Homebrewing too popular???

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I agree 100%. HomeBrewing is too popular.

It was much nicer brewing kit and kilo beers since malted grain was inexistant to general consumers. And becoming legalized? Over rated. the steam taht filled the room behind closed doors was perfect for opening up those pores.

Don;t even get me started on how ludicrous it is to actually use design specific product inetended for beer. I much prefer the quiet strolls through the woods looking for the right herbs to bitter with. And really miss the hallucinations.
 
My god, this thread is still kicking?! I should have just titled the thread "Homebrewing becoming a Fad?" and ended it there.
 
to the OP:
I treat it sort of the same way I treat religion . . . I do what I do, dont give a rats ass what others think and dont bring it up unless they ask. If they do ask and I reply and they tell me I'm wrong I just keep doing what I do and enjoy it and put them in the "F*ck off" bin. If I honestly want thier opinion I'll ask other wise who gives a **** about'em?
 
come to think of it christianity is getting way too populair, it was cool back in the day when me and Jesus would kick it solo, but now all these other wankers claim to be touched by jesus it makes our relationship seem so shallow. I just wish people would just stop doing the stuff i do because im unique and that is the only thing that makes me feel like im better than other people.
 
arturo7 said:
Too popular? The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned.

If somebody wants to talk about brewing I'm all for it. I might just learn something.
Click to expand...

Another +1

I am trying to perfect my brewing, any help is much appreciated. I see young brewers that have a better grasp and help me all of the time. In the first days of our great nation, most of the time, if you didn't help brew you were not drinking.

So brew on America, brew on world! And throw a little advice my way.
 
hmmm, anytime I tell someone about brewing beer it always seems I am boring them. My girlfriend and dad are the only ones that seem to like listening to my ramblings(aside from this forum).
 
I had a similar experience only most of the people who said they tried it said their beer turned out nasty. So I figure when I pass em a beer I made that tastes good then I can get a little smug. On a related note when some one says they tried to make a bud clone but it tasted terrible is it ok for me to ask if they were suprised?
 
Dammit! This thread started when I was away so I didn't get to post any of my angry rant pics, like

angry_man.jpg


or

PSY_personality_disorders_angry_man_0309_01.jpg
 
bierhaus15 said:
//RANT//

Maybe I'm just an unfriendly jackass, but I sorta miss the days when I could tell a group of people I was a homebrewer and get nothing but a bunch of half disgusted stares. Now it seems like every fratboy and hipster either homebrews or claims to know enough about it to tout himself as an authority on the topic. When did homebrewing become soo trendy all of a sudden? It's not that I want homebrewing to be some type of selective club, I just don't want it to become some meaningless, blase activity that is associated solely with the likes of those ****** canoes who care to blog about their new ipad or Ray-Bans.

It's like food. It used to be fine to cook nice things and enjoy them in anonymity. Now some a**hole makes a pot roast and feels impelled to blog it all over the freaking interwebs and provide snide commentary on how special it is; as if the world never saw a pot roast before. Beer is not wine, it is not cigars, or fancy cars. It's worth as a product and hobby should not be determined by how unique it is, or how many ****** line up to buy a bottle of it, or how many ****** use it as a launching pad for their own pitiful egos.

Homebrewing doesn't need tv shows with cheerleader sam calagione telling everyone how cool beer is, or magazines telling you your beer sucks because it wasn't made by monks or touched by vestal virgins; or organic hops that will help save the whales, and other nonsense. I brew beer because I want to and enjoy doing it, not because I care about the latest fad or how cool it will make me look. I brew beer, I drink beer, and I think our hobby's future would be better off it's popularity rested in brewing beer rather than allowing some **** to live their life "vicariously" through it.

(and If I offended you... too freaking bad!) :D

//End Rant//
Click to expand...


Um,

I started to be intersted after a boss I had a few years ago started inviting us to his house to try brews he was entering in competion. When I finally had the time and space I started this year. (Other than a bad batch out of an old Mr. Beer kit.) Sorry if my and others recent starts in this hobby offends you so badly. I was not aware we were required to fill out an application to send to you before we started on our extract kits which I also learned in this thread offends others.
 
I think the extra people are a huge plus. It's great to actually be able to find a group of people that can get together and trade brews, and talk about the different things they want to try without everyone in the room getting board.

People who aren't homebrewers don't want to hear about what SMaSH you're going to do next, and they don't typically care what types of hops you used, or whether you dry-hopped. They definitively don't care what temperature you fermented at, or what yeast you used. The larger amount of people involved in brewing at home is allowing us all to talk about it, and as a whole, create better brews.

