teaching friends tonight, need advice

So after 6-7 batches, I feel like it's time to spread the love/obsesion and get more people involved. I've invited a group of 5 people over to do a mid-week brew (most think it takes too long, so I wanted to show that I can do everything in an evening)

Anyways, what major points should I hit on? I'm planning to talk about:

(side note: we're all engineers, so they actually like the extremely technical stuff)

(in my kitchen/dining room with HBs passing around, starting the seeping of the grains)
-Equipment, where to get
-Sanitation and why it more important then anything else
-Ingredients
-How to do it
-My personal tips and tricks
-Different types/styles
-Fermentain (times, temps, stages)
-A bit on bottling (I don't keg yet, so can't help)
-sending them here to ask everything over my head
-Then answer any sort of questions that they come up with
-the $2 6pac that's drinkable

Anything that I'm missing that I shouldn't be?

Thanks

EDIT: I'm making a wheat beer with seeping grains. Plan to give them each a couple bottles when it's finished

Edit 2: Make it a brew session not class session
-Fermentation/Primary/Secondary
-Cost savings for better beer

Best thing might just be to serve up some HB samplers and let them watch while you do your thing.

Explain yourself casually as you go a long and zero in on their questions as they come up.

Sometimes just being there and observing goes a lot further than a "classroom" approach.

Make sure to describe the different stages of fermentation. Almost no one knows about that and it is interesting to most people.

It's going to be a do a brew and let them watch. I have 2 brews and an Apfelweizen that I'll be passing out. I'm in no way going to be doing a classroom approach, that doesn't seem like the best place to learn to homebrew

more importantly, if they are beer lovers... and you've made some decent batches.. work the math for them.. ie "a similar beer down at the store costs $9 a six pack, I got this for about $2.20 per 6pack" ... and let them have a few brews..

that's all they'll need.. give them a piece of paper with "http://homebrewtalk.com" and send them on their way.. before they know it, they'll know as much as you about brewing...

Bring em all in! Would be great to have everyone home brewing. Styles are recipes would increase, but I'm sure ingredients would go sky high as well. Supply and demand

I've edited the main post to update for the new ideas, thanks...

anything else?

Beau815 said:

Bring em all in! Would be great to have everyone home brewing. Styles are recipes would increase, but I'm sure ingredients would go sky high as well. Supply and demand

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I wouldn't worry too much about that, from all the people i have met and talked about homebrewing, very few have what it takes to actually take the plunge and really try it for real.

A lot of people will say "Hey i'd like to do that! ...then realize they don't have the time and will to really do it".

It takes a special kind of individual to try such a thing, even among beer lovers, few would consider getting involved and actually brew it themselves.

Most people find it pretty convenient to just buy it from the store.

I think one has to be the kind of individual that likes to have hobbies, be somewhat of a self learner and experimenter, an interrest in cooking and/or crafts.
Some patience towards goals, dedication and some free time to spend, interest in different kinds of tastes and beer.

Home brewers are a special kind of people!

Beau815 said:

Bring em all in! Would be great to have everyone home brewing. Styles are recipes would increase, but I'm sure ingredients would go sky high as well. Supply and demand

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Ahh, but if everybody was homebrewing, supply would have to increase (plus commercial brewers would likely do at least a little less business, adding more supply) to cover the expanded market.

So perhaps prices would even drop if it was more popular?

Stef1966 said:

...Home brewers are a special kind of people!

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Yes we are...

BierMuncher said:

Yes we are...

View attachment 10086

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Wow, that bus is longer then the one I went to school in... I'm moving up in the world!

Okay, so we buy a bus like that, coat it in HBT stickers... We could build a cooling system for the back row, and probably fit a good 20 cornies in there...

Jeez, we really are that bad, aren't we?


Edited: Nevermind, I found a critical flaw. No way any homebrewer would ever DD for us.

llazy_llama said:

Okay, so we buy a bus like that, coat it in HBT stickers... We could build a cooling system for the back row, and probably fit a good 20 cornies in there...

Jeez, we really are that bad, aren't we?


Edited: Nevermind, I found a critical flaw. No way any homebrewer would ever DD for us.

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lol at the edit.

Kudos for sharing the hobbie!

I was involved in something similar, and have spent the
majority of my time since either thinking about / learning about / brewing beer.

I always have more fun when I am brewing with a bunch of people, especially around people who have never heard of it. In college my roomate and I would have brewing parties, always a big hit and a lot more fun than just the two or three of us.
But you gotta stick to extract, most people don't have the patience to sit through an all-grain session.

