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Well, I'm a bit of a homebrewer and I figured It'd be nice to not only see who else out there on B&B brews, but to open a running dialog on brewing and what's in the fermenters.

A couple weeks ago I kicked a keg of oatmeal stout and an ipa. With empty kegs I figured I had better get to brewing! Two weeks ago I brewed my double amber ipa and this morning I racked it to secondary for the dry hop.

Today I brewed my bourbon barrel ipa. I just finished up my brew day and my ale is bubbling away in the fermenter. I've got 4oz of oak chips soaking in makers mark bourbon to be added next weekend with the dry Hops.

Next weekend I'll be brewing my brown porter. It's a new recipe I'll be trying with a few tweaks, so I'm really excited to see how it turns out. It'll be my new baseline in trying to create a nice, unique, sessionable porter.

If anyone would like my recipes, let me know. I'll copy them out of beer Smith and paste them here for you. I'd also love to share any other recipes you'd be interested in.

For those who are interested in brewing, or just have any questions, feel free to ask as well. I love to help when I can and though I don't know a lot, I can usually find the answer.
 
Apfelwein, a maple nut brown ale, Pale Ale and a box kit of Cabernet Franc Icewine all in primary at the moment.Apfelwein, a maple nut brown ale, Pale Ale and a box kit of Cabernet Franc Icewine all in primary at the moment.
 
As I type I've got my mash resting, in a few hours I'll be pitching the yeast on a really light ale I call "The Blonde Joke"... Hope it turns out, as this is my first go at a full 5 gallon batch. Up till now I've been doing 3 gallon batches, this is also my first time milling/crushing the grains myself!

Cheers!
 
I have to brew outside (I use propane burners for my HLT and BK, my MLT is a Rubbermaid cooler) so with this bitterly cold winter we've been having up here in Ontario I haven't been able to brew for the last 3 months. I'm down to my last two kegs! A best bitter and brown ale. First chance I get I'll have brew up 10 gallons of APA and AIPA. Those are the two styles I seem to be able to do best.
 
I'm about an hour and a half west of you! I brew with a similar set up, and took advantage of the balmy -5 c today and have my brew cooling in a snowbank as I type! My wife lets me mash in the house, but I boil outside. Unlike you, however, I only have one keg... so I have to brave the cold if I want some homebrew!!!
 
As I type I've got my mash resting, in a few hours I'll be pitching the yeast on a really light ale I call "The Blonde Joke"... Hope it turns out, as this is my first go at a full 5 gallon batch. Up till now I've been doing 3 gallon batches, this is also my first time milling/crushing the grains myself!

Cheers!

What grain crusher do you have? I've been contemplating buying the cereal killer from adventures in homebrewing. I'm sure your five gallon batch will go off like a charm. Do you use any brew software like beer Smith?

I have to brew outside (I use propane burners for my HLT and BK, my MLT is a Rubbermaid cooler) so with this bitterly cold winter we've been having up here in Ontario I haven't been able to brew for the last 3 months. I'm down to my last two kegs! A best bitter and brown ale. First chance I get I'll have brew up 10 gallons of APA and AIPA. Those are the two styles I seem to be able to do best.

What burners are you using? I'm having a seriously though time getting the full rolling boil I need to on my full boil batches.
 
I used this Corona Mill from Ontario Beer Kegs:
http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/product_p/cereal-mill.htm

I am fairly new to all grain brewing, but I downloaded the Beersmith Trial and I like the interface so I'm sure I will be purchasing the full version when the time comes. The mill is basic, but does the trick... My OG is a little lower than I thought it should be, but everything else is looking good!

Mr.Fuggles: This is one of only two forums I'm on, and the other is for Guitar... what is this "Local Forum" you speak of... I might be interested!

Cheers
 
I used this Corona Mill from Ontario Beer Kegs:
http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/product_p/cereal-mill.htm

I am fairly new to all grain brewing, but I downloaded the Beersmith Trial and I like the interface so I'm sure I will be purchasing the full version when the time comes. The mill is basic, but does the trick... My OG is a little lower than I thought it should be, but everything else is looking good!

Mr.Fuggles: This is one of only two forums I'm on, and the other is for Guitar... what is this "Local Forum" you speak of... I might be interested!

Cheers

I've seen those before, did you by chance calculate your efficiency with it?
 
No sorry I did not work that out... But I'd guess its below 75% as I didn't hit my target OG which was based on 75%. I still have alot to learn though. :blink:
 
I love my beer ... and picking it up at the store is pretty darn easy ... Soooo - tell me:
1) why would I want to get into home brewing, and
2) what is the startup investement (ANOTHER HOBBY!!! says the wife!!)
 
There are many reasons for getting into homebrewing... and they're all mostly subjective. For me, I like that I can craft a beer to suit my tastes exactly, its fun, its cheap, it tastes good, I love to do things for myself as much as possible (service my vehicles, do my own renovations, grow my own food...) why not brew my own beer... I know exactly what's in it and where everything came from! Its also a pastime you can share with friends... and makes any get together/party a more interesting event.

With regards to initial investment... Most of my initial set up was all free, but kits are available online that are very affordable and there are many different levels of brewing you can get into, some quite simple (extract brewing) and others more involved (all grain brewing... still fairly simple) but the initial set up is very practical financially. just search brewing kits or swing by your local home brew shop and check it out. There are also many people selling used set-ups online that you could pick up at a great value, the thing is... if you don't enjoy the 'craft' aspect of brewing then you will likely fall back to buying your beer from the store... that's why you'll find the cheap used kits floating around! And that's why I picked my equipment up for free! If you think its your thing, then look into it, its a very rewarding hobby... This past year I switched from bottling to kegging, its fantastic... and my initial investment for that was $150ish for a one keg set-up with a CO2 cylinder, regulator and all the fittings and I lucked in again and got a free fridge to house all the goodness!

Cheers
 
Yeah, what halligantool said.

Initial start up will be,on average around $200, depending on whether you wanna do extract or all grain it will go up or down. Extract, which is pre-prepared syrup that you mix with boiling water (think concentrated beer syrup) requires less money up front but your ingredients per batch cost more, whereas if you do all grain, just what the real breweries do, you'll spend more money up front on gear but the cost of ingredients is much less, about half that of extracts.

For example, I do all-grain brewing and all my gear probably cost me almost $1,000, but I got into it for the hobby side of things. I love crafting my own beer. I'm also a partner with a local craft brewery so I also brew test batches for recipes in addition to brewing beer for my own consumption.
However, it doesn't hurt that I can brew 5 gallons of beer (roughly 60 bottles) for well under $20 in ingredients.
 
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