It's been said before, I'll say it again

If you have a local homebrew club, go to a meeting. I just made it to the first meeting for my local club (I've been trying to go for about 6 months now) and it was so much fun! The people were great, the info was great, the feedback on my beers was great! I was lucky to make it to this one for my first I think. 2 local clubs were there together and I got to see the tail end of a noble experiment. One of the club member was able to brew 200 gallons of identical wort on a commercial system from one of the local breweries and it was fermented with 18 different yeasts by the club members. They have been tasting them over the last year, I think, scoring them by BJCP style guidelines. Last night was the last of the tastings. There were at least 2 (I think) BJCP judges in the club and I got to learn a lot about tasting, what to look for etc. Also, I had a chance to try beers with hops I haven't been able to use yet, as I am still a relative newb (8 months in). Amarillo is an awesom hop, man! Now I know what to expect from various things that I can try on my own, but at least with some reference.

If you have a club, go to it!!! You will love it and I guarantee it will improve your brewing!

Your mileage may vary. I visited a local brew club and hated it. I also saw no way it could improve my brewing since all they did was pass around bottles and rattle off the recipe as you sampled.

-walker

I've been to one twice now. The first time was beneficial, because I got the contact information from the LBHS, so I bought my starting equipment.
However, at the second meeting, I felt like it was a waste of my time (it was an hour drive from me anyway). the group meets at a local brewpub, and the brewer (who is not the club pres) talked in very detail about how his fermenting room was falling apart and how the pub was getting renovated (or something to that effect). the folks there were all nice, and we did some sampling, but overall, as a beginner, I did not gain much at all from the experience.
If it weren't for this forum, I would probably have to attend in order to become a better brewer. But, I've learned a lot more from reading posts here than I think I would from a brewer's club.

I don't attend semi-local (nearest is 75 minutes) club meetings to learn about brewing. I go to socalize, sample other people's brews and keep up to date on fests & seminars. I've attended a Wyeast seminar on yeast culturing, a OSU seminar on off-tastes and Barley Daze at one of the major research farms in the world. I wouldn't have known about any of these without going to meetings.

I guess it depends on how your clubs have evolved & how full your social calendar is. For me, part of the hobby is talking (and swapping recipes) about the hobby, face-to-face. It's one thing to read someone's opinion about a new hop, tasting an ale that used the hop is much more useful. Without going to club meetings, I would have never tasted 8 year-old Jelly Belly mead.

Finally, going to meetings and tasting various ales kneecaps the "All Grain & hand-picked hops or you're worthless" attitude. Some of the top homebrewers in the area do extracts exclusively and produce ales that are competitive at the national level. I'm not into competitions myself, but we are talking some very fine ales made with extract.

clayof2day said:

They have been tasting them over the last year, I think, scoring them by BJCP style guidelines. Last night was the last of the tastings. There were at least 2 (I think) BJCP judges in the club

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That's probably why I'll never join one. I feel about the BJCP the way a lot of you feel about hydrometers-it is nothing but a source of worry and headaches. I have no interest in having someone I never met before judge my beer and then have the arrogance to say that just because he/she is in some organization that
his/her opinion of my beer (good or bad) is the only one that matters. If i like my beer then it is good. If some self-appointed "expert" doesn't (or does), then f**k'em. I don't need a club- you guys are great and the closest thing to a brew club I'll ever need. Okay. Rant over. Cheers

The BJMC guidelines aren't a way to tell people you don't like your beer, it's a way to formalize discussions about the nature of the flavor. Learning those guidelines puts you in a better position to be able to give other brewers specific advice on how to improve and allows you to better identify why you like a specific beer, so that you can find others like it.

This forum is better than any homebrew club

Chimone said:

This forum is better than any homebrew club

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I second that! Which brewpub should we begin meeting at?

Chimone said:

This forum is better than any homebrew club

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That's kinda what I said in my long- winded rant of an earlier post-among other things

ablrbrau said:

That's kinda what I said in my long- winded rant of an earlier post-among other things

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yep, you sure did. I only read the initial post this morning before replying

I fourth it. I've never had a problem or question that wasn't worked out here. Just this week John helped me get the perfect pour on my keg system. I would have never figured that out myself based on those charts. My LHBS guy had told me to just set my regulator on 4 lbs.!?!?!?

I just wish some of you were in the neighborhood so you could sample my brews and I could try yours. Mailing is a pain in the butt, especially when you're a kegger.

I did go to the Chicago club when I lived there. It was a lot of fun. Like several of you had mentnioned it really depends on the club.

