Hello another noob here

[sdixon]

Hi all, I'm Stephen.

I've been brewing for about 20 years... Started with extract beer, then extract/grain and some all-grain, but mostly fruit wines (chokecherry, elderbery, blueberry) and mead (and melomel) for last few years. I usually pick all my own berries. I'm looking forward to getting back into all-grain... ASAP :-) Looking for some grain also to brew a small (3 gal) Belgain beer... maybe a Chimay style or basic Amber.

Big fan of many styles of (real) beer. Would like to list my favorite beer, but don't have enough time to list them all. Also enjoy my Single Malt Whiskey.

I plan to be at the next meeting (Saturday at 2:00pm right?)... looking forward to meeting you all. What's the etiquette... do I bring beer to share, for myself, or whatever I want to do. Sadly no homebrew in the cellar right now :-(

[brew]

Hi sdixon - glad you can join us - another single malt fan!  

Generally the idea at the meetings is to give folks a chance to sample other folks brews - If you're dry at the moment that's not a problem, but if you have something you'd like to share, then by all means feel free!

[sdixon]

Sounds good. I actually do have a couple of bottles of Mead I bottled recently. It's not my best, and would love some constructive criticism.

[Richard]

Another mead-maker; excellent

I have some fining at the moment - not gonna get a chance to bottle it this week though due to circumstances out of my control :-/

Would be very interested to try yours for comparison's sake - I used to be able to buy really good stuff in the UK, and I've been chasing that level of quality with home-brew ever since I moved here.

[Kyle]

I too have a Melomel aging at the moment. I'll backsweeten it and then force carbonate it.

As for a Chimay type beer, I attempted a Chimay Red Clone (recipe here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=162) that came out pretty close to the original when trying them side by side. I'd be happy to help you construct a Belgian-style ale, and we do have Abbey yeast slants in our library.

see you at the meeting

[sdixon]

I'm looking forward to feedback from someone who actually knows what mead is, lol... most people I share with, it's their first time... so they politely say, "it's er ah interesting":-)

[Richard]

Yup; pretty much same here. Want to try aging some on oak soon to try and approach the flavour I remember from back in Edinburgh.