A half joking but half serious question

[Cape Brewing]

do NOT go by post count. good god.

i don't know sh*t about brewing. and neither does cape.

Your stalking has exceeded creepy

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

As a noob, I'd say take the information that seems to be standard on this board, and then brew a lot. But don't make sweeping changes to your method with every batch you brew. Change one variable at a time to see what difference it makes. That's what I'm trying to do. Does this make sense to the vets?

 

[CPFITNESS]

lol, like I said guys, I've spent a lot of time on golf and cycling forums so I definately know that post count doesn't mean ****! People spending so much time talking about golf and cycling instead of getting out and really doing it.

As for tannins and that stuff, I'm not saying that its major advanced stuff I'm just saying that I can't help but feel like some people are talking out their ass saying that they notice all these different things or they are just rehashing stuff that they have heard; not to say that it isn't true but have they actually experienced it for themselves.

now with all that said, I do agree, online forums are awesome. I did learn a ton about golf and cycling after wading through the BS and these forums seem to be some of the largest and most active of any forums I've been on. A wealth of info and I've just scratched the surface. looking forward to learning more. So I guess I'll go back to one part of my question which was sort of answered. How are homebrewers "ranked" if you will? someone mentioned people enter competitions and stuff like that. In fact, an old friend from high school is very into brewing (i think he is on here, but not sure of his screenname) and he won first place in one of the contests he entered and after tasting his winning brew I understood why, it was amazing. Who judges these contests, what are some of the bigger contests around or is it just a lot of informal type of contests?

 

[motobrewer]

Your stalking has exceeded creepy

i actually didn't see your post until i posted mine. obviously, i had to edit.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Competitions are either "sanctioned" by the AHA or can be informal. AHA comps require judges, for the most part, to be BJCP certified and that certification is a pretty strenuous certification to get.

I still think you are trying a bit to quantify something that is more art than science though. Sure, a beer can be technically stronger than other beers but at the end of the day, even BJCP judges have different palates. We have two national BJCP judges in our club. One can't taste diacytl AT ALL and one is hyper sensitive.

It is easy to get caught up in trying to make a "perfect pint" but, personally, i think that is an impossible task because "perfect" means different things to different people. Like I was saying before, beer isn't golf and it can't be quantified as such. It is about what you like and your ability to make it consistantly... And understand why it is coming out the way it is.

 

[SittingDuck]

I tend to go with whatever Revvy says, except when I like Yooper's answer better.

Really, though, just here to +1 the consensus idea. The correct answer to your question of who do I listen to is "no one.". No one person here knows everything or holds every opinion. Any one person can be right or wrong. But the combined knowledge of the hive mind is generally right every time.

 

[CPFITNESS]

Competitions are either "sanctioned" by the AHA or can be informal. AHA comps require judges, for the most part, to be BJCP certified and that certification is a pretty strenuous certification to get.

I still think you are trying a bit to quantify something that is more art than science though. Sure, a beer can be technically stronger than other beers but at the end of the day, even BJCP judges have different palates. We have two national BJCP judges in our club. One can't taste diacytl AT ALL and one is hyper sensitive.

It is easy to get caught up in trying to make a "perfect pint" but, personally, i think that is an impossible task because "perfect" means different things to different people. Like I was saying before, beer isn't golf and it can't be quantified as such. It is about what you like and your ability to make it consistantly... And understand why it is coming out the way it is.

just to let you know, I'm from Brockton. I live in NYC now but I still root for the Sox, C's and Pats. Just don't want you to see my location and try to steer me wrong!

I hear what your saying, makes perfect sense. truthfully, all i care about is making beer that tastes good to me. Not many of my friends are beer connoiseurs like myself but I could care less. I'll let them try some, and if they like it great, if not, oh well. As long as I like, it's cool. I just want to make good beer though; human nature is for people to force themselves into thinking they like what they've made just because they've made it and don't want to acknowledge their failures. I want to make good brews!

 

[Cape Brewing]

Read as much as you can and try to understand as much of the process as you can and then it is simply trial and error... the real trick is when you can make a beer, follow the details of that beer from the brew session, through fermentation and serving and anticipate what it is going to taste like.

You might make a beer and overshoot your strike temp by a bit and think, "hmm... this beer might end up a bit sweeter than I had intended" and... then... when it is done... and you drink it, if you can tell that it is a bit sweeter than it should be... you're there. THAT is becoming a "scratch golfer" in brewing (in my opinion). Once you are there across the spectrum of what it takes to make a beer, then you've got it down.

Also... once you are at that point, you can start making beers up. You can sit at a bar and have a commercial beer and think, "this is good... I like what they did with this but I would dry it out a bit more" (or whatever change you want to make) and then you can go home, load up your rig and make the beer you just had in your head.

... but again... that beer might be PERFECT as to EXACTLY what you wanted to make... but that doesn't mean people would like it or that it would win any competitions.

 

[phenry]

Brewing really isn't about ranking or becoming "elite" or some other hobo jobo. It's really just about making something (beer) that you enjoy, and the joy of doing it yourself. I've only been brewing for almost a year now, but I've found a process that I'm comfortable with and has proven itself to produce good results, but I'm always on here trying to learn even more. I like to share what I've found to produce good beer for me in the past, but some on here do tend to just repeat what they've heard without any personal experience on the subject. It's pretty easy to eventually figure out what some of this misinformation is, but that's for another time and thread.

That said, beer is very subjective. For example, I know a lot of people like SN Torpedo. I would rather take a PBR or Schlitz over it, and I tend to absolutely love IPAs. Does that mean it's a bad IPA? No, it just means I don't like it so I don't ever buy it. There's plenty of other examples of the style out there that I like a lot more.

So what I'm getting at I guess is, the only way you can really trust somebody's reply on here is to go taste some of their homebrew and if you like it you can add them to your list of trusted sources

 

[Shooter]

Another good way is to see who they are friends with. The internet is just a big popularity grab anyway!

Oh, snappy titles and clever signature lines are always good for bonus points.

 

[jholen]

Don't go by post count, for the love of God! There are threads here where members have THOUSANDS of posts but rarely venture out into the brewing ones.

I'd go by what How To Brew, by John Palmer says. it's a great source of information for beginners.

+1

I started listening to Brew Strong, a podcast done by www.thebrewingnetwork.com - with Jamil Z. and John P. - great information, and trusted sources. I actually took notes on the podcasts, and kept them for my own sake. Very worthwhile.