I am new to these boards and have recently started to get serious about my brewing. I have brewed off and on for over 20 years, all extract, spotty sanitation, makeshift equipment, old school 5 gallon pot, stale yeast, moving boxes full of bottles, etc. This past spring for some reason, because I needed another hobby like a hole in the head, I decided to step up my game.

I have now gone all grain and converted the produce section of the garage fridge into a 3 keg kegerator - the Mrs. is not all too happy about that, but she is at least reluctantly supportive of the better beer I have been brewing, not to mention not having 100 bottles all over the kitchen and pantry. I also planted 20 hops vines this past spring, harvested them late August and vacuum sealed and froze them and have been using them in my brewing - sweet. Over Thanksgiving we had 15 family and friends here for 4 days, and despite having backup emergency beverages in the fridge, they cleaned me out of 10 gallons of home brew - guess something is working...

So, I am honing my skills and learning my new rig by brewing clone brews with some side by side comparisons of the real thing - figure that will help me learn the craft. Hell, I even sent out to have my water tested - crazy. Mostly been brewing IPAs - Two Hearted Ale, Ballast Point Sculpin Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, etc. Did a smashing pumpkin porter in September that was the first brew I ever kegged. Brewed another batch of Sculpin 2 weekends ago and will be brewing another Two Hearted this weekend, fine tuning for stupid mistakes in previous batches. I have played with the recipes a bit to make things easier and they seem to be very forgiving. Been getting my grains from Rebel Brewer crushed - maybe Santa will bring me a mill?

Anyhow, just a quick intro for me - if any of you are in Northern Virginia and feel like adding value to a brew session, let me know!

JonyMac

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/89093/bell-s-two-hearted-ale-clone
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/89253/ballast-point-sculpin-ale-clone

 

Thanks! It's fun - really love having my own hops to brew with - now I just need to plant some grain...

 

Thanks!