Offering advice?

[BenCL]

Long time reader...


I come here to find good advice, and usually there is a thread straight away and I get it.

But often I search around and find the same thing repeated a few times. Sometimes on here, or sometimes off site.

Often its a yeast issue for me (but thats not important, could be almost anything), and I find someone saying one thing on a site and then it being repeated over the next few sites, sometimes it originates here, sometimes it makes its way back here, and it makes me wonder - has this person offering the same advice actually had the issue, or have they just read about it and never experienced it and are repeating it with no real knowledge.

Its a worry, as I found something recently I wanted to know answered by a popular podcaster years ago, then it was repeated on here and like 3 other sites. And he was only speculating, but by the end of its repetition, years later, its just considered a truth.

I think its important if you are offering advice to have actually had the experience of what you are talking about.

Too many threads are just people saying they dont know, never used it, but...[answers with an assumption]

Or, "this is the basics, it should just work for anything, bye..."

Or I heard/read elsewhere/etc...

Or just dropping what they heard/read elsewhere as a fact...


Theres decades [well, a couple in our modern context of brewing techniques] of experience now.

Anyone can read something online and share it regardless of its truth, or just drop Palmer, but thats not really a help to anyone at all if you cant relate your answer to the question - I did This, I did That, grain was , yeast was, process, temps etc...and get an answer from someone who has pretty much done exactly the same thing...because someone on here probably has.

And with all our experience these days it shouldnt be so hard to offer more real and concise experience, rather than speculation and maybe subpar 2nd hand knowledge...or "theres a sticky, read it" (Yes a sticky, or repeatedly reposting a thread, is fine for super basic and non specific stuff)

I guess Im saying its great to chat and speculate in threads asking for answers, but maybe sit back and let them try and be answered with actual knowledge and experience before 2 pages of speculation and maybes and I read somewhere elses...

RDWHAHB I know, but a good concise answer online and searchable forever is important. I know this is what people want here, and most try to do, and Im glad this website as a resource exists, I love it. But, experience,specificity, clarity and reality in answers/solutions given to people is super important.

(And yes, I know there are a lot of great off site places offering real answers with experience( Denny/Experimental Brewing and Brulosophy as examples I like), and they are worth sharing here in context to questions raised)


"WY1214, never used it, but..." NOOOOOO

 

[Redtab78]

This is why I take some advice with a grain of salt, and some I adhere to.... I do the same as you and search the internets to see what others are also saying about something, and more often then not, I do not really find a good answer, SO, I just try it (whatever I search for usually) and if it works, I return to my post and answer myself, in hopes that if someone else may have the issue or question, then perhaps my answer may be useful, or it may not

 

[Sillybilly]

I like when people state "In my experience.." or "From my understanding/I heard somewhere.." so you know their source.

 

[brick_haus]

Trust but verify.

 

[foam_top]

First I'd like to say, one of the reasons I love this forum is because the moderators and staff encourage the evolution of discussion and dissection. Many other forums I have frequented will lock a thread with the reason "Topic already exists." What's the point in having a forum if discussion is discouraged?

However, I do agree that some of the posts are "loose" advice. I sometimes echo the advice I read from a more experienced brewer but I try to find the pertinent links and share quotes when possible.

 

[enkamania]

It actually was a New Year's resolution of mine to only post first hand information.

 

[akgator]

Perhaps making the distinction between procedure and technique would help. Given: sanitizing is necessary; how you do it may be good to share. Be wary of accepting (or promoting) a technique as the only way to do something.

 

[kh54s10]

I believe that in some cases you are right that first hand knowledge is important. In other cases not so much. You don't need to have experienced an infection to give advice on how to avoid one, for instance.

I have never burned extract on the bottom of my pot. Does that mean I can't advise to take the pot off the heat when adding extract??

"WY1214, never used it, but..." It is a Belgian yeast so though I have never used it I would not recommend that you use it in a light lager clone....

I get where you are coming from... But tolerance...

When I first started, the experts were making recommendations that they no longer do.....