How seriously do you take homebrewing?

[andhou27]

I'm serious when it comes to the recipe and sanitization. I shy away from the water chemistry because, although I love science, sometimes it's better to not know. Either way, there is no better hobby/passion.

 

[DogStar]

Homebrewing takes guite a lot of time and effort so it's easy to get too serious and even obsesive about it. I often find myself being too critical about my own beers. For instance, I got annoyed recently when some bitter I made wouldn't drop perfectly clear. I took some to a party and everybody thought it was great.

It's good to be self critical but sometimes I beat myself up over something that doesn't matter and nobody else cares about. Later, when I've put things into perspective, I wonder why I worried about it.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I pretty much follow specific minimum guidelines but I am comfortable enough with my craft that I make good beer. I name the style after I choose the ingredients. I do use brewtoad to check my IBU's and IBU balance as I have seriously overhopped (bittering) some beers in the past.

I tend to just buy 3 grains, two yeasts and one hop in bulk until I run out of it. I create various beers with these items plus a # of specialty grain here or an ounce of aroma hop there. I just made a Scottish 70/, an APA and a Porter using this method. None of them are to style. All of them are VERY tasty. Two of them I will brew again and not change a thing!

 

[Rhumbline]

I have a pretty lackadaisical approach, I'm just trying to brew something that I like.

I can appreciate folks who are constantly trying to sharpen their skills but that's not my thing.

One question I'd ask is how often do you drink commercial brews? I found after drinking my brews I became a lot more critical of commercial brews that I'd liked up to that point.

 

[opiate82]

I take it very seriously, but I do most of my hobbies/activities. I get mad when I don't have the highest batting average on my softball team, I am upset with myself when I take a bad crash skiing, I always wanted to be in the best guild when I played World of Warcraft, and I want my beer to be just as good as my favorite commercial beers.

I agree with the earlier poster that the social aspect is important. It is good to have friends around who remind me that my sacrifice fly still brings in a run, to tell me that if I'm not crashing I'm not trying, to make sure I head out into the real world every once in a while, and who are more than happy to throw one of my homebrews back with me, even when it didn't come out perfect.

 

[fuelish]

The only thing I take seriously is strict and proper sanitizating of everything going to come in contact with the brew...the rest is kind of "ahhh, wth, lemme try THIS...." Have never made anything i consider undrinkable yet, and a good many have turned out outstanding (imho)...as long as everything's sanitized, the sky's the limit!!!

 

[Zuljin]

"ahhh, wth, lemme try THIS...." the sky's the limit!!!

That's my style.

However, I do sometimes just rinse stuff off. I got real lax about it for a stretch, until I got an unintentional and unwanted infection. But I'm still not shaving my entire body and starsaning the air.