What'd you get for Christmas

So what HBS did everyone get?

Wort chiller
digital thermometer
iodophor
$70. gift card that I plan to use to buy a 2nd brew kettle (Double brew day!!)

Big ol 150 gallon fermentor. Actually its a 150 gallon salt water aquarium and stand.

CO2 for my corny...planning to transfer the chocolate jitters stout as soon as I get back Stateside for a NYE party.

Oh boy... Santa was good to me...

Kenmore Elite 4.9
Complete 2 Keg conversion kit with dual regulator
2 extra corny kegs
2 Custom tap handles
Rails for the top of the kegerator
Bar sign to hang near the new kegerator
Master Brewers Guide
Cooking with beer cookbook
2 ingredient kits
25' wort chiller

Oh yeah... and a partridge in a pear tree...

Oriondriver

I got a milwaukee refractometer, collona bench capper, and coopers carbonation drops

I got a cooler, turkey frier, and a wort cooler.

Yipee!!

10 Extract beer kits
3 glass carboys
1 more 6.5 gallon fermentor
1 hydrometer
1 Springfield M1A rifle
2 ammo cans of .308
3 ferrets playing in their 8 level cage

Nothing for home brewing But I did get a new welder

A set of very sweet personalized beer glasses. and a DVD of Blade Runner!

Turkey Fryer, A keg, regulator and the CO2 Tank and hoses!

And A Partrich In A Pair Tree!!!

Beer related items were a set of six tall pilsener glasses. My sister gave me a nice six-pack sampler from Binny's Liquors which included Bell's Two-Hearted Ale, Summit Winter Ale, Rogue Mocha Porter, Three Ffloyd's Alpha King Pale Ale, Lakefront's Eastside Dark and Great Lakes' Elliot Ness Amber Lager. And money, which is always nice!

A ring burner
Five gallons of BYO hard cider
A couple dogwalks in the rain.

i got drunk

and a sweet wooden guinness label to hang on/over the bar.

I didn't get anything hombrew related for Christmas, but I did give my family some of my Ginger Chocolate Porter, and they seemed to really like it. I also talked my cousin's husband into homebrewing, since he already has a lot of stuff he could use for it, and a lot of space to do it in. Maybe next year I'll get HBS, now that they know what kind of investment it would be for them.

I got a gift certificate which turned into the finishing parts to my kegerator. Now all I have to do is put it together.

I got a $50 gift certificate for the LHBS. Then today, as I was getting ready to rack my Common; I had a carboy draining upside down in the kitchen on the counter. I always have it sitting in a plastic box thingie so it won't tip over 'cept this time. As I have it upside down without the box I think "better not take a chance". Go to the garage to get the drain box and BOOM/CRASH. Sonbitch fell off and shattered everywhere . Take the gift certificate to the HBS and get a 5 and 6.5g carboy . Thankfully SWMBO wasn't home.

desertBrew said:

I got a $50 gift certificate for the LHBS. Then today, as I was getting ready to rack my Common; I had a carboy draining upside down in the kitchen on the counter. I always have it sitting in a plastic box thingie so it won't tip over 'cept this time. As I have it upside down without the box I think "better not take a chance". Go to the garage to get the drain box and BOOM/CRASH. Sonbitch fell off and shattered everywhere . Take the gift certificate to the HBS and get a 5 and 6.5g carboy . Thankfully SWMBO wasn't home.

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Dang...I got a $100 gift certificate to my LHBS, so I guess I'm fixing to break three carboys.

El Pistolero said:

Dang...I got a $100 gift certificate to my LHBS, so I guess I'm fixing to break three carboys.

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Really was bummed on this. Had more important toys to buy than another 5g carboy I had earlier . But, I finally got my 6.5g instead of using my 6g for my primary. However, I have never busted a hydrometer yet .

desertBrew said:

However, I have never busted a hydrometer yet .

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Talk about the kiss of death...Clink.

El Pistolero said:

Talk about the kiss of death...Clink.

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That wouldnt be that big of a loss though... I rarely even take my hydrometer readings, they don't change the beer flavor any, Just a half of a beer less you'll be able to bottle .

Sorry to hear bout your carboys though man, that sucks.. I know from experience... cept mine had beer in it when it shattered... that really sucked .

As a side note. Today I went out and spent some of my Christmas funds. I picked up an 8 Gallon stainless commercial grade kettle (110 bucks at the local restaurant supply shop!), and then picked up a Red Lager Extract kit from my LHBS , brewing starts tomorrow afternoon. Can't wait to break in the new kettle!

