You know you're a homebrewer when...

So, my birthday was Sunday (June 4th) and I received a collection of grilling spices and sauces from my neighbor. The funny thing was that the first thing that popped into my head was "hey...these spices are in miniature grolsch style bottles...I can use them for homebrew". Not one thought about the spices.

Anyone have any similar stories?

Im sure this is a repeat of a previous thread, but I felt it needed to be re-visited.

You gained 20+ pounds in the first year of your new found "hobby".

...when you're trolling craigslist every day for free brewing stuff. I *almost* scored some free carboys today but someone else got em first! Curses! *shakes fist*

... when you start eyeing everything in the house and wondering if you could ferment it.

free stuff from CL.org?!?! I'm there.

ya Walker, I catch myself doing that all the time. Onion beer is next...

When every piece of equipment of any kind that you see, you wonder what kind of brew gear you could cobble it into.

You can say things like "I rack by putting my cane into the hole, and once all the fluid is out, I plug the hole with my bung" with a completely straight face.

chillHayze said:

ya Walker, I catch myself doing that all the time. Onion beer is next...

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I was considering trying to ferment some North Carolina sweet iced tea. That stuff must have an OG of about 1.08 or so.

you consider 10 gallons of beer as 'not that much'...or you say things like, "ive only got 5 cases left!"

chillHayze said:

free stuff from CL.org?!?! I'm there.

ya Walker, I catch myself doing that all the time. Onion beer is next...

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I read about an onion beer, but it sounded nasty. Thing is, I'm pretty sure it was using plain yellow onions; thinking a recipe using Vidalias (sp?) might be a little closer to drink-able. Still not sure I'd want 5 gallons of the stuff, though...

the_bird said:

I read about an onion beer, but it sounded nasty. Thing is, I'm pretty sure it was using plain yellow onions; thinking a recipe using Vidalias (sp?) might be a little closer to drink-able. Still not sure I'd want 5 gallons of the stuff, though...

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I would think onions would go well with cascade hops - they seem to taste similar. maybe an onion and garlic beer???

chillHayze said:

I would think onions would go well with cascade hops - they seem to taste similar. maybe an onion and garlic beer???

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Ive thought about an onion garlic beer. I wouldnt carbonate it, and I would use it for cooking. There are a suprising number of garlic beer recipes out there.

- magno

...when you don't mind spending 4 hours cleaning and scrubbing bottles, but won't wash the dishes...

...when you have "homebrewer" in your email address...

when you scour garage sales, flea markets, etc. for anything that could possibly be used in homebrewing.

When you've spent a Sunday farting continuously.
When you get mad at friends for throwing away bottles.
When your friends quit drinking beer because they're tired of being bored with your informational lectures on it.
When you have a green, leafy substance in the freezer and it's not the smoking kind.

Now, for my input on the garlic/onion off-topic, I'm thinking about asparagus beer. Mainly because I made some proscuitto wrapped grilled asparagus last weekend and couldn't handle how bad my pee smelled afterwords. I then became obsessed with how horrible an asparagus beer would make your pee smell (and how often you'd pee).

There's one thing that strikes me as odd about this thread...

Getting a birthday present from your next-door neighbor? I can't remember the last time I received a birthday gift from anyone other than my immediate family members.

....when you have a vivid dream about how your first oatmeal stout will taste. (my first oatmeal stout is still in the primary)

--Aaron

You spend $45 grand on a new garage, because the brewery has taken over the old one.
You take cornies of ale to club meetings, not to show off your skills, but because you have more ale waiting for a keg.
Your kegger is bigger and newer than the fridge in the kitchen.
Someone posts a joke about onion beer, and you start thinking about what hops you would use. (I've had garlic wine at the Gilroy garlic Festive. I wouldn't use it on compost)

david_42 said:

've had garlic wine at the Gilroy garlic Festive. I wouldn't use it on compost

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I had that crap at the Gilroy Garic Fest, too. The only thing it was good for was washing the taste of the garlic ice-cream out of your mouth.

-walker

Walker-san said:

I had that crap at the Gilroy Garic Fest, too. The only thing it was good for was washing the taste of the garlic ice-cream out of your mouth.

-walker

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A garlic fertival?? The only positive thing about attending that would be the assurance there would be no vampires there.

chillHayze said:

A garlic fertival?? The only positive thing about attending that would be the assurance there would be no vampires there.

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If you think a garlic festival is bad (there were many very tastey things to eat) you should attend a Saurkraut festival. A friend of mine accidentally ended up at one while searching some rural Ohio landscape for a Ren Fair that was going on.

I love kraut, but there's not really much you can do with it. Certainly less than you can with garlic.

-walker

While I was stationed in Germany, A right of passage for newbies to the post was a shot of "Rasbutin" It was suppose to be Garlic Liqouer. It would strip chrome off a bumper.... The taste was the nastiest thing I have ever consumed

Cheesefood said:

Now, for my input on the garlic/onion off-topic, I'm thinking about asparagus beer. Mainly because I made some proscuitto wrapped grilled asparagus last weekend and couldn't handle how bad my pee smelled afterwords. I then became obsessed with how horrible an asparagus beer would make your pee smell (and how often you'd pee).

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Some people can't smell the asparagus pee chemical.