I agree with most of the posts in this thread. My wife and I started as most do on the kitchen stove doing partial boils and not knowing anything about fermentation temp control or the importance of compulsive sanitation practices. As we progressed in our quest for knowledge, and really began to understand the science behind brewing good beer, our brews improved with each batch.
In the last seven years we have begun buying and putting together equipment to make each batch of beer more consistent and more to a professional quality. While we placed in competitions, and even won a few ribbons here and there it wasn't until we built the actual brewery did we really increase the consistency from batch to batch. Both she and I are two different types of brewers, and brew for different reasons; I believe this is what makes us a great team. I brew for consistency, to challenge myself, and because I love the science behind brewing. She brews to win competitions, and mostly because she loves drinking the beer she has created. I will brew the same recipe over and over until I'm absolutely satisfied with it, and know it will be the best beer in its style. This means sometimes I'm brewing the same recipe twice a week for 6-12 months straight. She gets very bored with this, and will create a new recipe almost every time she brews. I typically dump the entire 10 or 20 gallon batch if it is not to style, or exactly how I wanted it. She finds this to be silly, and kegs whatever she brews.
With all that being said since we have gotten a couple stir plates, a couple chest freezers (one for lagers and one for ales) an RO water system in the brew house, have regulated fermentation temp very strictly, make huge yeast starters 3 days prior to brew day, build up our brewing water, sanitize to the point of being OCD with Star-San, regulate mash PH and temp, conduct a proper mash out, sparge with proper water temps and water levels, created a "clean room" for yeast handling, use as little plastic equipment as possible, and most importantly have invested in a fully digital B3 1100 RIMS S.M.A.R.T system have we been able to create excellent professional quality beer with each batch. I guess I would say equipment along with experience, and knowing how to identify and prevent off flavors really does make a difference. I think we have right around 13K invested in our brewery thus far, and that does not include the house we bought simply because it offered a great place to brew.
Of course we judge and compete against folks who have modest setups, and these beers do quite well. As long as the brewer can brew to style and reduce off flavors, I think he/she is up there with micro quality. As I've stated before, if a lot of the commercial beers went to competition today, they would be beaten by homebrewers with stock pots and turkey friers.
[email protected]. on tap: homemade sarsaparilla and easy virtue blonde. primary: heffewitzen, blow your top steam. conditioning: fruity monk Belgian wit