The best thing about this place is that we have some insanely knowledgeable brewers, as has been noted. They'd likely be too modest to admit it, but they are better than many, maybe even most, commercial brewers. And they freely share everything they have learned with us aspiring types. It's awesome! IMO they have every right to get irritated when some poster makes a ridiculous blanket statement that flies in the face of not only facts, but common sense. The reason the best homebrewers are the best is because they are precise and unforgiving of errors in their process. So they expect precision from other posters and are unforgiving of errors in logic or fact.
That aside, my own goals for homebrewing (not listed in order of importance) are:
(1) make beer that people like when they drink it. Of course they won't like everything if they are not used to the style, but if they are used to the style and I brew something they think is as good as (or better than) what they usually drink I feel like I'm on the right track. It's gratifying.
(2) improve over time, hopefully even from batch-to-batch. One of the things that attracts me to this hobsession is that a scholarly approach pays off. I know a lot more than I did six months ago, and six months from now I hopefully will know a lot more than I do now. Increasing my knowledge (due in no small part to rubbing shoulders with great brewers on HBT) is making me a better brewer.
(3) do well at competition. Not everyone cares, or bothers to enter competitions, but getting comments from beer judges can provide critical feedback about your process. Also, knowing that your efforts to become a better brewer are paying dividends in the form of medals that demonstrate increasing proficiency is nice. It's one thing to say "Well I know my beer is good, and my wife/husband/friends like it." but quite another to say "I won a gold/silver/bronze with this beer at _____ competition; the judges comments indicate I still have to work on _____ so I'm going to do that and hopefully keep improving."
At any rate, I know I have a huge number of improvements to my process left to make, and an incredible amount left to learn, but I have seen some hopeful signs that my brewing is getting better. Just gotta keep moving forward!
That aside, my own goals for homebrewing (not listed in order of importance) are:
(1) make beer that people like when they drink it. Of course they won't like everything if they are not used to the style, but if they are used to the style and I brew something they think is as good as (or better than) what they usually drink I feel like I'm on the right track. It's gratifying.
(2) improve over time, hopefully even from batch-to-batch. One of the things that attracts me to this hobsession is that a scholarly approach pays off. I know a lot more than I did six months ago, and six months from now I hopefully will know a lot more than I do now. Increasing my knowledge (due in no small part to rubbing shoulders with great brewers on HBT) is making me a better brewer.
(3) do well at competition. Not everyone cares, or bothers to enter competitions, but getting comments from beer judges can provide critical feedback about your process. Also, knowing that your efforts to become a better brewer are paying dividends in the form of medals that demonstrate increasing proficiency is nice. It's one thing to say "Well I know my beer is good, and my wife/husband/friends like it." but quite another to say "I won a gold/silver/bronze with this beer at _____ competition; the judges comments indicate I still have to work on _____ so I'm going to do that and hopefully keep improving."
At any rate, I know I have a huge number of improvements to my process left to make, and an incredible amount left to learn, but I have seen some hopeful signs that my brewing is getting better. Just gotta keep moving forward!