Also, I'm pretty sure that if you go back about 150-200 years, you'll find that most brewing was done at home. Of course, they didn't have a LHBS....
 
Wow, just read this entire post and I have to say I agree with both sides of the argument (to some extent).

Yes, it is awesome that so many people have taken an interest in the hobby we all love. I personally have turned 10 people onto home brewing and set up the home brewing section at the local co-op. There was no place local to get supplies so I talked to the manager and got her to invest a significant amount of money into the section. Then I started teaching some classes and it seems like we have a nice little brewing community going on here.

On the flip side, I think the internet has in fact made too many people experts, and there is really no checks and balances. This site is different in the fact that if you post misinformation you can dam well bet someone will call you on it. I had a student of mine decide after 3 batches of beer that he was an expert and he did not want to come to our group brews and our meetings anymore (he didn’t want to share his recipes) seriously! I have people at the local brew pubs telling me all this "stuff" about the beer that I'm drinking. Most of the time I just don't have it in me to tell them they are full of __it. Had a wine and beer expert in N.Y. ( a friend of a friend) tell me my Rodenbach was sour and "there must be something wrong with it".

So yeah it may be the hip "thing" but you have to look at it with an open mind, and ignore those who make you mad. Relax, don't worry. Have a homebrew!
 
Ok, it's late, but what the hell. I am "Mr. Johnny Come Lately" I've only been learning to brew since 06... notice I said I've only been learning to brew... Yet, in my short education I have seen at leased a dozen friends and relatives fork over the cash to try and give it a shot. Most of them have let the fad fade away like parachute pants on a 80's breakdancing wanna be...

The point is most of them still talk about me like I actually know something, like I'm best buds with Charlie or something... It's not my knowledge, it's just that I'm the guy they know who stays consistent.. I've yet to enter into comp... I've yet to lager... I brew ales, and most are drinkable... But these guys walk into the brewshack and see the abortion that is my rig, taste my beer and conclude that I must know what I'm talking about....

If it's getting popular, that's a good thing... for one, I'm the guy who can "put to use" the gear they purchased before they failed... free beer gear is always good. Two, I get a steady stream of "I want you to try my beer" 6 packs... 50/50 on good/bad beer. And Three... I've met some good friends through this and regardless if they still brew, they always manage to keep in touch.

As far as all the ****** bags blogging away on their Ipads??? well that's more of an indictment on Blogging.... now that's become WAY to f'n popular... Really, I don't give a **** about your pot roast...

//semi-rant off//
 
Steelers77 said:
I had a student of mine decide after 3 batches of beer that he was an expert and he did not want to come to our group brews and our meetings anymore (he didn’t want to share his recipes) seriously!
Click to expand...

I don't see what the complaint is here. If he thinks he's an expert after 3 batches, you probably don't want his recipes anyway...
 
I was just expressing how some think they are instant experts, give them a book and they have all the knowledge in the world. Just thought it was weird for someone to act in such a way.
 
I think those people who become "experts" in the first year probably don't end up brewing long anyway. How much undrinkable brew can you really consume before you just give up?
 
the problem is some people are so jaded into thinking they're producing good beer and they surround themselves with people who also think it's good when, in fact, it isn't.
 
I still don't understand how the popularity of homebrewing negatively impacts anyone. I could careless if every person I knew homebrewed. Hell, then I wouldn't have to share any of my beer! It would be great.

Really... I don't think any one of the "negative" posts here has really presented a single bad thing about homebrewing being popular.
 
Yeah,

Put equal amounts of a variety of commercial beer out with the same amount of your home brew. If your guests finish off yours before they start into the commercial stuff it's a decent indicator. If they each have just on bottle of yours then swictch, that's a different indicator.
 
Pumbaa said:
to the OP:
I treat it sort of the same way I treat religion . . . I do what I do, dont give a rats ass what others think and dont bring it up unless they ask. If they do ask and I reply and they tell me I'm wrong I just keep doing what I do and enjoy it and put them in the "F*ck off" bin. If I honestly want thier opinion I'll ask other wise who gives a **** about'em?
Click to expand...

words to live by.

I don't see what the problem is. This hobby weeds out the hipsters, its a sh*t-ton of work making beer. Of course if they are talkin big around you and you know they did 1 Mr Beer or extract beer 5 years ago and still call themselves a homebrewer, then you sir are the problem. Its your job to call them out on it.

