Drewski6949
New Member
New to this forum, and keeping at a Basic membership until I know how helpful it it. I've done some homebrewing with friends, and, recently, my son has gotten into homebrewing. I've decided to start doing my own brews, too, in part as a way to connect to him, but I think it's interesting and fun. I'm doing 5 gallon all grain brews into kegs, and I want to keep to this size. It's easy to get sucked into larger systems, but it gets costly and more time-intensive than I want it to be. I recently retired, and I do a lot of bike riding, but I've always loved having a beer afterwards with friends. I mainly brew WCIPAs, but I want to try other styles once I get better at what I'm doing. I'm doing my 4th brew with friends in a few days, and I'm hoping for better results than my 2 previous brews. I tried a Stardust clone for the last 3 batches, hoping to improve, but they've mostly been inconsistent. First batch was pretty good, but a bit sweet. Second batch was ruined because I added all the hops too early, and the third batch, well, I'm not sure. I think I had some issues with sparging, and I attempted "open" fermentation for a few days, and that may have messed it up. I still have the second batch, and it's mellowing a bit. Third batch is barely drinkable, and I may pour it out. For this next batch, I'm trying a Blind Pig recipe/batch from More Beer, and I'm making a yeast starter for the first time. I'll let you know in a few weeks how it tastes. Cheers!
