polvofiloso
Well-Known Member
Been lurking here for a short while, getting ready to brew my first* batch tomorrow so thought I'd introduce myself.
The * is because I used to homebrew until about 17 years ago, when I loaned my equipment to a friend. I eventually lost touch with my friend and also my equipment. I always wanted to get back into the hobby but at the time I was much younger, with a lot of other distractions that come along with that. But its been so long ago that my cherry has grown back, so to speak, and I once again consider myself a virgin brewer. Back then I had only brewed a few batches, they were all extract kits. This time I'll be starting off with extract brews until I've re-learned the ropes and good practices, then try to move up to all-grain fairly soon.
Today I bought the Personal Home Brewery #4 kit from MoreBeer!. Wow, LHBS's have come a long way in the time that I've been away from the hobby. The old Home Brewery store I used to go to had nothing on this place. I feel fortunate to have such a well stocked shop close by, as I was able to speak with them in meatspace and make a few adjustments to the items that came in the kit. For instance, I swapped the kettle out for a 15 gal one and got a bigger wort chiller to go with it. I want to be able to step up to 10 gallon batches at some point without having to re-buy anything. I also swapped out the 2-handled capper for a benchtop capper, as I had one of those in my previous life and liked it. Finally, I swapped out the included American Light Ale ingredient kit for something more to my liking. So tomorrow I'll be brewing Jim Baumann's Milk Stout, from their signature series.
One huge difference for me this time around is that I'm married now, and my wife is all gung-ho for it too. She's been my craft beer drinking buddy for 15 years, and she's looking forward to getting in to the hobby as well. I love stouts and porters, and have been recently developing more of a taste for belgians. She's a bit of a hop-head and loves IPA's, double IPA's, rye IPA's, etc.
We live in Southwest Riverside County. There's a growing craft brewery industry here and I see from my online searches there are several homebrew clubs that I may be looking in to. Also looking forward to trading bottles with any other HBT members local to us.
Sorry for the long-winded post!
The * is because I used to homebrew until about 17 years ago, when I loaned my equipment to a friend. I eventually lost touch with my friend and also my equipment. I always wanted to get back into the hobby but at the time I was much younger, with a lot of other distractions that come along with that. But its been so long ago that my cherry has grown back, so to speak, and I once again consider myself a virgin brewer. Back then I had only brewed a few batches, they were all extract kits. This time I'll be starting off with extract brews until I've re-learned the ropes and good practices, then try to move up to all-grain fairly soon.
Today I bought the Personal Home Brewery #4 kit from MoreBeer!. Wow, LHBS's have come a long way in the time that I've been away from the hobby. The old Home Brewery store I used to go to had nothing on this place. I feel fortunate to have such a well stocked shop close by, as I was able to speak with them in meatspace and make a few adjustments to the items that came in the kit. For instance, I swapped the kettle out for a 15 gal one and got a bigger wort chiller to go with it. I want to be able to step up to 10 gallon batches at some point without having to re-buy anything. I also swapped out the 2-handled capper for a benchtop capper, as I had one of those in my previous life and liked it. Finally, I swapped out the included American Light Ale ingredient kit for something more to my liking. So tomorrow I'll be brewing Jim Baumann's Milk Stout, from their signature series.
One huge difference for me this time around is that I'm married now, and my wife is all gung-ho for it too. She's been my craft beer drinking buddy for 15 years, and she's looking forward to getting in to the hobby as well. I love stouts and porters, and have been recently developing more of a taste for belgians. She's a bit of a hop-head and loves IPA's, double IPA's, rye IPA's, etc.
We live in Southwest Riverside County. There's a growing craft brewery industry here and I see from my online searches there are several homebrew clubs that I may be looking in to. Also looking forward to trading bottles with any other HBT members local to us.
Sorry for the long-winded post!
