T_Dub
Member
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2013
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 1
Hello,
Been a lurker for a while, decided to sign up. Hoping I can learn a bit and maybe contribute a bit. I've been brewing for ten years now , started in my first year of university. Before that I was always dads helper while brewing mostly wine. But my first brew kit was fermented with his gear, so it was nice to have some background.
Over the years I settled on Brew House kits as the way to go as far as kit brewing. But then I decided that was cheating and started all grain. I brewed one batch in my kitchen, a red ale which was at least as good as the one from the local brewpub. That was 5 years ago and I've only brewed that batch and a kolsch I made this past summer. I was in school so I had little money, now I ahve money but no time because I'm almost through building a house for me and the missus. The first all grain batch was on a shoestring, the kolsch was made on my new ten gallon system. The Kolsch was ok, but I want better.
So my next task is going to be learning and test brewing. I'm going to downsize and start brewing 1 gallon batches until I get what I want taste-wise. Then the brew system is getting converted to all-electric, and I'll be off to the races again, after I finish the brew room in my garage loft.
Figured I should detail my system as well. I've got a 15 gallon kettle, a chugger pump, 30 plate chiller, more stainless fittings and valves than you can shake a stick at, and a couple 70qt coolers. I've got a nice homemade mash manifold in the one cooler. On the fermenting side I've always done bucket-carboy but I'm going to big carboy-small carboy now. Last batch I was around 70% efficency, mash temp and pH were spot on, cooling the wort took ~5min, but the beer was a little off. I'm going to refine my techniques and learn a little more about ingredients and a lot more about yeast before the next one. Also going to brew some easier beers for a while, til I get better.
Been a lurker for a while, decided to sign up. Hoping I can learn a bit and maybe contribute a bit. I've been brewing for ten years now , started in my first year of university. Before that I was always dads helper while brewing mostly wine. But my first brew kit was fermented with his gear, so it was nice to have some background.
Over the years I settled on Brew House kits as the way to go as far as kit brewing. But then I decided that was cheating and started all grain. I brewed one batch in my kitchen, a red ale which was at least as good as the one from the local brewpub. That was 5 years ago and I've only brewed that batch and a kolsch I made this past summer. I was in school so I had little money, now I ahve money but no time because I'm almost through building a house for me and the missus. The first all grain batch was on a shoestring, the kolsch was made on my new ten gallon system. The Kolsch was ok, but I want better.
So my next task is going to be learning and test brewing. I'm going to downsize and start brewing 1 gallon batches until I get what I want taste-wise. Then the brew system is getting converted to all-electric, and I'll be off to the races again, after I finish the brew room in my garage loft.
Figured I should detail my system as well. I've got a 15 gallon kettle, a chugger pump, 30 plate chiller, more stainless fittings and valves than you can shake a stick at, and a couple 70qt coolers. I've got a nice homemade mash manifold in the one cooler. On the fermenting side I've always done bucket-carboy but I'm going to big carboy-small carboy now. Last batch I was around 70% efficency, mash temp and pH were spot on, cooling the wort took ~5min, but the beer was a little off. I'm going to refine my techniques and learn a little more about ingredients and a lot more about yeast before the next one. Also going to brew some easier beers for a while, til I get better.
