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You have. I have several of them and it makes life a lot more complicated than it should be. I'm not bellyaching, I wrote the previous sentence with a big smile on my face. It's a joy spreading the hobby :)

Don't waste your money sending them books. Why bother reading when they can just hit you up.

Just wait until your buddy starts getting a handle on things and starts hitting you up with the, "You said this, but I read on the internet..." questions. Then you've got the guy that refuses to give up goop brewing and refuses to switch to all grain that likes to point out that, "You said it would be cheaper!"

Yeah, you've created a monster. But it'll be fun!
I've read several brewing books over the years but if I ever recommend a book it's always How To Brew. Most of his questions are what we all ask and I can just give him answers from my own experience not that I'm a master. I told him no matter what he reads or learns from me, if he stays with it long enough he will develop his own system. I got my other army buddy from the Army started in brewing a month ago. He loves it after his first IPA kit I gifted him turned out so well. I love brewing but I also love astronomy so have to balance the funds between the two! Sometimes I shake my head thinking of all the advanced brewing equipment I could have bought instead of the astronomy equipment which gets to be a money hole like brewing! Gotta love it !
 
Finished my imperial stout , it took me paying full attention to everything to hit the number even though i had to boil off a lot more to hit the SG, turned out at 1.115. Hoping to get into the mid 20s. First time ive oxygenated wort, kinda felt like a waste but we will see tomorrow.
Trust me oxygenation of wort will become standard after you do it the first time! Amazing the difference in how quick and vigorously the little yeastie beasties take off with a 90 second shot of pure O2!
 
I have the astronomy bug too. Have a tabletop Star Blast 6i (6" F5). Also have all of the parts and schematics worked out to build a 16" f4.5 obsession style dob once I get a couple of projects finished up for the wife in my garage/shop.

Beer wise I'm also looking at changing out my single tap draft tower on my kegerator to a dual tap and getting some new kegs for it as well but it may be a while before I do this as I'm enjoying bottling right now.
Biggest obsession I got in Astronomy was a 10 inch Orion reflector on the old Celestron ASGT mount. As I got older it got too heavy. Sold it about 10 years ago. Then got celestron 8se SCT for several years. Sold that last year. So now I'm down to a Celestron 6se SCT, Celestron 4 inch refractor , Meade LXD-75 6 inch reflector and a 5 inch Bushnell Mak-Cass grab and go. I mount them on a new Meade LX85 goto with a STARGPS I bought last fall. Have a pair of Meade 15x70 mm binoculars. I have a Celestron Neximage 5 for several years, just bought a ZWO ASI120MC-S color camera for planetary photos and a ZWO ASI120MM-S monochrome for guiding to get into deep sky astrophotagraphy. Also just recently purchased an Astromania 50mm guide scope with double helical focuser and a 2 inch Astro Agena 99% reflective diagonal and an Astromania 1.25 flip mirror. In 45 years of astronomy I never got the bug for photography until recently. I also last year modified my new Arctic King kegerator which was a single tap to a 2 tap. Sometimes I wished I dumped all that astronomy equipment money into a Blichman fermenter with all the bells and whistles !! 😂😂. The older I get the less I can stand lugging out all that astronomy equipment especially out into the cold nights. 🍻
 
Biggest obsession I got in Astronomy was a 10 inch Orion reflector on the old Celestron ASGT mount. As I got older it got too heavy. Sold it about 10 years ago. Then got celestron 8se SCT for several years. Sold that last year. So now I'm down to a Celestron 6se SCT, Celestron 4 inch refractor , Meade LXD-75 6 inch reflector and a 5 inch Bushnell Mak-Cass grab and go. I mount them on a new Meade LX85 goto with a STARGPS I bought last fall. Have a pair of Meade 15x70 mm binoculars. I have a Celestron Neximage 5 for several years, just bought a ZWO ASI120MC-S color camera for planetary photos and a ZWO ASI120MM-S monochrome for guiding to get into deep sky astrophotagraphy. Also just recently purchased an Astromania 50mm guide scope with double helical focuser and a 2 inch Astro Agena 99% reflective diagonal and an Astromania 1.25 flip mirror. In 45 years of astronomy I never got the bug for photography until recently. I also last year modified my new Arctic King kegerator which was a single tap to a 2 tap. Sometimes I wished I dumped all that astronomy equipment money into a Blichman fermenter with all the bells and whistles !! 😂😂. The older I get the less I can stand lugging out all that astronomy equipment especially out into the cold nights. 🍻

