Do you trust other people's homebrew?

After watching some of these all-grain videos on youtube, I can't possibly image how BJCP judges are still alive. Galvanized piping and washers? Non-HDPE plastic buckets? Fermenting in garbage cans? Even some of the cleaner ones are still not clean. Even one piece of grain or dirt in a mash tun turns me off. Not sure why, just does. Even when I exchange beers with people, I only ever take a tiny sip of their beer just enough such that I just squeak by telling them what I thought their beer was like.

I'm probably alone on this or not?

I might sound a bit pompous but the majority of other people's homebrew that I have tried has been poor. The good news is that most of the off-flavors are easily corrected (basic sanitation and temperature control + starters for liquid yeast). I'll usually take a small sip when it's offered by a new person but I never critique it unless they ask me to because I don't want to offend them.

I am lucky I guess. In our local club we have some phenomenal brewers in our group. Most of what is brought to meetings or shared is better than 95% of what I can buy commercially. Three of our former members have "gone pro" working for breweries or brew pubs. Even the sour, funky, wild experimental stuff is so well brewed I have not concerns drinking any of it.

Darwin18 said:

I might sound a bit pompous but the majority of other people's homebrew that I have tried has been poor. The good news is that most of the off-flavors are easily corrected (basic sanitation and temperature control + starters for liquid yeast). I'll usually take a small sip when it's offered by a new person but I never critique it unless they ask me to because I don't want to offend them.

Click to expand...

Complete other way here. I've only had two from other home brewers I know that were not good. One was just kinda musty tasting. The other, I know what he did. He forgot to unscrew the garden hose while brewing outside. Don't use garden hose water. The taste carries through.

I had a random hb that had band aid flavor once too. We can all make an off batch here and there.

But mostly, they've been amazingly good. I'd buy beer like that good. I did the Christmas thing. All great beers. I've had beer from another member here too. It was also great. (Not really. It sucked ) Three of my friends hb and consistently turn out great beers.

I will add a caveat. The beer that I've had from complete strangers here on HBT (Secret Santa) was outstanding. The beer from strangers or acquaintances here in Raleigh - not so good.

I'm weary of the guy trying to give out his beer to every person at the club meetings.

m_c_zero said:

I'm weary of the guy trying to give out his beer to every person at the club meetings.

Click to expand...

Isn't that kind of what club meetings are for? To share and critique?

BulldogBrewer said:

Isn't that kind of what club meetings are for? To share and critique?

Click to expand...

I belong to a small club and we meet in a local bar. That's my favorite part of our meetings. Sitting around a table and passing around bottles of homebrew. Never once feared for my life.



If I didn't know the brewer, I would be a little more cautious, but that's it.

BulldogBrewer said:

Isn't that kind of what club meetings are for? To share and critique?

Click to expand...

Sharing is what it's for, but the guy who's basically forcing everyone he sees to try his beer is suspicious to me. Our club meetings we usually walk around to people who brought beer and ask them what they've brought and sample it.

I never hesitate to try anyone's homebrew! Sometimes its good, sometimes it bad, but its always made with pride and I respect that. Hell, I've put things way worse than a bad homebrew down my gullet!

Probally in minority here but I have never had anyone else's
I don't think I would hesitate as I think someone else's opinion would have moved my own HB along faster in quality and that is part of the fun and learning is to improve based on feedback and advise
That being said I like mine very much but probably would have a much lower opinion now of my earlier batches than I did at the time
I

There is a man law that says something like: You cant turn down a free beer, not even a BMC.
I don't have time to look it up right now, but its out there. Note: It dosen't say you have to finish it

I have only tried one other persons HB. Was a friend who found out I make my own when I had just started and we traded a bottle apiece. I started out with the midwest 5 gallon kit extract w/specialty and he was using Mr B. Lets just say that Mine was by far better. Then again I think he was trying to make a lager in his not very temperature controlled house. My temp control wasnt much better, but I had at least chosen an ale. I really need to join and get to a HB Club meeting.

Darwin18 said:

I will add a caveat. The beer that I've had from complete strangers here on HBT (Secret Santa) was outstanding. The beer from strangers or acquaintances here in Raleigh - not so good.

Click to expand...

I've had some excellent homebrews from folks on this forum- but I've also had a couple of not-so-good beers as well.

I think that when people know you're a judge, they want to send you beer to diagnose for off-flavors. That's what happens in competitions I've done, too. People will enter problematic beers on purpose, to get an objective opinion on how to fix them.

For beer swaps, though, people only send their best and I've had some wonderful beers that surpassed my expectations!

ShootsNRoots said:

After watching some of these all-grain videos on youtube, I can't possibly image how BJCP judges are still alive. Galvanized piping and washers? Non-HDPE plastic buckets? Fermenting in garbage cans? Even some of the cleaner ones are still not clean. Even one piece of grain or dirt in a mash tun turns me off. Not sure why, just does. Even when I exchange beers with people, I only ever take a tiny sip of their beer just enough such that I just squeak by telling them what I thought their beer was like.

I'm probably alone on this or not?

Click to expand...

What exactly are you afraid of? That you're going to get sick from a beer?

