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StusBrew

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So, I know a guy. Who's curious about learning to brew. Not much money, but has plenty of time. Started talking beer and that he's always been curious about it. We (he) keeps talking about getting together at his place to see where we could brew, etc. Then setting up a time to actually do it. He keeps mentioning he wants something going at his place.
I have no problem filling him in on what I know. He says he has a book on how to brew. Just not sure if it's the actual "How to Brew". He says it's over his head. But it always is if you haven't done it before. Need to find out if he has extract or all-grain process he's been thinking about.
Anyway, I think his idea is that I come over to his place with my equipment and brew something or walk him through it.
My issue with that is: if I'm brewing I want it to be MINE. Selfish I know, but....
I think he could afford the ingredients, etc. But in previous conversations, it sounds like he'll want to get together and brew stuff occasionally. but using my stuff or he's hoping to get some "hand-me-down" stuff.
Any input would be appreciated. Or ideas on how to handle it.
I guess the predicament is: I've never shared a brew day before. I've been to another's place and helped and watched and learned about all-grain. But I had nothing of my own. This is; he's expecting beer.
 
I am a little different and I will let others use my equipment and encourage them to get started in it. Also I don't haul my equipment around, if you want ot brew and don't have or can't afford the equipment then you can brew at my house.

Why don't you brew two batches the same day, one for him and one for you?
 
It does sound to me like he's politely wanting something for nothing. And get you to do lord knows how much of the work. And I wouldn't lone my brewing stuff out,period. Not hauling it around either. If he really wanted to brewmhe'd have bought a kit or something.
 
It does sound to me like he's politely wanting something for nothing. And get you to do lord knows how much of the work. And I wouldn't lone my brewing stuff out,period. Not hauling it around either. If he really wanted to brewmhe'd have bought a kit or something.

Agreed. If this is a good friend, I'd let him brew on my gear at my house - but he needs to at least buy a bucket, an airlock, and the ingredients.
 
Yeah,that'd be minimum. I wouldn't mind so much if he just wanted him to help pick out what is needed to brew.
 
So, the way I look at it is the whole "give a man a fish - he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish - he'll eat for a lifetime"... If you have the capacity to show him how to do it, and explain that he can watch one of YOUR brew days, so your brew day equals you keep the brew. Then, yeah - help him out wiht some discounted hand-me-down equipment (again, if you have the capacity), or show him the discounted deals, like the Midwest Supplies discounted Groupon. And once he has some stuff, you can go watch one of his, that he gets to keep his own beer made, with ingredients he purchased.

I am all for dual brewing as well, if you have the capacity, brew a 10 gal batch - both of you pitch in for ingredients and then each get 5 gals of wort.

Check out his set up that he has, and help to grow the hobby!

Just my two cents...
 
I had a similar situation with one of my friends, he had no equipment but was eager to learn. Rather than have him spend money on equipment he might never use again, I told him to go get a cheap ingredient kit, I think it was like 20-25 bucks, come over and I will show him how to brew it, bottle it, and when it's done, we split the batch. I think that's fair, since I gave him my bottles after all. Still need to get those back...
 
I show people all the time--my equipment, my ingredients, my recipe, my house. When it is done I give him a twelve out of the batch.
 
If your able to brew 10gal batches I say have him buy a carboy/bucket and split the cost of the batch. Tell him that this batch youll show him how to do it on your system but after that he needs to get his own equipment. Set up a brewday where he comes by to learn the process and takes his share home in his carboy. After that its up to him to pursue the hobby. If you want something in life you have to go for it, things won't just be handed to you. So you shouldn't just give him everything. But at the same time there's no reason not to help him out getting started on the right path.
 
Thanks guys. One thing I'll mention (wanted some opinions from other people and keep it somewhat unbiased). He has talked about how he's learned to barter. And willing to trade services for services. Haven't talked much about it and I am open to it. Just trying to figure out appropriate thing to do without me feeling like I'm spending the money and using my stuff that has taken me a few years to collect. When he expects the beer. Well, really haven't talked about it much. I'm thinking dual brew. Show him extract or whatnot, a plastic pail with airlock. A stock pot to boil 2 - 2.5 gallons, add water later method. Then same day, show him my current technique with batch sparging. I'll consider that. It's not much to buy your own buckets!
 
