an idea to develop

[wisp]

and getting over excited too?

[wisp]

cheers Bob, really good to see you drop in here and don't mind the move at all. i'm aiming for something like a non-technical start up guide. it'll say nothing of specifics and plenty about how to approach brewing as a novice. so general stuff about nurturing your nature, for example do you like to experiment, or do you like to follow very prescriptive recipes and methods, then take path 'a' for the first option or path "b" for the second. if there is a bit of both in you then you decide which way to swing for which (eg ingredients or method).

But more generally than that it'll be about how to maintain an interest and enthusiasm to see you through the early days. Making wine number one is an enormous help to beat the wine aging lag, but i think that as a unit we can offer more than that. and more than that i believe we can do it concisely and in a fun way. so this is not about detail, its about generalities that make the whole thing much MUCH more pleasurable for the novice. So great results straight off are not everything, but enjoying what you do, always having something to look forward too (whether an imminently ready brew, or something new to forage, or taking the chore out of chores, or clear and easy to see progress etc etc etc).

further to that it will be the sort of thing that makes a wannabe homebrewer stop wondering, and start brewing. i haven't scoured the forum to see if such a thing exists already, but i don't think it does. lots of reassurance, few rules (sanitation and patience aside) and simple talk/tips that accounts for different tastes/methods should accomplish this easily. My inspiration, by the way, comes from how wine number 1 is presented with all its simplicity and flexibility and results. so i'm on the path to expanding that to winemaking in general.

I've just got hold of what you mean - I told you I was thick! You agree with that and Bob gets a PM!!!! I hope you know I'm joking.

The most important factor of home brewing and home fermenting is to let everyone else within your regular company - family, friends, the rent man; or in Cellar Rats' case, flogger friends - know what you are doing, why you are doing it and, if you can, encourage them to get involved.

I still stand by the videos I've suggested in an earlier post. One it's fun for everyone to do. Two, it gives a newbie winemaker something to do and actively learn - especially with cheap wines that may be thrown in the trolly at the end of a weekly shop.

I'd add, too, the brewing of a beer kit or, even better, a turbo cider. Doing so, especially with the cider, produces results that are pleasant to drink, confirms that an alcoholic beverage can be produced from fruit juice, stops a newbie going to the pub and encourages a newbie to discover what malic acid is because the cider is too smooth and he/she knows that it needs some tang.

[Cellar_Rat]

...............your regular company - family, friends, the rent man; or in Cellar Rats' case, flogger friends - know what you are doing, why you are doing it and, if you can, encourage them to get involved.......

Rent man! fnah, fnah. Makes my flogger friends pale into insignificance

[wisp]

[ms67]

i think thats a great idea, like a matrix you mean?
x + y gives something like z?

not exactly what i'm thinking of for this idea, but i reckon if you posted in the wine number 1 thread then it would be a great resource. even better if anyone could add to the matrix, if it was live. inspired thinking OB.