Homebrewing New Year's Resolutions

Brew more variety. I love stouts and IPA's so those seem to dominate my brewing. I like other styles so I want to give more styles a try.

 

- Brew 5 new styles
- Use 5 new hops
- Enter 5 competitions
- Use 5 new yeast strains

 

I will check it out. I don't want to go too far, but I would like to push it further than I have gone so far.

 

1. Keep recipes simple, concentrate on yeast selection, conditions, and health.
2. Explore BIAB brewing, especially for simple beers.
3. Get a pump.
4. Get two more kegs.
5. Be thankful for every beer I brew.

 

From time to time, I think I should switch from my cooler mash tun to BIAB. I love the idea of paring down equipment. Do you really view moving to a mash tun as graduating? Was there something unsatisfying about your BIAB experience?

 

With the exception of one partial mash BIAB I did years ago, I don't have any direct BIAB experience, so take this with a grain of salt. But it seems to me that the standard BIAB process lacks the ability to maintain the steadiest possible temps throughout the mash volume and over the course of the mash, as compared with RIMS/HERMS or a well insulated cooler.

Also, with BIAB you can't vorlauf. Opinions vary about whether or not that's important. My own opinion is the less husky particles in the wort, the better. I don't know of any rationale for wanting husk particles.

 

brewed 3 biab batches. the no sparge option is a turn off for me. Mash tuns give more flexability and better efficiency in my experiance.

 

Brewed a total of 3 times in 2015, so no goals met. Just hoping to brew enough in 2016 to keep yeast slurry in the pipeline.

edit: I might brew on Sunday, so 3-4 times... less pathetic but not measurably so.

 

I normally only get about 62 percent efficiency from it. I like brewing bigger beers so it is a pain doing BIAB with 16 lbs of grain. I brewed with a buddies 10 gallon cooler tun last week and I loved it. It was so much easier and not as messy. Yeah, I had to hose the tun out but I didnt have to mop up wort from the kitchen

 

1. start kegging
2. brew some lagers
3. build a stir plate to use for starters