Hello,
I am a new HomeBrewTalk member. I started brewing about 2.5 years ago after meeting a friend who a was a member of Mountain Ale and Lager Tasters in Asheville, NC. I later joined, and I've been brewing ever since. I have never all grain brewed, but I hope to begin soon. I brewed fourteen 20L batches in the states, and then moved here to Uppsala, Sweden to pursue a masters degree in public health. I spent several months searching at yard sales, thrift stores, and antique stores for cheap potential brewing equipment. I finally brewed my first batch in Sweden in January, and the beer (an IPA) came out great! But it was a bit of a pain because I had to brew in a friends apartment. He had a stove (I didn't), and some other guys were super interested in brewing after I spoke with them about it. We were using the bear minimum equipment I was able to find so conditions weren't great (a bathtub for chilling, only could boil 15 liters, no temperature control). Fortunately the basement held a steady 68 degrees Fharenheit. We brewed three more times, and had one big accident. We were in a hurry, and put a glass fermentor that was too warm into the cold water. The fermentor cracked... bye bye 25 liters of beer. After that we called ourselves "The Sewer Brewers". The other two beers came out great though, another IPA and a hefeweizen.
I have moved to a better apartment since. This apartment has an induction stove, and I found an excellent new enameled iron kettle (no chips) for a good price. My brew pals have moved away for internships, but they will be back in the fall. I'm sure they will be excited to see my new plate chiller. I just put my first in-house brew into the fermentor two days ago! I look forward to more brewing in the future. Maybe soon I'll get a cooler and build a mash tun.
I love brewing, I think about it several times a day. Charlie Papazian's "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" converted me to an enthusiastic and almost obsessive brewer. During the periods where I lacked the necessary equipment to brew, I read several brewing books including Gary Noonan's New Brewing Lager Beer, which I read three times. I have created my own spreadsheets from scratch for monitoring all of my brews from grain weights to hop rates to shopping lists, and I am expanding and improving them all of the time. I included all of the formulas for all grain brewing using Greg Noonan's tables and a few other sources (Tinseth and some Zymurgy articles off the top of my head), so my spreadsheets are capable of guiding me through all grain.
What can I say? I love beer, but I love brewing just as much if not more. This forum has been super helpful thus far, and I look forward to being part of this online community.
I am a new HomeBrewTalk member. I started brewing about 2.5 years ago after meeting a friend who a was a member of Mountain Ale and Lager Tasters in Asheville, NC. I later joined, and I've been brewing ever since. I have never all grain brewed, but I hope to begin soon. I brewed fourteen 20L batches in the states, and then moved here to Uppsala, Sweden to pursue a masters degree in public health. I spent several months searching at yard sales, thrift stores, and antique stores for cheap potential brewing equipment. I finally brewed my first batch in Sweden in January, and the beer (an IPA) came out great! But it was a bit of a pain because I had to brew in a friends apartment. He had a stove (I didn't), and some other guys were super interested in brewing after I spoke with them about it. We were using the bear minimum equipment I was able to find so conditions weren't great (a bathtub for chilling, only could boil 15 liters, no temperature control). Fortunately the basement held a steady 68 degrees Fharenheit. We brewed three more times, and had one big accident. We were in a hurry, and put a glass fermentor that was too warm into the cold water. The fermentor cracked... bye bye 25 liters of beer. After that we called ourselves "The Sewer Brewers". The other two beers came out great though, another IPA and a hefeweizen.
I have moved to a better apartment since. This apartment has an induction stove, and I found an excellent new enameled iron kettle (no chips) for a good price. My brew pals have moved away for internships, but they will be back in the fall. I'm sure they will be excited to see my new plate chiller. I just put my first in-house brew into the fermentor two days ago! I look forward to more brewing in the future. Maybe soon I'll get a cooler and build a mash tun.
I love brewing, I think about it several times a day. Charlie Papazian's "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" converted me to an enthusiastic and almost obsessive brewer. During the periods where I lacked the necessary equipment to brew, I read several brewing books including Gary Noonan's New Brewing Lager Beer, which I read three times. I have created my own spreadsheets from scratch for monitoring all of my brews from grain weights to hop rates to shopping lists, and I am expanding and improving them all of the time. I included all of the formulas for all grain brewing using Greg Noonan's tables and a few other sources (Tinseth and some Zymurgy articles off the top of my head), so my spreadsheets are capable of guiding me through all grain.
What can I say? I love beer, but I love brewing just as much if not more. This forum has been super helpful thus far, and I look forward to being part of this online community.
