What to say when homebrew is no good?

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cujocon

cujocon

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I was at a wedding.
The groom made all the libations.
They were not good.
When I say not good...many were gushers...blowing up on guests.
All of one variety clearly were infected (cheerios anyone?)

Groom seemed to think all was right with the world.

I certainly wasn't going to say a word at his wedding.

Is staying quiet the right thing to do? Maybe he'll never learn to make "good" drinks if nobody speaks up...are we doing a disservice by not telling the truth?
 
It's all situational imho. A wedding isn't a good place to tell the groom that his beer is terrible, but honest feedback in just about every other instance is the way to go...at least that's what I would want for myself.
 
You were right for not bringing the subject up at the reception. Can you do a brew day with him? Not to point out flaws, but find out where the problem(s) may be, and over time offer hints and suggestions.
 
cujocon said:
Is staying quiet the right thing to do? Maybe he'll never learn to make "good" drinks if nobody speaks up...are we doing a disservice by not telling the truth?
Click to expand...


at the wedding yes but I would tell him after the fact without a problem

I give beer away to craft beer drinkers here at work to get feedback

I quiz them to get honest feedback not just oh is great, also I tell them being free is not feedback


all the best

S_M
 
Difficult to say, and really depends on how well received his beers were by others.
It would be one thing to offer some insight as to why 90% of the beer he brought went untouched.
It would be another thing to criticize him if nearly all of it were consumed or if he ran out of beer that day.
 
Yeah... told my neighbor that his beer obviously fermented too hot - after warning him about it ~1 dillion times - he hasn't talked to me since. He thinks it's amazing.

Wedding wouldn't be the place to do it though, IMO.
 
Tell him. If he really cares about his brewing, he shouldn't get mad if you can point out the obvious flaws with intention of helping him out. Butthurt, maybe. But it will help him in the long run.

Maybe he just doesn't know due to lack of experience? Or perhaps he does know, but had no other option but to serve the beer after spending the time/money that was set aside for beer?
 
Best time to talk to him would be after the honeymoon! He should be good and relaxed by then.

But seriously, I had a friend who was like that as well and felt his beers were amazing! In his mind they were, but to me I just could not stomach drinking them, especially knowing that they were probably infected. One time I asked him if he wanted to brew with me or vice versus, and of course he was like Yeah lets do it.

I watched and interjected a few times, but ultimately found that the reason why his beers were generally bad was due to his poor sanitation routine later on. His process was spot on the whole time. I used that as a way to tell him he was doing everything right and "could" be making great beer, if he only took the time to clean everything correctly, use those best practices.

Needless to say, he hasn't brewed in years, because he says he can't be bothered to do "all of that"

Some people are proud just to make something fizzy and fermented, the chosen few who not completely satisfied with what they make, and will continue to try and improve, those are the people who will make great beer!
 
At the wedding, I would have kept my mouth shut. Afterward, I would mention it to him and talk about his process. It could be very helpful. If he doesn't want to listen then it's his loss.
 
I was at NHC this last week/weekend. On club night, I was honestly blown away by how many really crappy beers people were pouring. I guess some brewers just think theirs is great and are happy to offer it to others. I really think in a place like NHC or even your local homebrew festivals (we have the SoCal HB Fest), you need to bring your "A" game. You need others in your club that will give you honest feedback and you need to be ready and willing to accept it. Too bad the groom didn't solicit some feedback before pushing his homebrew to his guests.
 
I brewed for a wedding. 30 gallons of beer, 10 gallons of cider. about half of it were fishers. I was still pretty new, over primed slightly, and I provided a giant chest freezer two weeks prior to chill all the bottles and they didn't put them in there until the night before so that's why mine was all gushers. Still had nothing but good comments about it, and the occasional laugh about the gushing.



Just saying it might have been logical issues out of his control.
 
I often run into the flip side of this situation. I question if I am receiving honest feedback from people.

Something along the lines of: "I don't normally like beer, but I really like this," gets said. What!? Either that is a load of BS, or the best compliment ever.

Some people can take constructive criticism, other people are offended by nearly anything. I would rather someone tell me if they did not like my beer. So, from my perspective, speak up. If he has any interest in actually making good beer, he will appreciate the feedback.
 
ColoHox said:
Some people can take constructive criticism, other people are offended by nearly anything. I would rather someone tell me if they did not like my beer. So, from my perspective, speak up. If he has any interest in actually making good beer, he will appreciate the feedback.
Click to expand...

agreed, but I think dude's wedding is not the time/place for that feedback.
 
Touchy subject for some people. Would depend on the guys attitude/personality. If he's a bit to sensitive I'd probably just let it ride and show him my process and hope he picks up some good ideas to improve his process...
 
1. If someone gives you bad home brew and doesn't ask for feed back, say thank you and don't offer any, unless this is a good friend. If they ask for feed back go to #2

2. If its an obvious infection I would phrase it something like
"The same thing happened to me 3 times. I asked a few experienced brewers and they suggested that I had an infection. To deal with that they said ... which I did and haven't had problems since.

This can be a white lie (it never happened to you 3 times), but it will give the person constructive advice without hurting their feelings.
 
