Ahoy from Ottawa, Canada!

[alliemackie]

Hello there!

My name is Allie and like most of you, I have fallen into the rabbit hole of home brewing. I've joined here to learn and discuss the hobby.

My boyfriend Marshall and I both love all kinds of beer - there is no one type I've tried yet that I dislike. (Indivudual beers, sure. But even that is rare.) While we both have our own hobbies and pursuits as it is, we really wanted to invest in a hobby together. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before 2 Player Mode Brewing (2PM Brewing for short) was born.

We're still comparative newbies to the game. We have only two brews under our belts and the first one is only just almost ready to enjoy. Our first brew was a spin on John Palmer's recommended starter extract brew, so it's an APA with more IBU and slightly less ABV than his projected numbers. Our second, ready to bottle next week, is a simple Amber Ale.

We just put in an order for additions and upgrades to our current equipment - our next two beers will be a brown porter and an ESB. We haven't decided to make the leap to all-grain yet, but will be getting into that right around Christmastime. We've already done a ton of research into our plans for it.

It's great fun brewing beer as a team. Marshall's the research and numbers guy. I help him make decisions, join forums, chat with folks, and design kick-butt labels. We do good.

Otherwise, we both love to bike, hike and camp. Marshall loves all things video games and outdoors. I love playing with my dog, knitting, and making awesome art.

Anyhow, thanks for having us! I'm no stranger to forums, this should be fun.

 

[Bear979]

It's not often I see another onatrian on here!
I'm fairly new myself, starting with mead/wine but I have also done beer (thanks to mr.beer!).
I'm originally from Kitchener, but now I'm just south of Walkerton (ie. middle of nowhere).
As a fellow Canadian, do you find it hard to get supplies? Northern brewer and other websites don't ship to Canada and I have yet to find a Canadian site (other then obk) that has quality stuff...or maybe it's just me!
Anyways, always interested to talk to a fellow Canadian (not that I'm exclusive however).

Cheers.

 

[alliemackie]

As a fellow Canadian, do you find it hard to get supplies? Northern brewer and other websites don't ship to Canada and I have yet to find a Canadian site (other then obk) that has quality stuff...or maybe it's just me!
Anyways, always interested to talk to a fellow Canadian (not that I'm exclusive however).

Cheers.

Hello friend!

We don't have much issue here in Ottawa. Our only LHBS is Defalco's, and while they're fine for quick equipment stock-up, their ingredients are pricey. We do have a great local community here called Members of Barleyment that helps, too.

That said, OBK and Toronto Brewing have both been great to order supplies from. We use both for our equipment and ingredients with great success.

 

[Bear979]

I'm a pretty big fan of obk, everything I've ordered from there has been fantastic. I've never tried Toronto Brewing, but I will look into it. Thanks!

What's next down your pipeline? At the request of my wife I'm making a 4 berry wine that we are hoping to make into wine coolers (fingers crossed!)

 

[alliemackie]

I'm a pretty big fan of obk, everything I've ordered from there has been fantastic. I've never tried Toronto Brewing, but I will look into it. Thanks!

What's next down your pipeline? At the request of my wife I'm making a 4 berry wine that we are hoping to make into wine coolers (fingers crossed!)

OBK is the favourite here too. We did our initial equipment purchase as a split order between OBK and TB (depending on who had better prices for what) and both companies were fab service-wise.

We have two brews on various degrees of the go right now (the APA and the Amber), but our next brew we make this weekend is going to be a brown porter. Marshall is a huge porter fan. After that we want to try an ESB. All recipes so far are extract with steeping grains, we'll make the push to AG around Christmas. Excited for that too. This is such a fun hobby.