Old member

Gentlemen,


Howdy, I am a former member and brewed Ale for 16 years.
I stopped brewing when I realized I can buy beer cheaper than brew it but recently realized something was missing;
I never listen to my old 33rpm records unless I am in the kitchen brewing! So I have decided to brew this cool season just not too much. I was drinking Ale out of my primary and secondary, drinking Ale which wasn't nearly carbonated, and in short trying to live cheap and brew my own Ale.

Now I intend to drink store bought beer and Ale while my homebrew ferments and let it age for 3-4-5 months before getting into it. I can listen to my 33rpm records while I brew and everything will be good.

I even am thinking about whole grain. It was always too complicated and I always brewed with DME or LME. Whole grain still may be too complicated but I plan on brewing with DME and maybe studying whole grain.

My name is Jack and I make knives. I go by JacktheKnife and it is good to be back.


Thank you...


...Jacktheknife

Welcome back! Sounds like partial mash biab would be something for you to look into? I've been doing pb/pm biab for over a year now. But this summer went back to some AE & E/SG beers to try some I haven't brewed yet.

Welcome back, Jack! I'm a bit long in the tooth myself but have no stereo in my basement brewing area so I fiddle with a radio to keep the appropriate theme going while I brew. Seems to be a lot if interest in the economics of homebrewing lately; I wonder if that's significant?

Welcome!

Firstly, you probably *should* drink some store beer instead of drinking from the primary and secondary! But it doesn't take 3-4-5 months to age most beer. I'd wait maybe 4 weeks after bottling before starting to drink homebrew. Maybe later for really strong beers.

All Grain is not hard at all, and it's even easier these days with the increased use of the Brew-In-A-Bag method, where all you need is a strainer bag (5 gallon Nylon paint strainer bag at the local home improvement store).

Going AG will lower your cost quite a bit, especially if you buy a grain mill and buy in bulk. You can also rinse and reuse your yeast to save a few $$. Some peopel even go so far as to dry hop a batch, then turn around and use the dry hops as a bittering addition in a future batch! (I don't recommend this for the timid since it can be a bit of work to calculate the correct amount of bittering.)

At any rate, good luck, ask questions, and enjoy your music!

Welcome back, from CO