How Long Have You Been Brewing? And How Many Have Your Done?

[SJW]

As I have been away for a few years and not familiar with all the new folk I was just wondering who has done what and how many they have done?
There are a lot of new faces now and some sound like they have been brewing for many many years with a wealth of knowledge, but life has taught me that true wisdom come from keeping silent sometimes.
I will always be learning and practicing brewing the perfect beer till the day I die.

Steve

 

[DJR]

Still doing much the same here nowadays Steve

I have been going at the rate of about a batch every 4-8 weeks, just put down another APA today and nowadays i tend to do 50% APAs and the other 50% rotating shifts of other stuff (last one a hoppy belgian 1060OG with 3787, Amarillo and dry hopped with D-Saaz)... keeps me and people that come over happy as the APAs are consistent and lets me play around with other styles

Equipment wise I am still using a Handy pail mashtun with stainless braid and the 40L Al kettle i bought 5 years ago... old habits die hard But I have an electric 2200w HLT now, a few bits of stainless bling, silicone hoses, pump

Probably not as full on as I used to be about learning but I still experiment and tweak

 

[pokolbinguy]

Not long enough, and not enough.

 

[Fish13]

Been brewing solid for 8 months. Doing alot better then my first stint back in 2005. I do about 2 brew's a month now. Still trying to make a beer i want to have a good session on as i brew something once then change it.

 

[ekul]

Been homebrewing since i've been about 14 or 15, so 12 years on and off, but the first ten i made stuff that was at best sometimes 'ok' after the commercial stuff ran out, didn't realise that you could actually make great beer at home until joining here and tasting other memebers brews.

Couldn't say how many brews i've done. Haven't been brewing as much lately because i've slowed down on the drinking. When i first joined here i was smashing out a brew every weekend.

 

[alfadog]

I have been brewing now for two years, due to the guys at my LHBS i quickly advanced to all grain using a 2V system. Have had the BM now for about a year and put down a brew every fortnight.

 

[cam89brewer]

I have only been brewing for about 2 years but have always been a craft beer enthusiast. I just keep getting more and more obsessed now I am onto AG brewing and am already onto my 14th batch this year!!! and I have actually ran out of beer at the moment...
It seems like every one else drinks more of it than I do.

 

[cam89brewer]

It is always a compliment that people appreciate the beer I make though.

 

[chrisherberte]

12 years K&K (on and off), 1 year on AG/BIAB. Just brewed BIAB batch #44 and #45 yesterday.

 

[humulus]

Been back into brewing seriously for about 4 years now been ag brewing for 2.5 years and had my 20l braumeister for 18mths.
Try knock a brew out every 2weeks to keep friend neighbours, and me happy h34r: also like to have a few cubes on standby!!! great hobby!

 

[Steve@PMF82]

I will always be learning and practicing brewing the perfect beer till the day I die.

Steve

I agree with this and it relates to most things in life, there is no plateau. We are like dogs chasing our tail

I brew once or twice a fortnight - generally only 12 - 15L, there is always something going in the fermenter and waiting in my single no chill jerry.
Have been brewing since whenever it says i joined this joint, i brewed one kit under instructions from kit and LHBS, was very disappointed then turned to the Internet for my answers, found this place and it accelerated my journey immensely.

 

[QldKev]

Do you guys make beer? How do you do that? :huh:



More seriously I've done (at a guess)
1,000,000,000 kits over 20 years
150 to 200 BIAB cubes
21 3V cubes (my latest system)

Learning heaps as I go

QldKev

 

[manticle]

Did a few kit brews around 2007/2008 (maybe even 2006) from memory. Stopped for a bit, then started again, started adding **** in to make them better then started reading more and making extracts, steeping spec grains, then making partials.

Somewhere around mid 2009, I made my first AG in an esky (still use that esky) with two small pots on a woodfired weber.

Eventually modified a keggle and got myself a burner. On average I probably brewed once a fortnight while I was studying (which I finished last year), now it's more like once a week.

Brewing is a lot like cooking - you can always make simple errors, no matter how much you've done it, and you can always learn and try something new.

There's no such thing as a perfect beer.

 

[A3k]

hey,
i started kits when i was young in 1997, but didn't really experiment much other than using different kits, so never really learnt much.
in 2006 when i started working, i met some people that were more into brewing. i did two partials, noticed the improvement, then started AG the next brew.
been brewing ever since.
i started making much bigger batches, but I think it's been detramental, as i'm less inclined to experiment.
i'm just starting to reduce the size of the batches now.
probalby brew every 4-8 weeks.

 

[Yob]

Will be 3 years Brewing in October, first 2 years Kits n Bits / Partials and have recently moved to 3V then 4V Herms (Still quite ghetto though).. approx. 6 months of AG Brewing.

With a forgiving (or at least understanding) SWMBO I was brewing once a week, then 3 out of every 4 weeks and now Im scaling back to maybe once every 2 weeks or 1 a month if I start punching out doubles.. Its been a hard slog building up stocks so that they can get a decent age to them but now Im here Im finding lots of free time. Much to the good womans delight

Running 2 STC1000 controlled fermenting fridges with a dedicated fridge for CC and Storage (Freezer for hops) and usually have a minimum of 3 cubes in line to be fermented.

Still learning loads and I dont think I'll ever stop, there is always something to understand better.

