2012 Popped AG Cherry Roll...

[calumscott]

It strikes me that there have been a lot of us who have "crossed the chasm" between kit and all grain brewing this year. Me included.

I remember a thread last year wondering where all the AG brewers were and the ratio of kitsters to brewers swinging massively to the kit brewers which sort of petered out with a sort of "well, yes we all did start somewhere and it's about bringing more brewers 'through the ranks'..."

So those of you who came to the dark side in 2012, stand up! Be counted! And tell us how its been for you! The ups, the downs, the revelations, what's good, what's not, how much you've brewed and where you're taking it in 2013.

Me? Simple really, it was always going to happen, I'm a born tinkerer. So when I started brewing kits just over a year ago and started getting really good results it was inevitable that I was going to try for better and better beer. I was initially thinking small scale BIAB as we were living in a flat but then we decided to to upsize which meant only one thing. Find a house with a garage or a garden big enough for a brewshed!! So I'm kind of getting there. I've got my vessels - a burco that I picked up on freegle for an HLT, a shiny 50l thermopot mashtun and a 70l boiler.

As yet, no actual brewery but two 5 gallon BIAB-on-the-hob brews later I'm hooked. I've still got to build my mashtun but the boiler is as good as done, I have no idea if the burco will work or not!!! But that'll be later in the year once I get the cabinets built in the shed and whatnot.

In the meantime, more BIAB. Two brews planned over Christmas and who knows what next year. I can't see me going back to kits, even if I get really short on beer I've got capacity to get a double (10 gal) BIAB in my pot!!

So next year looks like BIAB lots, build brewery meantime, move to 3 vessel AG...

Oooh, what about a counter...

2012 AG Cherries Popped: 1

 

[Pakman]

I only started this summer, two kits, a trial with SDM rapidly followed by a migration to AG for the last two brews.
HOB Lightning (SDM) has turned out to be a very hoppy pale ale which SWMBO doesn't like. :thumb: More for me!
HOD Xmas lights was the first AG also vaguely following the Summer Lightning recipe but with added cloves and ginger. Initial tasting (it's not conditioned for long enough yet) shows the clove/ginger flavour to be a background flavour which I like. SWMBO thinks this is too bitter as well - so even more for me :
AG#2 is still in the fermenter but the colour is a lot lighter than the previous two brews giving me hope that it's exactly what I'm after, just hope the nice citrus smell and taste, that I'm hoping for, is there when it's ready.

Just returned from working up North. Whilst there I met up with No. 1 son who has two kits for me - should have been my Fathers day present but he forgot to bring it down last time he visited. Not sure when I'll do them as I've still got half a bag of Maris Otter to use up first. I need to get some other malts to add to AG#3.

Have a good Xmas everybody. If anyone wants a free 2013 calendar featuring pictures of canal craft please feel free to download and print from http://www.jannock.org.uk/2013%20Calendar.pdf

2012 AG Cherries Popped: 2

 

[PD]

Well I started kit brewing in April with my son who felt he needed a hobby. ( and his beers costs were beginning to bite ! )
I enjoyed it and we made some great tasting beers ( well after being tee total for 15 years any beer tasted good ! )
Every night I'd look forward to making a new beer next morning..and we did...and an hour later it was done...now what ?
It wasn't brewing for me it was making up a solution and waiting.... I wanted to get me hands dirty....

I deliberated and in September 2012 I took the plunge by purchasing a 30 litre tea urn boiler and a cool box mash tun.
First brew I named Piddles Dribble ( English ESB ) and was brewed 3rd September 2012...... ( a day that will live in infamy ! )
Half the brew went on the floor I couldn't get any clear runnings due to a loose ss false bottom and it was a day full of tense drama and sheer panic !
I enjoyed the 6 hour day immensely and was knackered !
I wasn't expecting great guns from the brew but didn't care...I was hooked. ( It eventually turned out an excellent session bitter and very enjoyable )
Since then I've made a total of 8 All Grain Brews and drunk some stunning beers. The whole process of picking a recipe, playing with the soft wear along with the actual brew day is something I look forward to immensely. Each brew “ day “ encompassed several days in preparation etc and I feel like a genuine beer brewer.
We still make a kit beer now and again and then if its liked well enough we try and design a clone of it.
And all with basic kit.... So what to look forward to in 2013. Yep bigger shiny pots !
I'm saving madly for 3 ss pots and related equipment. I've made a sort of “ work station “ for brewing in my garage a bench for the pots and another for a preparation area. Its my domain......
The Maltby Mash Brewery has yet to be born but hopefully it will appear in late January... Great times ahead,,,


