Deanman
Apprentice
Hi everyone,
I have browsed around here (and other beer websites & forums) a few times and decided to register here. Seems like a lot of great, well organized info and friendly people.
I brewed my first batch from a box kit about a year ago, and have done 11 extract & partial grain batches to date. For my latest batch, I stepped up to an all grain pale ale recipe using a brew in a bag setup in a 13 gallon kettle. I also scored a used fridge for free and bought a temp controller for it, whereas all my prior fermentations took place in my laundry room. We heat with wood, so my temps swung up and down wildly. So far this batch has been hovering within about half a degree of the target 65 degrees, and is now in secondary. I plan to dry hop it about 4 days before bottling. So I’m happy to have easily solved the temp control problem. My only further equipment need is a more powerful burner.
I joined the local North Olympic Brewers Guild right after I started, and have met a lot of great people and learned a lot. We also get a dollar off on pints at a couple local pubs and a small discount on ingredients purchased on the day of the meeting, which is hosted by the local Brewing Supplies store. Most meetings are attended by at least 25 people and we usually have over a dozen brews to sample, plus food... it's a lot of fun.
My latest “problem” is I printed off a recipe from Beersmith for the Bell’s Two Hearted IPA, bought the ingredients… and then noticed it is for a 6 gallon batch. I have 5 gallon carboys… So I guess I can just ferment in two carboys... I always seem to make simple things complicated
Anyway, I’m enjoying it all thoroughly and am now contemplating the purchase of Beersmith, but am still undecided if I should spring for the desktop version, or if the iPad version will do. I expect further reading here will provide an answer.
I look forward to hanging out here from time to time and hope I can eventually contribute something to help someone else.
Happy Brewing,
Dean
I have browsed around here (and other beer websites & forums) a few times and decided to register here. Seems like a lot of great, well organized info and friendly people.
I brewed my first batch from a box kit about a year ago, and have done 11 extract & partial grain batches to date. For my latest batch, I stepped up to an all grain pale ale recipe using a brew in a bag setup in a 13 gallon kettle. I also scored a used fridge for free and bought a temp controller for it, whereas all my prior fermentations took place in my laundry room. We heat with wood, so my temps swung up and down wildly. So far this batch has been hovering within about half a degree of the target 65 degrees, and is now in secondary. I plan to dry hop it about 4 days before bottling. So I’m happy to have easily solved the temp control problem. My only further equipment need is a more powerful burner.
I joined the local North Olympic Brewers Guild right after I started, and have met a lot of great people and learned a lot. We also get a dollar off on pints at a couple local pubs and a small discount on ingredients purchased on the day of the meeting, which is hosted by the local Brewing Supplies store. Most meetings are attended by at least 25 people and we usually have over a dozen brews to sample, plus food... it's a lot of fun.
My latest “problem” is I printed off a recipe from Beersmith for the Bell’s Two Hearted IPA, bought the ingredients… and then noticed it is for a 6 gallon batch. I have 5 gallon carboys… So I guess I can just ferment in two carboys... I always seem to make simple things complicated
Anyway, I’m enjoying it all thoroughly and am now contemplating the purchase of Beersmith, but am still undecided if I should spring for the desktop version, or if the iPad version will do. I expect further reading here will provide an answer.
I look forward to hanging out here from time to time and hope I can eventually contribute something to help someone else.
Happy Brewing,
Dean