Hello from England

Hi all,

New brewer here. Have tried (unsuccessfully) to make a couple of brews from extract kits, but with now success. Last one of those I did was last year. However, decided to get back into it recently, and skipped the extract tins and have gone straight to all grain. Only making small (1 gallon) batches at the moment - for a few reasons:

1) I'd prefer to learn the skills on smaller amounts so any potential waste is kept to a minimum
2) I don't have the equipment to make in large batches
3) I'd rather make several different styles of beer, rather than have 40 pints of the same style

Recently made a BrewDog Punk IPA clone - that's currently in the bottles (bottled 31 March). Did open one after a week (I know, but I was impatient) and it was pretty good. I'd call it a success as I could actually drink it! Second brew on the go is an English ale (Hobgoblin clone). That's currently dry hopping, with the bottling scheduled to happen tomorrow. Made a bit of a mess on that one as evaporation in boil was greater than I wanted, so have less than 1 gallon. Hopefully it'll still taste ok, but lessons learned.

Looking forward to learning from you ladies and gentlemen, and to making some great beers. Would like to have a 'home brewed Christmas' this year. So a few months to practice 

Welcome aboard....all grain is definitely the way to go. Kits can be good too, if you tickle them up with some specialty grains steeped, and extra hop tea.
Anyway, the journey is long, as it never stops. The better you get the more you want to improve. It's the way it goes, fortunately....as I love making and drinking good beer.

Cheers, Kev.