Anyone with experience teaching visually impaired to brew?

Hi Everyone,

I'm running a blind/low vision conference in Madison, WI and would like to find someone who can volunteer to teach basic brewing techniques/adaptable equipment for brewing to a blind/low vision audience (beginner level).

Anyone out there fit the bill or know anyone who had done this?

Thanks!

MadisonVI

Maybe look into how they teach basic cooking techniques? I can't imagine a lot of brewing stuff, like hot burners, gallons of boiling wort, and even measuring hops or specific gravity will be too friendly toward the visually impaired.

In all due respect, too dangerous! Like the guy that wants to pour boiling wort into a preheated carboy for sanitary reasons.

If you have a visually impared beer drinker in the Houston area, I would certainly entertain the idea of him/her comming over, and I will explain what I am doing, and fill him/her with some great homebrew. About him/her driving home, I would have to make the call, since it is on my head if he/she drives himself/herself home.

Edited: I must be a shovanist.

Hi Edcculus and Stuntmantoo,

Visually impaired people, like really any other people, need basic training/techniques to cook but also, like any other people, when they have what they need depending on individual ability and experience they can do it.

What I'm seeking is someone who knows the right techniques and adaptive equipment to demonstrate/teach brewing to the visually impaired.

Thanks!

Do you Home Brew, or know what has to be done to manufacture Home Brew? The budget brewer is lifting full five gallon carboys. There is any where from 3 to 5 gallons of liquid, boiling for an hour, during this boil there is a point that you have to be right on top of when the boil over occurs. to adjust flame and keep from having boiling wort all over your garage or kitchen.

Sure would be interested if you get a program together. I have a bud that is a real hero. He teaches the disabled how to water ski. It is a joint effort of about ten people, they go all around the Houston area to different locations. I know he would like to hear about this as well.

Good luck

This sounds like a noble thought, but I too think that finding a visually impaired brewer may be a challenge. Homebrewing even on a 5 gallon scale IS dangerous. There might be something said for expensive "push button brewing" but those systems either are expensive, or need to be built before they can be utilized.

Having said that a 3 gallon countertop system may works...but again it needs to be built. It looks like this.



https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/countertop-brutus-20-a-131411/


I even googled looking for visually impaired homebrewers, and nothing but THIS thread came up on the web.

I honestly don't have a good answer for you. I wish I did.

Best of luck,

Hello, everyone! My friend Twittered this post to me and I signed up to this forum, because I think I can help.

I am a teacher of the visually impaired (and, interestingly or perhaps not, went to law school in Madison WI in a previous career) and so I can hopefully give you some advice. (I am not visually impaired myself)

First, I understand the inclination to think this is too dangerous. For some folks, it may be--but hell, for some sighted folks it is too dangerous. But with the proper guides and adaptations, many folks who are VI can do this.

Next, do you know if the folks are totally blind, low vision, Braille users...? If they need Braille markings on anything, I can help with that. If they are low vision, they may just require hand over hand techniques and guidance.

Also, keep in mind that most folks who are VI have figured out "life management skills"...that is, they have probably been taught or figured out a way to measure things, to not burn themselves at the stove and so on. Ask them what they do at home.

An easy modification is to use a "buddy system". My students are mainstreamed all day and I am always telling the mainstream teachers to use this system. I think it will work for brewing, as well. It's just what it sounds like...have someone work with the person who is VI, as part of a team.

I'm sure I will think of other stuff! Meantime, please let me know if you have any other thoughts/questions!

Patti

This IS an interesting subject, to say the least. If I had someone that had SOME sight, and wanted to brew, I would say it would be a breeze.

If a new brewer had no sight at all, it would be very difficult. I would not recommend brew day without help from a knowledgable Home Brewer. That boil over point is crucial to catch in time, it comes up very quickly. You have to get to that point for a boil to start, and catch it within a few seconds to get it under control. Anyone that sees how it is done, should understand the technique and be able to control it the next time for the completely VI person.

Another point is to go NO glass at all if completely VI. Going to kegs instead of bottling. I went Party Pig (they are plastic) but I would not recommend them, too many problems. Better Bottles will take the 5 and 6 gallon glass carboys out of the equation. I am sure they have temp guages that talk, you would need a Hydrometer reading a few times for each batch.

In retrospect it could be done with very little help from a friend at certain points.

