NUCC98
Well-Known Member
So
its been quite a while since I have posted here. There are a LOT of newer posters, actually, since I was on
..so
.figure Id re-introduce myself.
Ive been a homebrewer since Nov. 04. Started out using extracts w/ specialty grains from kits mostly. Once I formulated my first recipe, a Magic Hat #9 clone, I was off the kits for good.
I took a brief hiatus from Nov. 05 June 06. Having bought a house and got married, I was trying to figure out a way to continue my hobby without incurring the wrath of my lovely wife from making the house smell like a brewery. I finally broke down, took the giant leap, and started all-grain brewing. Bought a Bayou Classic Burner, two converted coolers from my local HBS, and cooked up a Brown Ale. Absolute perfection from start to finish.
My next batch nearly made me switch back to extract brewing. I tried to clone Sam Adams Winter Lager. It was over-spiced, under-carbonated, and worst of all, EXTREMELY watered down. I kinda rushed that batch due to certain time constraints I had and, as a result, reverted back to extract methodology adding 2 gallons of water to my 3 gallons I got from my sparge. There seriously needs to be a term for tanking your brew THAT badly. I forced myself to choke down every last drop of that vile stuff to serve as a reminder NEVER to do that again.
It worked. My last batch I made a stout, and it came out perfectly, save for the actual amount I ended up bottling. I sparged about 5.5 to 6 gallons to boil. After to boil, I was left with barely 5. After the ferment, I transferred over to my secondary about 4 gallons, and only bottled about 3.75 gallons in the end. Im not completely sure how this all came to be, but Im working on getting a much larger brew kettle so I can sparge 7, ferment 6, and hopefully bottle roughly 5 gallons.
Im going to making a new move over to kegging. I figure if I keep 4 cornies on hand, and keep a steady rotation, I can brew once a month, condition it in the keg for roughly 8 weeks, and always have homebrew on-hand.
So, to sum up, to date .Ive brewed:
A Magic Hat #9 Clone
Imperial Stout
Brown Ale
Helles Bock
IPA
Hard Lemonade
Blueberry Wheat
Honey Wheat (not great)
ESB
Chocolate Cherry Stout (so-so)
Red Ale
Hard Cider
Weisenbock ..the SEVERELY tanked Winter Lager
Dry Irish Stout (Currently bottle conditioning)
Ive been a homebrewer since Nov. 04. Started out using extracts w/ specialty grains from kits mostly. Once I formulated my first recipe, a Magic Hat #9 clone, I was off the kits for good.
I took a brief hiatus from Nov. 05 June 06. Having bought a house and got married, I was trying to figure out a way to continue my hobby without incurring the wrath of my lovely wife from making the house smell like a brewery. I finally broke down, took the giant leap, and started all-grain brewing. Bought a Bayou Classic Burner, two converted coolers from my local HBS, and cooked up a Brown Ale. Absolute perfection from start to finish.
My next batch nearly made me switch back to extract brewing. I tried to clone Sam Adams Winter Lager. It was over-spiced, under-carbonated, and worst of all, EXTREMELY watered down. I kinda rushed that batch due to certain time constraints I had and, as a result, reverted back to extract methodology adding 2 gallons of water to my 3 gallons I got from my sparge. There seriously needs to be a term for tanking your brew THAT badly. I forced myself to choke down every last drop of that vile stuff to serve as a reminder NEVER to do that again.
It worked. My last batch I made a stout, and it came out perfectly, save for the actual amount I ended up bottling. I sparged about 5.5 to 6 gallons to boil. After to boil, I was left with barely 5. After the ferment, I transferred over to my secondary about 4 gallons, and only bottled about 3.75 gallons in the end. Im not completely sure how this all came to be, but Im working on getting a much larger brew kettle so I can sparge 7, ferment 6, and hopefully bottle roughly 5 gallons.
Im going to making a new move over to kegging. I figure if I keep 4 cornies on hand, and keep a steady rotation, I can brew once a month, condition it in the keg for roughly 8 weeks, and always have homebrew on-hand.
So, to sum up, to date .Ive brewed:
A Magic Hat #9 Clone
Imperial Stout
Brown Ale
Helles Bock
IPA
Hard Lemonade
Blueberry Wheat
Honey Wheat (not great)
ESB
Chocolate Cherry Stout (so-so)
Red Ale
Hard Cider
Weisenbock ..the SEVERELY tanked Winter Lager
Dry Irish Stout (Currently bottle conditioning)
