2018 Brewing Stats

[Beer Baron]

The end of 2018 is upon us and I’m 1 year closer to the grave. 

How many batches did everyone brew and what was your favourite brew??

I brewed 11 times this year which is almost 1 a month. I had a big move earlier in the year so brewing was down a bit. 

My favourite beer by far was my IPA. I really need a cool name for it and I definitely need to brew it next. 

My plans for 2019 are to build a keezer and get a smaller fermentation freezer to save on room in my garage!! 

Happy 2019!!!

[Silmaril]

I started brewing on the 15th September, and am up to Brew 14. All kits, though have experimented with recipes that call for steeping of grains, and hop boils. 

I've run out of 2 of those brews, my Pale Ale and Brigalow ginger beer. I have over done the dark ales, but I hope that pays off in terms of still having some in the cupboard come winter. 

I now have 2 fermenters, an Inkbird, and a brew fridge. 

Once I pay off 'Christmas' I can see a RoboBrew in my future plans.

 

[Wobbly74]

Looking over my records...about 40 cubes worth, plus two tippers (one cube got some mould on it after forgetting to invert it after filling, one was a kettle sour that picked up some unwanted bugs along with the wanted bugs). A few of these have been via double batches and 2 half batches. By my calculations comes to a bit under 900L. From that I have 6 full cubes yet to be fermented. 

[Gus96]

21 single + 1 double batch and hopefully 2 more tomorrow if I don't get interrupted .

All kits & bits, mostly Cooper Kits & recipes. Lagers being my staple with the Oktoberfest & Royal Lager getting a few re-runs.

The Session ale (my version) is becoming a favourite as well.

[MitchBastard]

I’ve only been brewing since September this year (good Ol first Father’s Day present). Since September I’ve managed to put down 6. Brew 7 is planned for this week if I get a minute to me self. 

Only one brew got tipped which was the coopers original lager tin. I could have just drunk it but it was taking up real estate for potentially better batches. 

It might be an early call but my current batch which is carbonating will be my favourite to date. The sample tasted awesome.

2x unhopped Morgan’s pale malt tin

230g crystal malt

500g dextrose

40g cascade & 27g Amarillo @ 60, 15, 0 and dry

us 05 

Bloody bewdyful

 

happy new year peeps

 

[Titan]

I would think about 8 FWK's, 6 partials and 10 AG. My favorite has to be the Baltic Porter which got an 8th place at Vicbrew. Was my first attempt at a baltic and i was blown away by it. 

[Mark D Pirate]

Nearly 1000 litres of AG ( 47 batches) 

8 kits and bits with my apprentices , few partial mashes. 

In all there were a few batches that came out a bit meh,  only one tipped after dozing off mid boil and a few that were very close to tipped but salvaged by blending. 

And no..... I didn't drink it on my own 

[John304]

30 batches, the last 5 being AG, the best for me I think would be motueka APA I’m drinking atm, have a Amarillo in fermenter atm. In last 12months I have gone from no temp. Control, to fermenter fridge and controller and moved to AG, happy Chappy,

cheers for the new year,

john

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

Just under 30 batches for me. I would have done more but was travelling for about 3 months. Best was a belgian dark strong brewed with 1214 chimay yeast. I am doing it again right now with plans to enter it in the state competition this year. Worst batch was a lager i did early in the year. Rushed it into the keg with minimal clean up phase and minimal cold crash. It was drinkable but just tasted all wrong. 

[porschemad911]

15 - 20 approx 11l batches this year. A mix of AG, kit and partial + 1 mead. Very hard to choose a favourite... Maybe the dry hopped Aramis pils. If only my Gambrinus lager yeast hadn't arrived dead it might have been even better. 

Cheers, 

John

[Norris!]

I have brewed 16 batches, full extract, partial mashes, ginger beer fwk, and kits/bits for 2018, all 21 liters generally, with 4 being dumped, wow that is a bad average!

My favorite batches were the Kilowog Krush Ale with citra, nelson sauvin, and galaxy hops and a Stepping to the AM ale with azacca and mosaic hops...a close second was a kits and bits of a cerveza with 1kg of malt extract and citra, galaxy and azacca hops(well it was the only other brew with 5 out of 5).

I have had a few bad batches this year, I had 2 infections in a row, I believe it was from a hop sack that I reused about 10 times...not sure what happened but after nuking everything and ditching the hop sacks no infections...but that could be from being more aware of my sanitation and cleaning. I dumped 1 batch that I didn't like the taste to, too much crystal but I realize now that maybe it wasn't bad just not a flavour or taste I was used to or expecting, I am sure other people might of liked it but if you hate steak a porterhouse will be a huge task to handle.  I dumped my 1st lager that I thought was pretty good....the 1st swigs from the keg were nice, clean and balanced  it then I got a strong sweetness from the rest of the keg. I added a strong bitter hop tea of saaz to try to salvage it, it was ok at that point, funny thing is my wife and her cousin loved it, 1 night they had like 3 or 4 glasses each, but I wanted a stiff bitterness and it wasnt there and everytime I drank it, it tasted like failure so I dumped about 1/3 of a keg for a new brew.

