Home of the BrewNosers

What can you do as a home brewer to find out if your beer is any good? You can ask a pro to taste your beer. They will say your beer is good but not quite up to snuff …needs a bit of this or that. They have an agenda. They have a brewery. They’ve made it and you’re a nobody in the big brewing world. Granted I haven’t made a beer as good as Fathom (and I wasn’t talking about NASH). You can ask your friends/family, they have an agenda also …they want more beer, they want to encourage you etc.

So you send your beer to ALES, 750 entries there, or Araura 376 entries, in the remote hope that you might win something, or Garrison, something like 75 entries for one class. That’s where the real competition and test of your beer lies. It’s blind, no agendas either, and there’s honest and professional feedback and help.

I was just sitting outside with four of my beers, learning from my notes the effects of Gypsum and acid malt. I recognise the crisper bitterness with the Gypsum balancing out my chloride level. I have one with no salts or acid and that one is just as good, but in a different way, and I don’t understand that. I have one that’s just had a lowered mash PH with phosphoric acid and it doesn’t have a lot going for it IMO, but maybe it does. I think now I like the gypsum and acid malt combo best.

I’m confused. There’s one way out. It’s the fierce competition. The thorough and reliable reports from these competitions are the key.

Pro brewers are “out there”. They have a name, a brewery, they are up against a handful of other breweries, and not thousands of other home brewers. I’m sure it’s tough in a different way. There’s something about being a homebrewer though. If you’re beer is recognized at a home brewing contest, it’s honest, without agenda, blind, and tough as these competitions are, I think it’s a very good thing.

The Brewnosers review was also an EXCELLENT (and friendly) service.

You can also brew for your audience and deal with that. If you (or anyone) are looking to "step up" the audience gets bigger. Fellow mid-level brewers and the "Judges" could help with techniques, but back to back brewing experiments (split batch/brew the same way with chemistry differences etc.) is your best bet IMO.

I have retracted to brewing for me. You don't like it, bring your own.

You make a fine product and you are one of the only "English" style brewers, other than me, I know. You have methodology and patients’ (pun intentional) to improve as you see fit.

Sandy

I have to agree with sandy,I brew because I like what I make. If you want Keith's or Coors or what ever bring your own, I'm not in the employ of making beer for everyone's taste.

I like to brew what I like to drink. I share it all - if people like it, that's great. If they don't, not my issue. I can't say I brew "to style" - I brew for me. If it fits a style, I may enter it for judging.

LeafMan66_67 wrote:I like to brew what I like to drink. I share it all - if people like it, that's great. If they don't, not my issue. I can't say I brew "to style" - I brew for me. If it fits a style, I may enter it for judging.

Word!

I find home brewing a humbling hobby and one where I constantly learn. I far from know it all about brewing but the next best thing to taking professional training is trial and error and learning from others on this site. I've played competitive hockey in my younger years, I knew I would never make the show but played at a very high level. As a result the competitive person within me died. Perhaps thats what I love about home brewing. You can choose to compete but you can learn and help others get better. Awards don't interest me that much. Sharing a conversation and great beer mean more to me. Of course an award would be a nice pat on the back but far from necessary. I love the Brewnoser community and what it represents. I have always brewed what I enjoy and have learned to trust my limited palate and learn from others mistakes. I learn that hard way and love the journey. We will all learn where and when we are ready. To finish It's awesome being a home brewer. If you enjoy what you make nothing else matters.

If we want feedback and advice, what about holding a club get together for that purpose. Instead of it being social it could be a mini competition. You wouldn't be competing against everyone else's beer. You would be competing for praise from the drinkers. To make it even more productive, it could be focused on a style. If you did a split batch you can alter a variable between batches and let everyone give feedback on the differences. That would accelerate your learning a lot. I think people call them triangle tastings or something like that. I think there is even a statistical process to it so that you can pick out random tasting feedback from more solid feedback.

Heck we wouldn't even have to meet in person. We could do it through the mail and use the board for discussion.

You can simply ask a BNer to taste your beer. The flaws are ususlly ovious. The tweeks are like adding more garlic or onion to a soup IMO.

Sandy

GAM wrote:You can simply ask a BNer to taste your beer. The flaws are ususlly ovious. The tweeks are like adding more garlic or onion to a soup IMO.

Sandy

Yep!

I think that if YOU make brew and YOU like it that is all that really matters. If friends like it or not should not really bother you. It is nice for a friend to try it and like it but it is our hobby and brew to enjoy as we please.

To be quite honest I've never really cared what people think about much of anything I've done in life. I do things that make me and my family happy. If that's making a triple decoction pickle and pepperoni smoked doppelbock, then so be it.

jtmwhyte wrote:To be quite honest I've never really cared what people think about much of anything I've done in life. I do things that make me and my family happy. If that's making a triple decoction pickle and pepperoni smoked doppelbock, then so be it.

Mmm ... pickles!

jtmwhyte wrote:To be quite honest I've never really cared what people think about much of anything I've done in life. I do things that make me and my family happy. If that's making a triple decoction pickle and pepperoni smoked doppelbock, then so be it.

I think that's a very good starting point. People give advice, friends, authors, fellow brewers, and a small percentage of that advice will be useful, a lot of it will lead you up the garden path. The thing is you have no idea which is the good advice and which is the bad advice.

....A camel is a horse designed by a committee.

GuingesRock wrote:....A camel is a horse designed by a committee.

That's a favourite expression of mine, especially when clients get into the whole "make the logo bigger" frame of mine.