Home brewing classes...

Has anyone ever thought about doing or have done a home brewing class. I think it would be a good way to get more people involved in what we love to do. Any thoughts or experience with this???

I think there is a "teach a friend to brew" day...but I dont know if thats officially done by the AHA. Might just be done by some LHBS's
-Jefe-

My LHBS does a extract class abpot pnce a month and an all grain class about every other month. I went to the extract class when i first started and found it very helpful. i want to go to an all grain class to see if i want to make the jump.

My wife has suggested on a number of occasions that I start a course at the local community college. They do courses on all sorts of crafts and such. I think it would be very cool, spread the passion. I think activities like brewing our own beer has a revolutionary impact on our society as a whole. Some of us are taking our lives back from the corporate monolith that has dominated our society for the last quarter century or more. Sharing our sense of independence, and the knowledge that doing our own works is reward in itself can be a powerful thing beyond simply enjoying a delicious beverage. I feel compelled to share my knowledge whenever it is asked, in the hopes that someone else will be captivated by their own power and imagine a new future.

YMMV but I had a class advertised through an adult community school catalog for 3 seasons and sold not one seat. Granted, they were putting too much profit on each seat but you'd still think there would be a few takers.

I'm definitely a homebrewing evangelist, but I've backed off a little bit on converting some of my friends... there are people out there who just aren't interested. I have several friends who love to come over every time I brew, drink some beers, watch the boil, chill out and talk, but they really aren't there to learn. And I'm cool with that.

I definitely think the reason for all this is there's just so much to learn about brewing. Even the simplest extract batch has a lot to explain and it can be overwhelming. Especially if you, as an experienced brewer, seem to just be rolling through the steps. Hell, I've tried explaining what I'm doing while teaching someone to brew and I just end up talking the entire time. It's like spouting off a textbook and they have to decide what information is important to listen to and what can be relearned later.

So these days I just invite people over, and let them feel it out for themselves. They ask questions, I give them some good, basic info. Then if they seem to really be into it after a couple batches, I offer to brew a batch for them if they buy the ingredients. We can do that a few times, and then start talking about getting their own equipment... congratulations, you're now a homebrewing jesus.

Thats kind of what I have been doing also. My buddy just got his beginers kit and a recipe kit after hanging out with me while I brewed a few batches. He just came over this weekend to get some help with his first beer and it went great and he was the one that said I should start a class. Then that got my wheels turning....