G'day. Thought i'd introduce myself. I'm a thirty year kit and kilo man who's just last month started an all grain adventure and suddenly have the clouds part and the revelation of what beer is suppossed to taste like.
I've never smelt hops before
I'm excited and all in.
I found the forum here after doing a search this morning. I've been a member of a much bigger aussie brewing forum for the month i've been brewing and just don't feel comfortable there. Managment there seems to foster or allow a really negative attitude, and while i've never been harshly treated, i've read enough there to know it's not my type of place. Final straw was a retailer getting completely trashed by people who had no intention of using their services. I notice the same ad here with not one negative response
Guess there's a lot of knowledgeable folk round and i recognize some names, so hopefully from what i've seen this is a more helpfull, interactive and less arrogant spot. looks good so far, aside from all the locked threads which is a bit of a worry?
Anyway, i'm using a 100l esky with a braid bottom (will make a copper manifold as soon as i get round to it) a 50l keg on a burner for a hlt and a 160l stainless pot over a 4 ring burner for a boil pot.
Currently experimenting with 44l batches as they fit nicely in 2 kegs.
I'm getting a nice little collection of kilo bags of hops together and have been a bit slower with malts. I'm using pilsener malt as a base atm as i'm getting it for free, but have bought a bag of wheat malt and one of caramalt.
i have a couple of bags of ale malt coming.
Hope to be able to learn a lot and with any luck i'll be able to give some back to the community in my little areas of interest. (mostly distilling)