Neighbor got a beer kit; how much should I tell him?

[mac_1103]

So at a neighborhood get together yesterday, a neighbor mentioned that his daughter had given him a five gallon extract kit as a gift. Apparently she also gave him a one gallon equipment kit - oops - so he asked if I had a spare fermenter he could use. I told him that of course he was welcome to borrow equipment, especially the stuff that I almost never use anymore. Also mentioned that the kit instructions don't always tell you everything you might want to know and offered to give him some pointers if he was interested. So my question for the group is just how carried away should I get in "educating" him? Beyond the obvious stuff - you should skip the secondary, this is how to avoid scorching LME and making a mess with DME, you should get rid of the chlorine in the water or buy some distilled/RO - how far down the various rabbit holes would you take someone who is on their first journey?

FYI, I'm pretty sure it's a Brewer's Best kit; either the English Brown or the Imperial Nut Brown (his favorite beer is Newcastle Brown Ale). I brewed the Imperial when I was still a beginner myself. Only thing I was doing about oxidation back then was overfilling the bottles to minimize head space. It made a nice beer that didn't last long enough to get too oxidized anyway.

 

[BrewZer]

Invite him over to brew his kit, and show him how you'd do it.

 

[mac_1103]

Invite him over to brew his kit, and show him how you'd do it.

I think I'd rather do it at his place. If I'm going to show someone how to brew extract in the kitchen, it should be his kitchen that we make a mess of instead of mine.

 

[Jmspears]

If it were me, I’d just cover the basics of how to properly make a passable homebrew. As the brew day goes on, I’d talk about some of the finer points just to make conversion and hopefully spark his interest to learn more. I’ve had multiple friends and family help with my all grain batches and they always seem interested in the details.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Answer questions, if asked.

He knows that you brew.

Let him learn.

 

[sibelman]

Cleanliness/sanitation, boilover prevention, chilling, bottling basics.

 

[mac_1103]

boilover prevention

He might do better to learn this from someone else.

 

[tracer bullet]

I'm agreeing to the idea of planning to spend a few hours at his place helping out, if 1) he's willing and 2) you have the time. Do be sure he does most of the work while you advise and have a beer or two.

Plan to go back and forth to your place a few times to get something that'll be useful that he doesn't have.

 

[passedpawn]

Go slow. I'm sure you could spluge him with a lifetime of brewing knowledge, but he cannot assimilate that. Most people who try it leave it quickly anyway. Before the GREAT DOWNLOAD, take it slow and see if he's really interested.

 

[mac_1103]

I'm sure you could spluge him with a lifetime of brewing knowledge, but he cannot assimilate that.

Just as well, since I'm not sure I can claim to have a lifetime of brewing knowledge to bestow on him anyway.

Before the GREAT DOWNLOAD, take it slow and see if he's really interested.

I think his only real goal here is to be able to tell his kid that he brewed the kit and it turned out OK. He's already got enough hobbies to keep himself busy. And an energetic young Golden Retriever to boot. So yeah, definitely not going use a fire hose.

 

[Jonakr]

A co-worker found out I home-brew, and asked me about mead. I talked to him a bit about expectations, time and money allowed, etc. Since it's mead, which I have made a fair few difficult to drink batches of, I suggested he go buy a couple of different meads, and let me know what he thought of them.

Since I also let him know that meads take longer than beers, I basically talked him out of brewing. He doesn't like mead.

Don't be me?!??

 

[MograhmDeadbraid]

Share your knowledge. Who knows, maybe you will gain a BB ((Brewing Buddy)). It is how I got to know my neighbor down the street. I smoked a bunch of meat, he brought his brew kit over and we brewed a batch of beer. Pretty fun stuff. Share what you know and things will be goo dfor both of you.

 

[hout17]

It depends on how much of a bromance you want. If you want to be good friends, then yeah, go and brew with him and give home some pointers. If not, then just answer questions if he has them.

You could also tell him to go to HBT and do some surfing.

 

[wepeeler]

Depends how much you like the guy lol. You could invite him over for a brew day to watch/learn. Personally, I enjoy brewing by myself or with just a select few of my friends. I feel like there's too much going on to screw up, and I end up over analyzing every step, so it's less fun for me, and I assume my guest, as well.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

All great advice from everyone. After helping your neighbor brew his first batch it's very possible he might not enjoy it at all. If he does, well, as I said, you have lots of advice.

 

[Charles Parnell]

My .02 cents would warn him of the addiction, future costs and that he won't be able to send his kids to college!

 

[mac_1103]

The kid has already graduated med school.

 

[Willy]

Part of me thinks you should help him by re-creating the Phil Hartman character and become the "retentive brewer", with your little spritzer of star San and be maniacal about cleanliness. Oh, and make a cozy quilted jacket. Hahaha.

But then I thought... Get him into it enough to get rid a ton of your "early days of brewing" gear and call it a win. Give him a fair price... You never use that (insert old gear, etc, old ferm bucket) anyway.

It's always nice to get someone into it but personally I have found that most folks prefer to just buy a six pack.

 

[Skeeter686]

I'd suggest to keep it simple initially. If the beer turns out good and he wants to keep brewing, you can share more then.

For now, I think it would be appropriate to give him pointers on how to avoid a disaster and tips to make the process easier on brew day. I wouldn't overwhelm him before his first brew. Then again, I don't know the guy.

 

[Florentino]

I think I'd rather do it at his place. If I'm going to show someone how to brew extract in the kitchen, it should be his kitchen that we make a mess of instead of mine.

haha that is a great call!