There have been a few threads like, "I'm getting married in five weeks, will my beer be ready?".
May have been the scenario.
 
If hes a close friend you can be honest with then just be straight up. If you don't see this person much then i would just leave it alone.


All the homebrew ive had from other brewers have been very good. But then again all the home brewers i know are because of this site and most people on this site tend to be good brewers.
 
I wouldn't deliberately tell someone their brew sucked out of the blue, but if they asked me if I liked it or not, I would tell the truth. But in as kind of a way as possible.
 
I reckon keeping your trap firmly shut is the way to go.

If he made the beer and served it to his wedding guest he obviously thinks his beer is great.

If I were making beer for a big bash like that I would want to be damn sure I was giving away great beer. I'd probably plan it well in advance and try to get impartial and knowledgeable feedback prior to the event. It is his own wedding. many folks view that as an important day. It sounds like quality control is lacking.

If he thinks the beer is good and is not seeking feedback, none should be offered IMO. If the beer was all consumed with no adverse effects to the consumers other than from over consumption of alcohol then I'm sure it gets filed away as more credence to his thinking, "my beer is great and my process is sound". If it was all drunk (minus the gushers) that's fair enough I suppose.

If there are gushing bottles, I don't know how anyone homebrewer could equate that with acceptable results. Clearly something has gone awry. A good beer that's warm will not gush. It will be warm and fizzy.

I think you did the right thing in keeping shtum.
 
kombat said:
Why would "only" chilling for 24 hours cause gushers?
Click to expand...

volume measurements were slightly off so over primed a little, but it was only chilled for like 6 hours or so for some of them so they weren't really cold enough to crash the sediment out and keep the c02 in suspension.
 
I would have spit the beer on the bride's face in the receiving line! or is that considered over doing it?

tumblr_lwe82kXN8C1qzcunco3_250.gif
 
Two options as I see it:

1) Not say anything. It's a day bigger than beer for a couple people.

2) Wait until the toast/speeches. Stumble up to the front, beer in hand, and grab the microphone from whoever has it. In a perfect world, you will get the 'stylus-screeching-off-the-record' sound as well. Greet the guests...take a swig from the beer, wait only a moment after it passes your lips to dramatically spit it out like water out of a dolphins blow-hole, turn to the groom and say "...and this is how I know your marriage won't work". Mic drop, then walk away.
 
This thread is interesting to me as I'm about to give our beer/wine out at our wedding as party favors (not serve it). Our wedding is 3 months out and the beers are fermenting now.

Question about feedback...
Where do you draw the line? I've had someone tell me that I should buy distilled water and add minerals to it because my water chemistry was off. I laughed because I thought he was kidding. I'm not personally about to go out and buy a bunch of water like that because we tried it and I can't taste a difference.
 
Never criticize his beers from his wedding day. Don't taint his memory of that day.

But for any future beers...yeah, you should say something like, "I think this beer could be better if you..."
 
RansomBrewing said:
This thread is interesting to me as I'm about to give our beer/wine out at our wedding as party favors (not serve it). Our wedding is 3 months out and the beers are fermenting now.

Question about feedback...
Where do you draw the line? I've had someone tell me that I should buy distilled water and add minerals to it because my water chemistry was off. I laughed because I thought he was kidding. I'm not personally about to go out and buy a bunch of water like that because we tried it and I can't taste a difference.
Click to expand...

Take a beer sensory tasting class and you might be surprised at what you can't taste that others can.
 
Keep ya damn mouf shut.

If you try his beer again AND he asks for feedback and it's still obviously got a problem, I like AcrLight's suggestion.
 
How good of a friend is he?

Has he ever had any your beer and commented on it good or bad? Especially a good comment, i.e. "Wish I could make my beer taste like this."

IMO, if he didn't ask for your opinion, I wouldn't give it, unless he's a good friend and has tried your beer. Too many ways to come off as an jerk if you are acting like you know how to brew beer and he doesn't, especially his wedding beer.
 
It all depends on the personality... I for one like the hard truth, but I know most don't, so I usually come up with some nice way to put it out there (usually situational dependent) or I just don't say anything at all if they are that sensitive - many people in this day and age can not take constructive criticism for their lives... go figure. Sometimes it's best to just set the beer down and tell him you forgot you had to "drive somewhere later".

On a side note, I made a terrible (and I do mean terrible) Strawberry Wheat once. I mean, paint thinner bad. Anyway, just for sh*** and giggles, I gave a bottle to a friend without warning him. He tried to hide the fact that he cringed and went on about the good points for 20 seconds or so before I started laughing and told him he didn't need to lie to me, that I knew it was garbage. First words out of his mouth: "Oh, thank God!" :D
 
I wish I had someone local to give me feedback! My friends and family enjoy my homebrew but know nothing about what to look for taste-wise.
 
I'm with the general consensus - if he didn't ask you, I wouldn't tell him, unless he's a real good friend and can accept some constructive criticism.

AND even if he DOES ask - I'd start with, "Do you really want some honest feedback from somebody who's been there, done that?" and go from there.
 

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