New to Brewing from Leinie's Town

[MetallHed]

Hey all,

I'm from the home of Leinenkugel's; Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Grew up on Leinie's Light (pee-water to many ) and have realized in the past few years that there is more to drinking beer than sitting around a fire, downing a 12 pack, and making a general fool of myself. Went to a local micro-brewery event and it opened up a whole set of doors to better beer (I still love my Leinies though..)

Been lurking for a few weeks after being recommended to this site by a friend on a Harley Sportster forum (xlforum.net). A co-worker's husband brews and I've been looking for a good hobby. After stumbling across an old thread on the Sportster forum I revived it looking for more info... leading to an "itch."

After reading a ton, decided I was gonna skip the Mr. Beer and just do it. Brewed my first batch on Sunday (Midwest's Liberty Cream Ale) and will be anxiously waiting for the next three weeks... I took plenty of pics so I'll post them in a new thread in the beginner's section.

Lookin forward to gaining even a fraction of the knowledge that I've seen here. You don't know it, but you've all been a HUGE help to me so far!!


Thanks,

Travis

 

[Pappers_]

Welcome Travis!

 

[glenn514]

Welcome, Travis! And you sure picked a fine beer as your first brew! Just a week ago, I bottled my second batch of Midwest's Liberty Cream Ale! Both SWMBO and I really like it; I'm sure you will, too.

And I toured the Leinenkugel's brewery last summer while on a motorcycle vacation with SWMBO. Even bought one of those nice, warm Leinie's hooded sweatshirts!

glenn514

 

[MetallHed]

Thanks for the welcome Papps and Glenn... lookin forward to continuing this hobby.

Those sweatshirts are nice... can't say I dont have about 10 of 'em!

I frequent the brewery and Leinie's Lodge with a tour at least once a month... I mean they give out free samples.. lol

 

[Short Drive]

Welcome from Racine.

 

[BrewSpook]

Welcome, glad to see more Cheeseheads on here. I haven't had a chance to get to the lodge... maybe one of these days when I get more than 48 hours to go home. We just started getting Leinies stuff down here - no red, but we get the seasonals.

Wish we could get some New Glarus out this way.

Welcome to the hobby... keep at it, you won't be dissapointed.

 

[Greyhound]

Welcome. My first batch was also a MW Liberty Cream Ale. It came out really good and my beers have continued to improve since then with the help of this forum. Good luck!

 

[azscoob]

Welcome! enjoy your first brew, then get moving on building up that pipeline! Nothing worse than running out of beer and having to wait because you dont have more batches in the works. I also grew up on Leinies, we have a cabin up in Eagle River where many a beer met its doom around the fire.

 

[MetallHed]

Thanks all!

Already plannin the pipeline and have more carboys on the way. lol. Every-so-often I open up the closet and take a big wiff above the airlock....smellin sooo good.

Can't wait. Planning the next beer already, and looking forward to improving technique and method. I have started a "beer journal" and have made a list of improvements that I can do for next brew time.

Step One: Don't Rush.

 

[azscoob]

Thanks all!

Already plannin the pipeline and have more carboys on the way. lol. Every-so-often I open up the closet and take a big wiff above the airlock....smellin sooo good.

Can't wait. Planning the next beer already, and looking forward to improving technique and method. I have started a "beer journal" and have made a list of improvements that I can do for next brew time.

Step One: Don't Rush.

A journal is part of my brew routine, it really helps nail down problems and positives during and after a batch, keep up with it and it becomes a great aid for future batches as well as a log of your progress as a brewer, fun to look back on what you stressed about in these early batches!

 

[MetallHed]

When I read the directions for the kit, I noticed that there was a lot of "ranges" used. i.e. Boiling time 45-60 minutes, when to add hops 60 min. or 45 min., how much hops to add .5 oz or 1 oz., steeping time 15-30 mins, etc.

I have no clue yet if the change in those variables changes the taste of the beer much, but I thought that if I kept track of what I did for each stage on a batch, next time I brewed that kit I could change it up again and see if the outcome is affected.

who knows. but it makes it more fun, and it makes me feel like I have a handle on the outcome.. lol

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome from down by Kenosha.

 

[luvhopps]

Every year for one week I go up to the Chippewa Flowage and all I drink when I am there is Leinie's, It is a flavor of the north woods and I wouldn't drink anything else when I am there. It is all part of the experience. Welcome.

 

[MetallHed]

thanks DT and LH!

I see a lot of people on here don't really like Leinie's.. but i friggin love the stuff!

:rockin:

 

[MetallHed]

well cept for sunset wheat and berry weiss.. lol unless you mix honey and berry weiss together.. then it's good.

or creamy dark and honey weiss.. thats pretty good too

doppelbock is great and my friend just bought about 30 cases of it from the local liquor store for 6 bucks a case! we'll have that for a month or so.

I went canoing(sp?) down the chippewa river last weekend and drank a case of summer shandy.. that went down real nice and is great after mowin the lawn!

 

[Pilgarlic]

Schooled in Appleton, first job out of college in Eau Claire. Leinie's and WALTERS: "The Beer that is Beer."