Yeah, I hear the astrophotography bug can bite hard. I can see why though once you manage to gather the data and produce an image like you see in the books. There are a bunch of guys in my astronomy club that are always sending out pictures to everybody and they are really cool. My 16" will be a truss style dob with weight in might on every part of the design. It is designed to break down quickly and easily with manageable weight loads and you would probably be able to fit it in to a fiat to transport. Right now with my 6" newt I can take it out in two minutes and set it on mini tripod I built for it to sit on easy peasy and I get pretty decent views.

What's funny is beer and astronomy don't really mix either. Drinking alcohol reduces your ability to see the faint fuzzies so they must be alternated lol.

My kegerator doubles as my fermentation chamber also and I have another mini fridge downstairs if I have a keg rolling in the kegerator. I'm just using a cheap rectangular cooler for my mash tun doing batch sparges right now but so far I'm fine with my equipment at this stage and it seems I'm making good beer.
 
Yeah, I hear the astrophotography bug can bite hard. I can see why though once you manage to gather the data and produce an image like you see in the books. There are a bunch of guys in my astronomy club that are always sending out pictures to everybody and they are really cool. My 16" will be a truss style dob with weight in might on every part of the design. It is designed to break down quickly and easily with manageable weight loads and you would probably be able to fit it in to a fiat to transport. Right now with my 6" newt I can take it out in two minutes and set it on mini tripod I built for it to sit on easy peasy and I get pretty decent views.

What's funny is beer and astronomy don't really mix either. Drinking alcohol reduces your ability to see the faint fuzzies so they must be alternated lol.

My kegerator doubles as my fermentation chamber also and I have another mini fridge downstairs if I have a keg rolling in the kegerator. I'm just using a cheap rectangular cooler for my mash tun doing batch sparges right now but sao far I'm fine with my equipment at this stage and it seems I'm making good beer.
Yep I use an igloo round cooler. I use my kegerator for my chamber. Used to use a cool brewing bag. It worked but was a pain in the backside! Have two 7 gallon ss Chapman's and a 4 gal ss Anvil and a keg king pump.
 
Yeah I hear you but I don't want him spending a lot for equipment that 6 months or a year later is just collecting dust in a storage room. My other hobby obsession is Astronomy and I've know too many people over the years who come into the field and right away have big scope fever and spend several thousand dollars getting the biggest computerized scope they can afford, thousands on astro cameras and telescope accessories and find out how heavy this stuff is and that yes you actually need to take the time to learn not only the equipment but understand to put it to use. They go out 3 or 4 times then it collects dust in a garage or basement for several years before they decide to sell it for far less then they paid. Just want to make sure he's bitten by the brewing bug and becomes a true home brew convert. 🍻
I feel ya on that. I've had several friends, after trying my homebrew, go OMG can you teach me??? A few have seen my rig and immediately want to start with a three-vessel system, but when they hear how much it will cost up front the enthusiasm goes out the window. I've built my rig up over 5 years, never spent more than $150 at a time for each piece, until I've got a system that I could probably sell the whole shebang for about $1200. Others have shown interest in learning at first but just fade away after a while, until I've got a new one on tap that they want to try. A couple of my brew buddies have been doing partial mash for years; on our last two group brewdays held at the house of one of them, I've brought my scaled-down travel rig to show them all-grain, and although they showed interest in the process, just aren't ready to dive in. Four of us get together a few times a year to brew (next one is at my house next month, eeek better start cleaning NOW) and I'm the only one of us doing all-grain.
 