The thing about the pot roast though...+1...my BIL is always FBing about some stupid ass dinner or drink or whatever so everyone can see...whatever, I try to just leave it as..."its his thing"...but I find it extremely tiring and lame, much like I feel about FB in general. But anyways, yeah I have grilled a rack of babybacks before...BFD.
 
I think people generally missed my original intention of this thread. I was not b*tching about more people homebrewing, as in people actually making beer. That's great. I love company. And more competition means better overall quality. Instead, I was trying to ask whether or not the sudden popularity of homebrewing stems from more people wanting to brew and drink good beer, or cuz it's the latest fad and it looks cool with ray bans. (And yeah, probably most of you don't care if homebrewing is a fad or not. Good for you...)

What I was getting at with the food references, is that just as someone can hyper elevate the humble pot roast into blog fodder, so is happening with beer. Just look at 'beeradvocate' - it's a perfect misnomer. It does nothing to advocate real 'beer' knowledge. It's just a place where any uneducated, apathetic beer snob can gather to inflate their ego and attempt to look cultured by association. Ever wonder why there isn't a "WineAdvocate?" Well, it's because we have already corrupted wine so far into something its not, its no longer accessible to the average Joe. If some dude from Kansas tries to say anything about wine he gets the foot up is ***. Same with cars, cigars, whiskey... Is beer headed this way? Probably not so long as there is BMC. But it is heading that way. Example. I was just in San Fran a few weeks ago. I bought a whole ton of Russian River stuff, not because I want to masturbate my ego with it, but to drink and enjoy something I cannot get on the east coast. Well, standing there in the checkout line I get some guy tell me that my personal beer choices are good, though he's had better and then another guy and girl join in about 12% stouts and how they doesn't like 3.8% English bitters and I shouldn't too, since they don't have "any" flavor. Oh, and apparently I don't know anything about beer. Hey, bud, ever been to Westvleteren? I have and I didn't think the beer was so freaking incredible! ;)
 
This may of been said as I only read two pages of post before I had to say something but here is the way I see it...

As a newbie myself, sorry if it offends, I didn't get into this hobby because I want people to think I'm a neat guy cause I brew. I did it for myself. Personal knowledge, curiosity, history, and the fact that after a hard day work I like to have a damn beer. If I can have one of my own the better. This is a hobby and hobbies are there for people to relax and have fun doing something they love, not to gain rank among peers. You have every right to speak your minds and have your opinions, but at the end of the day set back pour or pop a cold one and enjoy the hard work and time put in to something we all can enjoy in this life...That's the reason we brew, and that's the reason anyone who wants to should brew.

Work at something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life....I work at beer damnit!
 
Call me an unabashed capitalist, but I want as many half-ass homebrewers out there as we can get, since the increased volume will (hopefully) drive down grain, hop, and yeast prices. AHS was just able to move to a bigger facility, and then thereby drop their prices a bit. Hell, I might even be able to afford a Boilermaker, some day.

But in terms of the beer snobbery...yes. They can kiss my a**. The best beer of my life was in Oxford, UK, at the Turf Tavern. It was their house brew - about 3.8%, and the most orgasmic flavor experience of my life.

Why? Because it was fresh.
 
android said:
the problem is some people are so jaded into thinking they're producing good beer and they surround themselves with people who also think it's good when, in fact, it isn't.
Click to expand...

First post. I have now fermented my 5th AHS kit (per the recommendations of this site) and I am ready to try some more personal alterations, maybe some all grain, etc. I am already an established expert on one subject.........

Bad beer is better than good water.

Nothing hip aboot it. I want to survive if everything goes South. I want to know how things are made. Grandpa could not just run to the store to buy everything he needed, if I know 1/10th of what he did by the time I'm done it will be 100X more than most of the morons oot there. With this internetted thingy at least some of us newbies can pick the braincells of the real experts and hopefully you can shut the "hipster know-it-alls" down before they screw us up. That is the good thing aboot the internettednet.

The bad thing is there are a lot of LOUD "experts" on every ilk of every subject on every forum I have ever been on, and I own one meeself. I hope they rot in the place where all beer is skunky.

I also hope eventually to be the Greatest Expert in the World©™☢☠ on brewing beers. So look oot! Here I come.....
 
bierhaus15 said:
//RANT//

Maybe I'm just an unfriendly jackass, but I sorta miss the days when I could tell a group of people I was a homebrewer and get nothing but a bunch of half disgusted stares. Now it seems like every fratboy and hipster either homebrews or claims to know enough about it to tout himself as an authority on the topic. When did homebrewing become soo trendy all of a sudden? It's not that I want homebrewing to be some type of selective club, I just don't want it to become some meaningless, blase activity that is associated solely with the likes of those ****** canoes who care to blog about their new ipad or Ray-Bans.

