Hello Home Brew Talk Friends!
Started brewing in 1977 when introduced to the craft by some German engineers in Huntsville Alabama. I still remember my first 2 or 3 home brew beers, almost could not drive home! Back then, finding malt was easy, go to the local Winn Dixie and get 5 # of malt extract (they had light or dark on the shelves). Remaining ingredients came from a mail order supplier called Bet Mar, in North Carolina I think. Simple system: corn surgar, Burton water salts, and Haulterhaur hops. Sanitation, never heard of it at that time. Beer went from primary to bottle after 7 to 10 days. Most batches were good, but you expected an occasional disaster. Always bottled (I still have 8 cases of bottles), kegging was unknown. Anyway, brewed until 1989-1990, when various issues required too much time, and beer making stopped.
Fast forward to 2005, and I get back into home brew after recieving a kegerator for a important milestone birthday (I imagine you can do the math a guess which one). I am not a big fan of most American beer, well, at least not a fan enough to get a 7-1/2 gallon keg. So the brand new kegerator sat unused for some time. Then, I started internet research and was amazed at the wealth of information available. Purchased the Papazian home brew bible and was ready to brew again. Although I do not have a home brew supply store close, I frequently travel to Birmingham AL and purchased new equipment and some extract kits from the HBS there. The kits had crushed grains, a new experience. The beer turned-out to be great. I have since purchased from Midwest and Austin, and brewed 14 extract kit batches, all but one has been really good. Also, I have not bottled since December '05, use two kegs, and really love the results. Still a basic extract brewer, free time is scarce.
I found this forum during my early research and frequently came back to read various threads. I have really enjoyed being a visitor to this site, and thought I would join, although I do not frequent the internet since I spend a lot of time in front of a computer at work ( and would rather do something else in my free time). Hopefully, I will be able to add something to the community. As you can surmise from the screen name, I love hoppy beer (or happy beer).
Happy homebrewing!
Started brewing in 1977 when introduced to the craft by some German engineers in Huntsville Alabama. I still remember my first 2 or 3 home brew beers, almost could not drive home! Back then, finding malt was easy, go to the local Winn Dixie and get 5 # of malt extract (they had light or dark on the shelves). Remaining ingredients came from a mail order supplier called Bet Mar, in North Carolina I think. Simple system: corn surgar, Burton water salts, and Haulterhaur hops. Sanitation, never heard of it at that time. Beer went from primary to bottle after 7 to 10 days. Most batches were good, but you expected an occasional disaster. Always bottled (I still have 8 cases of bottles), kegging was unknown. Anyway, brewed until 1989-1990, when various issues required too much time, and beer making stopped.
Fast forward to 2005, and I get back into home brew after recieving a kegerator for a important milestone birthday (I imagine you can do the math a guess which one). I am not a big fan of most American beer, well, at least not a fan enough to get a 7-1/2 gallon keg. So the brand new kegerator sat unused for some time. Then, I started internet research and was amazed at the wealth of information available. Purchased the Papazian home brew bible and was ready to brew again. Although I do not have a home brew supply store close, I frequently travel to Birmingham AL and purchased new equipment and some extract kits from the HBS there. The kits had crushed grains, a new experience. The beer turned-out to be great. I have since purchased from Midwest and Austin, and brewed 14 extract kit batches, all but one has been really good. Also, I have not bottled since December '05, use two kegs, and really love the results. Still a basic extract brewer, free time is scarce.
I found this forum during my early research and frequently came back to read various threads. I have really enjoyed being a visitor to this site, and thought I would join, although I do not frequent the internet since I spend a lot of time in front of a computer at work ( and would rather do something else in my free time). Hopefully, I will be able to add something to the community. As you can surmise from the screen name, I love hoppy beer (or happy beer).
Happy homebrewing!