More what I'm doing for beer today, but I have a nice hefeweizen boil going on this beautiful almost-Spring morning.

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I feel ya on that. I've had several friends, after trying my homebrew, go OMG can you teach me??? A few have seen my rig and immediately want to start with a three-vessel system, but when they hear how much it will cost up front the enthusiasm goes out the window. I've built my rig up over 5 years, never spent more than $150 at a time for each piece, until I've got a system that I could probably sell the whole shebang for about $1200. Others have shown interest in learning at first but just fade away after a while, until I've got a new one on tap that they want to try. A couple of my brew buddies have been doing partial mash for years; on our last two group brewdays held at the house of one of them, I've brought my scaled-down travel rig to show them all-grain, and although they showed interest in the process, just aren't ready to dive in. Four of us get together a few times a year to brew (next one is at my house next month, eeek better start cleaning NOW) and I'm the only one of us doing all-grain.
Brew by myself since 2005. None of my friends or neighbors or family members have an interest. Been trying to get my brother in law for 10 years to brew. Bought him a kit 4 years ago. It's still sitting in his basement and I'm sure the extract has turned to tar by now !!!! I don't mind brewing alone it's for my personal joy and satisfaction.
 
Trust me oxygenation of wort will become standard after you do it the first time! Amazing the difference in how quick and vigorously the little yeastie beasties take off with a 90 second shot of pure O2!
An alternative is to get a wine degasser attachment got a drill, or simply go to home depot for the smallest paint stir attachment, and then turn on the drill for 2 minutes or so. Repeat after 12 hours or so, then leave the wort alone. It will ferment pretty fast.
 
Competition I entered back on 2/19 finally posted that the final judging was yesterday, and winners will be announced tomorrow. I've got no hopes of winning (except way deep down where nobody can see it) but looking forward to the scores. How do I live until tomorrow??? Oh yeah. Brewing up another lager today, kegged the last one, and later will do some intense brewery cleaning.
 
Competition I entered back on 2/19 finally posted that the final judging was yesterday, and winners will be announced tomorrow. I've got no hopes of winning (except way deep down where nobody can see it) but looking forward to the scores. How do I live until tomorrow??? Oh yeah. Brewing up another lager today, kegged the last one, and later will do some intense brewery cleaning.
Good luck!!!
If they gave a prize for "Most Likely To Be Raided By BATFE," I'm sure you'd win!
 
I gave up on the garage and brought the fermenter back in to the kitchen -- it spent all day with the heating pad and couldn't keep up with the 40-something degrees here today. Now it'll warm up to about 68 or so, but the most heated part of the fermentation should already be over, so it'll be ok.
 
Trust me oxygenation of wort will become standard after you do it the first time! Amazing the difference in how quick and vigorously the little yeastie beasties take off with a 90 second shot of pure O2!
LOL fermentation took off in 4 hrs!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah its slowing down barelt so it did help out because it came in at a 1.115 so it has its work cut out for it.
 
Put some feets on my riptides, 😉

Gonna cut up some spare lumber in a few minutes for a neat way to invert my 100lbs co2 tank (as it doesn't have a diptube)
 

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I've had blowoffs before, but I foolishly did not set myself up for an easy clean because I thought I had plenty of head space

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My one and only blow was a Russian Imperial about 7 years ago. But at least it pointed me in the direction of learning about rigging a blow off tube!!! It was a good hard learned lesson. I lost about 1.5 gallons and spent many hours cleaning it off the basement storage room floor, walls , ceiling and several storage boxes!
 
