Is it a full time job keeping up with the n00bs?

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impatient

impatient

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Seems like you pros out there spend a lot of time helping us out. Just letting you know that we all appreciate the guidance.

Thanks
 
Sure do guys... I am a worry wart, and you help me believe in my wort ;) LMAO im a dork
 
I think they get asked the same questions over an over. They probably have a hot key that will paste the answers lol.

Yes much appreciation for this site
 
impatient said:
Seems like you pros out there spend a lot of time helping us out. Just letting you know that we all appreciate the guidance.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It can be trying this time of year...But we just want to calm fear, and help you all make great beer, and hopefully not make the same mistakes we did...

BUT I did happen to notice a certain noob with a quite contrary nicname, jumping into at least one thread and telling them to relax and be patient as well...so it's thinks like that that kinda take the pressure off, and don't go un-noticed on here...

SO double thank! :mug:

Just remember, the search is our friend.

:D
 
Like many noobs, I ask way to many questions but I try and do my part helping teach others, it just helps me learn how to make better beer.
 
I'm still relatively noobish but will lend a hand when I feel confident I know what I'm talking about.

(all you with the "we're still waiting jokes" are free to shut up:D).

That said, my best advice is to listen to Yooper, Revvy, flyangler, EdWort, Biermuncher and even DeathBrewer, in addition to a gaggle of many others. I have learned more from them than I can possibly tell you.
 
I get on alot of different forums from hunting, handgun shooting to coaching girls softball. And this is the most helpful, and friendly forum I have ever been on. I would like to meet some of you folks and drink some homebrews together sometime! You people are great!!!!!!!
 
I am not an expert, and i am no longer a noob... but in 6 years i still ask question, and i like to answer them as much as i like to get them answered... Revy, Yooper, and the crowd are a good bunch and help more then they know. Cheers to you. And of course we all love Zym

Cheers
 
Don't underestimate how hard it is to be a nOOb. It's a full time job deciding when to throw out the batch and constantly mucking with the wort, this is exhausting!
 
shecky said:
That said, my best advice is to listen to Yooper, Revvy, flyangler, EdWort, Biermuncher and even DeathBrewer, in addition to a gaggle of many others. I have learned more from them than I can possibly tell you.
Click to expand...

Duped another one. :D

On a serious note, though, answering queries is a good exercise in gauging how much you have internalized (and comprehended) best practices/techniques that lead to brewing success. It's all in how you can apply the knowledge you've amassed.

I'll shut up now before I get too philosophical.

:mug:
 
flyangler18 said:
Duped another one. :D

On a serious note, though, answering queries is a good exercise in gauging how much you have internalized (and comprehended) best practices/techniques that lead to brewing success. It's all in how you can apply the knowledge you've amassed.

I'll shut up now before I get too philosophical.

:mug:
Click to expand...

In plain English, he means: the more you learn, the more you know.:D
 
Besides, just look back at most folks very first posts here...

It will sound eerily familiar to questions you may want to ask.
 
Zymurgrafi said:
Besides, just look back at most folks very first posts here...

It will sound eerily familiar to questions you may want to ask.
Click to expand...

And THAT my "noobs" friends, soon to be family, is why I say...

search.jpg


:D
 
To Revvy's point, I find so many of my answers by searching that I haven't asked too many questions. A friend of mine just started brewing and I told him that this site is as important (if not more) of a resource as Papazian, Palmer, et al. They all recommend clubs, but I love this site and spend more time here than anywhere else.

What hurts though is that I will never have a high post count so I can post a milestone mod edit- you know why! ;)
 
This place is a true wealth of information, all because of the participants. It's appreciated!
 
Who here is a pro? Some have just been in "brewing school" longer. :D
 
All the old hands have been "GREAT!" I can't put in words everything I've learned from this site. If any of you were close (PNW) I'd offer you a beer! Thanks so much, and for not chopping me off at the knees for "Stupid" questions.

Cheers to you all!
 
I too just want to express my appreciation for all of the help and information that I have received on this site. It is a wealth of knowledge. I like others learn so much by searching. When I find what I was looking for after searching I usually don’t thank anyone, as I usually will not resurrect an old thread. So many of you deserve a big thank you from me by helping me without knowing it, so thanks a million.

Stan
 
Marko73 said:
To Revvy's point, I find so many of my answers by searching that I haven't asked too many questions. A friend of mine just started brewing and I told him that this site is as important (if not more) of a resource as Papazian, Palmer, et al. They all recommend clubs, but I love this site and spend more time here than anywhere else.

What hurts though is that I will never have a high post count so I can post a milestone ;)
Click to expand...

You know what I've noticed?

