In the Falcons we have an old tradition called Troubleshooter’s Corner, which I revived a few years back to help brewers out in a slightly less intimidating environment than the full meeting room. I decided to put it up on periscope.tv the other day and then captured it for everyone to see.
Here’s a little writeup about Troubleshooter’s and how I view it.
http://www.maltosefalcons.com/blogs/drew-beechum/troubleshooters-corner-video
Looks great Drew, did not watch the whole video (at work) but I love the idea behind it. I know the Bloatarians are willing to evaluate a brew at meetings as well, I just have not made it to enough meetings. I was very happy to get feedback from the Siamese moose at the one meeting I did attend. As you say, he was very open, encouraging, and told me what he liked and did not like about my Saisons. He was specific, with process improvements likely to help me with future batches and the smaller setting than the whole meeting was nice as I knew almost no one there except for him and 2 employees from Listermann’s LHBS. I’ll definitely be watching the whole video at home when I have the time. Thanks for posting
Good stuff.
On a side note I like to occasionally visit local clubs on my travels, and present one of my best beers to them as “wife got me a Mr Beer; let me know what you think”. Then leave them wondering who the savant is. I’m not a nice person. ;D
Note this only works when your face isn’t instantly recognizable among brewers.
On a serious note, it does tell me a lot about how friendly, helpful, welcoming clubs are to noobs, and if any are set in their ways on styles.
Thx
–Michael
Thank you for posting, Drew. At our club meetings, we have about 12-14 people attend. So our meeting is a trouble shooting session. The guide lines at the bottom of the blog is a good reminder on how to help our fellow home brewers. Thanks again!
Yeah, our “main” meeting is between 60-100 people so that can be a bit much for anyone to present in front of or for people to give honestly critical feedback.
My club does a separate tech session each month with a specific topic, but then allows time for this same kind of thing. We aren’t real formal about segregating a specific portion of time to devote to the small group feedback, but I think that would be a good way to assure that newer brewers/those experiencing an issue have a known source of feedback in a small group context. I will suggest this at our next meeting.
If you ever find yourself in Baton Rouge on the second Wednesday of the month, let me know. You’ve just become my ‘cousin’ that just tried out brewing with a Mr. Beer kit from Christmas.
My club is small enough that we all sit at a long table (normally about 20 or so of us show on a typical night) and we just pass around homebrew. Many of the club members are BJCP judges (~40% or so), so its great for honing our senses as judges and helping all of us to troubleshoot our beers.
I have a club of 1, but i meet frequently. I’ve only met one other home brewer from my county. My closest LHBS is an hour away in another State. They have a club but every time I look at their “next club meeting date” its about 6 months ago. When they decide to get active, I’m always working that night.
This forum helps make up the difference, but it makes doing blind triangle tests and troubleshooting sessions a little expensive. My Rube Goldberg thing cost me $50 but well worth it!
In our club, no one will admit to having a problem beer!
[quote]In our club, no one will admit to having a problem beer!
[/quote]
How about problem brewers? 