Old dog - New tricks!

[MartinOC]

Gentlemen & ladies, I bid you greetings!

I guess I'd better introduce myself before things get out of hand. Bear with me, it gets better:

I've been brewing since the mid-late 70's, I forget exactly when (I started early on the alcoholic spiral....), but I grew-up in a small agricultural town in Norfolk (UK) called Aylsham. Yes! "ALE"sham - mentioned in the Doomsday book. My grandmother lived right next to the town's maltings. The local area was flat as a tack & predominantly planted with Maris Otter.

Having been presented with my first, revellatory pint of hand-pulled Adnams at the age of 14 (consuming VAST amounts of real ale thereafter!), I was determined to produce better than the shit I encountered on moving to Aus. in '83 - Virtual-Beer (VB).

I was on a mission! Beer is in my blood!!

I decided to go AG right from the start & my first was a 50/50 wheat beer & I completely fucked it-up. I learned. I'm still learning...

I became a judge & through a LOT of reading/tasting/ trial & error (read: continual ****-ups!), I started to make good beer & began to win prizes in competitions at State, National & International levels (just the one International).Then I stopped brewing about 10 years ago (too much to go into here).

Right now, I'm Chief Steward for ViCBREW (& the AABC, when it's in Victoria) for over 10 years. Anyone who's been down these parts would know me as the loud-mouthed, demagogue, control-freak that changes T-shirts every 20 minutes (why should you judge-bastards have all the fun whilst I HAVE to stay sober for a whole weekend surrounded by great beer?!)

Lately, I've been trawling-through some of the threads here & it's inspired me to learn more & get back into making & appreciating good beer & better ways of doing it.

I may, occasionally, ask of you some apparently stupid questions, but I'm determined to never stop learning.

It makes better beer!

Please feel free to berate me for an overly-long intoduction post & I'll probably tell you to get fucked, but such is life!

 

[wbosher]

Welcome mate. Doesn't sound to me like you'll have too many problems.

 

[bum]

I became a judge

Welcome aboard, m'lud.

So many swears. Disgraceful!

 

[MartinOC]

Femtoseconds of training....

 

[Toper]

Welcome to the abode Martin.I expect your first new brew to be a Parabola clone ? And then start on some 'sours',you'll get to like the taste eventually.

 

[QldKev]

Wolf wolf, get fucked, Welcome aboard.

When you say judge, did you mean like judge judy or a beer judge?

Being a beer judge you *may* have good taste buds, so progressing the brewing should be all good from here. :beerbang:

 

[MartinOC]

Welcome to the abode Martin.I expect your first new brew to be a Parabola clone ? And then start on some 'sours',you'll get to like the taste eventually.

Funny you should mention that....I've got two bottles of Parabola sitting in a wardrobe not two paces from where I'm sitting right now :chug: & I'm wondering who to share them with...... 'Not a real fan of the sour stuff (I think I got traumatised by a Rodenbach Grand Cru somewhere in my past & never got over it).

Wolf wolf, get fucked, Welcome aboard.

When you say judge, did you mean like judge judy or a beer judge?

Being a beer judge you *may* have good taste buds, so progressing the brewing should be all good from here. :beerbang:

Beer judge mate ('though I've been known to hand-down some pretty severe sentences on my score-sheets B) ). I'm a firm believer that being a good judge makes you a better brewer.

There's been so much change since I last brewed seriously & I'm reading & absorbing as much as I can before I go nuts, laying out wads of cash on a new rig. In the meatime, I'm just using buckets & a few bits that I pulled out of storage - still making good beer, 'though (the fundamentals don't change & it doesn't have to be complicated).

Slainte!

 

[matti]

The swedish chef here and welcome to the breed of mad brewer and wanna bee and every thing else under the sun.
I started on a forum called Grumpy's and evolved to AHB but wow I say this place have changed since last time I was here.
Cannot find my last entry as I dont even knoe how to navigate the site. That come to another point I have almost forgotten How much fun it is to brew your own. I have been in Hiatus for avery long time and I cannot wait 'til the next time I found time to take out the old recipe and brew another Hobgoblin or American Pale Ale. The trouble is I have three growing boys and working Like a dog to keep up with every thing that's going on at work.

Any way, Welcome to the forum and there is a lot to learn. MHB is one you can trust and Ross, if he still going, has plenty of Knowhow and can sell you anyting that will help you with brewing. For the love of beer I am signing out and going to have some rest before another Massive day at at the best Lubricant Company In the World. Valvoline you know what I mean.

 

[MartinOC]

Just as a quickie, I want to say a heart-felt "Thank-you" to all of the members & contributors to this forum.

The information that you provide, innovations, links, suggestions, tips/tricks, questions/answers etc., ALL of it freely-exchanged, is a stellar move in the right direction for the hobby & anyone who comes here looking to make great beer. I never had that resource available to me when I started-out.

A lot has changed since I was last brewing in earnest (some 10 years ago) & you've forged SO far ahead of where I left-off, I now feel like a novice!

I'm REALLY enjoying the steepened learning-curve.

Keep it up!

Slainte!

Martin

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

@MartinOC - generally most threads (especially 'introduce yourselves' threads) tend to descend into chaos, off topic and bizarre ramblings.

I'll spare you this time until you're used to our shennanigans.

 

[bum]

I don't believe you've been following his posts, LRGI.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

On topic - there's been a massive amount of innovation, and demystifying some of the aspects of AG (no the science, just the jargon).

To the point where 2 big w pots, a couple of 20L pails and an esky forms the majority of my brewing equipment, which in total is still less than about $60.

I'm with you - 15 years ago, when I bought my first can of goop, this didn't exist and for the life of me, I wish it did.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I don't believe you've been following his posts, LRGI.

Something that matti said, I took it a certain direction. Must have been too random, even for AHB.

Hence the reason I posted back on topic.

 

[MartinOC]

I thought I was doing the right thing, buy promoting a use of the forum as a source of information. Was I wrong?? I can always delete this post...?

 

[bum]

I'd like it but I'd hate to see it misinterpreted as a vote for "delete".

 

[manticle]

I thought I was doing the right thing, buy promoting a use of the forum as a source of information. Was I wrong?? I can always delete this post...?

I don't think that was what was meant. Don't worry about it.

You steward other comps beside Vicbrew and Nats?

 

[MartinOC]

STOP! FINISH!

Go somewhere else for a debate.

It stops HERE!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I thought I was doing the right thing, buy promoting a use of the forum as a source of information. Was I wrong?? I can always delete this post...?

Absolutely a forum as a source of information. But it also tends to be a forum of fun and silliness. Your clip of Monty Python's flying circus seemed to indicate that you understood that. Not relevant, a bit of fun.

Think of it like the subtitles on Monty Python's Holy Grail "also, also wik..........a moose once bit my sister".

My apologies for clouding the issue too quickly. I did answer something sensible later.

 

[MartinOC]

OK. I tried, but let's leave it here before the information/interaction message gets lost to those who need inspiration in STARTING to brew?

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

This is where I'm currently at (when I get around to brewing this weekend again). I'll be (hopefully) posting a youtube video or two at the end of the topic.

Man I'd love some bling, but having a house full of females is expensive. And this makes some damn good beer...

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/60922-2-pot-stovetop-ag-with-lauter/