I'm new, sorta.

[GarrettMD]

Hey, my name is Garrett, if you couldn't tell by the username. Not a doctor though, those are just my other initials. I've been around the site for a few days, maybe a week now, and decided I should post this. I am a member of BeerAdvocate and had seen references to this site a lot and never thought to join another community, but finally did when I was looking more at the homebrew section of BA than anything else. I am actually still in college (hopefully graduating this next year), majoring in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering. I have been brewing for 2.5 years now. I started doing all-grain almost a year ago, but only got a proper all-grain setup this fall. I've gotten to the point where I will brew once every 2 weeks and help someone else with a brew every week. I can't decide what to brew next, ever, I just have too many ideas and don't know what I want to do more. It always seems like I choose the stouts first and I want to keep away from that, but oh well, you brew what you like right?

I haven't brewed enough batches to have a "go-to" beer that I brew, but I can tell I'm getting close, especially after the over-hopped oatmeal stout I just brewed. I have started making my own recipes from scratch rather than looking online for base recipes and altering them slightly. The beers that I have been making from scratch are turning out better than any of the recipes I have found online, so I think I am going in the right direction. Now I just have to start entering them into competitions, then I will be able to tell just how good I'm doing on my own. That's what this next month is for though.

 

[Stardust]

Hi Garrett! Would you consider sharing one of your "from scratch" stout recipes with me? It's one of my fav styles. I think you live far enough away that you don't have to worry about your recipe showing up in the same competition I've been slowly putting together my own all-grain setup as well.