My one and only blow was a Russian Imperial about 7 years ago. But at least it pointed me in the direction of learning about rigging a blow off tube!!! It was a good hard learned lesson. I lost about 1.5 gallons and spent many hours cleaning it off the basement storage room floor, walls , ceiling and several storage boxes!
Last bad blow I had (snork) was the first time I used Kveiking. Foolishly left not enough headspace and in the house in the dead of summertime; bung got blown off three times, and that was WITH a blowoff tube installed; got horribly clogged up. Fortunately I did have the foresight to have it sitting on a towel (since trashed, oh it was gross). Next summer I'll do what I did for the last ones; plan better so I can ferment in the much easier to clean ferment fridge with the heat lamp. If I recall correctly, I had one Sabro/Citra go grain to glass in 5 days that was done on Loki.
 
Competition finally posted results. Didn't win or place, or even get honorable mention. Darn it. Waiting now on the scoresheets to see where I screwed up according to a BJCP judge. Sipping on some of it tonight, and still can't find anything wrong with it. Oh well, hopefully with our benevolent governor's (sarcasm intended) new release of pandemic restrictions, more local competitions will be on offer.
 
Competition finally posted results. Didn't win or place, or even get honorable mention. Darn it. Waiting now on the scoresheets to see where I screwed up according to a BJCP judge. Sipping on some of it tonight, and still can't find anything wrong with it. Oh well, hopefully with our benevolent governor's (sarcasm intended) new release of pandemic restrictions, more local competitions will be on offer.
Bummer 😕. Sorry bout that
 
Bottled a Citra pils. Life has been crazy and I completely forgot that I was going to dry hop it. Oh well. Also forgot to take a picture of the sample, but its the lightest straw colored beer that I've managed to make. (I'm sure you folks in the 'What are you drinking now' thread will get a look at it in about 3 weeks) Tastes about what I was expecting, but I could have thrown just a smidge more hops at it.
 
One thing I appreciate about working from home AND owning an electric BIAB system, is that it is automated enough that I can knock a batch out on a light afternoon...like today! I'm currently mashing my grain for a Cascade/Simcoe/Mosaic IPA. Might keg an English bitter as well.
 
No, 2 liter. I guess the background takes all sense of size away.

I use cork on my counters when I brew because of the hard quartz surface. If you knock over a glass on the counter it'll just shatter. The flask is not on the counters though in the pic but I moved the cork over there. We love the counters but that is the downside to them.
 
Moved some of the Irish Red I brewed last month to the bottle. I usually keg the first five gallons and keg the rest. As I had been consuming 2L soda bottle samples I thought I may have removed more than I thought. Bottling over three cases is not what I intended.

Beginning to plan my steam discharge pipe. I recently purchased a condensation lid and would like to automatically discharge the hot water from the brewery.
 
At 9:21 I wrote the above, and that was after the kettle was on the stove for about 40 minutes already. It was exactly 10am when I walked away from the kettle with the grains in and covered up and set the Beersmith timer. I probably actually started at 8:30am getting the gear out. At 2:30 I was done and all cleaned up and the only thing left is to put away the gear back into the storage after it dries, otherwise I've restored the kitchen completely to normal, except cleaner.

No matter how hard I try it always takes 6 hours.
 
Checked the gravity on my Against the Grain AGBIAB experiment... 1.017 (down from 1.078, so roughly 8% ABV at 77% attenuation)... beer has a slight sulfur smell, but a biscuit-malty front end and a slightly sweet, slightly bitter indistinct hops finish. Carbonation will (I hope) take some of that sweet out of the equation.
 
Been absent a few days because crazy days at work. Finally convinced the bosses that my workspace needed to be moved out of the extremely stressful area it was in, back to where I used to be. Last two days have been a little slice of heaven, no stress, and finally remembered why I really do like what I do for a living. Kegged the latest WF lager last weekend and got it on tap yesterday, might scale down the Munich for the next one; got a bit too much more color than I wanted, and it's a little sweet. Gotta find that happy medium. And....take this down for posterity....NOT brewing this weekend. With a decently full pipeline, another in the ferment fridge that can lager for a week or so, and plenty to do around the house (not to mention I don't want to make the drive to the LHBS for the two-row I don't have), I'll take a weekend off. Pause for incredulousness.
 
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