Returned to brewing!

[HoppingMad]

Might only be a minor positive to lockdown, but I'll take what I can get!!

After around 5 years of 'real life' meaning that brewing wasn't really possible, circumstances have changed and in addition to lockdown I had enough time to start brewing again.

I've always been an 'extract' brewer (currently sat here drinking a cracking New World Saison I made 3 months ago) but have taken the opportunity of lockdown to move to all grain - kit is ordered, but I'm yet to do any, as yet. I'm hoping this will take my brewing to the next level and I'm also going to try and get my hands on a fridge and turn that into a fermentation fridge, to further increase the quality a bit more.

Beer wise, I love pretty much everything and it depends entirely on the day! I love hoppy beers so drink a lot of IPAs / APAs, but also love English Pale Ales, I love various Belgium Beers, stouts, porters and, on a hot sunny day, even a 'proper' lager (the wife drinks Brewdog Lost Lager, which I have to say isn't half bad!).

I live in rural Shropshire, so I'm lucky that I've got a fair few decent fairly local brewery's near me too.

Anyway, I've been reading the forum for a while so thought I should probably join and say hello, so cheers...

 

[Gerryjo]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Good to see you got your mojo back and moving on to AG which you won't regret.
Rural Shropshire, Cradley heath is where I was born but was only 2 or 3 when my parents moved back to Ireland.Still have relatives in Dudley and surrounding areas as all my mums family live there and someday I might actually visit.. My mum always says you were born in The Black Country..

 

[HoppingMad]

Thanks Gerry and definitely hoping the AG goes well. Ordered a couple of kits (a "Wreck the Halls" for me and a Kölsch for the wife (well, and me) as it's always good to try and keep her happy ).

I've gone in for a Grainfather kit as read so many good things about them. I'm waiting for it all to arrive but I've got a Black Out IPA extract to do before that, which I'm going to try and do this weekend.

Quite bizzarley, I went the other way at the age of 2 or 3; I used to live in N. Ireland, then my parents moved to Suffolk. Some decent pubs and brewerys around The Black Country too.

 

[Gerryjo]

Thanks Gerry and definitely hoping the AG goes well. Ordered a couple of kits (a "Wreck the Halls" for me and a Kölsch for the wife (well, and me) as it's always good to try and keep her happy ).

I've gone in for a Grainfather kit as read so many good things about them. I'm waiting for it all to arrive but I've got a Black Out IPA extract to do before that, which I'm going to try and do this weekend.

Quite bizzarley, I went the other way at the age of 2 or 3; I used to live in N. Ireland, then my parents moved to Suffolk. Some decent pubs and brewerys around The Black Country too.

Strange that, which part did you live in?

 

[HoppingMad]

TBH, I'm not overly sure; I'm an 'army brat', as it were, and that's all I really know. Unfortunately, let us say we didn't end up a particularly close family, so it was never really talked about.

I know I was born in Berlin but moved to Ireland shortly after, then suffolk, then Hong Kong, then back to blighty...I have very little memory or recollection of any of it, barring Hong Kong and seeing big Navy ships at the Prince of Wales barracks and riding the Star Ferry. And I remember we lived in "Prospect Place", which scared me almost to death when I watched Ghost the first time, as that's where the murderer lived!!

I have Derry in my head but now I don't know if that's just from reading your location or because that's actually where I was!

 

[Gerryjo]

You look like you've been well travelled. Furthest I got was florida haha...

 

[HoppingMad]

I love travelling but don't get to do it as much as I used to, and I don't think it counts if you were too young to remember most of it!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum

 

[An Ankoù]

Welcome HoppingMad,

I'm also going to try and get my hands on a fridge and turn that into a fermentation fridge, to further increase the quality a bit more.

Beer wise, I love pretty much everything and it depends entirely on the day! I love hoppy beers so drink a lot of IPAs / APAs, but also love English Pale Ales, I love various Belgium Beers, stouts, porters and, on a hot sunny day, even a 'proper' lager (the wife drinks Brewdog Lost Lager, which I have to say isn't half bad!).