Edit....

and I wouldn't have managed it without the help and encouragment from this Forum.... :clap: :clap:

2012 AG Cherries Popped: 3

 

[abeyptfc]

I started brewing kits in July 2010 and eventually crossed to the dark side on 01/06/2012, I wasn't in any rush to cross over but after attending a few of Calum's (Dunfie) brewdays and tasting his beers I thought I would give it a try myself as the kits were getting a bit boring, whilst drinkable it was nothing special.
I never thought I would go AG to start with, I watched some vids on youtube and thought that looks impossible and required alot more knowledge. I had loads of questions as everyone probably did about sparging, temperatures, chilling etc but thanks again to Calum and the good guys on here I worked up the courage to give it a bash myself.
I'm now on my 7th AG (there should be a list in my signature of the beers I've brewed) and I'm even more addicted and obsessed than what I was with kits. the list of beers you can make is endless, yes it does take a good few hours but there's nothing more satisfying than trying one of your beers after 4 weeks and thinking 'I made that and its feckin lovely'!

 

[PD]

abey missed off

2012 AG Cherries Popped: 4

 

[TRXnMe]

I started with kits back in March this year, made a few cooper's kits up and decided that extract was the way to go, made two extract brews up and someone lovely person started the Back To Bascis II thread....

I'd bought a 15 litre stocck pot for my extract brews, so a 1 gallon AG brew was feasible, I mucked it right up, brewing with crystal malt, not pale malt (crystal clear = pale in my head for some reason..).

I then managed to make a couple of B2B 1 gallon brews that workedm including a cherry beer that my wife loves and I have to repeat every now and then. Having made the small step to AG, B2B style it was unavoidable that I'd go the hole hog, I'm an Engineer, with a good understanding of electrics and electronics, plus a tool chest full of tools, so building my own brewery was part of the fun..

The wife started to take notice of the credit card statement around the same time as the shed arrived and appeared in the back garden

I've now completed 2 five gallon brew length AGs, both IPA type beers, both to my own recipes, using BeerSmith to work out what the colour and bitterness would be, my third is planned for Saturday, a clone beer (Old Peculiar) for my parents.

So, AG Cherry #5 also well and truly popped

 

[Kevin Wood]

Another one here! AG#1 in April and I've done 3 more since, 2 of which I've gone "off piste" and experimented with the recipes a little. Last 2 with a HERMS setup, too. Would have been more brews if I'd collected enough bottles to put 'em in!

I'd thrown together a few kits before that, and never been blown away by the results. I suspect my interest in brewing would have declined if I hadn't a) found this site and been encouraged by it to build an AG setup and up my game generally and b) tasted my own AG brew and realised that I can easily brew beers up there with the best I've tasted in pubs.

Here's looking forward to many more years on the dark side. :

 

[PD]

2012 AG Cherries Popped: 6

 

[fbsf]

I'm another. I only started brewing in June, after wanting to get hold of some Coopers Australian Pale Ale, after a trip to Oz for work. After finding it was the best part of £40 for a case of 12 over here, the missus found a coopers APA kit, and that was the start of the brewing.

I did a couple more kits and WOWs and having read quite a bit on here did an extract brew that was lovely. I carried on reading up on AG and did a 12L BIAB Exmoor gold clone as a trial. At that point I could see that AG was the way I wanted to go as I was enjoying the brewing as much as the drinking, so in October I built myself a mash tun out of 2 FVs, bought a 33L FV boiler and made myself a cooling coil.

Since then I've done another 2 AG brews (a porter and a session bitter) and am hoping to get a raft of MaltMiller vouchers for crimbo from my familly so I can get a sack of MO and some speciality grains and hops and start experimenting in early 2013!

