2014: What will you accomplish this year?

Buying a house this year. Can't wait to start looking with the plans of a well laid out homebrewery in mind.

 

As always improve my brewing technique. I'm going to work on my lagers this year so that's an area of process improvement that will get a lot more attention this year.

Start my second lambic project (hopefully this weekend).

Brew more beer this year so I can share more.

Get more involved with the local club.

Convince my hop plants to produce cones.

 

This will be a year of big change. A new house means I could have to reconsider just about everything in the brewing operation, from location of brewing operations (Kitchen, back deck, garage/driveway), layout of cellar beer cave (shelving, pegboard, counter space, utility sink, keezer), and water chemistry (I'll be on well water instead of Lake Superior water). I may small batch it for a while on the kitchen stove (Extract? Brew in A Bag?) while I figure out details for larger operations. Of course, I have to buy a stove. And a kitchen! (The house deal isn't final, but I'll need to get some appliances). Relocating to an even more remote part of the state (!!!) means I'll need to become even less reliant on my local homebrew shop and more careful about planning on-line purchases and maintaining inventory. Perhaps the time will be right for me to purchasing bulk grains and hops.

Of course, all this beer dreaming has to be balanced by the demands of the new job. And there is probably more to homeownership than figuring out brewhouse operations....

 

Yep, like when you overnight mash for 10 gallons of split boil American Pilsner and wake up in the morning 4 weeks into the new home and your water heater is spewing boiling water all over your garage and needs to be replaced that day... and your diverter in the shower won't work so there is no pressure in the shower. A friend from church was gracious enough to go with me to buy the new WH and install it for me while I brewed, and my wife put in the late hops on batch 2 and killed the heat for me while I was at the store, again, trying to buy my 3rd set of repair parts that day for the shower. Chilled when I got back and tried to fix the shower during that time. Put the beers away in the ferm fridge, went back to the store again and bought a new bath faucet with shower head attachment and bypassed the broken diverter. I was one stressed, tired, and angry guy by days end, and a beer before bed never tasted so good... and being able to say I fixed my own home issues with help from friends and no professionals paid was awesome. Welcome to the joys of home ownership.

 

The first goal i am going to complete, which will probably be next weekend after all family has gone back home and the holidays are finally over, will be to brew my first all grain batch. I finally got a cooler system, and I can't wait to use it! Since this will be my first AG, I decided to do what I did when I started extract, and start with a kit, which should be on my doorstep at home as we speak!

Other goals for 2014:
Better fermentation temp control
Start learning more in depth about water chemistry
Brew a sour or two
Enter a beer in a competition
Do a few more big beers, would like to try a DIPA, rebrew the Imperial Stout I brewed as an extract batch, and maybe a barleywine
Look into a kegging setup


I'm sure I will come up with a few others, but those are the ones that come to mind right now

 

You can do small BIAB all grain batches on a stovetop while you accommodate your brewing practices to the water supply. If you normally brew all grain you want to figure out how the water needs to be adjusted not only for flavor but also for conversion. You won't be able to examine the latter using extract.

 

1. Use up all the hops in the freezer so that I will actually HAVE to order more hops this fall.
1a .Brew hoppy beers more often.
1b. Nail a base grainbill for IPAs (pretty close).

2. Brew/split off some 1gal experimental batches here and there.
2a. Dip my toe into using brett/bugs.

3. Figure out a way to use up the pound of peat-smoked malt I bought.

4. Brew more cider.

5. Drink more/different commercial beers, i.e. order something different than IPA when I'm out.

 

Mini Mash, runoff some the wort, make dog biscuits with grains, feed to dogs on April fools day and lock that friend we all have that needs his comeuppins in a room with dogs as they fart. Dispose of wort in airtight sealed container immediately.

 

More regular brewing. New brews (obviously) as well as revisiting some previous successes and tweaking. I'd really like more experience managing yeast, beyond creating a starter.

Have a more stable system. This was my first year brewing so my knowledge and capabilities changed every single brew as I learned more (thanks) and purchased more equipment. I've gone from doing an extract, top off with 2 gallons of water batch in a 5 gallon pot to full fledged all grain, full boil, temp controlled, yeast starter batches. Needless to say there were some huge steps in between and it will be nice to have some familiarity with my system after some repetition

And.... Get into either the UC Davis or OSU food science and technology grad program (applications in, should hear this month)

 

Yea UC Davis!

 

Get licensed and legal so I can start my own brewery. Sink or Swim

 

I'm going to finish the projects I had planned to finish in 2013.

Might add a RIMs build to the project list for 2014, with a goal of completing that in 2015.

 

2014 is going to be a big year homebrewing wise, 3 major things:

1. Significant Upgrade to my brew stand
2. Brew my first sour
3. Start a well planned Barrel Project with 4 buddies.

 

I just started homebrewing in late 2013, so my plans are simpler than others for 2014.

1) Obviously want to brew more this year than I did in 2013.
2) Continuing learning more and get to a point where I feel comfortable and confident enough to start experimenting.
3) Make some equipment upgrades so I can produce a better final product and more of it. My one gallon small batch setup worked for a while but I've quickly outgrown it.
4) Move into all grain brewing.
5) Get involved with the local club.

 

Birdfeed?

Why would you have to dispose of the wort? Also, I don't think that friend we all have that needs his comeuppins has posted in ages.

My goal for 2014: probably just to brew more for myself than for competitions, both schedule-wise and stylistically.

 

Brew more, better and...learn,learn,learn,learn.

 

I plan to make beer, cider, and mead.

Got a 5 gallon system together, so smaller experimental batches.

 

Who wants to drink a band-aid?

There are a few of those we don't see much anymore...

 

Here are my goals for 2014 related to Brewing:

1. Build a brew stand w/pumps. - I'm tired of lifting heavy pots of hot water to transfer liquids. It's getting to the point where it's unsafe.

2. Brew More styles - Last year I did some wheats, pale ales, IPA's and Blondes. I'll brew again to the seasons as I have a lot of get togethers over the course of the year, But I want to try other styles and branch out a bit.

3. Upgrade some equipment - With all the time and effort being put into it, I would like to make brew day a bit more consistent.

4. Brew More - I think I accomplished 5 brews this past year, I want to up that to 10-12 batches and I would like to go to 10 gallon batches.