I am not familiar with the Mr. Beer Technique, http://www.mrbeer.com/ What I have read it sure looks good. All Plastic (including bottles) Twist on caps (instead of trying to cap glass bottles). Everything to give it a go for no more than 170 bucks for the deluxe kit. Cheap as forty or there around for enough to do one batch. I have heard Mr. Beer is the single start for most home brewers, I don't know if this is true (as I started with a kit for a Local Home brew Store.

Please note that there will still be a danger, more so for VI brewers. Here are some stories, I myself cut my leg and had a hard time getting the bleeding to stop when a glass carboy broke. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/injuries-sustained-while-brewing-134156/


Good luck

OP, can you give us an idea of the level of impairment that your conference attendees have?

As mentioned earlier - one of the most important phases of brewing is the break phase where the wort REALLY wants to boil over. If the brewer is unable to watch the boil pot closely it's a recipe for disaster.

As brewers, we rely on sight a lot. We watch for boil overs, we inspect our fermenters to ensure they are clean, we read the scale when weighing things. Safely brewing with limited sight is possible but undoubtedly will be a challenge.

If there's interest, maybe try to set up a monthly group brew where at least one or two participants have good eyesight. I'd imagine that many of the brewers here would be willing to participate in such a thing.

curtis97322 said:

OP, If there's interest, maybe try to set up a monthly group brew where at least one or two participants have good eyesight. I'd imagine that many of the brewers here would be willing to participate in such a thing.

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Pencil me in...I love to brew, and would consider it a blessing to help you out. Houston area.

one of my closest friends was born blind. I understand the level a capability that he has on his own. he does some stuff that just flat out amazes me. With a friend, he does even more stuff. He's learned to drive a car with a manual tranny (in a large empty parking lot-- talk about dangerous either way), is about a 60% free throw shooter, can hit a wiffle ball like mark McGuire before steroids. He's more computer literate than me, and is a freaking walking phone book (i can't even remember my wife's phone number thanks to speed dial).

All that said, there are somethings that he can't do. Brewing with the buddy system would work for him, but really he just hangs out when I brew. i would guess he could learn how to brew but it would take lots of time of him walking around the set up brewing equipment, when not in use to learn where everythign is so he doesn't kick over a pot of 6 gallons of boiling water/wort. There would have to be braille labeled valves for transferring from kettle to primary, or possibly even a system setup with a pump, or even automated computer controller (big bucks for a beginner) to take care of transferring, cooling, etc. And the primary would most likely need to be in a rolling crate of some sort to make transportation easier. (ie, carboy in a milk crate with some wheels mounted on the bottom.

I would say skip bottling and just go straight for kegging. Too much of an issue of not getting bottles clean enough... which brings me to the big issue that arises in my mind.

Sanitation. This is an absolutely INTEGRAL part of brewing. And when you can't see how clean something is or isn't, or know what may be exposed to your equipment i'm not sure how well you could keep it all sanitized. I mean, i guess you could wear a tool belt with a spray bottle of star san on each side and just spray everything you pick up, every time you pick it up, but IMHO you would at least need someone to assist in insuring the sanitation process is done correctly... or run stuff through an industrial Hobart dishwasher.

Hope that's helpful.

hey that sounds great! i have seen blind skiers with their caller or guide behind them, and that gets an unbelievable amount of my respect - *I* hate walking into a flat *room* in the dark!

i assume that you could start with extract brews. most recipes use a full number of cans, or bags of malt, so if they can make pancakes or use cake mix, they could do this practically SOLO.
(measure water in the sink w/ a 1 gal. jug, know the volume of the cooling ice, get an extra big pot -8 gals or so- with a water alarm on it, set it to drain right into the keg, cut the tube a little shorter in case some extra goop gets in, and have a beer.)

sometimes, i know they can gauge cup fullness with a finger tip, but if you made a "boilover alarm" with two electrodes closely mounted near the top of the kettle, they would only need to turn the heat down and stir. (you'd have to play with height and spacing).

i also just had a neat idea for a boil-over-proof lid, but words are not going to cut it for a description.

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I would think that one visual 'caller/guide/assistant/etc' could help 5 or 6 simultaneous batches, easy - for the price of a few big spaghetti pots. put valves on em, cool with ice, and drain straight to keg!

