Back in the saddle again!

[Matt B]

Hello, I'm actually new to HBT but I was once a very avid brewer. I started brewing in the early 2000s and brewed until my first child was born in 2009. I have been wanting to get back into the hobby for a while now and decided to give it a shot this past weekend. There is a small wine making supply store not too far from me that also has a few beer making supplies. We stopped in and I picked up a Brewer's Best American Amber kit and it is happily bubbling away in the basement.

When I left the hobby I was DEEP into it. It was quite a change when I told my brewing friends I was quitting the hobby. I was even the local club's "Resident Guru". I did yeast slanting and cultured up my own yeasts. I had built a Taste and Aroma home lab kit to help me pull out and recognize off flavors and aromas in my beers. I didn't enter many competitions but the few I did enter I did quite well in. So, to be starting back with a Brewer's Best Kit feels kinda nice honestly. Really getting back to the roots of the hobby.

I have no immediate intention of moving back to all grain anytime soon simply for time's sake. I now have two young children and my time is stretched even thinner than it was in 2009 when I left the hobby. The brew I did this weekend took me less than two and a half hours to do. My all grain batches were about an eight our event.

I wanted to pop on here and introduce myself and tell everyone here that I look forward to talking shop and seeking advice as I move forward. It's been fun "remembering" everything there is about this hobby!

-Matt B

 

[BigJoeBrew]

Welcome Matt! This hobby is definitely an easy one to get swept away into. I constantly tell myself that if I am making good beer keeping it simple, then just keep it simple. You always have a choice to make it as complicated or as simple as you want. Happy Brewing! Hope your first beer back turns out great!

 

[Matt B]

Welcome Matt! This hobby is definitely an easy one to get swept away into. I constantly tell myself that if I am making good beer keeping it simple, then just keep it simple. You always have a choice to make it as complicated or as simple as you want. Happy Brewing! Hope your first beer back turns out great!

Thank you! I'm hoping to perfect the brewing process using extracts w/ specialty grains. I remember there were a few tricks you could use to lessen the chances of getting that "Extract Kit" flavor but I'm not sure I remember them all. On this one I added my LME in the last 15 mins of my boil. This kit had 2lbs of DME and 3.3lbs of LME. I did add the DME near the start of the boil like the instructions said to do.

 

[nDub]

Right on! Welcome back. My brewing is definitely slowed down with two young children. I still try and carve out some time for it at least once a month and try to get the fam involved.

 

[MaxStout]

Welcome to the forum, from Minnesota!

I am always looking for ways to shave some time off brew day, and I glean lots of little ideas from HBT for process improvement. Doing AG brewing still makes for a long day, though.

 

[Matt B]

Right on! Welcome back. My brewing is definitely slowed down with two young children. I still try and carve out some time for it at least once a month and try to get the fam involved.

I may try to get them involved at some point. We homeschool so I can see me doing a microbiology demonstration one day

 

[Matt B]

Welcome to the forum, from Minnesota!

I am always looking for ways to shave some time off brew day, and I glean lots of little ideas from HBT for process improvement. Doing AG brewing still makes for a long day, though.

I said earlier I had to intention of going back to AG... however I've researched BIAB a bit over the past 24hrs lol.

 

[Griffin495]

Welcome back to the hobby. BIAB is a great way to go and shortens the brew day. You might even cut down on your batch sizes to shorten it up more. I do 2.5 gallon batches and Monday I knocked out a 2.5 G BIAB in 3 hours from mash in to yeast pitched and everything cleaned up. The night before, I crush my grains and measure out my water. I then get it to a boil and shut it off. It cools down overnight of course, but I woke up and my water was at 120F. I didn't really time how long it took to get from 120 to my mash in temp as I was getting my 3 year old dressed and fed and ready for day care. With a Blichmann burner, mash temp to boil took less than 20 minutes. Just a thought. Anyway, welcome back to the obsession.

 

[doogie]

I guess it's now 2 years since I got back into brewing. My oldest kid turned 21 and had a class in beer appreciation (why didn't they have these classes when I went to college), and said we should homebrew. I responded with what did you think the spare fridge with the taps was for? Anyway welcome back into the fun. So much changed from the late 80's early 90's when I was brewing before, but at least there are a fair amount of people still reciting the old mantra RDWHAHB

 

[BigJoeBrew]

I also do BIAB. Even though the brew day is same length I have started mashing overnight after my son has went to bed. Boil in the morning. Helps spending time with family and not being away for hours and hours

 

[Homercidal]

I was going to suggest BIAB and smaller batches. I could honestly bang out a brew in under 3 hours if I prepared my ingredients and equipment beforehand. Since my family got me a couple of 2.5 gallon kegs, I've done many small batches and they are faster and easier and I get to brew more often!