Hear me out:
I haven't been brewing all that long in the scope of things. Just a year and a half. 170 gallons under my belt. And yet, when I get together with other brewers who have been brewing much longer but don't use a resource like HBT, our beers just don't compare. Don't get me wrong, experience is a very valuable teacher, and there is no replacement for it, but unless you are utilizing a dynamic and interactive media like this site, experience alone will only progress brewing skill so quickly.
For the longest time my only contact with other brewers was through this website, and I assumed that every other homebrewer learned something new about brewing every day, listened to podcasts on new techniques, discussed the best method for culturing a yeast bank and the importance of oxygenation, etc. As it turns out, I think we are in the minority.
I know there is no shortage of "this site is awesome" threads. My point is just how good we can get at brewing in a short time when we have sites like HBT available to us, as opposed to just reading How to Brew and then brewing for a few years. As an added bonus, all of the brewing info is available for free, but once you know you're going to be keeping this "hobby" for a while, you can't help but feel good knowing that you help support the website. I highly recommend it.
p.s. Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered.
I haven't been brewing all that long in the scope of things. Just a year and a half. 170 gallons under my belt. And yet, when I get together with other brewers who have been brewing much longer but don't use a resource like HBT, our beers just don't compare. Don't get me wrong, experience is a very valuable teacher, and there is no replacement for it, but unless you are utilizing a dynamic and interactive media like this site, experience alone will only progress brewing skill so quickly.
For the longest time my only contact with other brewers was through this website, and I assumed that every other homebrewer learned something new about brewing every day, listened to podcasts on new techniques, discussed the best method for culturing a yeast bank and the importance of oxygenation, etc. As it turns out, I think we are in the minority.
I know there is no shortage of "this site is awesome" threads. My point is just how good we can get at brewing in a short time when we have sites like HBT available to us, as opposed to just reading How to Brew and then brewing for a few years. As an added bonus, all of the brewing info is available for free, but once you know you're going to be keeping this "hobby" for a while, you can't help but feel good knowing that you help support the website. I highly recommend it.
p.s. Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered.