Many people will recognize my user name from other forums. I have been reading this forum for quite some time; therefore, I figured that it was time to join in on the fun.
I have been brewing since early 1993. I spent a month brewing kits and extract plus specialty grain batches before spending seven months as a 50% extract from grain/50% extract from DME or LME partial-mash brewer. I would have remained a 50/50 partial-mash brewer had I not damaged the top of my stove. The cost to repair my stove was the impetus that I needed to move outside and brew all-grain.
My specialty within the hobby is yeast. I have maintained a yeast bank on solid media (agar slants) since 1993. While maintaining a yeast bank is not as critical today as it was at that point in time, studying and caring for yeast is the part of the hobby that keeps me going. Brewing yeast strains are absolutely fascinating microorganisms. We make wort, but they make beer. My yeast bank today consists primarily of difficult to obtain Saccharomyces genus yeast strains. Most of the strains that I use are not available via the home brew trade.
My gravity-fed brew house is modest by modern standards. It consists of two beverage coolers and a kettle. I continuous sparge. I have been continuous sparging for so long that it is a "no brainer" operation. I recirculate until the runoff runs clear, set the sparge, and walk away. I use the time that the sparge is running to write in my log, measure hops, and perform other housekeeping chores.
Anyway, hopefully, I can add value to the forum. While this forum is not as active as many other forums, the quality of the information is solid, and the tone is always civil.
