Member Bios - tell us about yourself

[Kit_B]

Welcome to the fun, Matt!!
And, thanks for approaching this with an open mind & a great attitude!
We're glad to have you here.

[zwiller]

Add me to the LODO wave… I am Sam from Sandusky, Ohio. I have been homebrewing since the late 90’s. I have always been a fan of DIY type things and I think this was an evolution of that. I am of German decent and never have made it to the homeland but it is on the list. That said, I have had numerous excellent fresh beers from Germany via family and friends. I like all sorts of beers, except those dessert ideas gone wild but my favorite beer is german pils. I also really like hefe but would say my taps ideally would be 50% german with IPA and Belgian in rotation as well. I am BJCP certified slowly working toward a National ranking. Although I think most of my beers would do well competitively, it’s not something that has ever interested me. Rather, I utilize my credentials as BJCP so that I can help others with some form of validation. I am very open minded and although very technical (pH fanatic), equally artisanal. In the end, I care less about how I get there if I achieve the desired result. In the spirit of LODO, I have been always disappointed with the bastardation of German beers made by craft brewers and have long recognized there is something essentially different or off from true german beers. If I can learn to make my beers more authentic at home, I would be estatic. I really hope there are few guys like me here that prefer pils over helles or at least equally

[Brandon]

Welcome Sam! You sound like you're a German beer fan as are we.

[misterbeer1328]

Hello,

My name is Nick. I live in northern California. How have I never seen this website / forum? It is a little slice of paradise. Chris Graham with Morebeer sent me the article on Low Oxygen brewing and I subsequently discovered your forum. I am 36 years old. I had my first authentic Munich Helles and Dunkle in 2002 at the hofbrauhaus in Munich. I also drank a lot Augustiner (my favorite helles and maibock) that trip. It was a life changing experience. My wife got extremely ill ( and still is) with Lyume disease. I had to find a new hobby that kept me close to home, so I started brewing in 2006. My first beer was a pale ale because that's what the kit came with. My second beer was a helles. I jumped into brewing and never looked back. I soon found that even the most award winning homebreweres in the world were doing an average job at best of reproducing the authentic flavor and aroma found in Bavarian Lagers. It became my ambition to "perfect" german lagers. So far, by the standards of Augustiner edelstoff and festbier, I have failed. However, I am committed to learn. I have the eventual goal of starting a brewery that delivers truly authentic German Lagers among traditional American Craft offerings.

I took many friends to Germany to experience the culture and beer. One of my buddies got so hooked that he started up a beer tour business in Bavaria called the Thirsty Historian....its fantastic by the way. Im not here to promote that or anything else...i just find it pretty compelling that a delectable liquid has the power to change careers and lives....pretty cool.

I currently brew on an older Morebeer 1550 system. I ferment in temp controlled conical and or carboys. I now know I need to start fermenting in Cornys where I can use a spundering valve. I am eager to learn and perfect the craft. Thanks for making this site!

[Brandon]

Welcome Nick! Wow, you sound like one of us. Let us know what we can do to help your brewing pursuits. And invite your tour business buddy to join as well. We are also friends with Ron Smith who does beer tours to Germany and Belgium (http://www.beermba.com/beer-vacations.php
) and are always looking for folks to share German brewing, food and culture discussion with.

And don't forget our Facebook page, too, which is more like the real-time Stammtisch culture version of here. http://www.facebook.com/groups/germanbrewing

[caedus]

Whereabouts in Norcal are you? I am in Sacramento and its a struggle to find fresh bottles of Imports. Total Wine has been pretty good, even then the bottles are a bit old.

[mpietropaoli]

Been posting for awhile so I probably should post an intro!

My name is Mike and I'm from Rochester, NY.

My beer journey started somewhat traditionally, but it has truly come full circle.

I'm not big on new years resolutions, but at New Years 2010 I said I was going to brew beer that year. Most people I knew that were brewers said it was actually pretty 'easy'. At the time, I was more into cocktails, and typically drank mass market American lager if I wanted beer (though I wouldn't turn my nose up at craft/micros or certainly good imports/Continental lagers). I had always been into cooking and at the time, cocktail mixology.

My first kit was an "Imperial Blonde Ale", which turned out great (or at least waaaaaay better than I thought)! Then began the obsession. My progression went from 'not-hoppy' to 'really hoppy' to 'belgian' to ' brew every style as true to form as possible' to 'wild ales' and has now come full circle, where the majority of what I want is a well-made crisp and subtle-but-characterful-and-complex German lager. IMO, it is the Burgundy of beer. Everything subtle, but designed and executed to perfection from raw ingredients to the glass.

This latest 'beer epiphany' came after Bryan invited me to this forum, which I asked for as I was really intrigued by the "IT" that many talked about (and that the LI said they had cracked the code on!). Once I started paying attention, I had a relatively fresh draft Hofbrau helles at a German restaurant, and there it was. Right in front of me all along. So now I'm chasing it. And hopefully hot on its tail thanks to everyone here.

For the last 3 years, I have brewed on a 5G BIAB system at my house, but one of my best friends from high school went full boar, and upon starting homebrewing, bought a 1/2 bbl system with a 14G conical fermenter. So we will typically split ingredient and variable cost and brew on that, because even with quaffable lagers, it is way too much beer for one guy. Also, we can really dial in mash/step temps and its generally a more dialed-in system than a BIAB. However, I am really interested in trying to make great beer on my smaller BIAB system, partially because it is much more time efficient, and I can do it at my house after my daughter has gone to bed!

Glad to be here, and thanks to the admins for all they do!

[Brandon]

Awesome Mike! It's fun to hear how folks catch on to the flavor. Bryan is a fantastic guide to get you up and going. Thanks for joining the chase.

[Das alte]

Began brewing beer with my Grandfather in the mid 60s. I really didn't do much, just watched him. I was his go-pher. He used PBR bakers malt, but hops and yeast were from a local brewery. When home brewing became legal, syrup can labels had printed on them "For Baking and Brewing." PBR was standard syrup sold in a brew shop. Bermaline was the other syrup available. Later came Munton's syrup, John Bull and a few others. When I started grain brewing, the HBS carried only two row pale and six row. Yeast was Edme Lager and Ale. The owner of the HBS led me to believe that two row made Ale and six row made Lager. The owner was our brew guru. Little did I know how clueless he was. I used six row for a couple of years, then switched to two row. In 1986, I had enough of single infusion brewing, I was altogether finished with brewing beer. No matter how hard I tried, there was no way that I was able to come close to producing in flavor or quality any of the styles of beer which we used back then as a sounding board. Then, I was taught the tri-decoction method in 1987. I was revived. My mentor passed on to me hand written journals about producing beer. In the pages are written the true art and science of brewing, far from what is in text books written today, where the focus is placed on producing beer quickly, with high profit margin. Since 1987, I have used tri-decoction, except for experimenting with single and double decoction, once or twice. Cut out a chunk of Mother Nature and the final product will have a chunk missing.

[wobdee]

Welcome guys. Is that you Vlad?