Bob
Well-Known Member
Hello, brewers and brewsters and other beer-lovin' folks, from the beautiful Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania!
My name is Bob, and I am a terminal brewing addict.
I've brewed at home, I've brewed in micros, I've brewed in pubs. For the last two or three years, I haven't brewed at all. Now I've renewed my love for it. Let me tell you how.
A month ago, my wife and I were just out driving around, hoping to find some fall foliage to "ooh" and "aah" at. Since there was nothing of the kind around here, we drove into Northeast PA, up into the Poconos, where some of the leaves were just starting to change.
Along the side of the road, I saw a largeish sign advertising a farm stand a couple hundred feet away, where apple cider could be had. A hankering for some fresh-press cider overcame me, so we stopped, went inside, and went to the cooler.
The label did it. Honest, officer, it was the cider label. For it said, "No preservatives, fresh-pressed, no sulfites." I was going to buy a half-gallon to drink on the way home.
But when I saw that "No sulfites", I got five gallons.
Next day, I was rummaging through boxes - we'd moved since I last brewed - looking for fermenters. :cross: Found a couple of carboys, but no buckets - what the hell happened to the five or six buckets I used to have? - and of course I had no yeast, so off to Keystone Homebrew we went.
Joy. Wonderfulness. A whole store full of stuff to make booze! A new bucket, lid, airlock, carboy brush, plastic paddle, Wyeast smackpack of London Ale, and package of cleaning chemical, and off home.
Three pounds of Demerara sugar dissolved into a bit of warm cider, fresh-press cider into the clean, sanitized bucket, sugar in the "must", refractometer says 1.055. Yeast goes in.
Next day, that yummy yeasty smell pervades the kitchen. That smell, combined with the activity of assembling the stuff, has reset the hook.
Between then and now, I've actually made some beer. A simple real ale, I'm calling it Bob's Ordnry (if you say it with a West Country accent, it makes more sense), and it's been satisfying as hell.
Then, a coupla days ago, I found this place. Here's to hoping we have lots of good chats!
My name is Bob, and I am a terminal brewing addict.
I've brewed at home, I've brewed in micros, I've brewed in pubs. For the last two or three years, I haven't brewed at all. Now I've renewed my love for it. Let me tell you how.
A month ago, my wife and I were just out driving around, hoping to find some fall foliage to "ooh" and "aah" at. Since there was nothing of the kind around here, we drove into Northeast PA, up into the Poconos, where some of the leaves were just starting to change.
Along the side of the road, I saw a largeish sign advertising a farm stand a couple hundred feet away, where apple cider could be had. A hankering for some fresh-press cider overcame me, so we stopped, went inside, and went to the cooler.
The label did it. Honest, officer, it was the cider label. For it said, "No preservatives, fresh-pressed, no sulfites." I was going to buy a half-gallon to drink on the way home.
But when I saw that "No sulfites", I got five gallons.
Next day, I was rummaging through boxes - we'd moved since I last brewed - looking for fermenters. :cross: Found a couple of carboys, but no buckets - what the hell happened to the five or six buckets I used to have? - and of course I had no yeast, so off to Keystone Homebrew we went.
Joy. Wonderfulness. A whole store full of stuff to make booze! A new bucket, lid, airlock, carboy brush, plastic paddle, Wyeast smackpack of London Ale, and package of cleaning chemical, and off home.
Three pounds of Demerara sugar dissolved into a bit of warm cider, fresh-press cider into the clean, sanitized bucket, sugar in the "must", refractometer says 1.055. Yeast goes in.
Next day, that yummy yeasty smell pervades the kitchen. That smell, combined with the activity of assembling the stuff, has reset the hook.
Between then and now, I've actually made some beer. A simple real ale, I'm calling it Bob's Ordnry (if you say it with a West Country accent, it makes more sense), and it's been satisfying as hell.
Then, a coupla days ago, I found this place. Here's to hoping we have lots of good chats!
