What are the merits of joining a Club?

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Shinglejohn

Shinglejohn

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Im thinking of joining a local HB Club. What are the merits of? How do you others out there enjoy it? Etc.

Im a really cantakerous bastard and i cant be told anything. That makes me scared to join because i want to learn how to make better beer, and being a cantakerous bastard makes it hard.

I know, it seems easy enough to just not be a bastard but.... you know....Snow doesnt cease to be snow cause you peed on it.... or Something.
 
What would the merits of not joining a club be? Join a club, learn to listen, and brew more beer.
 
You're either going to join a club that's full of people you like, and learn new things, and make new friends... or you'll find out it's a bunch of *****es or idiots or ******** and you'll drop out and go on with your life. Some clubs are better than others. I need to get back involved with my local club, actually.

If you're the type of person who doesn't, well... get along with people, brew clubs do kind of require some social skills. If you can't not be an *******, well... that's a bigger problem than we can help you with.
 
like Bird said, each club is different, but in general I don;t think anyone tells you how you should do anything. its more of just having a group of people to ask advice from, share a bunch of homebrew with, and have random contests and events with. its basically a 3D HBT
 
There are many good reasons to join, but no one here is making you join one.

If you are thinking about it, then go to your LHBC meeting. Bring some of your beer, by the end of the night you will know...if you want to come back or not.
 
There used to be a club in my little town back when I first started brewing. As a brand new brewer, it was great to learn a lot - internet was pretty much non-existent back then. It was also a really pleasant time to sit around and chat with a group about brewing, the economy and how to solve the world's problems. Nobody "told" me what to do.

I miss that group and have sought out brewers around here but there are SOOO few!

Oh well, thankfully there is HBT.

B
 
GetLooseontheGoose said:
If you are thinking about it, then go to your LHBC meeting. Bring some of your beer, by the end of the night you will know...if you want to come back or not.
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That's the best reason to go. Find out how much of an a-hole you are (just kidding).

Pluses:
Other brewers to talk beer/sports/weather/whatever with
Club only competitions
Access to others' resources (books/videos/experience)
A group to call incase you ever need something "on the fly."
 
The one I am with, we do all-grain 15 gallon batches every few weeks, taking turns being the "brewmaster" providing the recipe and conducting the session; all contributing to the ingredients and splitting up the result. Great social aspect, and for me, developing larger batch all-grain experience since I can only do extract and partial mash at home. Though this might be a bit more on the co-op side, I know that many clubs have brew days which are similar.
 
Homebrew clubs are great to get other homebrewers opinions about your beer. The local homebrew club here is allot of fun. We try each others beer and hang around. It's pretty relaxed.
 
I am not a total *******. Im just one of those guys who cant be told anything. Im trying to not be so "that guy".

Guess ill go check out their meeting and see how it goes.
 
riverfrontbrewer said:
Weeb, which club are you with?
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It is one up in Louisville. It is a bit of a drive for me (35 minutes) but the guy who runs it has a nice 15 gallon setup in his basement (all weather!), a bottle filling gun, and three taps :ban:

Where do you go? It would be cool to find one a bit closer to Wash Park.
 
I have never attended any club meetings here in Denver....there are several good ones to choose from though. I guess FOR ME, in a perfect world, all "meetings" would include brewing. Don't get me wrong, I love talking about brewing and beer, but that can still be accomplished WHILE brewing....if you know of a club like that, let me know!
 
I've also considered attending a club meeting, but I think I'd prefer one where they brew. I don't really know of any clubs in the Denver/Aurora area, except for a couple that haven't really appealed to me.
 
yea, we brew, clean up, then bottle/keg what was done in previous sessions, as well as having the three taps going while we brew. I usually bring in some samples of what I have been doing at home to share. We have convinced the owner of the place to put a urinal in the basement bathroom.:mug:
 
Here's an example of the convo I had at the first and last club meeting I'll ever attend.

We are judging english pale ales.

Me: "Yeah I really like english pale ales, been drinking a lot of them lately."

******: "Umm this isn't an EPA. It's a best bitter."

Me: "Oh, well a type of EPA."

******: "Not exactly."

I then pointed to the BJCP guidelines sitting right in front of us with the words "ENGLISH PALE ALE" written at the top.

