Advanced home brewing

So I was perusing brewing books online and noticed that some had the phrase "....for the advanced home brewer". Now I have read John Palmers "How To Brew" and Charlie Papazian's "The Complete Joy...." I have done a few extract brews and will be attempting my first AG next week. My question is, at what point does one become "advanced"??? Is merely doing AG advanced? Is creating your own recipes advanced? Are you advanced when you know all about the various enzymes, when to protein rest, best temps for rests for certain beers, if you raise your own yeast, the characteristics of various hops.....etc.? I ask only because I'm wondering when/if I should bother picking up one of these "advanced" HB books.

Advanced is somewhat of a relative term. Building your own recipes, knowing the different temps of different styles of beers, hitting your predicted gravities when doing all grain, being able to replicate the same recipe twice and have it be spot on, knowing the characteristics of hops, being able to drink a beer and pick out different hop flavors, being able to estimate SRM of a beer, doing yeast starters, raising yeast from a bottle of commercial beer because you like it's flavor profile, I could go on and on and on. There is no real test for an advanced brewer. It is all about experience. When you realize that even your most perfect brew day could have been better by doing "blank", I would say that you are on the path to being advanced.

im retarded

I presume you are referring to Gordon's Strong book Brewing Better Beer. If you haven't done an AG recipe at all yet, I would say don't get that book. The book is definitely not for extract brewers or new AG brewers.

Brew some AG recipes and get yourself to a state where you are comfortable with different malt and hop varieties and how they taste in various compositions, how mashing at different temps affects the beer, etc. Basically, you need a baseline level of experience that you don't have yet.

Thanks. Thats about what I figured. Currently my palate is refined to the point that if I want to finish the beer AND have another one then I like it. I am looking forward to "growin up" in this great hobby in the coming years!!!!!

1ratdog said:

im retarded

Click to expand...

Was this a mod edit?

This is sorta like, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it." You'll know when you're there. Just brew away and when you see an opportunity to try a different method, go for it. You won't know if it works for you until you try. The key is to become the master of your equipment.

I have Papazians book and I think the term advanced refers to the amount of knowledge, time, and equipment needed to brew a successful all-grain batch.

In his book he starts beginner brewing with the basics of sanitation, fermentation, and bottling. As you move to intermediate he discusses hops, grains, styles, and additional equipment needed to brew a partial. In advanced he goes into pH, water, temps, mashing, and so on...

All three are no more complicated than the other, just more involved. Stick with the books you have. Maybe add a book on recipe building. Of course read/search on here, it is the best resource!

1ratdog said:

im retarded

Click to expand...

im brewtarded

There's no formal definition of "advanced" so I'm not sure what the question would be. What is the division between basic calculus and advanced calculus? It would be silly to call taking a derivative of a polynomial "advanced calculus", and it would be silly to call differential geometry "basic calculus", but there's a lot of gray area in the middle. Same with homebrewing, or anything else, right?

(Hmmm, I realize in retrospect that making an analogy to calculus might have made my point more confusing rather than clarifying anything...)

jsweet said:

There's no formal definition of "advanced" so I'm not sure what the question would be. What is the division between basic calculus and advanced calculus? It would be silly to call taking a derivative of a polynomial "advanced calculus", and it would be silly to call differential geometry "basic calculus", but there's a lot of gray area in the middle. Same with homebrewing, or anything else, right?

(Hmmm, I realize in retrospect that making an analogy to calculus might have made my point more confusing rather than clarifying anything...)

Click to expand...

Made sense to me.

optimatored said:

I have Papazians book and I think the term advanced refers to the amount of knowledge, time, and equipment needed to brew a successful all-grain batch.

Click to expand...

jsweet said:

There's no formal definition of "advanced" so I'm not sure what the question would be. What is the division between basic calculus and advanced calculus? It would be silly to call taking a derivative of a polynomial "advanced calculus", and it would be silly to call differential geometry "basic calculus", but there's a lot of gray area in the middle. Same with homebrewing, or anything else, right?

(Hmmm, I realize in retrospect that making an analogy to calculus might have made my point more confusing rather than clarifying anything...)

Click to expand...

What is advanced? Is it higher than intermediate, but lower than expert? I mean, I have the basics down but there are always questions I have that I have to have some help with. Does advanced mean knowing everything about decoction? Or water chemistry?

I guess I'd have to know what the definition of advanced is before I'd say if I qualified. I refer to books and other brewers sometimes for recipe thoughts, especially in German decoction brewing.

I have a 1/2 barrel HERMS (all electric) and some cool equipment. That's great, but it doesn't make me advanced in my book! It just means I spent more money.

Yooper said:

What is advanced? Is it higher than intermediate, but lower than expert? I mean, I have the basics down but there are always questions I have that I have to have some help with. Does advanced mean knowing everything about decoction? Or water chemistry?

I guess I'd have to know what the definition of advanced is before I'd say if I qualified. I refer to books and other brewers sometimes for recipe thoughts, especially in German decoction brewing.

I have a 1/2 barrel HERMS (all electric) and some cool equipment. That's great, but it doesn't make me advanced in my book! It just means I spent more money.

Click to expand...

yea its hard to define. i think its relative to the brewer and their individual process.

i was speaking before in terms of Papazian's book not how I view the topic. I think its the writers intent to not overwhelm the reader and gradually bring in more involved brewing techniques.

Yooper said:

. . . but it doesn't make me advanced in my book! It just means I spent more money.

Click to expand...

You mean spending more money won't make my beer better?

What'll I tell my wife now.

AnOldUR said:

You mean spending more money won't make my beer better?

What'll I tell my wife now.

Click to expand...

Same as I tell Bob. The beer IS better. It's your palate that is slipping due to your advancing age!

I guess a good way to know if you can read those "advanced" brewing books is to read an excerpt. If it's gibberish, then it's beyond you. If it's easily understood, then it's beneath you. Otherwise, I don't know what a reasonable expectation would be.

I mean, George Fix may be easily understood but still advanced to some people. But that would be something I'd consider for advanced brewers unless someone was already a microbiologist.