Returning to home brew after 20 years or so

[Bilambil Bill]

Hello. I home brewed on and off for about 20 years until I ran out of spare time about 20 years ago. Mainly extract with partial grain additives. I retired a couple of years ago and have recently decided to fully embrace my hop-head. Looking at getting a 35l Brewzilla and doing all-grain brews. At this stage, I would like to do some west coast USA pale ales and some kolsch to start with. Looking forward to drilling the knowledge base here and hopefully contributing back as I learn.

 

[bradmcm]

Welcome back to the hobby. You will find a lot of things have changed. Ignore all the new gadgetry, half the posts on here are about gizmos failing. Just get your basic set-up again and brew.

 

[Narapoia]

Welcome! I can't speak to exactly what it was like 20 years ago but from everything I have read it has changed a great deal. I love AG brewing but it could be worth trying a few partial grain extracts with the modern ingredients and yeasts and seeing how you like it. I did a few of them before going AG (BIAB) and it was some very nice beer. That said - they were not quite as good as the AG so if that is something you want to pursue then definitely steam ahead.

I haven't used any of the all in one systems like the Brewzilla but it's probably worth reading up on the reviews etc, They seem like a great idea and I've certainly spent more pulling together my kit than one of the entry level systems would cost.

 

[Bilambil Bill]

Thanks guys. I definitely want to pursue AG. I have done partial grain before and it was good but I have more time now and want to get right into it. BIAB looks like a good system. I will post more specific questions in the All Grain forum. Cheers.

 

[Christy]

Bill certainly get into BIAB, a lot of fun working out the recipe and the brewing schedule. I've done it and liked it but it was a lot of work too. I'm pressure fermenting at the moment, using Morgan's kits I can make a 2.9% abv beer fully carbonated in 10 days. I use a spunding valve and ferment in the Brewing Cupboard (my wife thinks it's still part of the laundry).