Not sure if I can still hang out and post here...

HBT was my go to when I started home brewing. I haven't been active on the forums for a long long time. I learned so much from all the great people on here. In that time frame I have gone on to become an assistant brewer at a brewery here in Colorado. My question is for the community. Can I still post here? Or should I move on? I'd like to become more active on the forums again, and I didn't know if you all consider that appropriate. Thanks

I don't see why not.

I would imagine that you probably have an insight that most of us here do not. That may prove valuable.

>In that time frame I have gone on to become an assistant brewer at a brewery here in Colorado.

I'd love to hear the views of someone with professional experience. How do you guys dry hop? Do you use first wort hopping? Any issues you face that are tough and how did you solve them? Maybe you like or dislike a certain hop, I'd like to know why.

STAY!!!! What the heck dude?

Absolutely stay! Anyone who works in an industry is going to have professional insight not available to the hobbyist. The kid working the fryer at McDonalds knows more about making fries and operating a fryer than I do just as Jim Koch knows more about running a brewery than I do. The same goes for all points in between. Your professional experience makes your input more valuable, not less. If we could get the Master Brewer for AB InBev posting on here I'd be thrilled whether he's made beer in his garage or not.

I was hoping I would be able to provide some insight on some things and finally give back to the community that helped me so much. I pretty much lurked around here and didn't post much, but I learned so much. This is what makes this forum special

Appropriate?? None of us here are very appropriate..Especially Cheezy.. Maybe you have some experiences that might benefit us. Sh it, if I owned a brewery, I'd still be on this site..

My assumption would be that anyone interested in the hobby would be welcome to post here.

Definitely not here to promote AT ALL . I don't own the place. It's a 7bbl Premier system. No power rakes or anything like that, most automated piece is the auger from the mill to the mash tun. So it's very hands on. Basically a lot like home brewing but on a larger scale. I owe a lot of the knowledge I have of brewing to the collective mind here at the forums.

Yea! Now you have to post more!

The general consensus agrees with my opinion as well: Stay. If you are interested in the hobby and would like to remain as part of the community, you are welcome.

Hell, someone with brewery work experience isn't a negative point. Quite the contrary!

Get lost! We're not good enough for you, Mr. Fancy Pants Assistant Brewer!

Go hang out at Probrewer.com or something!

(Aw just teasin! Of course you can hang out here. If you think you will have any spare time! MWUAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!)

We actually have a fair number of pro brewers here. One of them is a friend of mine, and he's a "premium supporter" on this forum as well. His avatar is him sitting in front of some super shiny HUGE kettles- lots bigger than mine, that's for sure!

I don't think you have to be an "amateur" to belong here!

LyndenP said:

HBT was my go to when I started home brewing. I haven't been active on the forums for a long long time. I learned so much from all the great people on here. In that time frame I have gone on to become an assistant brewer at a brewery here in Colorado. My question is for the community. Can I still post here? Or should I move on? I'd like to become more active on the forums again, and I didn't know if you all consider that appropriate. Thanks

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I brew as a job and started posting here because of it. I brew on a 3bbl system which is still a small scale brewing and relates a lot more to a home brewing scale than it does a place like probrewer. Besides they are all talking business rather than any actual brewing technique or ideas due to proprietary information.

I would just be worried about how much you can share with us without getting in trouble... because as a new brewer, I would like to know EVERYTHING lol

sumone said:

I would just be worried about how much you can share with us without getting in trouble... because as a new brewer, I would like to know EVERYTHING lol

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Only thing I can't and won't share is recipes related to work. Personal recipes I have no issue with.

I'm sure as long as you are not sharing any proprietary information, you should be ok.

Hell however, the only people who would be mad about sharing proprietary Information would be your work. We would eat (drink as it were) that stuff up!

Don't think anyone is stupid enough to ask for proprietary recipes. Just insight, hints and tips to help with whatever anyone may have a question about that you could benefit them.

So with all that stroking this guy better start spilling his guts soon...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

So with all that stroking this guy better start spilling his guts soon...

Cheers!

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Haha really though.

That's one of the things I like about homebrewing vs pro brewing: all the methods are analogous, and you can geek out over the science of fermentation. Yes there are differences about the batch size, units, and overall business goals you'll get within the professional community...but if you're a true beer nerd, you'll be happy to geek out with homebrewers and/or pro brewers:rockin:

passedpawn said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2BJUGJR5fw

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I Agree....STAY.

ps. passedpawn, Thanks for the link. What a great way to start off a Saturday morning.


bosco

I'm still here. :rockin:
This place is invaluable, beer is scalable.
My greatest realization since becoming brewmaster is that turnkey commercial breweries have process limitations.
Many can't change mash temperature or mashout and are relying on modern malting practices and compromises.
Many can't use whole cone hops, and whirlpooling hot wort to prevent plate chiller clogging adversely affects hop flavor and aroma.

Stay but only if you post more

Hex said:

[...]Many can't use whole cone hops, and whirlpooling hot wort to prevent plate chiller clogging adversely affects hop flavor and aroma.

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Wait - what?

Is this a manifestation of the allegedly mythical HSA beast, or they just can't tune their hop additions to account for the prolonged cool-down?

Cheers!

I'm not referring to Hot Side Aeration.
Flame out, add final hops, whirlpool 15 bbl @ 210*f for 30 minutes, start to transfer to fermenter through plate chiller, add more time at +200*f.
All the bright hops flavor and aroma turns to bitter.
Dry hop on day 3 and blow more aroma off.
All compromises that the small batch brewer need not make.

LyndenP said:

HBT was my go to when I started home brewing. I haven't been active on the forums for a long long time. I learned so much from all the great people on here. In that time frame I have gone on to become an assistant brewer at a brewery here in Colorado. My question is for the community. Can I still post here? Or should I move on? I'd like to become more active on the forums again, and I didn't know if you all consider that appropriate. Thanks

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This would be the equivalent of Michael Jordan saying, "hey guys. I know I'm a retired ball player and such. But can I still hit the courts and get some pickup games going with you guys?" Uh, duh. Of course.

timpoulsen said:

Don't think anyone is stupid enough to ask for proprietary recipes. Just insight, hints and tips to help with whatever anyone may have a question about that you could benefit them.

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I've asked for recipes from local breweries and got them. Of course, not on an open forum. More of a one on one conversation while at the brewery.

Being pro is more about marketing and distribution than having the best recipe in the world.
This is one reason why production brewers don't have a problem sharing recipes when asked,
and why we are finding many craft breweries to contract our beer through.
Most can't keep their fermenters full of their own juice with capacities much grater than marketshare.

I guess I'll be Denny Downer and point out that things that pro brewers do don't necessarily apply to homebrewing due to differences in goals and scale. That's not to say that one side can't learn from the other, but you need to analyze the info to make sure it's applicable to you.

You whipped that 'Denny Downer' term out pretty casually. Sounds like you've been called that before?

negativereaction said:

You whipped that 'Denny Downer' term out pretty casually. Sounds like you've been called that before?

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Some people equate being realistic with being negative. Nothing could be further from the truth.