BeerBorg

Wow. That's a little more involved than I want to get with my beer's progress.

I know this kind of thing is important to some brewers, and it's part of the fun for them. And maybe it's worth it if someone is really big on competitions. And maybe their beer is a whole lot better than my beer.

But for me, the fun is in creating recipes, putting it together, and getting a darn nice beer that I made myself for a lot less than I could buy it in the store.

Besides, I can't deal with all those numbers and data and stuff. I always like to say I'm making beer; not sending a rocket to the moon.

I'm with you, brudder.

There ya go, Li'l Sis. Sure wish I could make it out to Dayton some time and hoist a pint or two with you. Or if you ever visit Big Apple country, give me a shout-out. First round's on me.

I would love to have that. But I wouldn't love to $249 worth.

My $6 hydrometer tells me when my beers ready to bottle and my $20 STC-1000 tells me the temperature. That leaves a lot of money for other stuff.

I remember seeing this on KickStarter and thought it was cool. Certainly more than I need, but cool nonetheless.

It could be fun to see just how fast your gravity drops and measure that between batches to look for commonalities and differences but that's a hefty price tag for stuff I think would be "fun". There are better brewers out there than me that could likely put this to good use - but it just ain't me, either.

When you posted "The Ultimate Perv", my wife thought you were naming me!

Kealia wrote:I remember seeing this on KickStarter and thought it was cool. Certainly more than I need, but cool nonetheless.

It could be fun to see just how fast your gravity drops and measure that between batches to look for commonalities and differences but that's a hefty price tag for stuff I think would be "fun". There are better brewers out there than me that could likely put this to good use - but it just ain't me, either.

That's just it. The serious competitors have insane equipment. Really, it's almost professional grade stuff, especially the ones who win the AHA Nationals. So, okay, you've brewed a beer in your garage that's on a par with a commercial brewery. And it's a much more sophisticated and expensive set-up than I've got, with my Home Depot water cooler mash tun and the carboys on the shelf in the basement covered in a black kitchen garbage bag to keep the light out.

But man.

Still, if that's the most important thing to you when it comes to brewing your own beer, knock yourself out. I'll still be over here experimenting with hops, trying to perfect my brown ale recipe, and enjoying some really refreshing beer that I made myself. It may not win any awards, but it's mighty good drinking after a tough day in the salt mines. And for me, that's darn good beer.

I had the chance in June to judge fruit beers in the NHC final round, and most of the beers were indeed amazing. Later I saw an article about the winner, and he must have invested thousands in his equipment that filled 1/3 of a 3-car garage. For me, 3 of my 4 entries in a recent small regional competition won awards (Cal Common, Irish Red, and Melomel (fruit mead)), all brewed in the kitchen and fermented in Brewdemon conicals with enough nearby thermal mass for stable temperatures, with matched yeast and ambient temperatures. For me, checking temperatures on stick-on thermometers, and daily refractometer readings during primary fermentation, have been enough to satisfy my curiosity.

Takes some of the fun out of the craft for us home brewers, to me that is the part of this I enjoy!