Hey folks, I'm new to this forum, but not to brewing. Started with a homebrewing kit in 1995, and over 10 years worked up to a 3-tier all-grain setup with a Gott cooler/Phil's Phalse Bottom mash tun. Stopped brewing in 2006 due to life, but picked it up again on 2011, having to essentially start over because I had to sell off most of my equipment. Kinda nice, in a way, because as I got back up to speed, I found that so much had changed in homebrewing. I've been gradually been able to put a new system back together, and did it in a way I'm feeling pretty satisfied with, needing only a few more tweaks.
Some of the best changes I've seen:
Better info on the net - used to be just Homebrew Digest and rec.craft.brewing, now my faves include here, HBT, & BeerSmith forum
Better books - Charlie P, Randy M and Ray D have been joined by John P and Jamil Z. Still waiting to buy the Yeast/Hops/Water series
Better software - BeerSmith much better than ProMash
Better techniques - I love having a whirlpool port on my boil kettle, I love having a Chugger pump for mash recirc and whirlpooling, I love having great yeast starters, I love fermentation temperature control, among other things. I'm just now trying yeast slanting for the first time.
I thought I'd like to be part of this forum as well as the others, because I have gained so much in just two years from the greater homebrewing community. I'm still not through all of the archives, and I'm trying to stay up on current shows while catching up on past ones. I have to say, with my first AG batch in 7 years hit all of the numbers EXACTLY of the first try, after making some good measurements on my equipment and getting the Equipment Profile dialed in on BeerSmith, and making some educated guesses on conversion and efficiency. And the knowledge I've gained across the whole of the brewing community really impacted the ease of that brewday! If Justin would just listen to the archives maybe he could do the same.
Looking forward to being here!
Life is Good!
David