It's like food. It used to be fine to cook nice things and enjoy them in anonymity. Now some a**hole makes a pot roast and feels impelled to blog it all over the freaking interwebs and provide snide commentary on how special it is; as if the world never saw a pot roast before. Beer is not wine, it is not cigars, or fancy cars. It's worth as a product and hobby should not be determined by how unique it is, or how many ****** line up to buy a bottle of it, or how many ****** use it as a launching pad for their own pitiful egos.

Homebrewing doesn't need tv shows with cheerleader sam calagione telling everyone how cool beer is, or magazines telling you your beer sucks because it wasn't made by monks or touched by vestal virgins; or organic hops that will help save the whales, and other nonsense. I brew beer because I want to and enjoy doing it, not because I care about the latest fad or how cool it will make me look. I brew beer, I drink beer, and I think our hobby's future would be better off it's popularity rested in brewing beer rather than allowing some **** to live their life "vicariously" through it.

(and If I offended you... too freaking bad!) :D

//End Rant//
Click to expand...

I hope you don’t have anything by blichmann or ever use any of white labs newest strains. The increase in popularity is what has spurred the development of these companies. If there is no market for a product the product will not reach anyone. Also if you brew for you and you alone, why do you care what other people are doing. I think your rant is little more than the same attention grabbing attempt you talk down on.
 
I'm into this novel concept where I do what I like to do and you can do what you want to do. That's nice because there's no entrance exam or anything required and I don't have to spend all day judging whether or not someone is worthy or taking up hobbies I also happen to take up.

I don't care why or how people got into homebrewing as long as they are buying products. I started brewing in 2002 and just since then there has been a huge explosion in the types of brewing equipment and ingredients that are available. A big part of that is the increase in homebrewers. As far as bad advice goes, the worst homebrew advice I ever encountered came straight from the pages of Papazian's book* so I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to getting bad homebrew advice from others. You learn pretty quickly which sources to ignore.

* That bad advice was how to calculate strike temps in all grain for those playing along at home.
 
So what is it with all the iPad envy around here? I don't read/write blogs, wear flannel or any of that. But my iPad and my single speed Karate Monkey are totally bad ass. Try scrolling through one of the long ass rants with a touch screen some time.
 
First of all, I need to apologize for only having been brewing my own beer for the past six months. I'm very new to the hobby. It's fun. I had not noticed that it was a fad though. I've mentioned to several people that I brew my own beer and they look at me and the first question out of their mouth is "Why?"

I'm a programmer (geek) and had been way before the whole tech bubble thing happened ten years ago. Technology became a fad and anyone with $5000 to spare took some programming classes at the local community college and got job that they were woefully under-qualified for. Bubble burst, they got sacked and the rest of us are still here. I believe that this new hobby will follow much the same track as other fads in history. It'll be hip to do it for a while until they realize how much work it involves. They'll get bored with it. Then, they'll go to the store and buy a six pack of some goofy named craft beer and move on.

I've had the privilege of talking to some of those 'three brew experts' and researched (mostly here on HBT) some of the garbage they've spewed and found them to be wanting. They'll go away. Just give it time. An in their wake, they'll leave more Local Home Brew stores and cheap equipment in their wake for the rest of us to take advantage of.

Making beer is easy. Making good beer is not!!
 
motobrewer said:
how is this thread still active? i really need to learn how to unsubscribe....
Click to expand...
Click User CP on the top of the page, then underneath this thread click "Unsubscribe" or click "Thread Tools" at the top right, below the header and click Unsubscribe from this thread.
 
I really like beer blogs. The only one I read regularly is mad fermentationist, but he has a lot of information on there that I found really useful.
 
I find that when I become interested in something, I notice it more around me. It seemed to me that the whole world was becoming interested in the same things at the same time, when in reality I was only paying attention more. Sure, there is a greater awareness about homebrewing...but I wouldn't really call it a fad. UFC, now that became a fad.
 
Hey guys, just want to say goodbye.

Homebrewing was cool as long as I was the only one doing it.

Now it's trendy. I'm out.
 
Edcculus said:
Yea, when I say I homebrew, people look at me like I have two heads, then ask how I get the alcohol in there.
Click to expand...

+1, people ask me the same question. ($.02)
 

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