I find that if a person reads a thread on their "basic question" first and maybe bumps that thread up, that their question has a lot more depth than it might have been...because maybe they zeroed in on an issue from one or more of the posts in a thread...and then rather than,

"What's that fuzzy stuff on top of my beer?" To "Oh I thought my beer was infected, now I know it's a krauzen, it's normal, and it has proteins and other things in it, so what kinda proteins are there, do they come from the yeasts, the wort or both, and should I skim it or not?"

Which is more fun for me to answer because it may lead me to search, or to google or to recall some fuzzy bit of info I heard on a podcast and go search for it for you...and for me...


The thing to me about searching is two fold, and I really hate coming off as a search nazi, BUT

1) There is a huuuge amount of state of the art brewing info on here...info that is even more current than palmer (only becasue it takes 2-3 years to get a book out.) Some of us have spent hours writing stuff up, like blogs or long answers to basic questions, including searching for links like audio and video casts to answer those basic questions...And we want you to know it exists, and we want you to utilize it to be the best damn brewer's you can be.

SO when I say it's been covered before, I'm not saying "hey a$$hat, use the search."

I'm saying "Hey, there's some kick ass info on that very topic, put together from some amazing brewers, and it's free, right here, you don't need to buy a book....all you need to do is click "search" and maybe play with the words a couple times...

2) A lot of the "kick ass brewers" who are here, and were here before I got here have stopped answering the same noob questions over and over. Most of those people get tired of it after a couple months, and just ignore these threads...From what people tell me, for doing it constantly for a year, I'm an anomoly....maybe because of my 'calling" (yes I am a minister for the 10,000th time :D) I have an almost pathological need to help people...whether it's in a church or in a brewery.

Which means that the people who might be best able to answer your basic question are NOT going to because they did it 6 months ago, and feel that that's enough. Or they are no longer here...but their info is still here and still valuable...

So that really means that if you just start a thread, especially if you are asking about "Stainless vs Aluminum" or Plastic waterbottles or "is my beer ruined," or "what;s your opinion on...?" You may not GET THE BEST INFORMATION YOU COULD BE GETTING You could be getting the same outdated "party line" out of Palmer or Papazian, (which are actually several years of in the case of Charlie over a decade old) when there was some new discovery a few weeks back that we all talked to death and learned from...and we want you to know about it too...

Another thing, as a writer with a book on spirituality "out there" I know that unless a book gets constantly updated it only represents the author's and the common knowlegebase at the time it was written which could be at the minimum 3, or even 10 or 20 years old. It's simply a snapshot, not a "holy text" unchangable (even Holy texts aren't unchangeable, btw) and far from perfect.

If the author doesn't revise it, or if he writes a sequel and no one reads it, then that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist or that the author still believes what he had originally written...

The thing with the internet and podcasts is that the author might have actually said he was wrong about something, or learned something new that renders what he originally wrote no longer valid, and it might have happened only yesterday...So the common wisdom has not caught up with it unless someone like me who tries to keep up with everything new and constantly tries to learn as much as he can reports it back to you...case in point...

Didja know that John Palmer has retracted most of what he wrote about IBU's in How To Brew?

He attended a high end academic conference on hops that totally blew away he felt what he wrote in the book....And he did an entire basic brewing podcast on it..

March 20, 2008 - What Is an IBU . . . Really?
John Palmer, author of How to Brew, shares information from a conference that challenged his concept of what defines an International Bitterness Unit (IBU).

Click to listen....
http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr03-20-08ibu.mp3
Click to expand...

Some of us were blown away by it..

So in a sense some of the info that Palmer wrote in HTB is now the brewing equivalent of Pluto.

And it also does get a wee bit tiresome, when I've spent like 1/2 hour putting a detailed answer to a question together (as you can see, my answers are usually pretty detailed), to find that there are 3 threads an hour later asking the same question, and the threads are all one after another on the page.

Or there's a sticky right above the poster's new thread which says very clearly (like for all the "stuck fermentations that aren't really stuck fermentation threads) Fermentation can take 24-72 hours to start and the poster says he just pitched the yeast 12 hours ago...


But really, it all boils down to one thing...I want you to get as much pleasure from drinking your well crafted, and amazingly tasty beers as I do drinking mine. :mug:

And to give back here for all the stuff I learned over the year...

I figure we're all 1 batch ahead of someone else, and we should all help the person behind us...but we need to make sure that we're giving, and brewing with, the best, freshest info, possible.


And, who said 70's not a milestone...we had a member do a thread last week @ 30 posts...I suggested though that his posting of mod edit's equal his post count.


Back to your regularly scheduled posting.
 
I'm another one of those people with a low post count that spends a lot of time here. It seems that every possible question that I have come up with so far has been posted, answered and discussed -- usually with in the last couple of days!

