I totally agree... it's like over-roasting coffee beans. You trade bitterness of flavor but get consistency. That's a legit process control approach to manufact

I totally agree... it's like over-roasting coffee beans. You trade bitterness of flavor but get consistency. That's a legit process control approach to manufacturing. And consistency of brewing beer is a huge deal... it's not that hard to make a decent home brew (it helps that it's usually fresh like home baked bread), but it's REALLY HARD to make the same beer (that people are coming back for and paying money) batch after batch. You need control not only of ingredients (and the damn things change), but also the yeast, time @ temp... and cleanliness! It's a lot easier to add lots of hops.