Oh crap!!
I well remember being the youngest man on a ship ...
... and the oldest man on a Production Platform ...
... please let there be someone on the Forum older than my 73 years!
I tried drinking beer back in 1953 aged 10 and couldn't understand how my Dad could possibly drink the stuff! Bleugh!! Terrible taste!
However, by 1962 I had developed a taste for beer and had come back home by rail a few times. For the uninitiated "Coming home by rail" means "Crawling along the pavement by grasping the railings"! On one occasion I was actually hauled off the pavement by two policemen and driven back home with the warning "If you throw up in the car we will book you!" Happy days!
By 1966 I was married with two kids (so much for Brewers Droop or drinking beer affecting a man's fertility!) and a mortgage; so to get a beer at all I had to brew my own.
In those days, the kits were rubbish and the only local supplier of brewing ingredients was Boots the Chemist.
Luckily, one of the Shift Superintendents at the refinery where I worked had a fantastic extract recipe so I brewed "Own Recipe Extract Bitter" for lack of a better description. All I remember of the recipe was that it used East Kent Goldings as the bittering and aroma hops.
I brewed beer regularly (including my time spent in Saudi Arabia :whistle:) until the mid 70's. At this time I had two batches go "off" (I honestly didn't know about sanitising everything in those days) and then I moved to Scotland where I discovered that old granite cottages are so cold that they just aren't conducive to brewing beer; so I switched to drinking whisky.
I got back into brewing after I inherited a load of brewing stuff when my brother died. It was all SWMBO's fault
(YAY! ) :thumb: when she asked "What are you going to do with all Joe's stuff that is cluttering up the shed." so I came back to brewing a couple of years ago after a +30 year break.
An expert? Not really.
I've made most of the mistakes that people make; and still make them.
I have learned that sanitising everything is an absolute
"Must Do!".
I have learned patience but I haven't cured my natural clumsiness.
I mix by brews between All Grain and Extract to suit my mood and the time available.
Come on. Please! We have to have someone on the Forum older than me!