An old newbie

[AlesandTales]

Hi fellow brewers,
Returning to the fold after a 7 year break.
I am just becoming familiar with many new methods.
When I hung up the mash paddle pressure fermenting was in its infancy, dry yeast was frowned upon,
see through fermenters were a no-no, oxygen free transfers were for the big breweries and a lot of equipment was still coming from the good ole US of A.
Gladfield grains and some others weren’t known by me at least, and the range of yeasts was very basic if compared to today.
Beersmith was the software to replace the old original Promash. Brewfather wasn’t even conceived back then.
SV brewing was in its infancy. 3V gravity systems were the go, and it was commonly said that you weren’t a real brewer until you got yourself a March Pump.
A bloody lot has happened in a short time, probably for the better.
Anyway, back to brewing.

 

[user 105069]

Hi fellow brewers,
Returning to the fold after a 7 year break.
I am just becoming familiar with many new methods.
When I hung up the mash paddle pressure fermenting was in its infancy, dry yeast was frowned upon,
see through fermenters were a no-no, oxygen free transfers were for the big breweries and a lot of equipment was still coming from the good ole US of A.
Gladfield grains and some others weren’t known by me at least, and the range of yeasts was very basic if compared to today.
Beersmith was the software to replace the old original Promash. Brewfather wasn’t even conceived back then.
SV brewing was in its infancy. 3V gravity systems were the go, and it was commonly said that you weren’t a real brewer until you got yourself a March Pump.
A bloody lot has happened in a short time, probably for the better.
Anyway, back to brewing.

I agree a lot has happened. I was dealing with starter home brew kits 20 yrs ago and had some good brews. Had a break and starting all over again. Sounds like u we’re bigger scale than me but we all luv a brew however.

 

[AlesandTales]

As many of us did, I started with kits and was lucky enough to meet up with a few all grain brewers from SA in the late 90’s
From there on I was hooked. I gave brewing away to travel but ended up settling in NQ and have set up a small shed with mainly new brewing gear.
Bit slow to brew regularly due to some health issues but hoping 2024 is a bit more kind to me.

 

[shmick]

Was sort of in a similar situation but still read up on the odd news now and then.
Definitely lots more cheap equipment than in the past.
Huge increase in dried yeast available. I hardly ever use liquid anymore with all the mucking around with starters and crap.
Still a lot of old (and new) superstitions around that never really caused problems but people go over the top with...

Probably the biggest new fad I missed was the rise in brewing hazy IPA's and XPA's even though I bought a bunch of commercial examples regularly (Biggie Juice, Crankshaft etc). Brew a bunch now though.

Brewed an old school SMASH with Voyager Valoria, Riwaka & US-05 the other day. Damn smooth & refreshing. I remember why they were so popular now.