Hi

[vonHolt]

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 :-)

[Eoin]

I'm worried that you know what Miller light tastes like ;-)

Welcome to the club.

[Bubbles]

I'm in the more down to earth software engineering space.

Jesus, another one... 

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

[Eoin]

I'm in the more down to earth software engineering space.

Jesus, another one... 

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.

[johnrm]

I think it's the fact that we're modern day engineers and as such like to make things ourselves.

...aspiring Biological Engineers 

[vonHolt]

Well I'll gladly leave the "IT" at the door.... I'm here for the beer