Mentioning the "big boys" reminded me of my first false start of the brewing hobby.
Fondly recalling my greatgranddad's homebrewing sessions (I remember him very well, though I wasn't of the age to taste his strong brews - probably some kind of Baltic Farmhouse, I guess) I decided to try making my own beer. So to the interwebs I went, searching for the manuals and instructions. There, I had an unlucky landing on a grumpy board where the "big boys" were massaging their Egos by scaring noobs away from the hobby describing the extreme "difficulties" of homebrewing, which only them, the Initiated, could handle right. Now I understand those "big boys" were nothing but "advanced noobs' themselves, but how could I tell back then, they talked VERY proffessionally-sounding. "To hell with such a hobby that only Nietzsche's Übermensch is capable to master", was my unfortunate takeaway from a short conversation there.
It was only years later when I happened to read a detailed brewing report with pics from another n00b who dared to challenge the Übermenschen and brewed a decent all-grain beer in a kettle on a kitchenstove. I closely followed his manual, was amazed by the taste and flavour of my first beer (an English Bitter) and then... Each of us here knows what happens then, after the first successful batch
So, yeah, I agree, those "big boys" are a nuisance in any hobby.