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Wayne1

Wayne1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2008
Messages
1,501
Reaction score
586
Location
Littleton, CO
Hello all,

I began homebrewing back in the early 80's.

I had lots of fun learning and growing from kits to extracts and finally to all grain.

I started entering homebrew competitions and, to my surprise, actually winning a few.

I became a professional pub brewer with the opening of the Hubcap Brewery in Vail, CO in 1990

I worked there through 1990 when Coors hired me to open The SandLot Brewery at Coors Field in 1995.

I was there for two seasons. I went on to work as director of Brewing Services at Five Star Chemicals.

I consulted on a brewery project in Lake Havasu City and finally ended up at The RockYard Brewery in Castle Rock, CO.

I left brewing all together in 2001.

I have had my own business ever since in the high end home audio field.

I have been feeling the itch to brew again for the past year and I think it is time to start putting a brewing system together.

Unfortunately I lent my double burner cajun cooker and brew kettle to someone who has since moved away :mad:

I picked up a converted keg at a local homebrew supply store, yesterday. I still have a keg for HLT and a 10 gallon Gott for a MLT. I am going to try to build a brew stand in the next few weeks.

I will probably have more than a few questions about the current homebrew scene. This looks like the place to ask them.

If there is anything I can do to help anyone here, please don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,
Wayne
Littleton,
CO
 
Welcome back! I too started brewing in the 80s. It's amazing how the Internet has influenced the home brew scene (in a much positive way).

It will be great to have a pro as a member!
 
Welcome to the forum Wayne. We will definately be interested in learning more about your experiences and look forward to helping you anyway we can.
 
Welcome to HBT Wayne. Sounds like you know a decent amount about the brewing scene. It will be nice to have one more knowledgeable head around here.... not that there are not a surplus of em' already!!!

:mug:
 
Thanks for the welcome, guys.

There are lots of stories about brewing in the different pubs.

Hopefully I will be able to meet some of you guys sometime and hoist a couple of cool ones while spinning some yarns.
 
Howdy, Wayne. Welcome back to the hobby as a hobby.

(My current business partner (at Groqit.com) used to be owned by Theta Digital. They sold it last fall. She was also a partner at California Audio Labs, if you go back that far.)
 
Welcome dude! Nice to see a pro, I'm sure you can help all of us that aspire to be a pro someday. By the way I also like the high end audio gear, too bad I can afford it :(
 
You can take the man out of the brewery, but you'll never take the brewer out of the man (or woman).

Welcome back.

And thanks for ponying up for a paid membership. You'll be glad you did... ;)

Get to brewing soon. We have periodic beer swaps going on around here (amongst the paying members).
 
Wayne1 said:
Hello all,

I began homebrewing back in the early 80's.

I had lots of fun learning and growing from kits to extracts and finally to all grain.

I started entering homebrew competitions and, to my surprise, actually winning a few.

I became a professional pub brewer with the opening of the Hubcap Brewery in Vail, CO in 1990

I worked there through 1990 when Coors hired me to open The SandLot Brewery at Coors Field in 1995.

I was there for two seasons. I went on to work as director of Brewing Services at Five Star Chemicals.

I consulted on a brewery project in Lake Havasu City and finally ended up at The RockYard Brewery in Castle Rock, CO.

I left brewing all together in 2001.

I have had my own business ever since in the high end home audio field.

I have been feeling the itch to brew again for the past year and I think it is time to start putting a brewing system together.

Unfortunately I lent my double burner cajun cooker and brew kettle to someone who has since moved away :mad:

I picked up a converted keg at a local homebrew supply store, yesterday. I still have a keg for HLT and a 10 gallon Gott for a MLT. I am going to try to build a brew stand in the next few weeks.

I will probably have more than a few questions about the current homebrew scene. This looks like the place to ask them.

