greetings from St. Pete

[andrewp]

Hi All! I've been lurking this site for a couple months and made a few posts. Thanks for all the help. Figured it was time for a formal introduction since I've been spending so much time here.

I'm brewing from St. Petersburg, Florida. I've got three in the fermenters now. A Tripel, a pumpkin pale ale, and an American Wheat Ale. In total those are my 5,6, and 7th batches. Mostly kits before that. Starting to design my own recipes with Homebrew Formulator. All extract brews but I will eventually try an all-grain brew.

I'd like to join one of the brew clubs down here too. If anyone on here is a member of one I'd love some info!

Happy brewing,

Andrew

 

[DrMaddVibe]

Sup Andrew!

Across the bridges over in Wesley Chapel!

 

[BeetleKill]

welcome! a long way from florida, its snowing outside right now but hello from colorado!

 

[Spyd3r]

The people from The Pantry are members of the Dunedin Brew Club, and Southern Brewing guys are members of Tampa BEERS. I'm told that both are pretty good, but that the Tampa group has some REALLY good brewers.

I haven't been to either yet.

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome

 

[jtdominguez3]

I just joined as a "Lifetime Supporter", and it's good to see the Bay Area well represented across the forum! I have heard that BEERS is pretty good. They have a website you can google. I will probably be joining soon. Good luck!

 

[beer-monger]

Just Look at all the Local Brewers. Salutations and welcome to a fellow Tampa Bay brewer.

 

[andrewp]

thanks for the info everyone! i have seen the BEERS and Dunnedin brewing pages and talked to the people at the pantry. haven't made it to Southern Brew supplies yet but i hear its awesome.

beer-monger, are you a member of a brew club?

 

[TheProph3t]

Where in Saint Pete you live, I'm in Jungle Terrace (22nd ave North)

 

[Spyd3r]

Jungle Terrace is an awesome area. Very unique to the area.

Have you ever been through Driftwood?

 

[TheProph3t]

I have not, where is that located?

 

[andrewp]

i live on 4th st. N as close to crossing the bridge into Tampa as possible.

i dont know where those other areas are. i just moved here in the middle of august. i'm bottling my pumkin pale ale tomorrow. hydrometer reading tasted great today. nice bitterness like a pale ale should have followed by the sweetness of the pumpkin. nutmeg and cinnamon aroma. cant wait for it to carb. we should swap beers some time

 

[andrewp]

hey how do you florida guys maintain good fermentation temps? i've been setting my AC a little lower and the carboys stay around the mid to low 70's for my ales. is there an easier (and less expensive... damn progress energy) method?

 

[beer-monger]

No Beer clubs yet, was planning on looking into it. Not sure I have time though. I live in Largo near Indian Rocks Beach. I work in Tampa. Haven't made it to Southern Brew supplies either, I shop at the Pantry. I will probably be there Sunday picking up ingredients for the next batch.
Don't know where Driftwood is. Jungle terrace area is nice.

 

[andrewp]

monger whats your next batch? i was just at the pantry yesterday getting a bottling bucket

 

[Spyd3r]

I have not, where is that located?

Driftwood is a cool little neighborhood located on 22nd ave S and only a few blocks from the bay. It was started as a spanish conquistador settlement. They pulled their ships into a little cove and set up shop. Much later, an affluent architect started designing houses in the area without disturbing the trees. So as you can imagine, all of the houses are different, and there is no such thing as a straight road. Anyway, it's worth a drive through...it kinda feels like you're pulling onto a movie set.

i live on 4th st. N as close to crossing the bridge into Tampa as possible.

i dont know where those other areas are. i just moved here in the middle of august. i'm bottling my pumkin pale ale tomorrow. hydrometer reading tasted great today. nice bitterness like a pale ale should have followed by the sweetness of the pumpkin. nutmeg and cinnamon aroma. cant wait for it to carb. we should swap beers some time

I just pulled my first pint of Yuri's Pumkin Ale...it's pretty good ****! You should check out The Happy Shack on 4thst and 44th ave. It's a little hole in the wall, but they have great beer special, great food, and everything is under $5! Me and my wife went there one night, we ate and got hammered for under $20. lol

hey how do you florida guys maintain good fermentation temps? i've been setting my AC a little lower and the carboys stay around the mid to low 70's for my ales. is there an easier (and less expensive... damn progress energy) method?

I use a swamp cooler. It's cheap and easy. The winter warmer that I'm fermenting now is down to 62-64F.

 

[andrewp]

Driftwood and The Happy Shack sound awesome. I will be sure to check them out.

 

[beer-monger]

Alas there is no beer in my primary. Money too tight this week so will have to wait till next weekend to brew. Bottled up the octoberfest, on friday and, although I do have a carboy full of mead awaiting a second racking, with no beer in my primary or secondary I'm kinda depressed.

 

[andrewp]

Driftwood was really cool but most of those houses looked abandoned.

Don't get too depressed you've got some great homebrew to last you until you can brew again. My girlfriend is making me wait until next month as well. Too much clutter to have more than 2 carboys fermenting at the same time in our apt.

 

[Spyd3r]

The Driftwood community is pretty strange. The owners almost never sell, and when they do, they'll only sell to someone that either THEY know, or someone that the neighbors know.

A guy I work with lives there, and he got his house because he knew the neighbor. He told me that he had to sign some crazy neighborhood agreement...things like, he couldn't remove ANY trees on his property, ALL landscaping must be proposed to the Homeowners association first, he can't rent the house to tennants, etc...