I’ve been a home brewer for a few years now. I brew many different styles of beer and if there is a style I haven’t tried to brew yet, I will try someday. I like big beer, hoppy beer, sour beer, wheat beer. I like IPAs, Belgians Blondes, English Bitters. I haven’t found a beer style yet that I don’t like or wouldn’t try to make.
My brew setup is fairly basic: a picnic cooler for a mash tun and a turkey fryer for a brew pot and burner. It’s cheap, but works really well. I usually get about 65% efficiency from my system. For fermentation, I have a temperature controlled chamber—a converted bar fridge that has been extended and has a temperature controller I assembled from parts off the internet. I use the chamber for lagers year round or ales when the ambient temperature is too warm to ferment in the summer months. I also have a homemade magnetic stir plate for yeast propagation.
I typically ferment in glass carboys and keg the finished product. I do bottle some batches and I have a Blichmann Beergun that works amazing. I have always been a primary and secondary fermenter type brewer, but I have recently taken advice from Jamil Zainasheff and have been using a single-stage fermentation (typically 2-3 weeks in primary then to the keg, though that can vary depending on whats being brewed).
Here you will find my brewing adventures and recipes. These are my own experiences with my system. I hope that you find this useful, maybe find some guidance or inspiration for your own brewing.
Happy brewing!
– Matt