:mug:
 
Jeez Revvy, take a breath! That has to be one of the best novels I have read in a while, though. hehehe
Excellent post, and very accurate however. To sum it up, Revvy is basically saying, and I quote - "hey a$$hat, use the search." (Oops, did I take your words out of context?)
I would like to add a big "THANKS" to all of those who have helped me along the way as well.
 
It's probably a good time to say 'thanks' to everyone too. I've been searching everytime I come across a question and have found more really excellent information than I could possibly find time to read. It's made it much easier to just relax...
 
bull8042 said:
Jeez Revvy, take a breath! That has to be one of the best novels I have read in a while, though. hehehe
Excellent post, and very accurate however. To sum it up, Revvy is basically saying, and I quote - "hey a$$hat, use the search." (Oops, did I take your words out of context?)
I would like to add a big "THANKS" to all of those who have helped me along the way as well.
Click to expand...

Someday bull POW right to the kisser. j/k :D

ralphal.jpg


:D

CiscoKid said:
It's probably a good time to say 'thanks' to everyone too. I've been searching everytime I come across a question and have found more really excellent information than I could possibly find time to read. It's made it much easier to just relax...
Click to expand...

You know...something people COULD do...is if they search for something and find a thread that actually answers their question, they could actually post the fact that they got help, right in the thread....

And/or Prost it...

I know when someone post in one of my threads that they found it helpful, I feel like I've done good...

It does a couple things...it gets you postcount up....AND it bounces that old thread up to the top, where just maybe someone who needs the info, might actually see it...

On some bumped threads we have had some amazing discussions about stuff..
 
I'll third, fourth, and fifth the thanks for all the great info here and the helpful veterans!

:mug:
 
So true. I am astounded at the patience of you guys who answer the same questions over and over. I don't take it personally when you try to tell people to use the search button first. Some of the problem with being new is when you search, the question is worded slightly differently, and you don't understand the subtle difference is really not different at all. It is just being new to brewing and being overwhelmed with info. That is my take on it. I use the search often, and many times I find the answer, other times, I am not sure if or how the answers in the posts apply to my question. Sucks being a n00b. But you guys sure make it easier.

Another thing you do is "police" the replies. Some of the advice is not worded correctly or inaccurate. So, props to the people who not only answer the same questions for the 1,000th time, but also to those who correct the less than ideal advice with better advice (and an explanation why their advice is better - so we can all learn from the mistakes).
 
One thing I've learned about the search is that you can tweak it to work for you and can save your preferences...

Don't use the standard drop down search...when you pull it down click on advanced search, which will give you a full page...Or you can right click on it and open it as a new window or tab...

On the top left is a box that says "Search by key word" then there is a text box below that...below that is a drop down menu...you have the option to search by titles or for the word in the thread...unless I know a specific title phrased perfectly, I change it to search IN THREAD for the key word...unless the word is too short OR to common you will find more information by searching inside the threads..

On the right hand you can select the name of a poster....(I betcha if you searched for posts by me, you'd find something) or you can leave it blank..

I ignore all the search options below that EXCEPT the one labeled "Show results as"

I usually select threads rather than posts...because if you choose posts, you may end up with EVERY POST in a single thread that has your word...and not necessarily be the thread you are looking for...if you select show as threads, you will get a list of threads instead...

This MIGHT be the singular issue with people using the search and why they don't like it...

And then at the bottom, you can save the preferences so that all the time you use the advanced search it is set that way...

The search isn't great...but a couple quick hacks in advanced search and you will find what you need.
 
^^^^ See I just learned how to search better from Revvy too. Thanks for that information also. Do you have any advice on how to convince the "swmbo" that the exessive time (in her way of thinking) that I spend on this site? LOL
 
Thumper said:
^^^^ See I just learned how to search better from Revvy too. Thanks for that information also. Do you have any advice on how to convince the "swmbo" that the exessive time (in her way of thinking) that I spend on this site? LOL
Click to expand...

Dude, that's easy! Do all of your browsing while at work.... :D
Works for me!
 
I too am very appreciative of the support of the people who take the time to answer the same questions day in and day out.

I've learned so much from reading this site that I fell as though I'm an expert even though I've only brewed a few batches since coming across this site.

Remember that sometimes people are lazy and figure that a quick question and a quick answer is easier then doing a search (seriously, the ADVANCED search is the only way to go!).

Also, that sometimes people feel they want to introduce themselves through a question post. It's like getting a little bit of attention. We don't know any people who post for attention around here do we?

And sometimes it's good to ask and get a new set of varied opinions. If the same basic questions don't keep popping up on the first page, then new members might think the site is stale because they don't see threads with their questions on there. First impressions you know.
 

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