Yob

 

[punkin]

I'm one of the ones with **** all knowledge.

I brewed K&K for nearly thirty years 2 a fortnight. 1 years experience x 30, not 30 years experience.

Been brewing allgrain for almost exactly twelve months and will never go back. Wish i'd found it thirty years ago.

 

[cam89brewer]

I'm one of the ones with **** all knowledge.

I brewed K&K for nearly thirty years 2 a fortnight. 1 years experience x 30, not 30 years experience.

Been brewing allgrain for almost exactly twelve months and will never go back. Wish i'd found it thirty years ago.

30 years ago you couldn't just jump on the net and make an order from G&G and get it the next day though. It is a lot more convenient these days.

 

[Nick JD]

Made my first K&K with a bunch of mates in 1988. Things have got better since then.

 

[proudscum]

Started in 1994 and did around 200 Kits and bits(remember at one point 1000 long necks under the house)between 1994-1996.
Four fermenters on the go at all times the joy of being a government artist.1996 till now full mash on 6 different set ups with an average of 10 to 12 mashes a year so maybe another 160 brews with all bar a couple that have been well drinkable.
Am now into my 2nd week of being a professional brewer(well in training really)and i can see my practices changing and hopefully good beer going to great beer as i learn more and read brewing txt more seriously.

Cheers SCum

 

[bullsneck]

Where you brewing Scum?

 

[proudscum]

Southern Bay Brew Company in Geelong with Hendo.

 

[altstart]

Brewed Kits since 1983 Good ol Champs I wonder if anyone remembers Champs. Went to a brewday with Ross (Craftbrewer) at his place in 2006. Came home tipped all my beer down the drive. Wife came home that night and said it stinks of beer outside I replied that I had tipped all my beer away she asked "are you giving up drinking". I replied that I was planning on thinking of brewing in a different way and went straight into A/G.
Cheers Altstart

 

[beerbog]

Been back into it about 5 years, after a break from washing bottles and doing K & K. Went straight into wort packs and kegs, for a couple of years, then bit the bullet and went AG - BIAB. I try to have 2 - 3 cubes full at any one time so I probably knock one out about every 2 - 3 weeks. :beerbang:

 

[Fat Bastard]

Did some kits and partials back in the mid 90's and lost interest and gave away my gear. Did one kits & bits brew in August last year and then my first BIAB AG on October 2nd. Done 20 since then, which works out to 2.5 brews a month. Currently have 85 bottles on the shelves and 3 fermenters on the go now.

When you consider 20 20 litre brews works out to 506 bottles, I should have a lot more on the shelf than 85! The 2 hardest parts of homebrewing is drinking nothing but Coopers longnecks for 6 months to get the bottles and then learning to leave them alone for a couple of months before drinking!

 

[loikar]

Been brewing for about 4 hours
Have done about 5 Pints.

 

[bignath]

Started brewing in 2003, so getting close to a decade.

Like most, probably, i started with kits, and did this for a while, thinking i was making **** hot beer, and if you take those two words literally (****, and hot) then i was definitely doing that. Fermenting coopers kits way too warm, but making beer that i could drink by adding some "packs" from the local HBS that had better sugars, hops and a better yeast.

Wanted something better.

Got into all grain maybe 3-4 years ago due to this forum and some other sources and haven't looked back.

Beer i'm making now is well received by the mates, but more importantly me. I'm making consistent better beer than you can get at most pubs and it's costing me **** all, and giving my 35yo brain something to think about.

Always learning, still doing dumb things everyonce in a while that i learn from and looking forward to constantly evolving my knowledge and skill set.

Got into all grain with a 2V, then because i wanted to brew double batches, expanded to a 3V (keg HLT and gas fired boiler, Esky mash tun) but recently experimenting with a recirculating single vessel electric BIAB rig.

Latest thing i'm doing is trying to develop yeast reculturing/propogation techniques. Finished my stir plate yesterday and currently got a sixer worth of CPA yeast spinning away.

Cheers,
Nath

 

[Tony]

Good to see you back around these parts Steve

I started in 2003 i think...... i started cause a carton of tooheys new went to $20

I did about 4 kits and wasn't impressed with the results so went chasing ways to make it better.

I tried the ESB "paint tin" kits and they were better cause they had little green floaties in them.

started doing partials and hopping beers myself..... a lot of trial and error brewing because as others have said...... there wasnt the wealth of knowledge on the net back then. After about a dozen brews i went full AG and the rest is history.

cheers

Edit: just to add..... i still use the esky i knocked up with some copper tube, SS mesh and cable ties for my first batch. It still has the original cable ties holding the cover over the pickup and has never failed me.

 

[churchy]

Strated out with K@K about 10years ago and finaly got the urge to get into AG about two and a half years ago now.Up to my 43rd AG and still going strong.Hope I don't die of liver cancer though

 

[Screwtop]

Seems to be a fav topic of Steve's :lol:

Previous

Me well here: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=321232

Screwy

 

[mje1980]

Been brewing since around 01? kegged after 6 months. Started playing with extras but wasn't til Big Brew Day 04 where i saw AG and went "aha! that's not too hard haha!". Im still a KISS brewer equipment wise, but lately have been playing with step mashing. Im constantly learning about brewing. I do around 20-30 batches a year.