dochawk
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2020
- Messages
- 63
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It looks like being penned in may finally get me brewing again . . . (besides, I think there's only about 4 cases left in the refrigerator).
I started at this late in 1991. I'd talked about the notion before that, but chatting with a friend, he mentioned it. I picked up the (about to date myself!
) yellow pages, drove across the valley, and a couple of hundred bucks later . . . for those of you that remember The Home Brewery, my order ended up on the next catalog as the "deluxe kit".
I kind of got carried away . . .
I jumped to a kegging system right away. While the rest of the club was club was trying to convince their wive, mine *ordered* me to buy one (and it cost less than the ER visit from the cheep green bottle someone tossed in with my longnecks . . ).
Switching to all grain was almost immediate.
Back then, the only decent beers in the grocery store here were Sierra Nevada and Guinness. Sam Adams arrived about that time, and the first microbrewery here hadn't opened yet (we now have a district for them)
Anyway, both election and cost were an issue then.
As time went by, selection and my income changed, and it just wasn't as important.
When I showed up in Pennsylvania to teach, I found that I could order a pallet from an NY maltster--it cost about as much as the first three bags. I still have a lot of that grain, twenty years later . . .
I brew 15 gallon batches in a half barrel keg with the top sawed off, on top of the reinforced Cajun Cooker. I mash and spare in a 100 quart cooler.
Looking at it after a few years outdoors, well . . . A new one gets delivered Saturday. I kept the EZMasher, though. We'll see how old grain and hops kept airtight manage . . .
I'm not sure how many kegs I have. I think it's under 30, including the 2.5 and 10 gallon ones. I'll have to pick up rebuild kits with my yeast . . .
I haven't entered a beer in a contest since I won Best of Show in the 1993 Inland Empire contest.
The older folks here might recognizer me from rec.crafts.brewing (oops, dated myself again!)
I started at this late in 1991. I'd talked about the notion before that, but chatting with a friend, he mentioned it. I picked up the (about to date myself!
) yellow pages, drove across the valley, and a couple of hundred bucks later . . . for those of you that remember The Home Brewery, my order ended up on the next catalog as the "deluxe kit".I kind of got carried away . . .
I jumped to a kegging system right away. While the rest of the club was club was trying to convince their wive, mine *ordered* me to buy one (and it cost less than the ER visit from the cheep green bottle someone tossed in with my longnecks . . ).
Switching to all grain was almost immediate.
Back then, the only decent beers in the grocery store here were Sierra Nevada and Guinness. Sam Adams arrived about that time, and the first microbrewery here hadn't opened yet (we now have a district for them
)Anyway, both election and cost were an issue then.
As time went by, selection and my income changed, and it just wasn't as important.
When I showed up in Pennsylvania to teach, I found that I could order a pallet from an NY maltster--it cost about as much as the first three bags. I still have a lot of that grain, twenty years later . . .
I brew 15 gallon batches in a half barrel keg with the top sawed off, on top of the reinforced Cajun Cooker. I mash and spare in a 100 quart cooler.
Looking at it after a few years outdoors, well . . . A new one gets delivered Saturday. I kept the EZMasher, though. We'll see how old grain and hops kept airtight manage . . .
I'm not sure how many kegs I have. I think it's under 30, including the 2.5 and 10 gallon ones. I'll have to pick up rebuild kits with my yeast . . .
I haven't entered a beer in a contest since I won Best of Show in the 1993 Inland Empire contest.
The older folks here might recognizer me from rec.crafts.brewing (oops, dated myself again!)
