You know you're a home brewer when?

pshankstar said:

Good point, I will keep that in mind. Never naturally carbonated in a keg before, but theres always a first for everything. Thanks for the suggestion!

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If your cautious of o2, add the priming solution to the fermenter and then transfer in an hour or two after refermentation has started.

When you're bored you make a few mini batches out of leftover starter fluid and anything you have lying around the house (old OJ, some honey? sure whatever...).

When your financial advisor spot the "beer" category in your annual budget and comments "wow you can't be spending that much on beer".

When you got a few loose bucks extra left after paying the bills and your first thought is... should I get a third primary?

True story, happened yesterday still haven't made up my mind

Wen you wake up, glance at your digital clock which reads 5:32 and your first thought is that your mash pH is OK.

Todd

Krown said:

When your financial advisor spot the "beer" category in your annual budget and comments "wow you can't be spending that much on beer".

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When beer has it's own category in your annual budget

bleme said:

When beer has it's own category in your annual budget

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When your beer category has a number of sub-categories:
beer:
homebrewing:
hardware
ingredients

... etc.

...all of the sudden your favourite commercial beer has started to taste appallingly malty without much hop characteristics to speak of

...you're a little bit disappointed every time when you crack open a commercial brew and it tastes exactly the same as it did a week ago without any maturing.

Misplaced_Canuck said:

When your beer category has a number of sub-categories:

beer:

homebrewing:

hardware

ingredients



... etc.

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When you tell your financial guy you really want to plan for a brewery.

When you get super stoked after realizing you're using a dry pack of Nottingham for your beer and you don't have to make a starter this weekend!!

Bosh said:

leftover starter fluid

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When you've been short on time for the last 18 months, you want to experiment with a 15 minute boil extract batch, and pressure canned starter wort becomes an ingredient to add some more developed malt flavors

catdaddy66 said:

When you get super stoked after realizing you're using a dry pack of Nottingham for your beer and you don't have to make a starter this weekend!!

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I so like using dry yeast now...I use neutral yeast (US-05, BRY-97, etc.) for most of my brews anyway, and there's a really nice selection of other dry yeasts now...

For now I'm still really sold on Wyeast's English Cider yeast, but I think I'm going to do some test batches of cider using some of the dry cider yeasts to see if they may be comparable... If I could get completely away from liquid yeasts, I think I would...

when you have a 6 gallon carboy ,and 2 LBKs in the kitchen fermenting.

You run out of kegs or bottles to package your newest beer into.

You know you're a homebrewer when you put on an old fleece jacket you haven't worn in a couple years and find, in the pocket, not money, but an expired packet of yeast...

Black Island Brewer said:

You know you're a homebrewer when you put on an old fleece jacket you haven't worn in a couple years and find, in the pocket, not money, but an expired packet of yeast...

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When you read this and think: I bet I can still use this, better get a batch going!

When you finally have a pipeline going and all you can think of is 10 gallons kegged and 5 fermenting ain't enough...need to do 10 gallons next brew day!

dkwolf said:

I'm two months in to a new relationship. Going better than I could have ever imagined; never had this much in common with a woman before. I mentioned that I'm a beer geek; she said all she had ever drank was BMC, and told me I'd have to teach her the other beers.

Mentioned I homebrew, and she told me the next day that she had stayed up for like 3-4 hours that night watching youtube videos on homebrewing, and wants to come help on my next brew day.

I think I've got something really good going on here.

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Had to give an update on this. She's continued to broaden her beer horizons, and we're really getting dialed in - she likes brown ales best, some porters, and the occasional hefeweizen. She went to GABF with me this past year - and was already talking about going again next year before we left our session this year. For my birthday, she got me the "Perfect Drink" system (a scale that plugs into your phone and measures out the perfect ratio of ingredients for any mixed drink you can think of), for Christmas a beer mug with my name etched in it.

Tonight, I asked her to marry me. (And she said yes)

I'm not sure I can ask for anything more. Life is awesome.

Gratz for your engagement. Sounds like true love to me!
Cheers, Chris

I mentioned last night that once we have the details worked out, we might have to talk to my homebrew club and see about having them brew up a few batches for the reception (or rehearsal dinner). She's on board

Congrats to you both @dkwolf!! Cheers!

When you can look at this and get thirsty! It's a starter from a previous "overbuild" starter of WLP007...

