Hi from Southern Maryland

[Merg]

I'm still in the research phase prior to even buying any equipment, but the more I read here the more emboldened I become. I'm gonna enjoy this...
Aside from this post I'll be in full-on lurk mode for a good long while. I've already learned an absolute ton and I can't wait to start my first batch. Thanks to everyone here for a great forum and a fantastic resource.

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome

 

[mosquitocontrol]

Welcome. Best advice: Jump right in! I waited about 8 months researching before finally buying the equipment and brewing. I wish I had started sooner. It seems intimidating at first but once you start all the instructions and advice you've been reading will start to make sense.

 

[claphamsa]

welcome! what part of MD are you in we have semi regular get together... and there are always people willing to show u the ropes!

 

[Merg]

Thanks guys. Mosquito, I'm basically waiting until my brother moves back to MD from CA, I expect to make our first batch around the end of the month.

Clap, I'm way down south in good ol' St. Mary's County. Where do you guys usually meet?

 

[claphamsa]

Baltimore

but there are lots of brewers in metro DC

so you can find someone easy to help you out.

 

[Merg]

I don't mind heading up to Baltimore. My sister and brother-in-law are in Federal Hill, and I've got quite a few friends scattered about.

Is there a MD/Bawlmer/DC forum or info site anywhere? (link in your sig didn't work?)

 

[claphamsa]

well th ere is a group, but the groups here are worthless.... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f20/md-summer-brew-day-172685/

try that

 

[mosquitocontrol]

Didn't realize st marys county was actually farther south then I am in Virginia. I just found someone freecycling a beer starter kit in my area then realized you were 2.5 hours away! I'll pick it up anyway if its available. If you do end up coming this way over the next few weeks let me know I may have some extra equipment to pass along.

 

[Merg]

Mosquito, I'm always glad to drive for free $hit and to meet new people. Let me know if you grab it and I'll plan a trip. I should be up in Alexandria and Arlington over the next few weeks anyway. Thanks for looking out.

 

[brewslut]

Welcome to HBT

 

[lmerg]

This is "Merg"s brother. Thanks for the warm welcome. My buddy in Baltimore is home brewing out of his bedroom. It was too cool not to try. So hopefully we'll be full of questions in the next few weeks.

I should probably add that my favorite microbrewery is Upland in Bloomington, IN. I can't wait to try to reproduce their Upland Wheat. Otherwise, it's all pale ales coupled with a healthy dislike of any alcohol distribution scheme that keeps me from drinkable beer.

 

[lmerg]

Rather than start a new thread, I'll update here for now. We've researched starter kits, and plan on purchasing a "deluxe" kit from Austin Homebrew Supply along with a bottling bucket and an extra, larger carboy. We'll start with some pale ale extracts.

We've located at least one sanke keg we can modify into a boiler, and will do so soon. At the moment, I'm looking for any information on choosing piping and hardware for keg conversions. Please help if you know of a good link.

Meanwhile, my brother and I have been drooling over all the incredible projects featured in the forums. All are testaments to the ingenuity and engineering of home brewers. I've all but concluded I should skip lautering from a cooler and build a HERMS system asap.

Like many people, we've been toying with names for our pseudo-brewery. Our current favorite is Mason & Dixon Fermented Beverage Company, with each beer themed after the "snake oil" or quack salesmen of the last century. For the IPA think: "Dr. Hopenheimer's Cure-all Remedy." "Mason & Dixon" both because I'm in the middle of the Pynchon novel and because our family straddles the line between Philadelphia and DC.

Let me finish by noting that many of the brewers here appear to be engineers, programmers, and tinkers extraordinaire -- indeed, I am a certified dilettante welder, mechanic, electrical engineer and (soon) brewer. But my day job is as an academic, specifically political philosophy. Certainly, there are precious few of us who can find an engine much less change the oil in it. So, I wonder how many others here are closet students of the humanities? Do we not have something unique and valuable to contribute to the forum? So we cannot engineer a computer controlled HERMS system -- but we can offer the literary-cultural commentary!

 

[claphamsa]

bargain fittings.com... get the weld less ****

 

[lmerg]

Thanks. I'll check it out. Is there any consensus on mounted thermometers (brand or installation technique)?

 

[Mermaid]

Welcome!! I'm another newbie homebrewer Used to live in Maryland. Gaithersburg and later Silver Spring. Always loved living there

 

[lmerg]

Hi! Thanks for stopping by. Seems like Maryland has a decently active community.

 

[lmerg]

Update: Merg and I are up to about 50 gallons of brewed beer, 10 of Apfelwein (I should add that to the total count thread...). We've upgrade to 10g AG, with three semi-smash recipes under our belts.

(That's not an official name "semi-smash" -- it's all 2-row and a bit o' Crystal 40 for color with one hop -- so far Citra, Simcoe and Centennial. Citra was like a big beer flavored grapefruit -- in short totally awesome. Some Advice: Simcoe smells great but tastes like a pine tree for at least the first 3 weeks after bottling.)

Surprisingly we seem to be hitting our mash temp as far as we can measure it (obviously that's a bit of wiggle room). And we picked up a converted fridge with a tiny tap on the front. At the moment I'm trying to invest in a grain mill and storage. In general, we need to find a way to get bulk grains on hand, mill them, and store the specialty grains. Nothing too hard, but it means another round of expenditures. We're also trying hard to dial in process and recipes. All part of learning to brew good beer. Although I find that after brewing IPA's, I don't have enough tasting experience of other styles. Luckily Merg is a bit more of a beer nerd.

Oh and we're up to, say, 9ish cases of regular beer bottles and 6 carboys. All we need is the time and money to fill 'em. Also, fair warning, Starr Hill brewery from Charlotteville using twist offs - what a waste of a bottle.

 

[lmerg]

Update.

We took a few months off and now have more Better Bottles than I think we can fill. We purchased or borrowed a few more key hobby texts. And we're learning hard lessons about cleaning in small, poorly designed areas (like an unfinished basement bathroom in a house full of dogs and cats).

The good news is that we've made moves to upgrade equipment for a smoother process: blichmann 20 gal, 70 qt cooler, and our keggle--as of today--has a diptube! And there is little stuff like a grain scale and hop scale (no grain mill yet but I'm looking hard at the monster 3 roll mill), 5-gal pails for grain storage, caps, pH strips, a Refractometer.

More than anything we need our own space to brew. Hopefully that will change with a move to Baltimore (but with rentals we still can't install SS kitchen sinks).

The goal is to drill down process and recipe creation over the next 12-24 months.

[For the record, I don't see any reason to start a new thread bragging about all the normal equipment we're slowly acquiring if I can just write it all here.]

 

[MicMurphy]

Tell me more about this semi regular get together... I am looking to get out of the "adrift in the middle of the sea" mentality I have been in...