******: "Well...sort of..." *trails off*

Literally every conversation I had, the person tried to show me up, and I am not someone who enjoys a pissing contest over this type of thing. I've also poured beer at numerous brew-fests and without fail someone always comes up, usually a fellow volunteer, and tries to quiz me on the beer I'm pouring for some reason. If I say it's a Belgian beer, they say it's a Trappist ale. There's no right answer for them.
 
My club has no membership fees and you get 10% off your purchase every time you go to the LHBS. So if nothing else, it saves me some money.

We also have "small batch" brews every Sat. Anyone who wants can show up at the brewery and brew whatever they want. You are required to bring your equipment and ingredients but it's nice brewing with other people and the brewery lets us use their hot water lines, yeast, hops if you forget something. Only problem with it hauling all your equipment across town.
 
I have had a similar experience to you rexbanner. I am in a different town now though, so I think I may give the local club here a shot. Hopefully it will be a better fit for me.

If not, maybe I will start my own. I would really just like a group of people to brew with. Preferably to rotate locations so we are not always brewing at my place.
 
SCBrew said:
I have had a similar experience to you rexbanner. I am in a different town now though, so I think I may give the local club here a shot. Hopefully it will be a better fit for me.

If not, maybe I will start my own. I would really just like a group of people to brew with. Preferably to rotate locations so we are not always brewing at my place.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's too bad that I'm not alone here. I've spoken to others as well with similar experiences. If you do this type of ****, kindly cut it out.

Also I'm 23 so I'm kind of an outlier in the homebrew world.
 
Bobby_M said:
Are there actually clubs that don't include group brewing in some capacity? I thought that was compulsory.
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As far as I can tell, mine doesn't. I'd like to do the barrel thing or whatever. I'm not much of a social brewer (certainly a social drinker) so I don't really care. As with anything that indicated people in the club cared about anything if someone suggested a group brew I would participate.
 
rexbanner said:
Here's an example of the convo I had at the first and last club meeting I'll ever attend.

We are judging english pale ales.

Me: "Yeah I really like english pale ales, been drinking a lot of them lately."

******: "Umm this isn't an EPA. It's a best bitter."

Me: "Oh, well a type of EPA."

******: "Not exactly."

I then pointed to the BJCP guidelines sitting right in front of us with the words "ENGLISH PALE ALE" written at the top.

******: "Well...sort of..." *trails off*

Literally every conversation I had, the person tried to show me up, and I am not someone who enjoys a pissing contest over this type of thing. I've also poured beer at numerous brew-fests and without fail someone always comes up, usually a fellow volunteer, and tries to quiz me on the beer I'm pouring for some reason. If I say it's a Belgian beer, they say it's a Trappist ale. There's no right answer for them.
Click to expand...

This is my fear. Thats when i turn into a butthole. Im not into being shown up, or showing anyone up.

But i turn into Marty Mcfly when im challenged. Big time.
 
worse comes to worse, you can skip the social aspects and just join to reap the benefits of bulk buys
 
Yeah that's how I run my club. If you don't go to the meetings, you don't get the invite to the field trips and stuff.
 
TheWeeb said:
yea, we brew, clean up, then bottle/keg what was done in previous sessions, as well as having the three taps going while we brew. I usually bring in some samples of what I have been doing at home to share. We have convinced the owner of the place to put a urinal in the basement bathroom.:mug:
Click to expand...


Weeb, what club are you a member of? This one sounds like one I'd be interested in.
 
rexbanner said:
Yeah, it's too bad that I'm not alone here. I've spoken to others as well with similar experiences. If you do this type of ****, kindly cut it out.

Also I'm 23 so I'm kind of an outlier in the homebrew world.
Click to expand...

Ah yeah being 23 almost certainly didn't help you (not that you can help that of course), I had a similar thing at our club. Not nearly as bad (maybe because I'm a bit older), but I think the older people half thought I was just there to party/make hooch. Once I showed I was serious and knowledgeable that's gone. I'd say give it another go and stick with it for a few meetings.

As for the why's of it, trying other people's homebrew's a great way to learn about styles and try things you wouldn't normally.
 

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