I'm now in my 50th year of brewing and I must say, I've only used a fridge twice in order to brew in the heat of the summer. In the past, I didn't brew much at all during the hottest months, only wheat beers, and then I discovered that Saflager W34-70 would brew a decent ale at warmer temperatures than regular ale yeasts, and now we've got kveik to get us through the summer. My point being that you don't need to wait for a fridge if you want to get going on AG, just brew according to the seasons and pick your yeasts carefully. You quote plenty of styles above that are doable right now, although it's still too warm for "proper" lager.
Good luck.

 

[Davy6Mac]

Welcome to the forum, loads of helpful advice here about going AG, i have learnt so much from other members advice

 

[HoppingMad]

Welcome HoppingMad,



I'm now in my 50th year of brewing and I must say, I've only used a fridge twice in order to brew in the heat of the summer. In the past, I didn't brew much at all during the hottest months, only wheat beers, and then I discovered that Saflager W34-70 would brew a decent ale at warmer temperatures than regular ale yeasts, and now we've got kveik to get us through the summer. My point being that you don't need to wait for a fridge if you want to get going on AG, just brew according to the seasons and pick your yeasts carefully. You quote plenty of styles above that are doable right now, although it's still too warm for "proper" lager.
Good luck.

Thanks An Ankoù,

I must admit I’ve never changed the yeast from the recommended one with the Extract kit but going AG gives me a bit more flexibility and something that I’ll definitely look at after reading up on various yeasts.

regarding starting my first AG brew; I’m still waiting for my kit, so not able to start quite yet, but will be doing as soon as possible after it all arrives.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Welcome!

have taken the opportunity of lockdown to move to all grain

Yup... me too; and I can quite honestly say from my massive experience (two brews ) that the results are worth it. However the amount of plumbing adaptors and whatnot I'm accumulating is getting ridiculous. Let us know how you get on!

 

[HoppingMad]

Welcome!

Yup... me too; and I can quite honestly say from my massive experience (two brews ) that the results are worth it. However the amount of plumbing adaptors and whatnot I'm accumulating is getting ridiculous. Let us know how you get on!

Err...why on earth do you need plumbing adaptors, I.e. which ones do I need to go and buy??

 

[An Ankoù]

Err...why on earth do you need plumbing adaptors, I.e. which ones do I need to go and buy??

You don't need any. Perhaps something to join your garden hose to your cooling coil and that's it. The Engineer who Brews, on the other hand, is an engineer, who brews. And as such, does what engineers do.
In my NSH opinion, unless you're into mega-litrage, theres no need to automate you system with pumps and chillers and all that old cobblers, unless the system in itself is as important or more important than the beer.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Err...why on earth do you need plumbing adaptors

Heh - well, after the last brew, I got fed up waiting for the wort to cool down after boiling; so I made a counterflow chiller. Simple enough in concept but requires a few bits of copper adaptors at either end; then I worked out I needed a good way to hook it to the end of the hosepipe... THEN I thought hey - if I link the inner and outer pipes up to pumps and a temperature controller, I can use it to control my mash...

Then there's the stuff to hook up to the keg, etc etc

Anyhow pretty soon I ended up with a selection of bits and bobs like this - and that's probably about 50% of it in total, not counting all the bits I bought but haven't yet found a use for

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

is an engineer. Who brews. And as such, does what engineers do

hahahaha - oh yes... 'fraud so... you got me banged to rights there :-)

 

[Gerryjo]

Welcome!

Yup... me too; and I can quite honestly say from my massive experience (two brews ) that the results are worth it. However the amount of plumbing adaptors and whatnot I'm accumulating is getting ridiculous. Let us know how you get on!

An expensive hobby and you'll find you may have to be elusive with the other half..

 

[HoppingMad]

An expensive hobby and you'll find you may have to be elusive with the other half..

Already way past the “expensive” point, I shudder to think what I’ve spent on brewing over the years! Distance from the wife isn’t a problem; in fact, most of the time it’s asked for!!