National Homebrew Club Ireland

General Discussions => Introductions => Topic started by: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 12:54:29 PM

Title: Hi
Post by: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 12:54:29 PM
Just quick hello to everyone, I've a couple of small all grain brews (1US Gal/4.5 Lts) under my belt, and I've paid up for membership today.

I'm looking forward to attending some of the meet-ups & possibly maybe even entering a competition one day.

Cheers.


Title: Re: Hi
Post by: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 01:19:07 PM
Hi,

It's a bit complicated...France mainly, but I visit Dublin regularly. I'm Irish, moved here ~10 years ago. I'm in Blacrock (near the Dark Horse) quite a lot (at least once a month).

Title: Re: Hi
Post by: Bubbles on July 02, 2013, 03:42:20 PM
Welcome to the site, and we'll see you at the next meet in the Dark Horse!
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: Will_D on July 02, 2013, 08:50:12 PM
Welcome to the site!

Any where near Normandy as I would love to taste some of there naturally fermeted sweet ciders!

[Its a cider maker thing]
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 09:23:02 PM
Hi,

Nope, I'm right down south, between the Black Mountains and the Pyrenees. Nearest "big" city is Toulouse (about an hours drive away).

Cheers.
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: johnrm on July 02, 2013, 09:52:44 PM
Welcome vonHolt.
Cool avatar.
Artist?
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 10:21:26 PM
Hi johnrm,

Thanks, however I'm definitely NOT an artist  :D
I'm in the more down to earth software engineering space.
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: johnrm on July 02, 2013, 10:27:59 PM
Excellent, bu you'd best elaborate as we need IT input now and then here.
He hee!
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 11:07:05 PM
20+ years - Worked as technical analyst to principal consultant from everywhere from Microsoft, Oracle, All the "Big 5", and clients in Banking, Telecomms, Semicondector & Manufacturing.  Experience is across the board,  time in Development, QA, systems troubleshooting / performance & scalability, Project management, Team Lead - basically the entire spectrum of large scale systems development & deployment.

Brewing is my yoga...

Title: Re: Hi
Post by: johnrm on July 02, 2013, 11:34:22 PM
You've certainly blown me out of the water!
Any coding in php in there?
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 11:37:59 PM
Yep, "internal" tools only though - your bog standard CRUD apps on a LAMP stack, but nothing to a level where I'd consider it professional enough to be at a comercial level of quality or security.
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: johnrm on July 02, 2013, 11:44:13 PM
I read that as 'Expert'!
Well throw to the lions one of the days, next time we need a bit of site integration.  ;)
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 11:47:28 PM
By all means give me a shout, I'd be happy to help wherever I can - But can't guarantee anything  :)
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: DEMPSEY on July 02, 2013, 11:49:58 PM
Quote from: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 11:47:28 PM
By all means give me a shout, I'd be happy to help wherever I can - But can't guarantee anything  :)
And you thought you were here for the beer :P.Welcome by the way
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: johnrm on July 02, 2013, 11:53:57 PM
...and some interesting looking brews in your Sig too.
Chocolate maple Porter, Jalapeno Saison? Very interesting, do tell...
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: vonHolt on July 03, 2013, 12:22:18 AM
It all started with a 20LT syrup/extract kit I got for Christmas - It was the first home brew in nearly 30 years. I went online and checked out various forums and online manuals etc. etc. etc. Had all the equipment set-up and sanitized and so on. Well, long story short my IPA turned out to be more of a Miller Lite, with none of the Miller flavor, aka dirty fizzy water.

So, very disappointed in my initial results, I decided if I was going to make a decent beer I might as well learn how to do it from first principles. So I began looking at all grain brewing online.

The Chocolate Maple porter was one of the first (I got the recipe from the 'Brooklyn BrewShops' Beer Making Book) and its a decent porter. I've made some errors with it, it's over carbonated for starters, but if I leave it in the fridge for a few days it does not explode when I open the bottle :-) 

Overall I'm very happy with the result (I'm a Guinness drinker when I'm back in Dublin).

The Jalapeno Saison & Grapefruit Summer Ale recipes also come from this book. I've the ingredients for a total of 7 brews lined up and the capacity to do 2 small brews (1 US Gallon each) and 1 20LT brew.

What I do is work the recipe at the small scale to see what the results are like and if it's nice I then brew the 20 LT batch.

Since I'm into the experimentation I figured doing the smaller sized batches meant I did not end up with another 20 LT of brown Miller Lite :-)

Title: Re: Hi
Post by: Eoin on July 03, 2013, 08:33:24 AM
I'm worried that you know what Miller light tastes like ;-)

Welcome to the club.
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: Bubbles on July 03, 2013, 09:48:25 AM
Quote from: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 10:21:26 PM
I'm in the more down to earth software engineering space.

Jesus, another one...  ;D

The South Dublin meets are getting a bit IT top-heavy..  :)
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: Eoin on July 03, 2013, 10:14:01 AM
Quote from: Bubbles on July 03, 2013, 09:48:25 AM
Quote from: vonHolt on July 02, 2013, 10:21:26 PM
I'm in the more down to earth software engineering space.

Jesus, another one...  ;D

The South Dublin meets are getting a bit IT top-heavy..  :)

I think it's the fact that we're modern day engineers and as such like to make things ourselves.
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: johnrm on July 03, 2013, 10:18:37 AM
Quote from: Eoin on July 03, 2013, 10:14:01 AM
I think it's the fact that we're modern day engineers and as such like to make things ourselves.
...aspiring Biological Engineers  :)
Title: Re: Hi
Post by: vonHolt on July 03, 2013, 10:44:03 AM
Well I'll gladly leave the "IT" at the door.... I'm here for the beer  ;D