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now i love "geeking out" on all the brewery stuff, but I dont know WHEN the last time i used my hydrometer was on a 'standard' batch. If they have never done this before, then explain what it does and why, but c'mon its just beer, for their first batch lets let em have a good, fun experience (please no yelling, i know, iknow. i'm just staying away from things *I've* broken!),

and i bet by the third class they will tell you something about the hops that you never knew before!.

+1 for the Brew Monk.

I sanitize in my sleep at this point, but not being able to see the stuck hops on the side of the carboy or bottle? Good point as well, not much danger with a whole system of plastic, but sanitization would have to be a buddy day as well.

Hi All,

Thanks for the input! I've never done home brewing yet, though I've read about it and plan to try, so I am coming at this as a newbie. But I have heard of at least one visually impaired person who has done both beer brewing and wine making - although I haven't yet been able to contact him - so I know it's not only possible, but has been done.

The amount of vision at the conference will vary from no vision (not even seeing light) to a lot of usable vision (someone with difficulty seeing newsprint or fine details).

As far as adaptation goes - visually impaired people are capable of a tremendous amount, from Olympic-level cross country skier Brian McKeever of Canada http://bit.ly/4pJQFn who can't see most of the course to a totally blind chef in training at Chicago's famous Le Cordon Bleu http://bit.ly/6zHdYt. As TeacherPatti indicated, there are a number of ways to get there. To take one example, as Stuntmantoo suspected, there are talking thermometers, etc.

At any rate, thanks for the ideas above. I have a contact that knows someone working at a wood shop (yes, power tools) for vets at a blind center who might be willing to help - and I'll share the info above. I'll let you know how things turn out.

Wish you the best, keep us posted.

Above all be careful.

I sure want to read the post, "I'm sitting in my good chair, drinking my first home brew."

You also mentioned wine making. Wine making is a very enjoyable hobby, it has all of the elements of making beer, minus the boiling hot issues.

I can't find it now but there was a company that sent you the concentrated wort and all you did was top it off and add the yeast . There was no boiling involved

Am I the only one that thinks this could be done?

I think extract brewing would be no problem. Have all ingredients measured out and able to be identified.

Make sure they have a pot that has some excess capacity just in case. Show them the wonders of Ferm-Cap! I have never even had a foam up from hot break since I started using that stuff.

Have measured cleaners and sanitizers with instructions. Lets face it, if they are using plastic fermenters like a better bottle or Mr beer vessel, then a 24hr soak in oxyclean is pretty much going to take care of all the organic material. Sanitize with a no rinse solution and allow them to have a spray bottle of sanitizer to spray as they go along.

Boiling, hop additions, cooling should be as easy as following instructions.

Transferring the wort does not have to mean pouring 5 gallons by hand. The kettle will already be on the stove. An auto siphon would allow easy transfer into the fermenter.
Pitching dry yeast or liquid yeast should not be a problem.

Some nice things to have set up would be a thermometer that is programmed to beep when the wort is at certain tempertures. I have one that does this, someone would just need to teach them to program it.

A bucket cart could easily work to wheel around a better bottle. Mr. beer could be carried.

In my opinion I think its highly possible, especially with some help from those preparing kits and instructions.
If someone can make spaghetti and then clean up the dishes then someone can make extract beer.

My thoughts FWIW

come on guys they are blind not disabled. blind people cook their meals all the time. its not much harder or dangerous to make a batch of beer. im sure there are scales that talk so they can measure their hops. if they can cook they know how to act around fire and boiling water so they don't hurt themselves. the only problem would be measuring the SG but that really isn't a necessary step.

if i lived anywhere near where the class was being held i would volunteer to teach it.

This thread will definitely go on for a while, Everyone here would like to find out that you are brewing!


Another hurdle is when you rack (syphoning from one vessel to another). This is to either move a heavy amount of wort or beer. The other reason, and main reason is to leave the unwanted yeast and particles so that they don't end up in your finished product.

On my budget, I thought to add a section of racking cane, or food grade (something) that would keep your racking cane from getting any where near the trub that lays on bottom of fermenters. Or put a stop on the racking cane so that it won't reach the bottom of the fermenter. You would lose a lot of beer this way though.

The very last move into the keg using a Plate Filter, you can remove all particles. I don't know how much foreign matter it would take out before clogging. This is a question for a more experienced brewer than myself. Someone field this one for him, if you would be so kind.