Thanks guys. One thing I'll mention (wanted some opinions from other people and keep it somewhat unbiased). He has talked about how he's learned to barter. And willing to trade services for services. Haven't talked much about it and I am open to it. Just trying to figure out appropriate thing to do without me feeling like I'm spending the money and using my stuff that has taken me a few years to collect. When he expects the beer. Well, really haven't talked about it much. I'm thinking dual brew. Show him extract or whatnot, a plastic pail with airlock. A stock pot to boil 2 - 2.5 gallons, add water later method. Then same day, show him my current technique with batch sparging. I'll consider that. It's not much to buy your own buckets!

Well that makes it easy...just trade him beer for something else. If you really want to "cross the t's and dot the i's" have him pitch the yeast so technically he "made" the beer. That should appease everyone around here....:rolleyes:
 
In my job I get a little lucky every once in a while in that I work in people's garages and twice have ended up in the midst of an ex-home brewer. Chatted a little and ended up with enough equipment for 2+ full beginners+ setups. Soon after setting up the best kits I could without damaging my setup I started asking around to friends to see who might be interested in brewing themselves. Found 2 friends that had been on the fence for some time and just gave them what I had put together. One friend has been very busy running and re-opening a business so no brewing from him. The other sat on the equipment for a couple of months, but when he did finally get to brewing went ape-$417!! He has, I think, 50+ gallons and has only started brewing in the last couple of months. I stopped by his place earlier today and he was doing 2 10 gallon batches back to back. HE'S A MADMAN! Making good beer though.

If you have extra beginner equipment to give or lend I would just do that. Invite him over and do a brew apiece and he is hooked.
 
cluckk said:
I show people all the time--my equipment, my ingredients, my recipe, my house. When it is done I give him a twelve out of the batch.

This is a good compromise in all areas, I think. I would be on board for doing it this way. It spreads knowledge and he gets a few bottles to enjoy while you keep the bulk of the product.
 
I've taught a friend to brew. We split the cost of the ingredients, he came over and I basically brewed it for him (while he took notes) with all of my equipment, and when it came to bottling time he brought his own and took half the batch home. THEN he bought his own stuff. He didn't know if he'd like it enough to spend the money on everything.

That's also how I got into it; another friend did the same for me. If you're not willing to so much as share your brewing equipment for someone who might or might not want to get into the hobby, then either they're not a very good friend to you or you need to lighten up.

The biggest deal for me was that I didn't want to give away my bottles (I'm obsessive about my bottles and only other homebrewers know how much of a hassle cleaning them is and therefore make an effort to give them back). The 15 bucks to split the cost of ingredients wasn't as big a deal.
 
Ye p - as others have mentioned:

* I have had others buy their ingredients and I helped them on my equipment, at my house - I kept a six pack just for tasting.

*I have gone to beginners house and helped them with their first brew on their equipment (maybe brought my wort chiller or some piece of equipment).

*Have had beginners over to watch me brew and let them sample my beers.

Would NEVER loan out my equipment for the most part.... some odd things maybe, but definitely nothing important.

Would not get in the habit of having someone using my stuff, at my house on any kind of regular basis... I think that would get old.

Would consider brewing/splitting batches (and cost) if the person was someone I got along with well and liked brewing with.

I think the key is that everyone usually agrees that you want to help and encourage beginners - we were all there. But, you don't want to get to the point where you are getting taken advantage of, or making your own brewing and time suffer.
 
Awesome. I like I'm getting different points of views. sometimes, just got to gauge myself somehow to see if I'm being unreasonable. Mostly I'm thinking: possible brew partner. share cost on base malt or something. It was just all his talk about bartering and in my head I'm thinking, "are you just getting me to brew beer for you???" I'm thinking going to this guy's house with web resources, catalogs, interweb sites. Talk with him about different set-ups, techniques, etc. Fully loaded. Brew in a bag, extract, all-grain. Variations.
 
Teach a man to fish and all that.

Anyway, life's too short to hoard brew. If you make beer at another man's house, it's his beer, IMO. I brew often enough and well enough people seek me out for beer. Who cares? If I give away enough cheap beer, it'll come back to me. Why would be you be cheap with your friends?
 
I have an older family friend who has trouble thinking sometimes. I have given him wort/beer, last year I gave him 20gallons of wart and the last time he showed up on brew day with dirty carboys, after I told him 5 times "the carboys better be clean". When I get to be 75y/o I wonder who will brew for me? Looking back 20 gallons was too much to give away, for that I am a jerk.
 
