Soaking it all up

[Moto19]

Hi Fellow Brewers,

I started extract brewing when I was 21 years old and maybe made about 10 batches over a few years. Some turned out pretty good, some okay and about 2 bad batches. Somehow college and life got in the way and didn't brew for about 6-7 years. I'm back at it, but with a huge step up in equipment. My buddy got serious into brewing and spent a lot of money on a Tippy Dump brewing sculpture for all grain brewing. It's a badass system, but unfortunately he developed a really bad gluten allergy along with bringing a couple kids into this world. So he needed to sell the system and that was about the time i was getting back into brewing. So i'm the proud owner of a bitchin' brewing system.
I'm really into strong beers and love the sweetness of belgian style ales. In a few weeks i'm going to try to make a Westvleteren 12 clone and hope i can come close. The only downside is having to wait so long to taste the beer as they say I should age it at least 6 months after bottling. Oh well, that gives me plenty of time to brew some other beers in the meantime.
I'll be lurking around trying to pick up the latest tips and techniques thanks to all of you awesome people out there in brewing land.

Scott

 

[kev211]

Welcome! I wouldnt tell your buddy about White Labs Clarity Ferm if I were you. He may want his brewing system back.

Good luck on the Westvleteren 12 clone! Dont know much about that beer, but 6 months seems a bit excessive.

Anyways. Welcome back to the hobby and welcome to HBT!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Welcome to the forum, Scott and good luck with your next brew day and going all grain. Make it fun.

 

[nDub]

Welcome to HBT!

 

[Moto19]

Thanks all, yeah i'm stoked to have found this site as it seriously has so much information that any studious beer geek would love.

Kev211, haha he actually does know about that product but i think he was getting too busy with family life as well. I he drinks a lot of the Omission gluten free pale ale that's actually really good, when he wants to drink beer.

Also, you should read up on the Westvleteren stuff, it's kind of a cool back story for a real Abby ale brewed in Belgium. The brewing process for that specific beer looks to be a very difficult brewing process with a three step decoction and a very demanding fermentation schedule. But the beer is out of this world if you like Belgian Quads and it would be awesome to make something somewhat close to the real thing.

 

[kev211]

Thanks all, yeah i'm stoked to have found this site as it seriously has so much information that any studious beer geek would love.

Kev211, haha he actually does know about that product but i think he was getting too busy with family life as well. I he drinks a lot of the Omission gluten free pale ale that's actually really good, when he wants to drink beer.

Also, you should read up on the Westvleteren stuff, it's kind of a cool back story for a real Abby ale brewed in Belgium. The brewing process for that specific beer looks to be a very difficult brewing process with a three step decoction and a very demanding fermentation schedule. But the beer is out of this world if you like Belgian Quads and it would be awesome to make something somewhat close to the real thing.

Ive had the beer. Not a huge Belgian drinker, but I looked it up on my untappd and I gave it a very generaous rating so I obviously liked it haha. Ive actually done some extensive reading on Abbey breweries (my firm is currently designing an Abbey) and read about the history of Westvleteren but I havent read a ton on that beer. Looks like now Ill have to. Either way, it sounds like a pretty aggressive restart into the homebrewing scene

 

[Homercidal]

Welcome! Aren't you lucky to have such a nice system! I know there are ways to brew GF beers (This site has information on that I believe, although I admit I don't read those threads due to me not having a known problem.)

I think there are some very good threads on W12 Clones too, but again, that's not my speed. I'd recommend doing a search if you haven't already. It's a well-thought-of beer in many circles and I don't doubt there are some helpful bits to be found here.

Maybe at some point you can try to brew your friend a GF beer on his old system? Or do you not want to risk him wanting it back? LOL! I've been meaning to try it once myself, but unfortunately the only people I know who are GF also don't drink at all, so it would be a sad shame to make a batch of beer I don't care for and nobody else does either. Sometimes I have to talk myself out of trying something just for the sake of trying it.