And cheers

TipsyDragon said:

come on guys they are blind not disabled. blind people cook their meals all the time. its not much harder or dangerous to make a batch of beer. im sure there are scales that talk so they can measure their hops. if they can cook they know how to act around fire and boiling water so they don't hurt themselves. the only problem would be measuring the SG but that really isn't a necessary step.

if i lived anywhere near where the class was being held i would volunteer to teach it.

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Here is three willing to spend some time doing what we like to do any ways, To have a setup for the blind....their equipment might be better than what I am using.

Houston checking in, "Houston Area Blind Brewers." ready for students.

TipsyDragon said:

come on guys they are blind not disabled. blind people cook their meals all the time. its not much harder or dangerous to make a batch of beer. im sure there are scales that talk so they can measure their hops. if they can cook they know how to act around fire and boiling water so they don't hurt themselves. the only problem would be measuring the SG but that really isn't a necessary step.

if i lived anywhere near where the class was being held i would volunteer to teach it.

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I'm sure that a lot of them can read better then YOU.

I'm always brewing while visually impaired .

(oh come on, it's a brewing forum; there has to be at least one drunk joke!)

I object, on the grounds that I resemble that remark.

For measuring specific gravity, you could just feel/measure how far the hydrometer sticks out of the jar - one limit solved?

Listen for the end of fermentation - needs a sealed fermenter. I know, "bubbles dont always yadda yadda......"

Dave

I think the best approach would be to sit down with a visually impaired person and go over the brewing process in detail and different options as far as brewing systems. I think they would be the best source to tell you what they feel comfortable and capable of doing. I can imagine what it's like to be visually impaired but they are the only one that truely knows what it's like and what they can and cannot do.

bump.

so did anything come of this?

c'mon, c'mon. I don't have to keep guessing do I????

shortyjacobs said:

I'm always brewing while visually impaired .

(oh come on, it's a brewing forum; there has to be at least one drunk joke!)

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+1

me 2

Hydrometers, Smydrometers.... a week in the primary (with blow off) three weeks in secondary, prime and bottle. Most all Ales would be perfect (I did it all the time). Now I keg, so if I break my Hydrometer it will be the last one I ever owned.


"It CAN be done!"

I would suggest a well thought out and planned electric rig as a preferable choice for visually impaired folks to brew on. One that can stay where it is, inside. No gas and pilot lights to fool with.

I am receiving order from www.brewmation.com for my automated brewery next week. Not that I'm suggesting it (cause I don't know how you'd program the computer) but just as an example of a well planned electric rig.

As a completely blind individual who has spent a little over a year brewing with friends, I think it is possible. However, there are some significant hiccups that deal with expense and duplicating the product. The only type of brewing I am confident in doing with no issues is an extract kit. I have the following equipment recommendations:
2 gallon pot + lid for steeping grains,
7 gallon (hot tamale pot) for brewing,
Weldless spicket (that would be fastened to the tamale pot),
Funnel with stainless steel strainer,
Industrial kitchen spoon,
Thermaworks' talking thermapen thermometer,
I use a 100,000 btu propane patio burner as I prefer full boils, (5 - 5 (1/2) gallons in brew pot)
I use a homemade wort chiller,
I use a grain bag for steeping in order to avoid straining,
I use a hops bag for secondary in order to avoid straining and letting oxygen into the beer,
I have a 1 gallon pitcher marked on the inside for 1 gallon,
Everything else will be included in the brewing kit from your hobby shop,
What I don't do/have not figured out-
I cannot take specific gravity, (for the sake of me brewing this is less of a hindrance as extract kits are fairly reliable when designed right.)
Bottle filling, (great excuse to invite someone over as cleaning 48 bottles, filling, capping, and storing them is quite a process. I cap with no problem though)
I do not know how to do all grain based on what my friends do. My hunch is that I could with a talking hydrometer, but that does not exist from my research. I found a digital hydrometer that could transfer the tests to a computer which is promising but costs $1,000.00.

The first step is brewing a lot, as the experience will provide habits to brewing. This would probably want to be with someone sighted, and one who is prepared for being patient. Blind or sighted, brewing can be very time consuming. I like to brew frequently so that I can always enjoy a home brew while brewing!