Homebrewing New Year's Resolutions

Start bottling again, I decided to bottle/keg by half and half next year, I think my 5 taps jockey-box makes me waste a lot of beer due poney-kegs disconnections, I must disconnect them because I need to put them in a fridge. My jockey-box has an internal coil cooling system but not an external one. I am the only beer drinker in my home so I can not drain pour 1 or 2 pints of good beer just to get my lines cooled to dispense a cold beer.If I don´t use this jockey-box for a while beer remaining in the lines gets hot and lose its freshness very fast. I think I will need to make a kegerator to solve this problem.

Edit : Going to be in Miami on 05/23/2015 so I would like to buy a beer gun cos I can not get it here in Argentina.

 

1) Transition to all grain. I've got my second 3 gal extract batch dry hopping right now, and along with improving my process, need to join the all grain club.

2) Start attending the DC Homebrewers meetings. The more I can learn, the better.

3) Brew my first sour. This seems to a popular one around here!

 

Investing more time and effort as well as money.

That and doing small batches to increase variety as opposed to volume.

And to perfect a beer below 3% abv.

 

I'd like to start kegging, but probably won't happen. Just keep on brewing, do the best I can with my limited, primitive equipment. I mean I gotta brew, I can't stop just cuz I have a ghetto setup, right?

 

Go cold turkey on my hop buying habit and use what I have in the freezer...

 

My goals for 2015 are to learn more, be more technical and precise in the brewing process and possibly join a local homebrew club. Also, I'd like to branch out from ales, even though I love them and love brewing them :-)

 

1) Build a fermentation chamber
2) Move AG
3) Learn more about yeast and starters
4) Drink more so I can brew more...

 

1. Increase my annual output to 300 gallons
2. Nail in my Lager fermentation in my fermentation chamber
3. Build another Keezer
4. Perfect my tinctures
5. Read Mosher's Mastering Homebrew

 

300 gallons is a ton. Are you doing 10 or 15 gallon batches? I know I don't even have a chance of hitting 60 gallons this year.

 

I brew 10 gallons. Goal this year is to consistently brew twice a month plus two 2.5 gallon mini extract batches a month to test my tinctures.

Brewed a bourbon vanilla porter New Years Day so off to a good start!

 

Since the New Year is upon us, I thought we should revisit this thread and see how everyone did this year when attempting to meet their goals.

Personally, I was only able to make 1 and 3 happen this year. It's been a really busy year both with my wife's vocation, and my kids' growth. Hard to keep up with both of them.

I will probably be ordering at least another keg before the year is out (probably a torpedo keg from morebeer) , as I've decided to secondary a sour in a keg...and I'll need a replacement.

So, how did you all make out?

 

I did okay with 2/3. Strangely enough I didn't accomplish #3 because of 1 & 2.

 

Three for three! In fact, I got so into liquid yeast that I haven't used any dry for months, so I'm going to force myself to go back to US-05 for a batch to see how it performs.

For the coming year, here are a couple of things I should look into:

1. Better oxygenation for my wort
2. Rebrew a beer or two to see if I can improve them
3. Dabble with brett or brett-like yeast

 

0 for 2. And I gained 10 pounds.

 

Don't worry the holidays are right around the corner so there won't be anymore overeating and drinking

 

1. Participated in the Bayou Circuit. I finished in 2nd place for Louisiana Homebrewer of the year. (Much props to the 1st place winner.) *Footnote: 1st place IS a member of a Louisiana Homebrew club (which is all that is required), but doesn't reside in Louisiana (which as long as the HBC criteria is met, is not a factor).....so I like to think I am 1st place native Homebrewer of the year. But still much respect for 1st place. He ran away with the points.

2. I've integrated some changes to Kegging and transferring/bottling that I think satisfy #2.

3. A raspberry jalapeño Baltic Porter (BOS at Lake Charles Winter Beerfest), blonde coffee ale, which was very well received at Bayou Beerfest in Houma, a citrusy pale ale using orange zest and yeast bay funktown yeast, and a rum barrel aged kolsch come to mind. As a matter of fact, I am brewing a foreign export stout that will be dosed with tamarind paste tincture.

4. I've also made some adjustments (no pun intended) to water additions. I've settled on brew cipher calculations and have been checking pH at a couple points during the brew at and have been collecting data to dial in pH as well.

And I could not have done any of it without the information I gained from this forum.

 

In true Curt fashion, it would appear I did not make any resolutions. I also did not break any resolutions (10+ years and counting, +1 for low standards)

 

I give you an A for originality

 

Thanks. It scored a 34, bronze medal, and made it to mini BOS. It was a kolsch that I chilled very cold, popped the cap, dosed it with my proprietary rum/oak tincture, and recapped. It was a way to use some previous competition beer in a contest that wasn't accepting kolsch as a style.