Man, Mrs Santa (my wife) was really good to me! I got a Brupacks Mash Tun / Boiler, so I can now take those first steps to all grain. Just got to sort myself out a wort chiller.

I must've brewed some good beer for some good people. I got:

Unibroue (Unibroue)
La Fin du Monde (Unibroue)
Fantôme Brise-BonBons (Brasserie Fantôme)
Midas Touch (Dogfish)
Pangea (Dogfish)
Lump of Coal Holiday Stout (Ridgeway)
N'Ice (Chouffe's)
Chocolate Bock (Sam Adams)
Sam's Utopias (Sam Adams).

I was in a Big Lots store today. Found a 5 gallon stainless kettle and lid for just , get this, $ 6.99. Yeah it seems a little light duty, but now I can boil two batches at a time.

Nothing beer related, no one knows what to get me since I just go out and buy what I want whenever I want. But my sister-in-law did give me these cool pants (like pajama bottoms) with AC/DC on them and 2 cans of Bavarian Sauerkraut!
You can't make these stories up.

Nothing homebrew-related, but I did find a hydrometer at a thrift shop today for $2. (So that's my HB Christmas present for myself, I guess.) I scoured the whole shop, hoping there might be a load of carboys or something that had also been donated to the shop, but no luck.

Well I'm currently single so I only have family and friends to give me gifts. I asked about a month ago for a refractometer and I think they thought I was speaking some sort of weird star trek language.. so I didn't get that this year.

I did get a jet burner and will be getting a 56 quart kettle soon when I make my next trip to Vancouver.
Oh, and enough grains for a ten gallon batch.

Another harmonica. New guitar tuner, strings and a pedal for the guitar I own and want to learn how to play again. (Wasn't that good when I did play it and have since forgotten almost everything)

And a DVD recorder in a pear tree.

homebrewer_99 said:

2 cans of Bavarian Sauerkraut!

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I haven't eaten that in years - might have a search for some today!

A lot of Americans don't like sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) because all they do is open a can and dump the contents into a pot, heat it up, and eat it.

All wrong. They don't know to pour it into a colander to drain, then rinse the pickling juices off.

I like it when you add fresh water (or beer!) to the pot (just enough to cover the cabbage), a teaspoon of sugar (brown sugar works too), some fennel, and a bay leaf. Then let it simmer for a while. Yummy!

Stuff I bought myself... some being a little early

Sanyo 4912
3 Pin Lock Cornies
5lb CO2 tank
misc fittings and cobra taps
enough ingredients to do 4 batches
3 lbs of hops, but hopsdirect sent 5lbs

Stuff I was given:
Tap-a-draft system ( I think my GF's dad wants me to bring more brew to his house)
CO2 regulator
CO2 fill since no where was open ( we did a direct xfer from his 20lb tank to mine) a little scary since we had no way to know how much was in my tank.

A shelf/rack to hold my pint glasses near the Sanyo that resides in my living room.

And I still haven't done x-mas with my family yet

I got a Mosin Nagant M44

A Barley Crusher with a 15 lb. Hopper.

Well, I haven't gotten anything brewing-related. Yet.

But, I spent Christmas day at my brother's (and his wife's) house. He has been introduced to weak domestically-produced beers, and is not really impressed. I brought a bottle of home-brewed Mead, made by a co-worker's cousin. This Mead won first place at the Az State Fair. My brother's comment took a couple of seconds, while I was watching the smile spread across his face. "I LIKE this!"

Later that day, we had a gift-exchanging. He and his wife got a 2 case set of Cobalt blue stretch Hock wine bottles, to be filled with a soon to be started wine. (Or so I thought.) They are now getting a Mead recipe. Probably blackberry. (Sis-in-law is madly in love with Cobalt blue stuff, and I like the color, too.)

From them, I managed to get a rather whopping, amazing couple of gifts. $200 Wally-World GC. $100 Fry's Electronics GC. The Fry's GC will be spent on me repairing my (and their) computers. The Wal-Mart GC will be used to buy my SS turkey fryer, and other beer-related goodies.

Other Christmas goodies, a pay raise from the LHBS, as well as my other job. Also, the VA just increased my disability benefits. 3 raises in one month!

steve

Man, this is LAST year's Christmas thread...

Thanks HB99. Did anyone else catch the post in there from our nice marine friend? Even though he's not around, he's still around.

I did that's what made me look at the date...Oh and while were at it I got permission to add on to the BrewShed and have a dedicated brewery!!!!!!!!