Success Story-Are you your toughest critic?

[Dylan42]

So I brewed three seperate brews. All three were my first AG brews. As expected, the first brew came out OK, the second was pretty good, and the third was probably the best brew I have made to date.

The three beers were good, but I didn't think that they were great by any means. I have been comparing my beer and striving to reach commercial craft brew quality. I am sure all of you do too, and probably exceed it at times.

I decided to stick my neck out and serve all three brews at my little sisters wedding. The 100 guests had the choice of my three beers; Half Assed IPA, Dank Pale Ale, and Fresh IPA, or they could drink from the keg of Coors, keg of Mac & Jacks, or wine.

My kegs blew first in about 2 hours. I had a lot of compliments on how good my beer was too! It was a very proud moment for me in my infant stage of this awesome hobby.

So I realized while I need to keep my expectations high for myself maybe I need to take it a little easy when it comes to my self criticism.

Anybody else feel like they are a little too judgemental on their own homebrew?

 

[PrinceOfThePoint]

You have to, or else you'll never get better. I am pretty brutal on myself, so when I taste my beer and think it's great, I feel like it must be next level

Congrats on the wedding, very proud and fun moment indeed!!

 

[jceg316]

The same happened to me - the first three AG brews got progressively better and the fourth was the best one yet. Since then our brewing has taken a bit of a dive but with the help of this forum I have figured out what was wrong and have corrected. I have some beers fermenting/conditioning but once they are done I expect them to be "best so far".

I am very critical of my beer and try to taste it like it's "just another beer" I have bought at my craft beer bar. the trouble is where I can pick out weaknesses in my beer (lack of body, too bitter, bad hop character etc) most my friends (or tasters) can't as they don't drink beer like I do. They usually stick to generic stuff and don't have that much of a beer palate.

I like to give my beer to critical people who will want to pick holes in it, but I learnt this can also backfire. Whilst it's a bit annoying to hear "that's great!" the whole time, it's also annoying to hear people say "your beer is tasteless and watery" just because they like insulting people. Both are not constructive and pretty useless. There are a couple of people who sit in that goldilocks zone and can give good criticism.

I don't think I'm harsh, but I think I'm fair. When I've made a batch I'm not 100% with I will learn why I'm not 100% and make that improvement next time I brew.

If your beers went that quickly that's awesome! You must have made a few good batches. Plus people love drinking homemade local beer over the generic stuff and it's great you gave them that option.

It's my wedding in December and I'm brewing 4 batches. I'm actually **** scared they will all come out terrible :S.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Being that we are brewers and that we care, we will be tough critics on our selves but then we drink most of it so that is a good thing. But like I tell my Wife think improvement not Perfection as being perfect is impossible to achieve and taste change.

 

[bobeer]

Congrats on the wedding and good feedback! It's great feeling to please people with your beer.

My wife asked me to brew a couple beers back in April for her baby shower. It was going to be a co-ed shower, a bbq for the guys outside and a typical women only baby shower inside. I had to please both crowds with the 2 beers so I decided to do a single hopped cascade APA and another single hopped citra wheat APA with kumquats in the keg. I had them both on draft and even made a portable draft tower to add to the coolness factor of having draft homebrew.

The wheat apa I had never brewed before and I was nervous about how it was going to come out but it came out well in the end. I'm glad I didn't really get a chance to taste them because how close I brewed them to the event day. If I did get a chance to taste them I'm sure I would have over analyzed them and probably would have sold them short while talking when hooking up the kegs. Instead I had no choice but to say the recipes looked great and I'll let them be the judge. Everyone loved them and both kegs kicked within a couple hours. Since then I've been able to just brew and not worry about the outcome so much. Since then I have made excellent beer and now I'm looking at learning more about water profiles and yeast so I can up my game again. Being in my 3rd year of brewing I'm confident in my brewing abilities and I want to get more into learning about new techniques and other ways to make my beer even better than it already is.

 

[j1n]

i am most definitely my toughest critic. I have made batches where i though it wasn't that great and everyone else thought it was awesome. I even got "the best beer ive ever had" on one i thought was good but i knew i could make better by doing a couple things differently. I'm also honest with people and will tell them my opinion of my own beer. some are very surprised to hear me say i think the beer is ok when they think its great. I then elaborate and say i should have mashed at a lower temp or should have used this yeast instead of that. they end up not understanding what im talking about but they kinda get my point.

 

[MNSmitty]

I agree, Im my own toughest critic. But I think thats the life of a homebrewer. You see your beer as a "could have been". Could have been hoppier, could have been maltier, could have been this or that. Everyone else sees it as a clean slate of expectations, a new beer to try and judge on its own merits. We know what we did wrong, or could have done better in our processes, so we see the beer as flawed. Thats not a bad thing at all though. It gives us something to strive for next time, and a reason to brew another batch!

 

[jamboparty]

I'm most definitely my toughest critic.

I know what I'm shooting for in a batch, and if it doesn't come out exactly as planned I try to pick it apart and find out why. It doesn't stop me from enjoying it, but it's certainly a learning process.

I try really hard not to develop ugly baby syndrome with my beer, but knowing the amount of planning and work that goes into a batch sometimes makes it difficult.

 

[JohnSand]

Count me in. I'm a pretty confident guy, but I'm quick to think the beer isn't quite right. I was surprised this spring when friends raved about two of my brews. So, I submitted them to a BJCP competition. I got a 29 and 37 iirc, the top of "Good" and "Very Good". The points I lost were mostly on style, ie, "too much head for an Irish Red" and "too little head for a Belgian". The reviews helped me realize that I was really making good beer. Some other points will help improve future brews. Had I planned to submit at brew time, I would have been more careful about style too. Even my recent Amber gave me pause, until a brew club member said it was professional quality. All that said, I still make mistakes. My latest blonde is not right after 6 weeks in bottles, I think I cut the carb too much on my IPA. Study and practice, submit your brew to competitions, above all have fun.
Congratulations on your success!