2012 AG Cherries Popped: 7

 

[Hollow Legs]

After a couple of years making kits and thinking that the Coopers Euro Lagers I made were fantastic as I kept them at 12oC and using Saflager S-23 yeast instead of the kit yeast, I started AG brewing in late spring this year after building my own boiler and buying a mash tun.

I used an AG kit (everything made up) from my local HB store and after spending a whole day worrying and checking everything from sparge temp and doughing in, boiling and chilling ETC ETC I made my first AG lager...............and even though I still brew kits as it is a lot quicker I really prefer the AG brew experience and taste as I'm on my 8th AG brew and feel comfortable with my equipment and what I'm doing.

I've recently bought a new boiler with a thermostat and shiny filters ETC and will be upgrading other stuff soon.

I still need to learn lots of stuff and I'm on a sort of learning curve, currently enjoying Alemans Effin North German Pilsner, although tweaked (volume) a very nice pint.

Anyone thinking that moving over to AG is daunting then worry not, if you can afford to buy shiny equipment then great but if you can't then build your own stuff cheap for a start to see if you enjoy it then go for it or try to join someone local on a brew day to see what you will need to do or if it's for you.

Do as I did at the start look at the 'How Too's' on the forum, without these I probably would not be brewing AG :

 

[BrotherMalice]

Started brewing in March this year (Better Brew IPA) and am now on AG3, planning on many more in the new year and hoping to meet some of you at the spring thing :)

 

[jonnymorris]

Me too. Started brewing kits again last year after a 20 year break and soon realised AG was the way to go. I took my time building my boiler, mash tun and chiller and now have 3 AGs under my belt.

The first didn't turn out well. Way too bitter and just a bit over-powering. It was a Rauchbier which is distinctive at the best of times. I've since invested in Brew Smith and now know where I went wrong. I cracked open a bottle of #2 last night and it was fantastic. Possibly the best beer I've ever drunk (though I may be biased).
Looking forward to refining my process and plenty more brew days in 2013.

Popped cherry #10.

 

[TRXnMe]

If this thread has been done before, does anyone who was here back then remember how many cherry's were popped in 2011?

I'm quite impressed with the number of folk who 'crossed the line' this year, and glad I'm among them, I just wonder if the number is increasing as the economy drops off, or if it's increasing as word of mouth (or word of internet) spreads the good word about the quality and cost of brewing your own beer. Or even if it is increasing year on year :)

 

[Dr Mike]

Another one here. I bypassed the kit stage, unless you count the kits I did as a student all those years ago, and went straight in at the deep end in October. Done two so far and will probably do the third this weekend.

So that's AG cherry popped #11

 

[joe1002]

I started brewing kits about 7 years ago and brewed with reasonable success. Then I found this site just over 18 months ago and very quickly realised AG is the way I wanted to go.

I took some time building my kit and kitting out my brewshed, including electrics etc. On 2nd September I brewed my first AG beer. I enjoyed the process albeit a little stressfull. I have since brewed AG 2 & 3 which I must say were a lot more relaxed.

I haven't had time to brew as much as I woud have liked (I have a 3 year old and a 1 month old) but I have 7 cornies (another thing this forum has to answer for :lol: ) 5 of which are empty. I need to pull my finger out and get them filled. :whistle:

2012 AG Cherries Popped: 12

 

[PD]

hallelujah brothers the round dozen already

 

[Jeltz]

Unlucky for some I'm
Number 13

I started with a cider kit in June then a couple of bitter kits and went AG in October :thumb: AG#3 is the finest beer I have ever tasted :party:

 

[calumscott]

If this thread has been done before, does anyone who was here back then remember how many cherry's were popped in 2011?

I don't recall one being done last year, I just thought it would be a bit of fun to see just how many of us have "turned" this year.

 

[MacKiwi]

Number 14

Went straight in the deep-end, never having brewed anything before. So far so good - plenty of drinkable beer, and no major disasters...

 

[tazuk]

i must have done kits about 20 years ago easy omg was they **** brill for snail traps lol
now back jumped straight in to AG did take a little time to build kit up but never look back since :thumb: