Nostrildamus
Well-Known Member
I'm sure this has happened to many of you so I come to you in the hopes that you can give me some practical advice on how to handle this problem I have with a friend.
My friend, we'll call him Bob, found out that I was a brewer and took a keen interest in the process. He wanted to get in on brew sessions and he loved the beer I brewed. He asked numerous times to come over when I was brewing to help out and learn the process as he was really interested in starting all-grain brewing himself and wanted to buy all the stuff. Bob is well off, he owns an expensive house and drives a really nice car so he could totally go out tomorrow and get all the gear. He failed to be available on a couple of my brew dates and then eventually called me up and asked me if he could buy all the ingredients and supplies including bringing his own propane and come over and have me brew a 10 gallon batch of IPA for him while he watched and learned. I agreed, thinking that this would surely hook him and I would have yet another brew pal to share and swap beer with.
The brew session made him even more motivated to get his own gear and once he tasted the IPA he was loving the fruits of my labour. He went through a double batch in under two months and wanted to repeat the process again, using my gear at my place. I told him it was too much of a commitment for me to not get something out of it so we split the batch which he savoured and made last longer than his last one. He has since asked to repeat and brew another beer and on the last batch bought bottles and carboys so that he could take the finished wort with him when he left.
The problem is, I can't stand having people hang out at my place during the entire four or five hour brew process. I rarely if ever babysit my brew as the only thing that seems to need any checking is the mash temp at the half hour mark and the fly sparge rates and levels. Most is automatic and I've worked hard to set it up that way. I really don't need company at my place for four to five hours while I brew as I like to get other things done in the meantime. Having someone over necessitates feeding them at some point, and usually watering them. Bob has yet to ever bring either food or beer or anything else with him when he's come over for a brew session. I like Bob. We get on well and have plenty to talk about... for like, three hours but like anyone else, you run out of conversation when you are just sitting around waiting for beer to be brewed. Sure, it's handy to have someone else there to help with the clean up but he has yet to do any of the computations or recipe invention so I'm really tired of accomodating an otherwise decent friend with a rather discerning palate when it comes to beer. He came right out and told me the other night that he has decided to NOT buy all his own gear because it was too much money to put out and he said in a polite way that he would really appreciate it if I could continue to accomodate him whenever I had time. Frankly, I only had him over in the first place to brew because he said he wanted to learn and do it himself.
What the hell do you do with someone like this? I sort of feel like I'm in a position because he has bought some stuff to brew, still likes the product, is willing to help but doesn't want to actually commit and get the burner and kettles himself.
My friend, we'll call him Bob, found out that I was a brewer and took a keen interest in the process. He wanted to get in on brew sessions and he loved the beer I brewed. He asked numerous times to come over when I was brewing to help out and learn the process as he was really interested in starting all-grain brewing himself and wanted to buy all the stuff. Bob is well off, he owns an expensive house and drives a really nice car so he could totally go out tomorrow and get all the gear. He failed to be available on a couple of my brew dates and then eventually called me up and asked me if he could buy all the ingredients and supplies including bringing his own propane and come over and have me brew a 10 gallon batch of IPA for him while he watched and learned. I agreed, thinking that this would surely hook him and I would have yet another brew pal to share and swap beer with.
The brew session made him even more motivated to get his own gear and once he tasted the IPA he was loving the fruits of my labour. He went through a double batch in under two months and wanted to repeat the process again, using my gear at my place. I told him it was too much of a commitment for me to not get something out of it so we split the batch which he savoured and made last longer than his last one. He has since asked to repeat and brew another beer and on the last batch bought bottles and carboys so that he could take the finished wort with him when he left.
The problem is, I can't stand having people hang out at my place during the entire four or five hour brew process. I rarely if ever babysit my brew as the only thing that seems to need any checking is the mash temp at the half hour mark and the fly sparge rates and levels. Most is automatic and I've worked hard to set it up that way. I really don't need company at my place for four to five hours while I brew as I like to get other things done in the meantime. Having someone over necessitates feeding them at some point, and usually watering them. Bob has yet to ever bring either food or beer or anything else with him when he's come over for a brew session. I like Bob. We get on well and have plenty to talk about... for like, three hours but like anyone else, you run out of conversation when you are just sitting around waiting for beer to be brewed. Sure, it's handy to have someone else there to help with the clean up but he has yet to do any of the computations or recipe invention so I'm really tired of accomodating an otherwise decent friend with a rather discerning palate when it comes to beer. He came right out and told me the other night that he has decided to NOT buy all his own gear because it was too much money to put out and he said in a polite way that he would really appreciate it if I could continue to accomodate him whenever I had time. Frankly, I only had him over in the first place to brew because he said he wanted to learn and do it himself.
What the hell do you do with someone like this? I sort of feel like I'm in a position because he has bought some stuff to brew, still likes the product, is willing to help but doesn't want to actually commit and get the burner and kettles himself.