greetings from the DC suburbs

[Michael Gorman]

Greetings! I've been homebrewing for a few years now--ever since my family got me a kit and some equipment. The equipment used to belong to a buddy, but his wife gave it away. I felt kinda bad, but it turns out he was happy to pass it along.

Anyway, I basically just do DME and make wild guesses at what might be good hop combinations. I find it amazing how you can make interesting beer that's way cheaper than the stuff in the store.

I've only had one batch go bad, not counting the time I put in only 1/4 of the priming sugar and ended up with flat beer. We ended up doing a lot of beer-based cooking, but you know, flat beer is still beer!

MG

 

[jschein]

Welcome!

 

[ncbrewer]

Welcome from NC.

 

[madscientist451]

Welcome to HBT! No need to make wild guesses about hop combinations. There are thousands of great recipes here on HBT where the brewer discusses how it came out.

 

[TexasTea]

Michael, Welcome to the forum from a Texas member. As stated by the previous poster, there are lots of recipes and calculators on here to take the guesswork out of your brewing. I grew up near your area (Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties).

I also do DME (with a mini mash) but am switching to all grain after 1 more batch. It's cheaper. I wanted to get my feet wet with extracts so have done DME for about 2 years.

I started using corn sugar to bottle carb but switched to table sugar (regular sugar is cheaper but only use 80% of the corn sugar amount). I can't taste the difference.

I also started rinsing (reusing) my yeast (for 5-10 batches). That saves alot of money.

All my beers use my well water straight so I don't have to buy or treat water.

I've learned alot poking around this forum. HBT has really improved my brewing. If you have questions these folks will take time to answer.

 

[madscientist451]

All my beers use my well water straight so I don't have to buy or treat water.

I've learned alot poking around this forum. HBT has really improved my brewing. If you have questions these folks will take time to answer.

Water from wells can have dissolved minerals which may be ok, or have positive or negative effects on beer. I brewed for many years without doing any water adjustments , but in the last few years, I’ve been doing water adjustments using a very simple method. I watch videos on you tube by the “apartment brewer” and he provides amounts of water adjustment additives to use when you are starting with distilled water. Different beer styles call for a different water profile. Yeah it’s an extra cost to buy the water, but with hoppy beers, I believe it makes a difference. One of these days I’m going to make the same beer with untreated tap water and then a second version with the treated water and see how much I notice a difference. If you have well water you can get that tested to see what mineral content you are starting with, and there is software available to determine your adjustments. My municipality changes water sources during the year so that’s not going to work for me.

 

[TexasTea]

Water from wells can have dissolved minerals which may be ok, or have positive or negative effects on beer. If you have well water you can get that tested to see what mineral content you are starting with, and there is software available to determine your adjustments. My municipality changes water sources during the year so that’s not going to work for me.

yep, I have had my well water tested. No detectable iron (below limit of detection) and everything else looks good for brewing a wide range of beers with no adjustments. Thanks for mentioning that.