A few questions regarding home brewing communities

[blade4pizza]

Hello fellow brewers,

I doing some research as part of my undergrad at Northeastern University about home brewing online communities. As such I have a couple questions, listed below if you have the time, about the culture and feel on the communities. Hopefully this wouldn't take you much time to answer, and expand on any of them if you feel so inclined. Please respond in the thread.

-How long have you been brewing?
-What home brewing communities do you participate in or use (blogs, forums, clubs, etc)?
-How do you participate in online brewing communities?
-What is your impression of the home brewing culture, based on your experiences (helpful, competitive, etc)? [expand on your answer a bit if you would not mind, like 2-3 sentences would be lovely]
-What is the benefit, for you, of participating in these online communities?

Thank you very much,
Zack

 

[brandonhagen1]

ive been brewing since january i like hbt and tastybrew. i generally just read to learn more and ask questions.i think that most all homebrewers are very willing to help.they will help anyone that needs or asks for it i love the homebrew forums.yhe best benefit i get is knoledge from other brewers that have been brewing a lot longer than me

 

[gregger]

-How long have you been brewing?
2.5 years

-What home brewing communities do you participate in or use (blogs, forums, clubs, etc)?
Just HBT.

-How do you participate in online brewing communities?
Question and Answer, Speculation about beer related topics, news, and current events. Occasional conversations that aren't related to anything that has to do with home brewing.

-What is your impression of the home brewing culture, based on your experiences (helpful, competitive, etc)? [expand on your answer a bit if you would not mind, like 2-3 sentences would be lovely] The culture is filled with creativity and fun. Awesome conversation starter and helps people break down their differences in order to share a decent conversation, glass of home made brew, or their ideas. It is not competitive in any forms except in the form of competitions, however everyone is more than willing to share recipes and recommendations. We don't judge each other and everything that we have learned through life that separates us (religion, race, sex, lifestyle) is thrown out the window.

-What is the benefit, for you, of participating in these online communities?
Besides giving me a place to burn time at work and enjoy a few online discussions, it's great that I can actually give and receive very specific solutions and questions to home brewing problems. There's nothing like asking a question, and having someone answer it a few hours later rather than searching for an answer on the endless internet. But the activity doesn't stop there... discussions about current events, vacations, food, and everthing else always find there way into this forum. I love it. People are unbiased (for the most part), and very welcoming. What divides us in society doesn't matter here. I'm an African American male in an interracial marriage we have one beautiful biracial son, and another child on the way, I'm broke like most people these days and I'm naturally fairly liberal in the way I think. I live in one of the most conservative parts of Northern California and we frequently get looks from people. In online communities like HBT none of that matters. I love it here, it's like a virtual saloon with 70s rock echoing through the building and hundreds if not thousands of us enjoying an ice cold glass of brew sharing multiple conversations at a time with multiple groups of people - virtually of course.

 

[Qhrumphf]

How long have you been brewing?

Since November 2010

What home brewing communities do you participate in or use (blogs, forums, clubs, etc)?

As of right now, just HBT, but there's a few local clubs around here I'll probably hook up with eventually

How do you participate in online brewing communities?

One the practical side, posting questions and answers to either get advice from the more experienced than myself, or to give advice to the less experienced (typically swinging greatly to the former ). On the other more abstract side, discussion of the science of brewing fascinates me. Beer is one of the oldest human creations, yet there's still so much more it can advance.

-What is your impression of the home brewing culture, based on your experiences (helpful, competitive, etc)?

I don't really participate in competitions, partly as I'm still relatively inexperienced and partly as I brew to make something that I think tastes good, not what a judge thinks fits a defined style. However, the impression I get is that even when it comes to brewing for competition, there's always an atmosphere of mutual respect and the desire to advance the craft as a whole. In my experience, I always encountered an incredibly helpful environment.

-What is the benefit, for you, of participating in these online communities?
I have a sense I'm not alone here, but a hive mind of folks all willing to help each other make the best beer they possibly can? I see nothing but benefit.

Cheers!

 

[KevinM]

-How long have you been brewing?
6 months
-What home brewing communities do you participate in or use (blogs, forums, clubs, etc)?
Just this one, though I've checked others when google searches pull up the topic.

-How do you participate in online brewing communities?
Post and read. It's a give and take and just general chitchat that someone may find helpful. There's different opinions and ideas and trials we can come up with to experiment and re-experiment with. It's pretty amorphous, nothing is really set in stone. Sometimes it would be helpful to find the locals to get together and help/get help with too from an online community.

-What is your impression of the home brewing culture, based on your experiences (helpful, competitive, etc)? [expand on your answer a bit if you would not mind, like 2-3 sentences would be lovely]

Mostly helpful, some friendly competition, but most of the competition is the contests where beer is sent in to be judged, so the competitions tends to be more of a "let see what I can do, and get some other opinions" rather than the "I have to make this better than anyone else" type of competition.

Mostly laid back in attitude but strict in methodology. (Infected beer=bad beer). There are many backgrounds in the brewing culture among the scale of art through science, but the common theme is the statement RDWHAHB.

-What is the benefit, for you, of participating in these online communities?

