Hello from Ames, IA

[werdna]

Greetings!

Many years back I was brewing and bottling a number of extract kits. They were great! Life got busy and I hadn't brewed any beer for close to a decade.

Recently moved to Ames, IA to work at my alma mater Iowa State University. A more realistic job has once again provided me the free time needed to start brewing again. Still mostly extract / partial grain kits. I asked anyone I could find around here if my $$ was best spent going to kegging or whole grain first. Everyone said kegging was the place to go next so I found a used kegerator and my next batch should go into a corny in just over a week.

I did a batch of Gnome rootbeer this week and so far the family loves it. For now there will be a root beer and a homebrew on tap.

Maybe this summer will be whole grains. I've started the price watching spreadsheet to make sure I snag any good deals on whole grain gear when they show up.

-Andrew

 

[bergy]

Go Cyclones!!!!!

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, if you want to just kind of ease into the all-grain world, look into doing a few partial mash BIAB batches. The only special equipment needed (in addition to what you probably already have right now) is a 5 gallon paint strainer that you can get at your local hardware store. My favorite recipe that I use with this setup is

3 lbs light DME
4 lbs 2-row
13 oz any specialty grain you want
1 oz cascade @60
.75 oz cascade @15
1 packet S05

I've had some mighty tasty experiments with just this much. I used roasted barley once and I swear it tasted like an iced coffee (only better).

And for the record, I'm officially jealous of your kegerator setup.

ISU Computer Science 1999

 

[Cyclman]

+1 on partial mash / BIAB.

 

[EZCyclone]

GO CYCLONES!!!
Werdna I'm in Ames, and art ISU, let's get together and work up a brew day.