Member Bios - tell us about yourself

[Brandon]

Please tell us a little about yourself, and you can learn about the members here.

Your background, brewing interests, level of experience, stories of trips to Germany, etc...

[Brandon]

My name is Brandon and I have been brewing since around 2009, nearly all German brewing since around 2012 (with the occasional APA or Porter thrown in for variety and friends). My wife is German, so we get to visit Germany every few years...some of the time gets to be spent touring breweries, hop fields, maltsters, etc. I love German light lagers including Helles and Pilsners, though don't turn down a good Dunkel, Schwarzbier or Rauchbier (among others). My goal is to brew true German tasting beers, and if I can nail something like a good East German (Thuringen/Sachsen) or Czech Pilsner, I'll be ecstatic. Thanks for joining us! I love bringing people together to discuss German beer and culture. Join our Facebook group, too, for more discussion about German beer and culture. But try to keep the technical discussion here so we can keep an archive and easier searching. Prost!

[Bryan R]

Well, where to start! I started this obsession in 2000 when a mr.beer was gifted to my father. He wanted nothing to do with it and being in college at the time I of course said why not. It only took one time and I was hooked the process was so intriguing. Being in school for engineering it was like a matchmade in heaven. After I got out of school, I built my first system. It was an electric 2 keggle, 1 cooler herms controlled by love controllers ( think ranco controller), circa 2004. My systems have had many iterations since then, but my crowing achievement was the 2 vessel automated system I built in about 09. That landed me in the NY times, and in AHA. I have about 800 batches under my belt, have tried pretty damn much everything, but still learn something new everyday. I am extremely motivated, driven and passionate about making the best beer humanly possible with my ultimate goal winning a triple blind test against Ayinger.

I have never had(yet) the luxury of making the trip to the promised land, but my grandmother was born and raised in Salzburg Austria. My grandfather was second generation German as well. I was bred with my attitude, I can't even help it

My emphasis is obviously German lagers, but I still make and appreciate every style, well except anything sour, y'all can have those.

Prost!

[Brody]

Just googled that NY Times article, that's awesome.

[Brandon]

[Beersk]

My name is Jesse and I've been brewing since 2008. A roommate brewed a beer back in 2005 and I thought it was cool. I helped him bottle and we drank it some weeks later. I don't know why it took 3 years for me to get into it myself, guess I was wanting to find something new to get into and brewing seemed like an awesome thing to do.
I started out brewing IPA, stouts, porters and the like. I brew mostly German lagers nowadays, with varying styles mixed in. Most of my ale styles are brewed with lager yeasts, like my IPA, black IPA, and oatmeal stout. I just like what the yeast does for those beers.
My goal in brewing is to brew the best beer possible while being simple yet authentic. Admittedly, I'm not as into the deep science part as some of you guys are, but, like playing an instrument, there's ALWAYS room for improvement. We'll never perfect this craft, only get better all the time.
I still have yet to make it to Germany. I intend to one day as I am mostly German and Czech in heritage.

[wobdee]

My name is Todd,
Born and raised in Wisconsin and reside there now. Spent 20 years in USCG, kind a retired now but helping out with two young grandkids is keeping me busy. Got turned onto homebrewing back in 1989 and did extract kits for a few years before getting into all grain. Use to brew a lot of Scottish ales, Sweet Stouts, Pale Ales at first. Took a few stabs at lagers here and there but didnt really know what i was doing. Also burned my palate out on IPAs for a short time but as I found more and better info on Lagers I was drawn in a couple years ago and I'm totaly hooked. Looking forward to learning more and contributing where I can.

[MaineBrewer]

Hello Everyone!
My name is Rob.
I started brewing in October '08. It was a Mr Beer kit birthday gift. I remember reading the directions about 5 times before doing my first batch. Not wanting to mess it up. It pretty much describes how I approach new things (measure 5-7 times, cut once). A couple years of extract later, I finally switched to all grain. I lived in Georgia and due to the relatively short lager weather, I finally made my first lager a few years ago. I loved it and was hooked.
I moved to Maine just this last August and am definitely loving the cold weather brewing compared to the south. I'm a couple brews in and getting use to the changes (weather, living space, starting water profile, etc). I have decided to focus my attention on the German method of brewing (doing mostly American/English previously). I look forward to receiving as much help as is given.

Never been to Germany. I've had some authentic German beer at an Oktoberfest in NYC. A German brewery had specifically brewed a batch of Festbier for this German restaurant and I was totally surprised at how much better it was than anything else I had tried. It was a couple years ago and I still remember the "goodness in the glass".

[Kit_B]

Hi, folks...I'm Kit.
I've been brewing for roughly 20 years.
I live in Minnesota, where brewing outside can be either sweltering hot, or bitterly cold.
So, I built a simple electric brewery & moved everything into my basement.
I brew mostly German-style beers at this point, but every once in a while I throw something American into the mix.
I've never been to Germany, but I'm really hoping to convince my wife of a trip, in the next couple years.
Unfortunately, having young children & a very limited amount of vacation time at work make this idea harder than it should be.
I look forward to learning more about German brewing & sharing experiences, here.

Prost!

[Brandon]

Kit:

"Unfortunately, having young children & a very limited amount of vacation time at work make this idea harder than it should be."

Having grandparents on the receiving end (Germany) really helps with this. I probably wouldn't be into brewing German beers or get to travel to Germany as much (if at all) without a German wife.