If there is anything I can do to help anyone here, please don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,
Wayne
Littleton,
CO
Click to expand...
Welcome back! Your story sounds very much like mine. I left brewing in 2000 after brewing for over 10 years. First tried brewing in the mid 80's. Had a Contract brewing company in the mid 90's. If I only knew then what I know NOW! Back in to homebrewing full throtle. Much more fun as a hobby don't have to worry about trying to make a profit.

Warrior
 
Thanks again for the very warm welcome.

David_42,

I still have a CAL Delta CD transport around here somewhere. It hasn't gotten much use since I now have all my music stored on hard drive.

BierMuncher,

My daughter (and a LOT of my money) goes to Mizzou. I was there to help her move in in August. 107 degrees F with maybe even higher humidity numbers. Of course her room is on the 4th floor of the oldest dorm on campus with no elevator.

A lot of time was spent at Flat Branch Brewing Company after that.

Which reminds me of a beer story :D

I spent a few years one summer installing a brewery and training the staff in Lake Havasu City, AZ. After many numerous challenges with water quality (so alkaline that all brewing and cleaning water had to be RO) The water storage tank was outside in a shed. Ground water temps were typically 110F. I had to store all the brewing water in a fermenter to CHILL it to mash in at 104F. I finally started the first brew. It turned out to be the hottest day of the year. 127 F.

Then the air conditioning failed...

I think the temps in the brewery hit over 130 with LOTS of humidity for the desert.

Ahh ,tis a privilege to live in Colorado
 
Wayne1 said:
...My daughter (and a LOT of my money) goes to Mizzou. I was there to help her move in in August. 107 degrees F with maybe even higher humidity numbers. Of course her room is on the 4th floor of the oldest dorm on campus with no elevator.
...
Click to expand...

I know that dorm. My daughter was on the eight floor...south side.
 
Well I guess we know who we can refer all the Star San question too for sure....

SO did you ever get into a starsan chugging competition with Chuck Talley?

:D

Welcome back to brewing and welcome to HBT!!!
 
Welcome, o knowledgeable one! It's a privilege to have someone who knows the business join us amongst the madness.

I owned an electronic retail store in SW Michigan for eight years.....not high end. My best sounding lines were Onkyo, Ohm, and AR. After losing $40k because of teeny margins, I closed the doors. My own home, however, has 13 pairs of speakers and five complete systems.

Where are you located?
 
BierMuncher,

My daughter is in Cramer, with lots of other freshman Journalism students. It is scheduled to be torn down this summer. I am very proud of her. She was a direct admit to the J-School, is in Honors College and made the Dean's list her first semester. :D

Revvy,

I believe the first public tasting of StarSan by Charlie was in Cleveland at the Homebrewer's Conference in 1997. I was also there and had a sip of the beer that Charlie poured StarSan into. I have had worse beers. I've even made much worse ones.

I tried to do my best not to get into ANY consumption competitions with Charlie. He is well over 6' tall and the last time I saw him he was pushing 275 lbs. I'm 5' 8" and 150 lbs.

JimKarr,

I am in Littleton, CO. Margins in retail electronics are very low. BestBuy has just about driven most mid-fi places under. I work out of my house and do high end mods, power supplies and cables. The low overhead almost allows me to afford a hobby ;)

jds,

I am near Ken Caryl and Wadsworth. I might be interested in checking out The Brew Hut. I do plan on attending the meeting of the Mile High Monks on the 29th
http://www.milehighmonks.com/newsletter.html It is really close by my house. Always a good thing when product analysis may be done :drunk:
 
Wayne1 said:
jds,

I am near Ken Caryl and Wadsworth. I might be interested in checking out The Brew Hut. I do plan on attending the meeting of the Mile High Monks on the 29th
http://www.milehighmonks.com/newsletter.html It is really close by my house. Always a good thing when product analysis made be done :drunk:
Click to expand...

Yoicks! We're practically neighbors. Anytime you need to borrow my burner, just let me know! :)
 

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