I know, this is way longer than anybody wants to read, but here's my story:
I started brewing when I was 29, back in 1994. This was about 2 years after
my wife and I got married. Well be celebrating our 25th wedding
anniversary this year, which has been 23 of the best years of my
life!
(and dont tell Kim I said that!)
Back then, my LHBS was Great Fermentations in Indianapolis, located
on 82nd street. I purchased a Complete Homebrew Kit for $39.99, a
Glenbrew 7# Irish Stout kit for $22.49, a copy of Complete Joy Of
Homebrew for $10.00, and a two page printout by GFI titled Basic Brewing
Instructions for the Beginner Using Hop Flavored Malt Extracts. The
receipt is dated one day before my 29th birthday, so it must have been my
birthday present from my wife! So I went home and learned how to brew beer.
In the early 90s, our choices on ingredients and yeasts were not even close
to what we have now. The internet wasnt really available to the public
yet, and I was brewing extract kits only. The recipes I got from GFI were
printed out on dot-matrix printer paper, and yes, I still have every one of
them! Most of them included liquid malt extract and dry yeast, and no
telling how old that can of LME was that came over from England!
Of course back then I was bottling, and I was using bleach and water for all
of my sanitizing because thats what we did. For the first two years I brewed
about every other month. Each time I did, I set back a six pack of brew I
made for safe keeping. Then, I had a big beer party
I had about 4-5 cases
of multiple flavors of six packs and I asked everybody that came to the party
to bring a six pack of beer that they have never tried before. The reason
was, none of my friends drank anything but big beer, so I wanted to expand
everybodys pallets a little bit. That party was a HUGE SUCCESS! I got
rave reviews for my beers, and ended up the next day with a BUNCH of free
beer in my fridge!
Over the next few years I slowed down a little bit, to a couple of batches a year.
Then when we had kids, I went probably another two or three years without
brewing. I know, nobody wants to admit it, but it happens to all of us.
The next few years I got back into it and brewed 2-3 batches a year. Then
I started to get motivated again, and started brewing on a regular basis.
At this point, I was probably 15 years into my brewing career. Keep in
mind, I am still just brewing extract kits after all this time. I was
really into the ease and convenience of kits, and I was brewing some very
good beer. At least thats what my friends told me when they came over to
drink free beer! It wasnt until a couple of years ago that I started
brewing all grain. I know that most people get into all grain much sooner
than that, but people need to know, you can can make some really good beer
brewing extract beers! I happen to know several people who have won awards
brewing extract kits in big competitions.
So, jump back to 2009. My wife and I started really enjoying drinking dry
red wine, as well as beer. I had tried a few peoples homemade wines in the
past, but they all sucked, so I wasnt really that motivated to try making
my own wine. Well, in 2009 we decided to go to Austria to visit distant
cousins that wed never met before. Turns out that we have two cousins that
live in this little village in Austria that have commercial wineries, and we
can even buy their wines here! After finding out that I came from a long
line of winemakers, that motivated me to start making wine. So, I started
researching on the internet. Turned out there was a HUGE amount of
information out there, and there was a bunch of people out there actually
making good wine. Whod a thunk it?
My first wine I made was a honey mead wine. The recipe I used was Joes
Ancient Orange Mead. Its a very simple mead recipe using 3.5 pounds of
honey protein gallon, one orange cut into quarters, one cinnamon stick, one
whole clove, a handful of raisins, and a pinch of nutmeg. Mix it together,
and add Flieschmanns bread yeast, and let it sit for two months without
touching it. At two months it will clear and most of the fruit will drop
out. (I know, you are thinking thats just crazy talk using bread yeast,
but its a tried and true recipe that been made millions of times
successfully).
Even though Ive never entered a single beer into a beer competition, I
decided to enter this mead into the Indy International Wine Competition. I
ended up winning Honey Wine Blend Of The Year 2010! Im sure if the mead
aficionados knew I made a mead with bread yeast theyd verbally crucify me!
The next year, I started buying kit wines from Great Fermentations made by
WineExpert. I started making a bunch of kit wines. I also started entering
my wines in the Indy International. In 2011 I won Indiana Amateur Winemaker
of the year! The next year, I got red wine juice from Easley Winery. I got
some Chambourcin juice that was grown in southern Indiana, fermented it, and
then did a malolactic fermentation on it, entered it, and won Indiana Grown
Wine Of The Year! In a three or four year period I won about 30 medals,
bronze, silver, gold, and even three Double Golds! Now, I usually buy about
30 gallons a year of fresh juice from GFI, ferment it, keg it, and keep it
on tap with nitrogen.
I dont think that the reason I won all these awards were some kind of magic
mojo I have, I honestly believe that it is because I followed the directions
and recipes EXATLY TO THE TEE! I made sure my fermentation temperatures
were just right, my sanitation was perfect, my timing of racking, oak
additions, malolactic Fermentations, etc., followed time tested schedules,
and most of all, I TOOK MY TIME. Its all about consistency. You dont
have to reinvent the wheel, just follow the dang directions!
Fast forward to last year, I decided to up my game! I built a single tier
R.I.M.S. System brew stand. I now have a 15 gallon Spike HLT, a 15 gallon
Spike MLT, and a 20 gallon Blichmann brew kettle. Im now brewing 10-15
gallon batches, twice the amount of beer in the same amount of time! I now
also use BeerSmith software for designing my recipes. It really has helped
me get my recipes figured out, and helped me to brew consistently.
Needless to say, I am now making some pretty darn good beer. Just ask me!
