Reunited and it feels so good...

After a painful but necessary 5 month sabbatical I'm returning to homebrewing this weekend. Did my starter last night, hoping for a nice cool evening for a patio brew session tomorrow. Other than almost forgetting to pitch the yeast in the starter (d'oh!), so far so good :cross: I'm going with a partial mash this time, but if I don't royally screw up i'm going AG next time - woohoo!

On an unrelated note, just got back from London and now I really want a beer engine - suppose SWMBO would mind one sticking out of the kitchen counter next to the toaster?

Welcome back.

I'm glad you like "real" ale.:rockin:

Most definitely - fortunately Chicago has more than a couple of places claiming to serve it. Only one way to find out!

Welcome back!
I had a chance to use BrewPastor's Beer engines at the NHBC and those things are slick. I definitely want one if I ever get a permanent bar set up.

Hey Ski -- welcome back! Sounds like you had a great trip to London.

Let me guess, the first batch since the sabbatical is going to be a pub ale??

I so want a beer engine right now. I had my first cask-conditioned ales not too long ago, I am absolutely hooked.

Welcome back, you knew you couldn't leave homebrewing behind!

Never intended to leave, just had to face the reality of prepping for a certification exam. I would say I went 'monk style', but that would've involved brewing I also put away my guitar for the same period....ouch! Between the recent London trip and the homebrew library i've accumulated in the last 18 months or so, it's been an impatient wait. I'm sure I'll make at least one dumb mistake this batch (an old favorite: Wee Heavy), but even making the starter last night brought back that feeling of familiarity. Remember that scene in last year's Soparanos episode where Artie Bucco returns to his kitchen and rediscovers the pure joy of cooking? Yeah, it's kinda like that (but hopefully I wasn't as much of a schmuck in the meantime )

Update - the batch is 'in the can' and besides having had a very enjoyable brew session out on the patio in perfect weather, I was able to christen the new 9-gal pot and banjo-burner in anticipation of an AG session next time around. All I can say is that I wish I'd had this setup from day one. Being able to brew extracts in the kitchen is nice in the winter months, but I saved almost an hour on my process with a full-boil setup, due to the extra heat. 3 hours, start to finish, including clean-up time. Having the brew-ometer and ball valve directly on the pot also made for much easier chill-down monitoring and sparging. Next stop: HERMS!