Stef1966 said:

It takes a special kind of individual to try such a thing, even among beer lovers, few would consider getting involved and actually brew it themselves.

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That's why it's such a great idea to just have them over and demystify the process for them. I'd been wanting to brew for a long time, and when I finally brewed my first batch what struck me was how easy it actually was. If you show them that, they'll be way more inclined to get into it more themselves. Good luck!

Noob here, but I can't figure out the math to get to a $2.20 six pack...how do you do that?

If your friends are already interested it probably won't take much to get them hooked. If they're not convinced it's something they want to start doing yet then just make it fun and have a good time with them. I'm sure a "fun time brewing" would make a larger impact than a detailed lecture. Just my thoughts.

ga_texag said:

Noob here, but I can't figure out the math to get to a $2.20 six pack...how do you do that?

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He was probably just pulling the number out of the air, but here's the ingredient breakdown of my last batch. The grain bill is 11 lb at 1.60 a lb when you buy it in bulk. Then add 2 oz of hops at $4 a package (if I'd bought them, I actually grew them from last year). Then put in another $2.10 for a packet of dry yeast. That's 23.70 a batch, divide that by about 48 bottles and it's 49¢ a beer. So for me that comes out to $2.94 a six pack.

Stef1966, You are correct about the kind of person it takes...

"I think one has to be the kind of individual that likes to have hobbies, be somewhat of a self learner and experimenter, an interrest in cooking and/or crafts. Some patience towards goals, dedication and some free time to spend, interest in different kinds of tastes and beer."

I actually love cooking and enjoy eating when i know i made it. My wife doesn't cook much and i actually don't mind. Any of you homebrewers the same way? You may be onto something here. I dont think free time is a BIG deal. Extract takes and hour and you can do it on a weekend or ANYTIME you have an hour. Then you wait a few weeks and do nothing, then bottling is actually fun for me and i do it alone. But I can definitely say cooking is the same kinda beast.

I actually love cooking and enjoy eating when i know i made it. My wife doesn't cook much and i actually don't mind.

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I am definitely the cook of the house here too, my wife just doesn't enjoy cooking, she can make real nice desserts when she disciplines herself into doing some, but it's just not something she enjoys doing like i do.

So yes, i do tend to think it might be in the general profile type of the typical Home brewing individual to enjoy cooking.

Stef1966 said:

I am definitely the cook of the house here too, my wife just doesn't enjoy cooking, she can make real nice desserts when she disciplines herself into doing some, but it's just not something she enjoys doing like i do.

So yes, i do tend to think it might be in the general profile type of the typical Home brewing individual to enjoy cooking.

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I agree. My wife enjoys cooking, but only once in a while. I'm the main cook, and I like to experiment with recipes (I take notes for a couple of them so I can come back and tweak it in the future).

This seems to be the profile of most home brewers.

Hmm, very interesting... now when i know someone who likes beer and likes to cook to get em brewin.

I agree that it should be a do your thing and talk while doing it and answer questions. Too much info can be a bad thing. The initial learning experience ought to be informative enough to give them the basic understanding and if they want to learn more, hand out some HBT business cards or something. Maybe one or two will want to help out next time and you can be more detailed about the various options and stages then.

There is a TON to know about brewing. You simply cannot cover it all with reasonable detail in one sitting.

Update: So I pretty much jsut did my thing, they had a bunch of questions at the beginning when they all showed up and then another bunch during pitching.

Besides that it was just drinking HB, pizza, and watching a basketball game on TV.

I actually did have one guy email me again today for the link to here, so 1 out of the 4 that showed is pretty good in my eyes. Also offered to let any of them make their 1st batch with my stuff - for a slight 12bottle charge So I think that might get one of them hooked, being able to do everything themselves.

Congrats and good luck with your friends.
I concur, about the personality requirements. I am the cook of the house, I love experimenting with different techniques and rarely use a recipe unless I am going for something specific. It would be interesting to get some statistical data outlining the correlation between home brewing and cooking. Anyone have access to good statistical software like SPSS?
Maybe we could get something going here.
Then possibly do a cross-section analysis between
mazers, vinters, and brewers, their professions, and hobbies.

Just a thought.

I think its a great idea. There has to be a correlation it seems. I bet great chefs could make some great beer and they don't even know it... or know how much they would enjoy it.