“The Guy” (or “Gal”)

[dmtaylor]

The guy. (Or gal.)

Every homebrew club has a go-to guy (gal) who is most knowledgeable in any given homebrewing-related topic. Some are the experts in sour or wild or Brett fermentations. Some know everything about hops. Some love lager styles, or Belgians, or (dare I say it) nothing but hazy IPAs. Some geek out on trying different yeasts, or running a ton of pseudo-scientific experiments. And then of course there are the equipment geeks who love stainless steel, pumps, and gadgets. Still others are the small batch brewers, the BIAB’ers, the decoction enthusiasts. You name it, there’s a “guy” for everything.

So, I ask you:

If you had to narrow it all down to one or two things that you are “the guy” of, what would they be? And what most-awesome knowledge might you be willing to share, as a brief introductory conversation? I mean, what is some knowledge that you in particular might have more of, or care more about, which relatively few other people seem to know enough about or pay enough attention to?

If someone else who knows you well were to introduce you to more homebrewers, like if/when you were to visit a new homebrew club, what would they say you are “the go-to guy” of? What would they say about you?

Even if you are not in any club or super active in other forums, I would encourage you to join the conversation from a perspective of being part of a community (like this one, HBT)!

Which “guy” (or “gal”) are YOU??

(My own response will come later.)

 

[mac_1103]

If someone else who knows you well were to introduce you to more homebrewers, like if/when you were to visit a new homebrew club, what would they say you are “the go-to guy” of? What would they say about you?

I think they'd say I'm the go-to guy of RDWHAHB. Then they'd add something like, "This guy screws up at least one fairly important thing every time he brews but somehow still makes pretty good beer."

I like to think that I have considerable expertise in several areas, but when it comes to brewing I feel like I'm just barely beyond the "minute to learn stage." Although I am pretty good at building elaborate brewing-related contraptions out of junk that I have lying around. So if anybody needs advice on how to spend 60 hours on something instead of $60, maybe I'm the go-to guy for that.

 

[wepeeler]

In my club, I'd say I'm known as the Kolsch guy, and contrarily enough, the hazy ipa guy...

When I first started brewing beer, I was shooting for the Tree House hazy IPA unicorn. Julius/Haze etc. I will say nearly all of my neipa info has been from this forum and mainly the Northeast Style IPA thread. So thanks for that! But no one in my club does hazies anymore. Most people, including myself have moved onto lagers and lighter hopped beers. (I still brew hazies very regularly.)

As for the Kolsch, I first had one at one of our club meetings. The brewer, who no longer attends meetings, shared the recipe, and I was so thoroughly impressed with the beer, I've made it my house beer. Been tweaking it for years now, and I've finally gotten to the point where I make very minor changes per batch to improve/change what I feel is for the better.

It's funny though, because every meeting, everyone expects me to share a Kolsch. Which I usually do

 

[Broken Crow]

I'm the guy who can help with economical DIY, but with severe limitations!...That also makes me the naive 'know-it-all' who occasionally perpetuates a myth, which thankfully gets busted and expands my own education by the more competant and knowledgable folk on here. As a Canadian who was injured on the job, I've been consigned to a remaining life of near-poverty, but prior to the injury I had a wide and ever-expanding skill-set, so every time I see a technical/electrical/steel/plumbing/etc question, my reaction is "I know the answer.."..BUT: The injury included brain-damage and I've lost an incalculable amount of my life, my knowledge..especially complex and detailed knowledge, my math and my 3-dimesional cognition. I have a limited working-memory span so I have to deal with smaller data-sets and often miss the actual point of the question, instead answering something the OP already knows and failing to address their issue, but at the very least, I like to think I've given their post a bump and got it noticed by someone who can give the detailed autorative answer that the OP and I can learn more from.

Just as a PS: I notice the "donate for a new server" thing.... I know I'm not the only person on a financial knife's-edge that gets a lot of use from this site, but can't afford to be a "Supporting Member", but this does seem like a great place where I can make a contribution within my means to try and pay back some of the debt I feel to all of you on here.

 

[dmtaylor]

My local club would tell you that I'm the dork who only brews 2-gallon batches on the stove, and that this is a waste of time for so much effort for so little product. And that's sort of correct... except that I don't drink much and always have an average 10 cases of beer, cider, and mead sitting in the cellar ready to drink, because I don't drink it fast enough. I like to say I have a drinking problem: I don't drink enough!! Not unusual for me to go a week or two without drinking. But then I'll get on a kick and drink 3 or 4 in one day. Might not sound like a lot to you but it's plenty to me. So... I brew small batches, so I can play more, and not accumulate even more than I already have.

Some people know, I'm super low tech. The fanciest gadgets I own are a grain mill, a Tilt, a couple of uKegs, refractometer... and that's about it. I do not own a propane tank, a chiller, a stir plate, an Erlenmeyer. Definitely no robots. Nope. Keep it simple. Use a long alcohol thermometer in the cooler mash tun, or mash in a bag, all done on the kitchen stove. My family doesn't mind the smells in the house, and I love it.

Personally I would say that I love learning about different yeasts in particular -- I know a lot of cool stuff about yeast, and especially dry yeasts. Many people know this about me, but maybe not as many know just HOW nerdy I am about it.

I love to experiment, always splitting every batch into multiple 1-gallon fermenters to try different yeasts, hops, fermentation temperatures, you name it. And then when an experiment fails, I don't feel bad about dumping just 1 or 2 gallons, no biggie.

Not everyone knows, but more than anything else, I love traditional German lagers. I try, and sometimes fail, to brew good lagers. I have rather strong opinions about different yeast strains for both lagers and ales. I also have experimented a lot using regular pastorianus yeasts at about 65 F, many strains, many times. I can honestly say, I don't get esters from these and usually they turn out really quite tasty. And I don't ferment under pressure.

Overall, I am a malthead (as opposed to a hophead), and I think most IPAs smell like cat pee so I tend to avoid them, but I do enjoy good examples of any style including IPA and all. So...

Yeah. It's complicated. I have opinions. Strong opinions. Based on my experiences and preferences and everything in between. If you're not sure what to do and want strong opinions with some fairly good basis... talk to Dave.

That's about all I figured I need to write over the course of 15 minutes (yeah I'm usually on a desktop, and I type 90 words/minute, but anyway.

Cheers all.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

as an aside (or maybe not , as I may be "that [guy|gal|person]" who is known to note this), this was cross posted to AHA forums and /r/homebrewing). As a home brewer who lurks in number home brewing forms, I have learned to appreciate those who are willing to ask the same question in different on line communities.