Homebrewing Risks

Today is Fermentation Friday for August 2009, hosted by Matt C. from A World Of Brews. The topic for this month is:

I want to know if and why you break away from the norm.

Breaking from the norm is a double-edged sword. While using interesting ingredients or outrageous techniques is definitely fun, you lose out on building basic homebrewing skills.

Part of the Brew Dudes’s homebrewing philosophy is betterment. We strive to answer the question, “How do you make that leap of making good beer to making great beer?”

To use basic ingredients and to follow traditional brewing practices is the foundation of making good beer. Only with this foundation can one make the jump to brewing great beer.

We think a lot of homebrewers stay with the basics to improve their skills. Once you master the basics, then you can break away from the norm and start to master the “out of the ordinary”.

Again, focusing on the basics is just a part of the Brew Dudes philosophy. Another big part is having fun.

If homebrewing were a job, we would approach it differently…but it’s not a job; it’s a hobby.

To keep things interesting, you have to work with “beyond the basic” ingredients and try out unusual techniques. These tactics are all part of the learning and enjoyment process of homebrewing.

The trick is to balance both of them out. Just like balancing hop and malt flavors, one should balance out the basics and the experimental.

When we break from the norm, it is based on a decision to learn more. It’s either to expand upon the basics we have mastered, or to compare or contrast to those basics.

But hey, that’s what we do.  You do what you want to do.

Thanks for hosting, Matt.