither does the "grass roots" fundamental equipment/methods. Once the basics have been Q&A'd and archieved it's mainly rehashing the same topics. That being said, this is a fantastic resource and a weath of knowledge and infomation with plenty of great contributors who continue to field Q's and post links to old threads for us to read which is great for perpectuating home brewing (cheers, and thanks). As long as we have sheds we will innovate :icon_cheers: people will always "improve" on any system. Once in a while something radical comes along and creates a flurry of activity, if this was a smart phone forum there would be new **** happeneing everyday-but you can't drink an Android!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Trial and error is a great teacher.
The disasters make for great storys, like never EVER open a stubby of yeast given to you by Ducatiboy Stu!

Soo many spend soo much time googling and not enough time "doing"

Show just how good w1728 is.

It was a split from my initail starter. Put it in a coke bottle and posted it down

I still laugh when I think about what happened.

It spent a long time in his fridge... and the day he grabbed it to use it, it gushed out like a fire extinguisher all over the roof of his shed....emptying the whole bottle.

Poor old Tony... He was never able to salvage any of it...