HappyHax0r
Well-Known Member
Hey guys and gals,
Just wanted to introduce myself and give a little background like you ask for in the FAQ.
I got in to brewing because my friend decided to give me home-brewing equipment and some ingredients as a wedding gift for my up-coming wedding in August of next year. I gotta say it's probably the one of the most addictive, fun, and rewarding gifts I've ever had. It's cost me a fair amount of cash so far
but what the hell, you can't take it with you.
My first batch was actually two batches of Mac N' Jacks african amber ale clone. For the first batch, unfortunately the place we ordered the hops from sent the wrong whole-leaf hops (amarillo instead of cascade) and it became a franken-beer. It did turn out however, and was actually a very reasonable brew, some of the best beer I've ever had.
The second half of the batch used cascade pellet hops instead which would have been the correct choice but unfortunately due to my being an idjit and being fidgety and messing with the beer in the primary it got infected with black mold.
As far as gear goes, I have the following:
---------------------------------------
5 USGal boilpot
Stainless steel caulinder
Plastic stir spoon (notched for water height in brewpot)
1 Better bottle plastic carboy (6gal)
1 Glass carboy (6gal)
2 Plastic primaries from "Wine Kitz"
4 x fermometers (1 on each of the primaries/secondaries)
Crown capper
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Auto-siphon (I'm not a fan, I gotta say)
Other than that I have the typical stuff everyone has: cheesecloth, grainbags, etc.
I'm a "maker", so I tend to build things I need. That way they meet my needs instead of "almost meeting" them. That seems to be the spirit of the home-brew community anyway given that we're brewing at home instead of buying something at the liquor store .
Future plans for building are:
---------------------------
A mash-tun and grain-mill for all-grain brewing
A brewing hutch with a temperature controlled upper level for fermenting and aging as well as storing the plethora of kit that I've acquired already.
Future purchase plans:
---------------------
Planning on buying a pumping kit soon to get rid of the auto-siphon as mine's given me nothing but trouble *sigh*. Found a kit locally that has a food grade pump and line and is easy to clean and sanitize all for $83.00 (good deal!)
Currently in-brew:
-----------------
This weekend I got back on the horse and brewed up Dave's version of a Pacific Northwest IPA. After all a single infection isn't a rash of them.
I plan on brewing another batch of Mac n' Jacks clone shortly as well, the grains, hops, and DME/LME are currently on order and should be in this week.
About me in particular:
---------------------
I'm a tinkerer, and I make things for fun. Thus beer was the perfect "mash-up" if you can pardon the bad pun. I like to build electronic things, I can write software in just about any language and on any platform, and I do computer security consulting for a living.
I'm finding that I enjoy making beer almost more than I enjoy drinking beer. That's partly because I enjoy cooking in general, but also partly because it's an evolving process and each beer is different.
Hope I can be a welcome and useful member of your community. Feel free to msg me with any questions you might have (including security questions if you feel the need!). I'm sure I'll be posting a lot of questions of my own.
Cheers!
Just wanted to introduce myself and give a little background like you ask for in the FAQ.
I got in to brewing because my friend decided to give me home-brewing equipment and some ingredients as a wedding gift for my up-coming wedding in August of next year. I gotta say it's probably the one of the most addictive, fun, and rewarding gifts I've ever had. It's cost me a fair amount of cash so far
but what the hell, you can't take it with you.My first batch was actually two batches of Mac N' Jacks african amber ale clone. For the first batch, unfortunately the place we ordered the hops from sent the wrong whole-leaf hops (amarillo instead of cascade) and it became a franken-beer. It did turn out however, and was actually a very reasonable brew, some of the best beer I've ever had.
The second half of the batch used cascade pellet hops instead which would have been the correct choice but unfortunately due to my being an idjit and being fidgety and messing with the beer in the primary it got infected with black mold
.As far as gear goes, I have the following:
---------------------------------------
5 USGal boilpot
Stainless steel caulinder
Plastic stir spoon (notched for water height in brewpot)
1 Better bottle plastic carboy (6gal)
1 Glass carboy (6gal)
2 Plastic primaries from "Wine Kitz"
4 x fermometers (1 on each of the primaries/secondaries)
Crown capper
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Auto-siphon (I'm not a fan, I gotta say
)Other than that I have the typical stuff everyone has: cheesecloth, grainbags, etc.
I'm a "maker", so I tend to build things I need. That way they meet my needs instead of "almost meeting" them
. That seems to be the spirit of the home-brew community anyway given that we're brewing at home instead of buying something at the liquor store .Future plans for building are:
---------------------------
A mash-tun and grain-mill for all-grain brewing
A brewing hutch with a temperature controlled upper level for fermenting and aging as well as storing the plethora of kit that I've acquired already.
Future purchase plans:
---------------------
Planning on buying a pumping kit soon to get rid of the auto-siphon as mine's given me nothing but trouble *sigh*. Found a kit locally that has a food grade pump and line and is easy to clean and sanitize all for $83.00 (good deal!)
Currently in-brew:
-----------------
This weekend I got back on the horse and brewed up Dave's version of a Pacific Northwest IPA. After all a single infection isn't a rash of them
.I plan on brewing another batch of Mac n' Jacks clone shortly as well, the grains, hops, and DME/LME are currently on order and should be in this week.
About me in particular:
---------------------
I'm a tinkerer, and I make things for fun. Thus beer was the perfect "mash-up" if you can pardon the bad pun
. I like to build electronic things, I can write software in just about any language and on any platform, and I do computer security consulting for a living.I'm finding that I enjoy making beer almost more than I enjoy drinking beer. That's partly because I enjoy cooking in general, but also partly because it's an evolving process and each beer is different
.Hope I can be a welcome and useful member of your community. Feel free to msg me with any questions you might have (including security questions if you feel the need!). I'm sure I'll be posting a lot of questions of my own.
Cheers!
