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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> General Forum --> Chitchat --> Hello from Queens

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gruuk
Queens, NY
36 Posts


Hi there!

I've only joined in July, but have been reading this site for a couple of years - I think the first page I read was the grain database, which thankfully displays DP values - which was very helpful in improving some of my recipes (and explained why my German Vienna was unable to convert the ton of rice I used in my sad, sad Zima clone attempt).

I won't surprise anyone by saying I joined when I learned of the BrewUnited Challenge on the homebrewing subreddit, the rules of which I found too hard to resist - so I entered 3 beers. I have no illusions that they'll score well, I just wanted to see if I could brew three completely different beers using essentially the same ingredients and without many of the standard ingredients for the style. It was fun as it forced me to do things very differently - for example, I never thought my skills gained while home roasting coffee would be of use for brewing!

Other stuff: I've been home brewing "for real" for about two and a half years; I did brew a couple of extract batches with a roommate way back in 2000, but we didn't know all that much (the first two batches were pretty good, the third convinced me to stop - it was terrible) so I don't really consider it. While I did help my dad homebrew wine from the mid-80s to late 90s, it was more his hobby than mine and my help was minimal; enough to learn a few things, but not enough to "count". Still, today I'm kind of envious of his dozen of fermentation buckets and equal number of carboys. My own gear is fairly limited as I live in an apartment: this led me to choose to make small bathes only, no bigger than 2.5 gallons, the majority being under 2. Small batches also mean I'm polygamous, being married to my spouse and my refractometer (which she gave me as a birthday gift) - when you brew a 1 gallon or so batch, that hydrometer sample looks HUGE, so samples measure in a couple of ml are wonderful.

Looking forward to start doing more than lurking in this forum!





Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Welcome, glad to have you!  Good luck in the BU Challenge, and hope to see you around on a regular basis.



Posted 34 days ago.

chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


Welcome! Which beers did you enter?




Posted 34 days ago.

gruuk
Queens, NY
36 Posts


Thanks! My entries are American Amber Ale, ESB and Brown Porter. The latter was the most fun because I had an excuse to try new-to-me techniques (roasting pilsner, extra-long boil for Maillard reactions).

What did you enter?




Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by gruuk

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