Reidman said:

When you've had more than one person ask you if you're running a meth lab out of your garage...

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I literally had the town Marshall drive by 9 times rubbernecking then pull me over the next day

dkwolf said:

I mentioned last night that once we have the details worked out, we might have to talk to my homebrew club and see about having them brew up a few batches for the reception (or rehearsal dinner). She's on board

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Congratulations! A word of warning, though:

My daughter was married over the weekend and we had the reception in Dubuque. Of course I wanted to have some homebrew at the reception and was told I could not. Something about Iowa laws....this despite the fact they would have gotten the beer from me for free, whereas otherwise it was part of the contract.

We provided beer and wine at the reception but I was told I could only supply beer from their distributor. And you can guess what they had available (BMC). Ended up holding my nose and going Miller Lite and MGD.

Maybe it's different where you live in IA, maybe I don't have the laws right, but before you get too far along make sure you can do it at the reception venue.

***************

In the spirit of the thread, i wasn't going to take no for an answer. We reserved the Al Capone Suite which was just a few feet down from the banquet hall, and brought a bunch of bottled beer for me and guests. Some even found its way into the reception hall, so I hear.

Turns out reserving that suite was maybe the smartest move of the entire wedding/reception. Great home base, had cocktail hour there for guests (I supplied other libations), place for decorations and gifts and such to be tucked away. It wasn't cheap (normally $500/night but we got a bit of a deal), but it had two king-bed bedrooms, one w/ jacuzzi, a pull out sofa bed, kitchen, 2 1/2 baths....it was nice.

Click the link above and do the virtual tour.

mongoose33 said:

Congratulations! A word of warning, though:
We provided beer and wine at the reception but I was told I could only supply beer from their distributor. And you can guess what they had available (BMC). Ended up holding my nose and going Miller Lite and MGD.

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I'm not familiar with Iowa law, but I suspect public accommodations want the option to shut off patrons that over imbibe. Perhaps the liabilities get cloudy when someone provides free (to the drinker) alcohol.

Homebrewing consumes your other hobbies





Could not fit any more on the bike. Wish I could have said it was all calculated. Mostly lucky. Or stupid!

I wonder how many people knew what I had on the back? To most, must have been a bag of fertilizer.

Guess I could use a side car

Hahaa epic! What is that, a road glide? I'm poor with HD models. All I can carry on my bike is what I can shove into my backpack and tankbag

'17 Street Glide. I figured 70#'s of dead weight can't be any different than toting either of the kids or wife around
Bike before was a soft tail so, no bags. I was forced to use a back-pack too (or stuff it into my jacket).

It was just too nice out to take the car. Two birds-one stone :fro:

'02 Triumph Daytona 955i DSSA show/streetfighter here w/ single seat one piece humpback tail +1k paintjob, don't got much to hang stuff from

Drank a few more streetfighter APAs, starting to think my mash temp is way too high as it still is icky sweet. Shoulda leveled out by now.

When you stumble across 4 unlabeled fliptop bottles in your "aging" collection and have no friggin' idea what's in there...

When you get a bag of coffee that is ground a bit finer than you'd like and you wonder about adding rice hulls to it to avoid a "stuck sparge". I considered this once but decided to use the French press pot instead

When the cleanest things in your house are 6.5 gallon buckets and 10 gallon pots.

When you have enough beer, the fermenters are full, and you're still itching to brew a batch.

When you grow 5 types of hops in your yard, and you buy three more varieties even though you're not sure of where to plant them.

When you mow 7 acres on the first hot day of the season. and when you get back to the maintenance shed, they offer you a Coors lite, and you say no and have a water.

You gontonhe Dollar Store to buy some cheap ponchos for an upcoming vacation to FL and walk around looking for "brewery dedicated" utensils (measuring cups/spoons, etc).

When you're freezer has more hops than food.

When you get giddy as a schoolgirl as the week progresses simply because you're brewing in a couple days.

When you plan beverages for the adults at your kid's grad party and you know you've got beer covered...with a couple kegs of home brew.

Hwk-I-St8 said:

When you get giddy as a schoolgirl as the week progresses simply because you're brewing in a couple days.

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This, glad it's not just me!

When your girlfriend suggests that you should brew at her house, and her dining room, kitchen and basement are full of your brewing supplies and fermenters

When all of your friends and family are saving you wine and beer bottles

And when you get excited to soak bottles and get the labels off (lol I get way too happy doing this)