Home brew club question

[jlogue3454]

Those of you that are in a club that allows non-brewers or beginners with no equipment, how do they handle them? For example If a non-brewing member that pays his annual dues wants to participate in a brew day, but never brews should we let him drink our beer?

 

[DubBrew]

Why not? I share with all kinds of people who don't brew. He pays his dues and wants to learn.

 

[knuckleheadbrewing]

Why not? I share with all kinds of people who don't brew. He pays his dues and wants to learn.

I agree....I wouldn't worry with it now. But how long has this been going on?

I mean I think it should be part of the rules if your a member you need to brew or at least help some one who brews with some of the work. But if this guy is only paying dues to drink free beer at meetings and brew days and never shares any of his own, then yes i'd have a problem with it as well.

If your in a motorcycle club most all of them state you must have a motorcycle in running condition to be a member....Why should it be different for a homebrew club? Im all about booting out the element that brings the club down, and since your asking this question, I gather there is more then 1 of your in the club that is getting tired of him...

 

[jlogue3454]

The reason I ask is because I'm writing a set of club bylaws. The club is for everyone, but at the same time I want to make sure that non-brewing members are at least contributing in some way and wanting to learn more.

 

[dfess1]

My wife and I run a club. We have no by laws, and are very relaxed. If you don't have any homebrew, bring a good/rare commercial beer. That's about all we say. There are times when you don't have any hb on hand, or just haven't been able to brew. it happens. Encourage the person to get into brewing, otherwise, why would they be there? There are plenty of "beer clubs" that can be found on other sites.

 

[louie0202]

Some of the clubs I know state if you don't bring some homebrew or other speciality brew you have to pay a fee per meeting. Something like $5.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Some of the clubs I know state if you don't bring some homebrew or other speciality brew you have to pay a fee per meeting. Something like $5.

That's pretty harsh to ask for $. Not only that, but they are in effect paying for homebrew.

I would expect a non-brewer to bring some craft beers in return for having others' homebrews.

I've brought non-brewers to our meetings and I always put in the recommendation to "Bring a good 6-pack to share".

MC

 

[dfess1]

If you don't bring your own bottle opener, we dock you a buck. But we hold our meetings at a bar that does not charge us for use of their back room, so the money is just tip money at the end of the night.

 

[kh54s10]

Do you think you are going to have a problem with nonbrewing members?

I can't see a lot of people joining a homebrew club who are not interested in learning to brew.

 

[turvis]

Bringing beer if you don't have home brew tobacco meeting is also being courteous. There were times that I didn't have any home brew when I went to my meetings. I just stopped by the store and picked up some beer and not bmc either.

 

[Bobby_M]

We have space issues so we have to be selective with who gets into the club (and stays). Yes, it seems harsh to exclude people but to keep the club a true homebrewing club, you must be a homebrewer to join. If you want to learn about how to brew, many people in the club a willing to extend the olive branch and consult and offer up a brew day.

Yes, of course there is plenty of draw for craft beer tourists. We taste a lot of beer and the dues are cheap enough that it's like joining a beer of the month club. We've asked a few people to leave the club over the years because they haven't brewed a single batch on their own either EVER or for a really long time. There are other "beer appreciation" type casual clubs around to pick up those people.

 

[AnOldUR]

. . . But we hold our meetings at a bar that does not charge us for use of their back room . . .

The club I belong to is the same way. The bar lets us get away with bringing in homebrew, but if they were bottles of commericial beer, that could be a problem. The best way to keep the bar happy is to buy a beer two from their selection and/or order something to eat.

I could see there being a problem in a large and popular club like the WHALES, but in our small group you only bring if it if you have it. Personally, I don't care if someone doesn't bring any homebrew. I just like to share my beer and see what club members think of it. But, there are limits. If the only reason someone was there was for free beer and had nothing to contribute, that would be a different story.

 

[Redcat]

I would say write up the rules as minimal as possible, but make it easy to add rules later.

If people not bringing beer becomes a problem, then write a new rule to address.

 

[dfess1]

The club I belong to is the same way. The bar lets us get away with bringing in homebrew, but if they were bottles of commericial beer, that could be a problem. The best way to keep the bar happy is to buy a beer two from their selection and/or order something to eat.

I could see there being a problem in a large and popular club like the WHALES, but in our small group you only bring if it if you have it. Personally, I don't care if someone doesn't bring any homebrew. I just like to share my beer and see what club members think of it. But, there are limits. If the only reason someone was there was for free beer and had nothing to contribute, that would be a different story.

I agree. Most of us get there early and grab some dinner. Helps that have Racer 5 on a dedicated tap, and swap out the other 6. They invited us in when our home base (The General Lafayette Inn and Brewery) closed down. They had a primarly BMC tap list and wanted to get into the craft selection, but didn't know what to carry. So they used us as their test group/recommendation people. It's worked well for both parties.

 

[Bobby_M]

I would say write up the rules as minimal as possible, but make it easy to add rules later.

If people not bringing beer becomes a problem, then write a new rule to address.

Just a word of caution.. if the majority of the club becomes made up of people that you don't like, they'll vote down any measure to restrict people of their type. I'm just sayin, if you want to be exclusionary in any way, you better do it while most of the people agree with it.