ShootsNRoots said:

Even one piece of grain or dirt in a mash tun turns me off.

Click to expand...

Without grain in the mash tun, there is no beer

To add to the discussion, my HB club is full of amazing brewers. Recently at a MicroBrew Festival we were voted 2nd place for People's Choice, beating out national breweries like Rouge, Sierra Nevada and Southern Tier.

LandoLincoln said:

What exactly are you afraid of? That you're going to get sick from a beer?

Click to expand...

I don't think you can get sick from a beer... but you can ingest some toxic material if the beer making equipment isn't food grade / food safe.

bknifefight said:

Without grain in the mash tun, there is no beer

Click to expand...

All of the grain should be from your current batch not previous batches that haven't been properly cleaned out of your mash tun.

I always try to taste the fruits of someone else labor. I was told by a wine maker at a local winery once that just because you don't like it doesn't mean its bad. Really opened my eyes up to all kinds of new stuff with that attitude. And besides I've probably had much worse that a commercial brewer put absolutely no pride in so the least I can do is try and provide some feedback.

Yooper said:

I've had some excellent homebrews from folks on this forum- but I've also had a couple of not-so-good beers as well.

I think that when people know you're a judge, they want to send you beer to diagnose for off-flavors. That's what happens in competitions I've done, too. People will enter problematic beers on purpose, to get an objective opinion on how to fix them.

For beer swaps, though, people only send their best and I've had some wonderful beers that surpassed my expectations!

Click to expand...

I think that is very true. The first time I judged I was surprised at the quality of the entries. I had expected that people would send their very best but it certainly didn't turn out that way.

If you're a premium or lifetime member give the secret santa swap a shot. I was definitely gifted some very good beer.

ShootsNRoots said:

After watching some of these all-grain videos on youtube, I can't possibly image how BJCP judges are still alive. Galvanized piping and washers? Non-HDPE plastic buckets? Fermenting in garbage cans? Even some of the cleaner ones are still not clean. Even one piece of grain or dirt in a mash tun turns me off. Not sure why, just does. Even when I exchange beers with people, I only ever take a tiny sip of their beer just enough such that I just squeak by telling them what I thought their beer was like.

I'm probably alone on this or not?

Click to expand...

I think you are in the wrong hobby.

I used to work in a prison so I have an aversion to eating food when I don't know who made it--for some reason it never stops me from eating at restaurants--and there are several people I know whose food I will not touch, if I can help it. I also dislike eating most soups--you can't see what may be in it.

Still, with all this, I have never had a problem trying someone's homebrew. It just doesn't bother me. Many are atrocious, but I don't fear trying them. I may not try a second sip, but I have no qualms about the first.

JerseyJoe said:

There is a man law that says something like: You cant turn down a free beer, not even a BMC.

Click to expand...

This. But also if someone is gonna offer me their homebrew to see what I think i'd rather try it. It may suck, but it may be pretty damn good. Only one way to figure that out.

ShootsNRoots said:

All of the grain should be from your current batch not previous batches that haven't been properly cleaned out of your mash tun.

Click to expand...

Man, I thought I was OCD but this is next level s**t. One grain? In a whole mash? C'mon maaaaan.

I love trying other people's homebrew. It may not be good, but it certainly won't kill you. Most I've tried have been good.

cluckk said:

I used to work in a prison so I have an aversion to eating food when I don't know who made it--for some reason it never stops me from eating at restaurants--and there are several people I know whose food I will not touch, if I can help it. I also dislike eating most soups--you can't see what may be in it.

Still, with all this, I have never had a problem trying someone's homebrew. It just doesn't bother me. Many are atrocious, but I don't fear trying them. I may not try a second sip, but I have no qualms about the first.

Click to expand...

Prison food. I did a brief stint at a state contracted facility in FL. All my coworkers would run down to get chow. I brought my own. I was amazed at how they didn't seem to think anything was wrong with eating food prepared by people who were forced to be there. However, from what I saw, it was a privilege to work in food service there, and I doubt if the residents were, *ahem*, tampering with the food. It was enough for me to avoid it nonetheless.

OP, I can't really see how a serving of beer in just about any state of unsanitary conditions would kill you. It had to be clean enough to grow out the right yeast. If it is truly off, you will know and not drink enough to cause you any issues.

Lets all keep in mind that if you eat in a restaurant, you better be OK with homebrew. Don't ask me why I know this.

woknblues said:

Prison food. I did a brief stint at a state contracted facility in FL. All my coworkers would run down to get chow. I brought my own. I was amazed at how they didn't seem to think anything was wrong with eating food prepared by people who were forced to be there. However, from what I saw, it was a privilege to work in food service there, and I doubt if the residents were, *ahem*, tampering with the food. It was enough for me to avoid it nonetheless.

OP, I can't really see how a serving of beer in just about any state of unsanitary conditions would kill you. It had to be clean enough to grow out the right yeast. If it is truly off, you will know and not drink enough to cause you any issues.

Lets all keep in mind that if you eat in a restaurant, you better be OK with homebrew. Don't ask me why I know this.

Click to expand...

