Not long ago I decided to move away from carboys and age my sour and brett beers in pin lock kegs. I’ll go more in depth on the reasons behind that in a future post, but the biggest hurdle to overcome with this move was to allow for adequate pressure relief during secondary fermentation. Buying … [Read more…]
I built my first keezer in 2010. At the time I was living with my wife in a one bedroom apartment. I don’t remember how I spun it, but I managed to convince her a 4-tap keezer would save space. It was built with an 8.8 cu ft black freezer and some oak 1×12 to … [Read more…]
This year I decided to run for the American Homebrewers Association Governing Committee. I’ve been a home brewer for just shy of a decade. It’s been such an important part of my life for so long that I want to contribute back in a big way. I can’t think of a better way to get … [Read more…]
Maybe I’m late to the party with this, but it only recently occurred to me. You can easily vacuum seal hops and maintain the benefits of the mylar bag at home! How, you ask? Cut an extra long vacuum bag, drop your mylar bag full of hops in it, and vacuum seal that! If you … [Read more…]
I was recently given an old five gallon barrel that had sat empty for about 5 years. Increasing my barrel collection by 50% seemed prudent, even if had to work for it. The process took me longer than I intended, but mostly because life got in the way, if you’re on top of things this … [Read more…]
For a while now my dad has told that after he retires he would like to try brewing beer again. His retirement is finally upon him, so I figured a good way – a very me way – to welcome him into his post-work life would be a new brewing system. The requirements I laid … [Read more…]
At the 2017 HomeBrew Con in Minneapolis, I was wandering the exhibition hall on the last day with a few friends and one of the Briess representatives looked at my badge and saw I was part of the AABG. Every year Briess brings some grain to give away, and presumably they brought more than they … [Read more…]
This review is not funded in any way by the makers of the Pro Brewers Siphon. I spent my own money for this product and have not been asked to review it or offered anything in exchange for my review. My Pro Brewers Siphon finally arrived 485 days after I made my Kickstarter pledge! It … [Read more…]
I’m ready to fill my barrel for the first time but need a place to put it when it’s full, which means I need a barrel stand. I want to maintain some mobility in case I need to scoot it out of the way to access other things in my basement. I have some Harbor … [Read more…]
This year was my fourth time attending HomeBrew Con, and third year straight starting with San Diego 2015. This is a long read and I tried to break it up into sections that talk about specific things, so if you’re interested in hearing about only specific parts of the weekend you can skip around. I’ve … [Read more…]