Your 'Best of 2020'

[Graz]

1. Best beer you brewed in 2020
Festival German Weiss (I only brew kits), though the Festival Belgian Dubbel I've brewed for Christmas is close if not better than this but not had enough of it yet to say one way or the other.

2. Best Homebrew beer brewed by someone else in 2020
Haven't got a any friends

3. Best commercial beer you drank in 2020
Hard to say if anything particular stood out and I haven't had much due to being self sufficient on home brew. Bought a selection of Verdant cans whilst on holiday in Cornwall, those were all nice, and recently a pack from Brew York which have been pretty good so far as well as a can of this which I have high hopes about but saving it for Christmas (£9 a can though!): https://brewyork.co.uk/product/ba-cherry-tonkoko/

4. Best brewing-related thing in 2020
Technically I built kegerator phase 1 last year but at the start of lockdown I decided to add a third tap and bought a few more Cornies. Will never go back to pressure barrels and even secondary fermentation / carbonation despite being wary of force carbing at first.

5. Your 2021 homebrew new year's resolution
If I get the time / inclination have a go at some extract brewing and maybe even a full mash (BIAB). Make some wine, have done in the past but not really done any this year.

 

[Hanglow]

1.Best beer you brewed in 2020
A hefeweizen.

2.Best Homebrew beer brewed by someone else in 2020
Didn't try any!

3.Best commercial beer you drank in 2020
Schoenrammer Pils

4. Best brewing-related thing in 2020 (could be a piece of kit, an ingredient, a book, just getting into the hobby...)
A pump and larger mash tun.

5.Your 2021 homebrew new year's resolution
Brew better beer :) I will try and settle in one good yeast for brewing ales and reuse it, instead of going the easy route and always using dried yeast.

 

[yrhendystu]

1.Best beer you brewed in 2020
I enjoyed all the kits I made but two brews stand out. The first was a Wilko Cerveza where I used 1KG of table sugar and 0.5KG of brown sugar due to being underwhelmed with the previous batches of the same kit (they actually improved immensely over the next few weeks so this was also good lesson in patience).
Second highlight was the ginger beer I made from the slurry of that brew with limes, orange juice and a ton of full sugar Lidl premium lemonade. It was incredibly sharp at first but after a few months the flavour calmed down and it was amazing.

2.Best Homebrew beer brewed by someone else in 2020
N/A

3.Best commercial beer you drank in 2020
Innis and Gunn's lager beer I picked up in Lidl.

4. Best brewing-related thing in 2020 (could be a piece of kit, an ingredient, a book, just getting into the hobby...)
Started brewing when lockdown happened as a new hobby, a way of minimising "unnecessary" trips to the shops and also as a money saver which was particularly helpful due to the new minimum pricing law in Wales.

5.Your 2021 homebrew new year's resolution
Do out the storage shed so I can brew and store in one place. Experiment with more ginger beer recipes.

 

[Cwrw666]

1.Best beer you brewed in 2020
`Christmas Cascade' Pale malt, bit of crystal, bit of torrified wheat, a smidgen of roast barley. EKG and Cascade.
2.Best Homebrew beer brewed by someone else in 2020
My mate Knibbsy's black IPA.
3.Best commercial beer you drank in 2020
I'll go for Bluestone Brewery's `Chimney Stack' 90/- ale.
4. Best brewing-related thing in 2020 (could be a piece of kit, an ingredient, a book, just getting into the hobby...)
`Old British Beers, How to Make Them' Dr John Harrison, Durden Park Beer Circle.
5.Your 2021 homebrew new year's resolution
Gonna brew a pilsner.

 

[An Ankoù]

1.Best beer you brewed in 2020
`Christmas Cascade' Pale malt, bit of crystal, bit of torrified wheat, a smidgen of roast barley. EKG and Cascade.
2.Best Homebrew beer brewed by someone else in 2020
My mate Knibbsy's black IPA.
3.Best commercial beer you drank in 2020
I'll go for Bluestone Brewery's `Chimney Stack' 90/- ale.
4. Best brewing-related thing in 2020 (could be a piece of kit, an ingredient, a book, just getting into the hobby...)
`Old British Beers, How to Make Them' Dr John Harrison, Durden Park Beer Circle.
5.Your 2021 homebrew new year's resolution
Gonna brew a pilsner.

Thoroughly agree with #4 and I've bought a sack of Chevallier to try out on some of them. You won't find #5 in the DPBC booklet.

 

[Slid]

Only really have one best of from 2020 brewing wise. That is the Raspberry Wheat Beer (GH). Dis the first with Belgian Wit yeast and the other two with a German Weiss yeast. Perhaps the Belgian was best, but all three were a revelation. Like a cross between beer and Vimto, so easy to drink. 2.5kg of Raspberries doubles the ingredient cost, but is well worth it!

Drank scarcely any other beer than my own in 2020,

2021 will probably see me replacing my increasingly annoying GF unit, Number 144 today and the 4kg grain bill was another disaster.

 

[Oneflewover]

Only really have one best of from 2020 brewing wise. That is the Raspberry Wheat Beer (GH). Dis the first with Belgian Wit yeast and the other two with a German Weiss yeast. Perhaps the Belgian was best, but all three were a revelation. Like a cross between beer and Vimto, so easy to drink. 2.5kg of Raspberries doubles the ingredient cost, but is well worth it!

Drank scarcely any other beer than my own in 2020,

2021 will probably see me replacing my increasingly annoying GF unit, Number 144 today and the 4kg grain bill was another disaster.

What will you replace the GF with do you think?

I will have to experiment with fruit in beer at some point soon

 

[Slid]

What will you replace the GF with do you think?

I will have to experiment with fruit in beer at some point soon

Will probably go budget system, as the GF fancy and expensive controller and Bluetooth connection, I have zero use for.
When last I knew, the recommended alternative would be a Brewzilla, but the badges are just that.
It will probably be one day I see a good price on a system with decent reviews and probably the after the safety cut-out feature has irritated me for the last and final time.
The GF cost £605 iirc and after 144 brews, that works out at £4.20 per batch, or 18p per bottled litre, which is roughly 10p a pint.

The mashing side is OK, except that it won't do a mash out reliably any more and the counter-flow chiller is good.
I don't trust my skills to by-pass the safety cut out properly and rather doubt that it be a good idea anyway.