Greetings from Cochrane, AB

[cheier]

Hey guys, new home brewer here from the small town of Cochrane, Alberta. Just started brewing a few weeks ago and I'm already getting ready to drop my 4th brew into primary fermentation.

I have a brown ale bottle conditioning now for just over a week, a honey blonde ale about a week and a half in secondary, an oatmeal stout a few days in secondary and a winterfest ale sitting in a box waiting to begin primary.

I'm hoping to start building up some processes for filtering and kegging, and migrating towards AG brewing over the next few months. Really looking forward to experimenting with some brews and chatting with other home brewmasters around here...

 

[Nateo]

Welcome! If you're from AB, you must be near the Rockies, right? I love those mountains.

If you're looking to get into AG brewing with little equipment, look into BIAB brewing:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

I think the Deathbrewer way is a little different than other BIAB brews, but that's the way I do it.

 

[cheier]

I'm about a 30 minute drive from the edge of the mountains. About 1 hour to Banff.

Interesting thread. I will probably play with BIAB a bit. I'm researching into various different equipment for other methods, including falso bottoms in mash pots and the like. I'm looking into picking up one of those Blichmann 10 gallon pots. I still have time to think about it. I'm working on cleaning up my garage and adding an infrared heater to it so I have more room to do brewing.

 

[Nateo]

The single best technique that improved my beer over the years has been pitching the proper amount of yeast. Here's the calc I use: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

The single best tool I've acquired has been patience. I leave almost all of my beers in primary for 3-4 weeks, sometimes I'll secondary for a week or so if it needs to drop bright, and bottle condition for 3 weeks. I used to rush my beers as fast as possible, with decent, but not great, results.

 

[cheier]

I think I'll only have the issue of patience at this stage since I'm still waiting for my first batch. I've got 4 on the go at once so I can learn some patience with the others...

I just put the christmas ale in primary today. I'm experimenting a bit with this one. I mixed everything in a pail, then siphoned from the pail into a carboy through an aerator, then pitched the yeast in there. I'll let it sit there till the latter half of November before racking back to a bottling bucket. I'm hoping to get a kegging system by then because I would like to filter and keg the brew. Should be fun. I look forward to playing around. :rockin:

 

[hopdawg]

Welcome Blue Eye'd Arab.
Have you discoved these guys yet? http://www.yeastwranglers.ca/
Calgary based brew club. Great bunch of guys (and gals), tons of expertise. They meet the first Wednesday of each month out at the Wild Rose Brewery.

Members get 10% discounts on my site (shameless plug).
Flyguy will probably spot you, he's always lurking.
Welcome to homebrewing.
HD

 

[cheier]

Indeed I have discovered them. I signed up but didn't purchase a membership yet. Where is Hop Dawgs based? Do you guys have a shop in town or is it all online purchases? I've mostly grabbed my stuff from The Vineyard, and I just found out that Pro H2O here in Cochrane sells some home brew supplies.

I am in the market for kegging and filtering gear though.