Don't call it a comeback...

[AnotherFinch]

Hey there! I doubt anyone here will remember me, but I definitely remember this place.

I joined back in 2008 and started my home brewing journey on this forum. I ended up dragging a couple of my roommates into the hobby, and before long moved on from making basic wines to some kit beer, and eventually on to our own recipes (including a decent double-nut brown ale and kolsch). I moved halfway across the country (and later back) and was making beer all along the way. Sometime shortly after I joined I started posting less and less, and before too long I got lazy, couldn't find the time or space to brew anymore, and ended up just putting it on hold. It doesn't help that I loaned out most of my brewing equipment to friends, was sharing equipment with roommates who I ended up parting ways with, etc etc.

I was drinking a cider recently and had a flashback to the time I first threw together a batch of Edwort's Apfelwein. Being one of my first 5-gallon brews, I got as far brewing it but never thought about racking or bottling and it somehow ended up in a truck bed outside a movie theatre (shaken up yeast cake clouding it up and everything) while a bunch of my friends and I dipped solo cups into the bucket just trying to keep it down. Despite all of the awesome recipes that came after that, I think I remember my extra-dry high-proof applewein the most (same goes for my friends that drank anything I'd made since).

Well, I got the itch again recently I decided to run out and grab the most basic gear I could: two 6.5 gallon buckets, a siphon, some tubing, yeast, paddle, airlock, 2lbs of dextrose, san-star, and 5.5 gallons of the cheapest organic apple juice Lidl had to offer.

So here I am... back at the beginning, starting all over again. I searched the forum for any any old usernames I would've used 13+ years ago (forgot password was useless, this account is older than my email address) and by some miracle, I remembered the password I used for most of my accounts back then.

It's good to be back! Even if I'm back over a decade later exactly where I was when I started: brewing a batch of the most basic/cheap apfelwein you can make. I can't wait to get back into making beer and see what everyone's been up to over the past decade.

 

[jcav]

Welcome back, and good luck on your renewed brewing interests!

John

 

[D.B.Moody]

. . . and it somehow ended up in a truck bed outside a movie theatre (shaken up yeast cake clouding it up and everything) while a bunch of my friends and I dipped solo cups into the bucket . . .

I loved your story. Welcome back to the hobby from someone who never progressed beyond basic equipment.

 

[Gusso]

Welcome back! I took a 6-7 year hiatus myself. Brewing more than ever now. Better beer, too!

 

[Transamguy77]

Welcome back!!

 

[T Murph]

Welcome back to the madness.

 

[IslandLizard]

Welcome back to the addiction of homebrewing, and HBT!

A few things have changed over the past 10 years, more so the past 3-5 years. Mostly processes being honed and refined. There's also a stunning amount of equipment available, compared to 10 years ago.

A few highlights (I'm sure I'm missing some big ones); anyone, please fill in:

• Ingredients and selection are as good or better than ever.
• Secondaries are taboo (at least for run of the mill, 99.999% of beers).
• We pay more attention to prevent oxidation; prevent oxygen ingress after fermentation has started, all the way through packaging. The hoppier the beer the even more important that becomes.
• Kegging is a solid option, beats bottles in most ways, except some.

Depending on how well versed you are in beer brewing, John Palmer's How to Brew, 4th Ed. is a very good resource, and not just for beginners.

 

[AnotherFinch]

• Ingredients and selection are as good or better than ever.
• Secondaries are taboo (at least for run of the mill, 99.999% of beers).
• We pay more attention to prevent oxidation; prevent oxygen ingress after fermentation has started, all the way through packaging. The hoppier the beer the even more important that becomes.

So glad to be back, and can't wait to get back into making beer after I get some of my old equipment back. Starting out with wine and mead, but I'll definitely check out Palmer's book (thanks for the suggestion!)

I have a local homebrew shop that I stopped in recently and was talking about ingredients, it sounds like I have a lot better choices nowadays (even local hops!) than back when I was just ordering basic pellets online a decade ago. As for secondaries being taboo... pffft. At least with my wine/mead, I have no shame about racking into a secondary if not to just make bottling easier without accidentally disturbing the sediment too much. I am noticing a lot more talk about oxidation than when I was first brewing, I'll have to look into that. Especially when I work on my beers.

Thanks for the updates! Glad to see that we're still improving on thousands of years of technique. The chemistry set kid in me loves geeking out over the new techniques and ingredients. I'm actually about to use yeast nutrient and pectic enzymes for the first time this week. I used to just go with the basic ingredients and hope for the best, but I'm finally starting to feel the need to fine tune the process.