This is a big one for me. I'm a person who has to eliminate gluten from my diet. There are many others who are too, however there are fewer of those who brew and they're scattered around the world. With an online community like this, we have the option of really discussing pros, cons, and alternatives at a much faster pace together than we could ever do apart. There could be about 5 total gluten free brewers per state in the US for example, and it would be much more difficult to converse between them all in person than in an online community. (I also like brewing the other things, but I have to say that the bulk of why I even started was the gluten free forum rather than going it alone.)

 

[gregger]

Hello fellow brewers,

I doing some research as part of my undergrad at Northeastern University about home brewing online communities. As such I have a couple questions, listed below if you have the time, about the culture and feel on the communities. Hopefully this wouldn't take you much time to answer, and expand on any of them if you feel so inclined. You can either respond in the thread or email the answers to [email protected].

-How long have you been brewing?
-What home brewing communities do you participate in or use (blogs, forums, clubs, etc)?
-How do you participate in online brewing communities?
-What is your impression of the home brewing culture, based on your experiences (helpful, competitive, etc)? [expand on your answer a bit if you would not mind, like 2-3 sentences would be lovely]
-What is the benefit, for you, of participating in these online communities?

Thank you very much,
Zack

Hey Zack we would love to know where this research is going, and what class this is for, and why choose this particular subject?

 

[blade4pizza]

This is for my senior project, researching online Communities of Practice specifically home brew communities. Chose the topic because, as a home brewer and user of these forums myself, I was curious abut how they form and what about the communities (besides free knowledge) keep people going back. Basically just using this information to help support and get clarity from answers I received in a survey I created a month or so ago.

Thanks again!

 

[qbst]

How long have you been brewing?

On and off for about 3 years

What home brewing communities do you participate in or use (blogs, forums, clubs, etc)?

just HBT

How do you participate in online brewing communities?

Most of the time I participate by reading threads and learning from them. I always learn new things here, and it's very satisfying. I occasionally participate by chiming in with my 2 cents, or by posting recipes for critique.

-What is your impression of the home brewing culture, based on your experiences (helpful, competitive, etc)?

Helpful, definitely. I know I can come here and ask a question and at least one person will have an answer. I haven't noticed the competitiveness here, and I don't do competitions yet, so I can't really comment on it. The community and culture seem in general to be very open and inclusive.

-What is the benefit, for you, of participating in these online communities?

I learn something every day, usually many somethings. The benefit is huge. And when i get to a point where I feel I know an answer to a question posed here, I will start answering more and passing along what I know.

 

[turkeyjerky214]

How long have you been brewing?
About a year and a half

What home brewing communities do you participate in or use (blogs, forums, clubs, etc)?
HBT, local brewing message board, and a local brewing club

How do you participate in online brewing communities?
I just got started here on HBT, but I've been pretty active on my local message board for the past year. For the first 8 or 9 months I was mostly asking questions and soaking up all the knowledge I could, but after that I started being able to offer suggestions and share the little knowledge I have with others.

What is your impression of the home brewing culture, based on your experiences (helpful, competitive, etc)?
In one word: amazing. Everyone is so eager to help you learn and become a better brewer, that sometimes it's hard to believe there are people that are that nice out there. On my local message board, people regularly post when they're going to be brewing so that beginners can come by and learn from the more advanced brewers. People are constantly collaborating on recipes and larger batches together. In fact, many of the head brewers of local breweries are active in the homebrew community as well.

What is the benefit, for you, of participating in these online communities?
I'd have to say the biggest benefit is the immense wealth of knowledge that is readily available. Everything from brewing tips to recipes to DIY projects. I seriously don't know how people homebrewed before the internet.

 

[Airborneguy]

-How long have you been brewing?

Approximately 6 years

-What home brewing communities do you participate in or use (blogs, forums, clubs, etc)?

HBT, New Brighton Homebrew Society, Basic Brewing Podcasts

-How do you participate in online brewing communities?

I post daily on this forum and interact with members of my homebrew club on our blog.

-What is your impression of the home brewing culture, based on your experiences (helpful, competitive, etc)? [expand on your answer a bit if you would not mind, like 2-3 sentences would be lovely]

Homebrewing in general is a very friendly and helpful community of artistically and technically incluned people.

-What is the benefit, for you, of participating in these online communities?

Online communities provide the quickest and easiest way to share the latest developments in our hobby and exchange information.

 

[DrawTap88]

-How long have you been brewing?

1.5 Years

-What home brewing communities do you participate in or use (blogs, forums, clubs, etc)?

Homebrewtalk, Brewing Network, and a local homebrew club (Plainfield Ale & Lager Enthusiasts).

-How do you participate in online brewing communities?

Posting and reading in the forums.

-What is your impression of the home brewing culture, based on your experiences (helpful, competitive, etc)? [expand on your answer a bit if you would not mind, like 2-3 sentences would be lovely]

For the most part, the communities are helpful. There is a thought process that the more people that know about the various processes, ingredients and techniques will make everyone better and make the community stronger.

-What is the benefit, for you, of participating in these online communities?

Learning different techniques, ingredients and processes to make my beer making experience and drinking experience better. Not only that, but learning what commerically available beers are out there to try. I also really like to get into some recipe development. Plus, every once in a while I get to meet some cool people face to face and talk about a shared interest.