[mchrispen]

http://accidentalis.com/archives/1451

I usually don't post up my blog here, but I thought this might spark an interesting discussion. It is my 100th blog entry, and I also wanted to personally thank folks here for the great advice, interesting debates and (usually) lack of drama! I appreciate all of you.

One of the 'mistakes' I made was jumping into a very expensive system before I was an experienced brewer. In someways it stalled my progress as I was distracted with learning to brew on that hardware, while still learning the fundamentals. Fortunately, I began to surround myself with great brewers and learned that what is in the glass is far more important than what gear it was brewed on or fermented in. My attitude has changed considerably over the last three years - hopefully for the better!

[Wort-H.O.G.]

http://accidentalis.com/archives/1451

I usually don't post up my blog here, but I thought this might spark an interesting discussion. It is my 100th blog entry, and I also wanted to personally thank folks here for the great advice, interesting debates and (usually) lack of drama! I appreciate all of you.

One of the 'mistakes' I made was jumping into a very expensive system before I was an experienced brewer. In someways it stalled my progress as I was distracted with learning to brew on that hardware, while still learning the fundamentals. Fortunately, I began to surround myself with great brewers and learned that what is in the glass is far more important than what gear it was brewed on or fermented in. My attitude has changed considerably over the last three years - hopefully for the better!

this is very cool. great info and advice..looking forward to reading more.

[factory]

Well written and timely.  I've been struggling lately with my lack of perceived progress, i.e. the brewer that I think I "Should be" by now. 

[atodd]

A very good read, one thing I that has helped me is taking better notes and being more detail oriented. 

[HoosierBrew]

Good stuff, Matt. Good advice.

[mchrispen]

Thanks guys!

[AmandaK]

Matt, great read. It makes me smile seeing these type of 'look back and see where I've gone' posts.

And thank you, for being moral support when I was part of the Sabco-owners-club. You took the time to pass on any knowledge you could, complete with pictures (!), with nearly every question I had. So again, thank you. I surely owe you a beer or two!

[curtism1234]

2 years later, I find myself not evolving much. I still do biab in the kitchen (though my batch sizes are larger), water comes straight from the faucet, sugar cubes in the bottles, etc. My investment is certainly minimal unless you ask my wife.

That being said, I don't think making beer needs be as difficult as some make it out to be. Present company included

I feel I often make commercial quality all grain beer (which is better than many breweries can say) so I'll keep a pretty basic system for the foreseeable future.

[mchrispen]

Thanks Amanda!

@curtism1234 - that is really the beauty of brewing. There is a lot to be said making great beers without spending a lot of money. I certainly over-complicated my life for a bit there... both in the brewery and my attitude in general.