Finally got a reply back from the guy. Nothing set as of yet. He's working or something and busy, but looking at trying to set a date for next weekend. Mind you this is going slower than 90-minute boil! I'm thinking next weekend would only be dinner with family etc. From there, set recipe and when to brew.
Rereading this......It sounds like a courtship! Ugh.... I already went through that once with my wife.
 
I'm not sure where Willard is, but if it is close to Portland you can come by our club and brew some Sunday. We teach around 5 people to brew a year. Use our equipment. We'll show your friend how. We only have 2 steadfast rules though. First, if it's your brew you must be there for bottling day. Second rule, leave a 6 pack for the club to try/critique.
 
StusBrew said:
Finally got a reply back from the guy. Nothing set as of yet. He's working or something and busy, but looking at trying to set a date for next weekend. Mind you this is going slower than 90-minute boil! I'm thinking next weekend would only be dinner with family etc. From there, set recipe and when to brew.
Rereading this......It sounds like a courtship! Ugh.... I already went through that once with my wife.

I wouldn't over think it or stress about it. Let him make the effort to get with you and set those things up for when it works for you. You've put the ball in his court and now its his turn to return it. Since you've already put it out there, if he's serious about it he will make the attempts to make it happen. Just my 2 cents.
 
Got an e-mail from him today. He had talked about having family come over for dinner and chit chat, etc. Fine. My problem is patience. Forget dinner, just want to brew. Well, got an e-mail from him Monday evening. He was in Vancouver for a meeting or something and picked up ingredients! Well, alright man. There's a start. He says he's really excited. So, now my part of bargain of setting aside time to get him into it. Though this weekend I'll be doing a lot of wrench turning on our rigs! I can't help but get excited now!
 
I'm not sure where Willard is, but if it is close to Portland you can come by our club and brew some Sunday. We teach around 5 people to brew a year. Use our equipment. We'll show your friend how. We only have 2 steadfast rules though. First, if it's your brew you must be there for bottling day. Second rule, leave a 6 pack for the club to try/critique.

Willard is in the Gorge! Between up the Little White Salmon, between White Salmon and Carson. 20 minutes from any post office or store! Well, it's funny. Keep pointing him other directions as well. He's finding out there are quite a few people he's talked with, and that I know. That brew. So I think he's quite excited.
 
Okay everyone. Update. Ugh...This guy and his family are super nice. Loved hanging out with them on brew day at their house. Problem is: he kind of has this flex/work from home thing going on. We were there on a Saturday almost 6 weeks ago. Beautiful day. They have goats and chickens. 3 boys. Nice house. 10 acres. So all in all, this guy gets phone calls for work. Also the freakin' goats were pregnant and just as we started the boil, one decided to deliver. So...ugh. Then we were chilling the wort to pitch the yeast. He got a phone call. By now, a 2.5 - 3 hour extract brew day has now turned into something like 5 or 6 hours. Granted we showed up and they had crustless quiche (gluten free) and corn bread, etc. Bsed for an hour or so.
I brought my bucket for fermenting in. Brought cleanser and all that stuff. Long story short. he wanted to use mason jars. Why not? point is whatever works for him. So 2 eeks later, gave him my bottling bucket. Then his wife asked him if he was sure mason jars would work. So he checked it out on-line. So had to get some bottles. I had about 24 spare bottles. Some 22 oz. and 12 oz. So I told him 2 weeks in primary. then we bottle. Well, 2 weeks is up. It's now working on middle of week 4 since. So 6 weeks. No sign if he's bottled yet. It's been hard to connect for one thing. We see each other on Sundays for Mass and then we chit chat via e-mail. He's probably tired of hearing from me about whether he's bottled or not. Dragging on. this guy is way too busy. he says he enjoyed it, so that's good. problem is, he hasn't bottled yet!
 
You can lead a horse to water but cannot make him drink. I would not stress over it and brew some for yourself.
 
If he can't afford the $20 for an ale pail and airlock, then he probably shouldn't be brewing.

That is exactly how I handled this situation.

Coworkers husband came to my house, he bought $12 bucket with lid.

We brewed twice that day and he is scheduled to come over this weekend and bottle it.
I have him hooked though, he paid for my ingredients and I gave him an older brass ball valve for an igloo cooler that he has.