I work in LE. All food orders we make are on cell phones so not to show up on caller ID and a civilian or plain clothes officer goes and picks it up. There are some real nasty stories of glass and metal in food when they know its for LE.

Pratzie said:

I work in LE. All food orders we make are on cell phones so not to show up on caller ID and a civilian or plain clothes officer goes and picks it up. There are some real nasty stories of glass and metal in food when they know its for LE.

Click to expand...

It's a shame you have to go to those lengths to make sure your food isn't tampered with. You would think better service would be given if they know its for LE. On a side note, would you like to try my glass shard stout?

As far as other people's homebrew, I don't have any hesitation trying them. I'm kind of borderline OCD when it comes to cleanliness when food or beverage is involved and I will not eat food from certain people or places. But it doesn't bother me to try a random homebrewer's beer.
A couple weeks ago, I was in line for a keg tapping of KBS and just so happened to be in line behind a fellow homebrewer. I ended up sitting and drinking with him, his wife and a couple of his friends. Afterward we all went back to his house for a couple of his homebrews. Now, I don't know this guy one bit, how he brews, what his setup is like, how sanitary he is, etc. But I had no problems trying his beer. And it was pretty good.

Pratzie said:

I work in LE. All food orders we make are on cell phones so not to show up on caller ID and a civilian or plain clothes officer goes and picks it up. There are some real nasty stories of glass and metal in food when they know its for LE.

Click to expand...

And then again, one thing you know about IM's is that they always knew what was going on, often before we did... People set to announce their retirements would get congratulated by the population before they announced it to their coworkers!

I voted yes but I am probably not a good example.

Last time I had a free HB I woke up 2 days latter and every time I farted it smelled like Vaseline.

I think it must have been from the diacetyll but I am not sure.

Some of my beer has not been so good before and I am sure I will dump batches in the future. But overall one bug is nothing when you consider that the milk you drink has a fecal standard assigned and the grains we brew with have dead bugs and such in them. There are laws that limit these amounts and for that I am glad.

Fish the free loader out of the beer and hope it is not infected. If it is infected I would dump the batch and carry on.

My motto is 'That which does not kill me makes me stronger', so I'll try anything.

My brother did a Mr Beer cider and a pale ale. I tried both and neither one of us could tell which was which. The worst part was that neither one even tasted like beer or cider.

Pratzie said:

I work in LE. All food orders we make are on cell phones so not to show up on caller ID and a civilian or plain clothes officer goes and picks it up. There are some real nasty stories of glass and metal in food when they know its for LE.

Click to expand...

Oh no, I just realized what you said. I can't believe you have to do that. Sorry.

b-boy said:

My motto is 'That which does not kill me makes me stronger', so I'll try anything.

My brother did a Mr Beer cider and a pale ale. I tried both and neither one of us could tell which was which. The worst part was that neither one even tasted like beer or cider.

Click to expand...

Thats funny right thare, I ount care who you r', thats funny!

I have tried a lot of other peoples homebrewed beer. most have been decent to quite good. some have been excellent, and the best beer I ever had was a strong Scotch ale I was sent by a homebrewer. I'm not worried that they might have made an infected batch, because they probably wouldn't give it to you if they knew it was bad. unless they haven't had an infected batch before and are just asking what they did wrong in which case they would have said something was wrong with it. and from what I've heard, nothing that can live in beer is bad enough to kill you.

when someone hands me their home brew, I like to do the over exaggerated tasting technique: hold it up to the light & examine from every angle, swirl the glass in large circles under my nose while wafting the aroma with my hand and inhale super deep like I'm huffing, take the tiniest of sips while smacking extra loud about forty or fifty times, name random malts & hops between the deafening smacks while looking somewhat upward and left as though I'm trying to recall some useless information. then I'll take a normal size drink and immediately spit it out like it's poison and yell as loud as I can, "It's pure crap!"

and that's how you get kicked out of a home brew club.

Pratzie said:

I work in LE. All food orders we make are on cell phones so not to show up on caller ID and a civilian or plain clothes officer goes and picks it up. There are some real nasty stories of glass and metal in food when they know its for LE.

Click to expand...

Dude, that sucks. I used to work at a cafe that became a bar after 9pm and we used to know the cops orders by heart and have get them started as soon as they came in the door. Cops are good people to be buddy buddy with at 2am if there's trouble.

I'll try anything, including drinking things that are obviously infected (I won't finish those). I just find it helps me identify faults in my own beers if nothing else.

I love trying other people's brews. Some has been great, some terrible, and everything in between, but it's all beer, so who am I to complain. None of it has killed me, or even made me a little bit sick, so I'm not worried. As long as I know the brewer (and I know all the brewers whose beers I've tasted are smart enough not to ferment in a rusty lead bucket), then the worst thing that can happen is I choke down an inferior beer. Lord knows not all of mine have turned out spectacular, but I've only once had a beer I couldn't finish, and that was due to poor bottle sanitation. It tasted funky as hell, but I didn't die from it.

Ever since I was purposely poisoned by a rival brewer's homebrew, I've been less than trusting regarding other's brews.




Just kidding. I welcome any and all homebrews into my stomach.

Don't some brewers use piss to sanitize?