What kind of home brewer are you?

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applescrap

applescrap

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The title says it all. I heard a podcast with Denny Conn and his partner. They found that all homebrewers fit into 4 categories. I wasn't sure where I fit and then I realized I am a process nerd. Just in my own way. I think they wrote a new book explaining all this in detail as well as other interesting beer discourse. So what category do you fit in?

View attachment 1473381521595.jpg
 
Right now I'm a scientist because I have yet to make anything worth drinking, so I HAVE to mess with my process.
 
I have been brewing for 8 years and can confidently say that I don't fit into any of those categories. I don't reinvent the wheel....I brew beer from award winning recipes. Why fix something that isn't broken? The same goes for brewing process and techniques. I found something that works for me.
 
Phunhog said:
I have been brewing for 8 years and can confidently say that I don't fit into any of those categories. I don't reinvent the wheel....I brew beer from award winning recipes. Why fix something that isn't broken? The same goes for brewing process and techniques. I found something that works for me.
Click to expand...

I'd tend to agree that there's a big category missing. I like to hang with friends and waste a day drinking while brewing. I like to see what I can do and enjoy the fruits of my labor. I usually start with good recepies and make minor adjustments, some based on experience, some based on ingredient availability. I'm certainly not to the point that I'm pushing any boundaries though nor am I doing any crazy fermemtation. As for my process, I pretty much have a routine that I've developed through experience and reading, it doesn't intentionally change much. I guess you could say I'm a bit risk adverse in my brewing. I really want those 5 or 10 gallons to come out good as I only get around to brewing about once a month and I'm usually out of home brew by that point so taking chances just isn't worth it.
 
Scientist/Recipe Innovator...

Although technically all 4 categories apply to some degree or another. "The Scientist" applies the most, though.
 
for the most part I am satisfied with my brewing, I am still trying to improve but not terrible worried about it.
 
old school master

I brew classic styles using my own recipes and I almost never brew using the same recipe twice, but I also never radically change the recipe from brew to brew, just one tweak at a time, so in that way I am a scientist, trying to understand the effect the variables have on the results.
 
Right now I think the only one I'm not is a Wild One.

I have been brewing for a few years, but I can't brew that much because I don't have many to share with, and even so I'm not going to share my more mediocre brews because I don't want people thinking I brew crappy beer, which is why I mainly brew 1 and 3 gallon batches. So my process has been pretty slow.

So I'm an "old-school master" because some of the brews I'm making are the only examples of that beer I can get my hands on and I just have to trust that I'm doing a decent job at it. It worked out well for my Kolsch, Berliner Weisse and Bier de Garde, when I tasted commercial examples of those later I found out I wasn't far off.

I'm a "scientist" in that I've gone from brewing in a LBK to small BIAB brews in a kettle to finally having a proper mash tun for all grain and partial-extract brews. I also customized my own lager fridge from a dorm fridge. I haven't been doing anything that people here would consider radical, but I have been almost constantly tweaking my process just to get it to work because I only brew what would amount to every other month or so. When I brew that infrequently it takes a while to correct mistakes. If I had the money up front and I knew I would like brewing this much I would have immediately bought the gear for a mash tun and I'd probably be kegging by now.

I don't think others would call me a "recipe innovator", but I have made a few SMaSH brews just because I want to figure out what some of these malts contribute to a beer. I've used MCI Stout Malt and Kolsch Malt, which I guess not every brewer has tried. I've also thrown some goofy stuff into brews, like rhubarb and whey. But of all these only the whey was my own idea, everything else I gleaned from youtube, mostly BrewingTV and Chop&Brew. So I would call myself more of a recipe copycat. I haven't come up with my own "complex" recipe ever, and while I would like to keep trying out different base malts (I want to make a MCI Stout Malt SMaSH to see what it is like) I wouldn't call it radical.
 
It's probably an oversimplification (for illustration purposes), as I think these are more like four different "traits" that can be more or less present in different brewers. Personally, I see this more as a process: like for any other craft, you need to master the basics (basic styles and basic processes) if you want to excel at being creative.

You can't play like Jimmy Hendrix without first learning basic scales and techniques. You can't paint like Picasso without first learning basic drawing techniques. Unless you're a genius, maybe. And since I don't consider myself a genius, and I've been brewing for a little less than a year, I concentrate on refining process and understanding classic styles and recipes. Like building blocks.
 
I would say I am in between the "Process Nerd" since I have moved to BIAB and working out the kinks there. But also "The Recipe" since I am always looking to make new recipes or change/tweak ones I find here and other online resources.

It was a great podcast and I eventually want to buy the book and read it.
 
Definitely recipe innovator, not in the sense that I'll add vanilla java cherry chocolate mint to every beer, it's more like "can I make a great IPA with munich malt and a little bit of wheat?"(yes).
 
IMO, trying to pigeonhole or define your entire approach into one of a few categories is inherently limiting your development as a brewer

I posted this in the friendly thread a few months ago for shirts and giggles though
https://www.boombox.com/c/quiz/56961/77b7fcf6-c8c0-43ad-9f6d-e04ac22aaae3

I think the quiz is broken though. I cant seem to get any other answer than obsessed
 
Old School I guess.

I just like making beer. I get creative and innovative sometimes.

And sometimes I make the same PA I've made 100 times already because it's freaking awesome.
 
Ummmmm...which one would nerd-jock-hippy fit? If I had to pick it would be "None of the above" and "All of the above" if those choices were available.
 
Old school, but no master. I've never brewed an extract, except as a yeast starter. I get a lot of joy out of starting with grains and making beer. After a couple years, I'm still learning and exploring, so there is no way the Master title fits.
 
half wild one, half recipe innovator. Very few ingredients I won't try, and yet to find a recipe I won't mangle.

I even tweaked my first extract batch!
 
A little of all 4: I love the classics and enjoy working with proven techniques. I've spent 25 years working on process and techniques, narrowing down what works and what doesn't with my system. I have brewed many sours with wild yeast/bugs, commercial strains, and combinations of the 2. And I love experimenting with smoke, fruits, homegrown ingredients, etc. And I think most homebrewers use elements of the 4 groups, with each person deciding which of the 4 will be dominant.
I look at it from a different perspective: Are you a technical, or an artistic brewer? Does hitting the numbers spot on every time turn your crank, are you obsessed with measurements? If you you're technical. Do you measure grain by scoops, and hops by handfuls? If so you're artistic-you have a vision of what your beer should taste like, and a decent idea of how to get there, but you recognize that precise measurements on most brewing aspects aren't really that critical.
 
Scientist first, then recipe guy after that...

I'm always playing with new gear, refinements to said gear, or methods to use it all in new, different, and hopefully better ways. But I play around with recipes a ton too... There's only a handful of beers that I've made more than once, though that number seems to be growing recently.
 
I wouldn't call myself a master by any stretch and I'm not rally even old school. I do BIAB, a fairly recent innovation, but I don't much tweak my process either though I regularly tweak my recipe.... So I guess I'm a recipe tweaker, not necessarily an innovator and maybe just a nerd!
 

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