About

I am an all grain brewer who has been brewing since 2009.  Over the past few years, I have learned a lot and brewed some really nice beers.  Some of my beers have even won ribbons locally.  In 2012, I did get lucky and place third best in show at the AHA Stout it Out Loud (national) competition.  However, I didn’t get into brewing to enter contests, I really enjoy the whole process of taking the raw ingredients and turning them into a nice beer to be enjoyed with family and friends.

This blog was started to document my brewing adventures / experiments.  When I first got into brewing, I searched the net and found all sorts of blogs and sites where the brewer just documented their successes.  I wanted my blog to be different; not only did I want my successes, I wanted to write about my mishaps as well.  Now, why would I want to do that?  Like most people, I learn from my mistakes.  So I wanted other brewers to read my posts and not make the same mistakes that I did.  I also wanted to inject a little humor into the blog posts.

My current brew system is the Blichmann TopTier brew stand.  The stand has two very nice, quiet, and powerful propane-fired burners for my Hot Liquor Tun and Brew Kettle.  The Mash Tun is a 10 gallon Igloo cooler with a stainless steel braid manifold inside.  The kettles I use are 15.5 gallon modified beer kegs (or keggles).

Another nifty little gadget that I use on occasions is the Blichmann HopRocket that can be used post boil as a hop-back to add more hop characteristics back into the wort.  It is a slick little piece of gear that I recommend.

I have been using a water filter to filter out impurities and chlorine from my city water.  Another reason I have a filter is to keep my feet on the ground and make filling the HLT easy.  I no longer have to walk up a ladder and dump water in the HLT or even go up a ladder to check the water volume thanks to the sight glass.

The pic at right was my first brew system.  I was amazed that “this” was all you needed to make beer…  Was my first beer good?  Meh, it was ok, but it wasn’t too bad seeing that I didn’t know what the heck I was doing.  Little did I know that this pot and burner were my ‘gateway drug’ for me into one of my favorite hobbies, brewing beer!

I hope that everyone enjoys this blog and finds it informational.

Cheers!