Our brew club has doubled in size!
 
Yeah,they say you can lead a horse to water,but you can't make him drink...but you can sure make him wish he had! This guy is way to busy,or making excuses to keep any kind of brew schedule. It makes me wonder just how much he really likes brewing. Might just be a passing fancy to him...
 
I don't know. I took it easy on him that day. I basically brewed his beer and let him pitch the yeast. It was like 5 p.m. when pitched and he had been on the phone for 20 or 25 minutes. I was thinking : "Okay, been here since 10:30 for an extract brew day. I'm ready to go home!" And it was nuts. I understand the whole do it at his house thing: goats, chickens, kids, work phone calls. He talks about brewing once a month. It ain't going to happen. He doesn't have any bottles. I gave him what I had. I had screwed up a yeas starter the other day intending to brew last weekend. And we talked about it and he offered to buy some yeast and DME while he was near a brew supply store. He bought it, but we're having trouble connecting again./ He got the stuff Monday. It's now Thursday.
I do have another brew day planned with him. But he now see's what he needs to brew with. Basically, one day in June or July (it won't be May!). I'll bring my all-grain equipment over. Brew the same beer. Get 10 gallons. He keeps his 5, I keep my 5. He then gets a chance to see another technique/tool you can use for brewing.
 
I live 20 minutes from any town. About an hour from a brw supply store. He lives about 10 - 15 minutes from town. But I guess he comes into town throughout the week for work and baseball and band practice and and...and...\
I don'tmind brwing with him. I mentioned brewing this coming weekend and he said we can brew it together. I had to tell him, I like brewing alone. Besides man. You haven't bottled your first beer yet! It'd be kind of cool to one weekend brew by myself. Then turn around a weekend or two later and brew again with him!
 
I wouldn't bother. Seriously. this guy could give a ratts a$$ either way. Doing most of it for him is proof. If he's not excited about it by now,he never will be. Leave him with what he has & let him worry about this one. If he comes around,fine. If nor F'em. He really sounds rather lazy about it.
 
KeyWestBrewing said:
If your able to brew 10gal batches I say have him buy a carboy/bucket and split the cost of the batch. Tell him that this batch youll show him how to do it on your system but after that he needs to get his own equipment. Set up a brewday where he comes by to learn the process and takes his share home in his carboy. After that its up to him to pursue the hobby. If you want something in life you have to go for it, things won't just be handed to you. So you shouldn't just give him everything. But at the same time there's no reason not to help him out getting started on the right path.

This is how I would go about it as well.

I understand that you get what he's implying, but you gotta take charge of the situation.
 
I've had a brewing partner in the past and it worked out really well. We split the cost on the ingredients and split the batches evenly. The person who came up with the recipe would be the primary brewer, and the other would be the helper.

That being said, all the equipment was at my place, and everything was fermented and bottled at my place. He did have his own equipment and fermenters, though.

The difference for me was that he was a good friend and was as in to brewing as I am. (He ended up getting a DUI and is no longer allowed to brew)
 
Well, finally should be getting my fermenting bucket and bottling bucket and bottle brush and spoon back. I keep mentioning another brew date. Same recipe, but he does the extract. I do the all-grain version. Not a peep from him about the recipe. Just says he'll see me later. Oh well. He's got too much stuff going on. he was super jazzed about it when we did it. He was trying to stay focused the whole time doing it. Kept asking questions. But.. He was definitely curious about it. But not so sure now.
 
StusBrew said:
Well, finally should be getting my fermenting bucket and bottling bucket and bottle brush and spoon back. I keep mentioning another brew date. Same recipe, but he does the extract. I do the all-grain version. Not a peep from him about the recipe. Just says he'll see me later. Oh well. He's got too much stuff going on. he was super jazzed about it when we did it. He was trying to stay focused the whole time doing it. Kept asking questions. But.. He was definitely curious about it. But not so sure now.

Whew, at least you're getting the spoon back! People are talking about their equipment like its big machinery or something, so that made me laugh about the spoon.

I wouldn't worry about it. I have friends who always say "let's go [fill in the blank." But after a while you realize they like the idea, but aren't really interested in actually doing it.

It might also be that this activity turned into an all day affair when he thought it would be a couple hours. So now he knows (thinks) he needs to set aside a full day to do it.
 
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