Ive been talking to a few people about starting brewing school this Feb. They say "Well it's an online course, how are you going to learn anything that way?" I just smile and think of this place.
Being that Im down here in Sierra Vista, there is no HBS, other brewers, basically nothing to help me learn any more. I rely on HBT.com for pretty much everything.

Thanks guys!!

kornkob said:

The BJMC guidelines aren't a way to tell people you don't like your beer, it's a way to formalize discussions about the nature of the flavor. Learning those guidelines puts you in a better position to be able to give other brewers specific advice on how to improve and allows you to better identify why you like a specific beer, so that you can find others like it.

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Except it doesn't work that way, IMHO.

The program is skewed. I hate the fact that some judges can taste something that other can't, from the exact same sample. I've had enough exposure to the BJCP program to realize it is a crock.
If they want to standardize a style, fine, leave it at that.

A beer competition should be about what the best tasting beer is, period.

Back on topic, I like my brew club. I've sampled some awesome beers, and learned quite a bit along the way as well. If you want to improve your beers, I think a club is mandatory. Provided that club's main interests are to promote better brewing.

I misspoke-- they don't HAVE to be. Those style guidelines are designed for competitive formats, yes. And like ice skating, boxing and other non-sport 'competitive' events a lot depends on the opinions of the judges and their ability to sense (visual, taste or otherwise) various subtleties.

However, those guidelines can be used by homebrew clubs or just a couple homebrewers to give people a common language for talking about how a specific beer sample tastes.


As for hating that different people taste different things in a beer--- hell, that has never surprised me because that's how people are. Take a room full of guys and ask each separately about what's most important/notable any topic-- beer, football, whatever and you'll get as many answers as there are guys in the room--- maybe more.

I think having a common language with which to discuss specific beer samples has a lot of value. (On the other hand I think beer 'competitions' have little, if any real value--- but that's just my opinion.)

kornkob said:

I(On the other hand I think beer 'competitions' have little, if any real value--- but that's just my opinion.)

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The only beer competition that matters to me is how many time people ask me for a 6-pack to take home

Pumbaa said:

The only beer competition that matters to me is how many time people ask me for a 6-pack to take home

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Yessir, thats the greatest feeling right there

Pumbaa said:

The only beer competition that matters to me is how many time people ask me for a 6-pack to take home

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Yup, or when they offer to pay you to brew for them, that's a nice compliment. No, I don't let them pay me........

You know, I will also have to agree with many of the other members. I can definately see how clubs could be relatively worthless. I think the reason I was so excited in my initial post was because it offered me things that I could get here. I have learned more on this board and from reading than I could imagine, but for a learning pallate the ability to sample many beers with many ingredients/yeats/malts/hops all at once and side by side was something you can't get here. I can read about hops all I want and being able to try them without brewing 5 gallons was nice, I now know what to expect out of things I didn't before.

So, I fifth the board being the best source of info for me, and books second, but there was a practical element to the meeting that I feel like its hard to get when you don't know any other homebrewers in your area. That is why I feel like it may help people, especially learning pallates, become better brewers, perhaps I should have qualified that in my first post.

ablrbrau said:

Yup, or when they offer to pay you to brew for them, that's a nice compliment. No, I don't let them pay me........

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Hey, what's wrong with being a beer whore?

Seriously, it can help to offset the cost of ingredients, so if your friends are asking you to brew them beer, getting them to at least chip in on the ingredients, and maybe collect bottles for you, seems like a reasonable thing to do. Most people have limited space and time for brewing, so if you're brewing for others, why not accept a gift to offset costs?

beer4breakfast said:

Hey, what's wrong with being a beer whore?

Seriously, it can help to offset the cost of ingredients, so if your friends are asking you to brew them beer, getting them to at least chip in on the ingredients, and maybe collect bottles for you, seems like a reasonable thing to do. Most people have limited space and time for brewing, so if you're brewing for others, why not accept a gift to offset costs?

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Offsetting costs is one thing, but don't make a profit. That's a no-no. The ATF doesn't like that idea one little bit.

clayof2day said:

I can definately see how clubs could be relatively worthless.

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I think that any club or organization can be useless. Just as useless as the organization lets itself be. Of course, usefulness is largely determined by one's expectations--- if you're looking to get an education usefulness means one thing, if you want to put your beers up against others' to guage how well you're doing it's another, if you're looking to find a social enviornment filled with people with similar interests it's yet again something else.

clayof2day said:

....for a learning pallate the ability to sample many beers with many ingredients/yeats/malts/hops all at once and side by side was something you can't get here..

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That's one thing a HBC can easily do that a forum can't without added costs. We also can't easily give you real advice based on the flavors of the beer you've already made.