Bill_B
New Member
I used to brew when I was a teenager, but then it was crappy kits from Boots, 2 bags of Tate and Lyle and all I really cared about was how strong I could get it. The results tasted awful so I took a break of a decade or two.
I got back into brewing again about 3 years ago when my wife bought me a starter beer kit for my birthday one year and it was such a success she bought me a wine starter kit the next year.
I still do both beer and wine but I guess this forum is mostly about beer so I'll just say what I've been doing with that.
Up until this year I had just been doing the extract kits, mostly Woodfordes, but at the beginning of this year I took the plunge and bought a Grainfather so am now doing all grain brewing.
I've done 6 brews so far, A timothy Taylor clone, 2 single hop IPAs (Chinook and Citra), a HefeWeizen, a black IPA and finally the Timothy Taylor again.
Fortunately all have been drinkable but it's taken me the first five brews to get them to clear properly (the key was I just needed to wait longer before bottling) and to carbonate properly (the key was I just needed to wait longer before drinking), a bit of a theme has emerged there :)
Luckily I now have enough bottled beer in stock that I can be a bit more patient and hopefully things will go more smoothly in future.
My holy grail is a good Harvey's Old clone so if anyone has any tips I'd be most grateful.
I got back into brewing again about 3 years ago when my wife bought me a starter beer kit for my birthday one year and it was such a success she bought me a wine starter kit the next year.
I still do both beer and wine but I guess this forum is mostly about beer so I'll just say what I've been doing with that.
Up until this year I had just been doing the extract kits, mostly Woodfordes, but at the beginning of this year I took the plunge and bought a Grainfather so am now doing all grain brewing.
I've done 6 brews so far, A timothy Taylor clone, 2 single hop IPAs (Chinook and Citra), a HefeWeizen, a black IPA and finally the Timothy Taylor again.
Fortunately all have been drinkable but it's taken me the first five brews to get them to clear properly (the key was I just needed to wait longer before bottling) and to carbonate properly (the key was I just needed to wait longer before drinking), a bit of a theme has emerged there :)
Luckily I now have enough bottled beer in stock that I can be a bit more patient and hopefully things will go more smoothly in future.
My holy grail is a good Harvey's Old clone so if anyone has any tips I'd be most grateful.