Wow, what have I gotten myself into?

[GarrettMD]

So I typically have one beer going at a time, well technically 2 I guess. I will have one beer kegged and on tap, and the same weekend I keg that beer, I will brew another one so that when the keg is kicked, I have something to fill it with almost immediately.

I am in a fraternity in college (not the typical 'frat' house mind you) and I had, until recently, been the only one in the house that homebrewed. I have been advocating the hobby for almost a year now, and only this semester have I gotten any nibbles. The past few weekends had been either me brewing, or me helping someone who wanted to start up, until this weekend.

This weekend our kitchen was dedicated to homebrewing. I brewed my batch of Black IPA nice and early, followed quickly by helping someone brew a Pumking Clone, then helping someone else brew a Pumpkin Spiced Brown Ale, also followed by someone brewing a Banana/Honeydew Melon Pale Ale. Not only did I teach them all to brew on this day, I also made recipes for all of them (except the last one). I also started them all on all-grain since I had the set-up for it.

So this weekend was taken up by making beer. Very long day Saturday. Now more people in the house see what a fun and cheap hobby it is, and I'm getting asked by everyone to help them. I now have to make recipes for an Irish Red Ale, Honey Nut Brown Ale, Marzen, Hefe, Black IPA (much different characteristics than the one I just brewed), and probably more to come by the end of the night. This will also lead to me aiding and teaching the brewing process to all of them. Next few weekends are looking pretty full.

Love the fact that my house is embracing this hobby, but damn is it tiring. At this rate I'll be pushing out 4 batches a weekend and we'll need to apply for a microbrew license, hah.

 

[lumpher]

don't make recipes for all of them; download them, and you'll seem like a genius when they come out tasty. i use the beersmith recipes that are already out there. why reinvent the wheel? most of the real brewers have posted tastier recipes than i can come up with, so i just use theirs. edwort has some great recipes, too

 

[drew21close]

Could you also help make with my brewing. At least just give me any recipes. I would love the pumpkin spiced Brown Ale.

 

[lumpher]

Could you also help make with my brewing. At least just give me any recipes. I would love the pumpkin spiced Brown Ale.

all-grain or extract?

 

[GarrettMD]

I may pull some recipes for a few of them to cut down on time, but the only reason I want to make my own is because I have been brewing with my own recipes for the past few batches and they are coming out rivaling my favorite commercial brews. I used to pull recipes from online and the ones I am making are coming out better than those, so why not stick with what's working? Also, making my own recipes sorta forces me to study those styles and helps me get a grasp of the absolute basics of brewing such as the purposes and outcomes of certain malt combinations.

When the Pumpkin Spiced Brown Ale is ready, I'll post the recipe assuming it turns out good. Don't want to go spreading an untasted recipe.

Oh yeah, another plus to having all these recipes being made by other people is that they all want to enter them into a competition and they are taking up the entry fee. So I get to see how a lot of my recipes hold up without having to pay to brew them or pay the entry fee.