I have thought about going AG, especially when I do a partial mash but I just haven't decided whether to do it or not, it used to be about time, but if I mow and clean while mashing and boiling then it is not such a big deal, I guess I just have to plan better and maybe do it, we will see.

Happy new year and good brewing to each and all.

Norris

[elLachlano]

Revisited brewing on Anzac Day after about 7 years break. Since then I've done 24 batches.

Mostly kits and bits with a few partials along the way.

Favourite Brews:
Caribbean Porter - This was a wildcard porter I did right before the Toasted coconut one. I ended up liking it a whole lot more than I expected.
1st Borough Lager - I ended up doing 4 of these over winter and experimenting with different hops.

No tippers, but there were 2 or so that I struggled through, mostly due to stubbornness:
Canadian IPA - tasted like water - no character at all.
Goodnight America - Am tempted to try this one again as I'm not sure it's tasting the way it was supposed to. My notes are mostly about celery flavours.

My aim for 2019 is to keep trying different styles.
This year was finding my feet with Pales, IPAs, Ambers, Lagers, Pilsners, Porters and only recently Belgiums.
Next on the list are a White IPA, some Hefeweizens, that Pavlova PA, Raspberry Blonde and some Saisons.

[The Captain!!]

Couldn’t be certain but I think around 25 batches. All all grain Biab. 

Much of this year was devoted to trying out hops and finding out what they do. 

My favourite beer couldn’t be just one, the stout that one over my wife has to be up there, my latest Saison was quite delicious and the version of the Punk IPA confirmed to me my process and recipe formulation is well.... good. 

[Spudley]

Since beginning my brewing journey in May this year have done 11 brews all 20 to 23 ltrs. Still finding my feet so to speak and now experimenting with steeping grains and boiling hops . In the fermenter atm is Caronna clone called Speedy Gonzales Lager second time brewing this because the first was the best brew to date.

Good brewing to all for 2019

Cheers  

[joolbag]

17 for me in 2018. All AG. Counting back I am surprised it is that many. Only possible because I work part-time so can brew on Fridays when I am home with the kids.

 

1 of those was brewed, fermented and gifted to a mate.  He came with a keg and took it away. Another I gave about half a batch away to a porter lover and he also got half of my smoked porter batch .

 

Best beer? Probably the one that scored the highest in a couple of competitions I entered. It was a Simcarillo Wheat Ale, modelled on a recipe from James Morton's book, "Brew". Nice and hoppy, and that was no chill cubing too. The hops seemed on perfect harmony with each other and the malt base has enough to carry it through.

 

Happy 2018 guys and good brewing for 2019

[Shamus O'Sean]

12 full size batches

19 half size batches, mostly craft kits and some split full sized batches to see what is the difference to basic kit recipe with hops and grains.

Approx 460L total.

Favourite Zesty Blonde

[Smashed Crabs]

Done a lot of experimenting and development of my methods this year been brewing a bit of everything. 

Mead

Sarasparilla

Ciders

25+ Kits n Bits 

7 AG BIAB

Now moving from the stove top to a all in one vessel.  Favorite beer so far would deffinatly of been my Maxi BIAB with Ella and Galaxy dry hop.  Drank a Capital Brewing  Rock Hopper side by side and preferred mine.

[#granted+brew]

Happy New Year everyone!

I started my homebrew journey in late March '18 and managed to brew 19 batches, all 21-25 litre.

All kits and bits, my favourite two would have to be the 'session hop slam ipa'  which was just a Thomas coopers brew A ipa tin, 1.5kg LDM and a boil and dry hop of cascade, galaxy and mosaic and CCA yeast.

My other favourite is the toucan stout with the reactivated CCA yeast. Toasted in the New Year with one at 92days in the bottle. Very nice... only have one longneck left of it now. But have another 23litres in my F.V to be bottled soon 

Best wishes to all for the new year and happy brewing.

Cheers, Lee

 

[YeastyBoy]

Got back into brewing in August 2018.

15 full brews (20 to 23litres) by the end of the 2018 year. Brew cupboard is looking chockers.

Loving my Extra Stouts & Oz pale ales.

2019 resolution is to get into AG brews.

Cheers All

[PaulW31]

Like Yeastyboy, I've returned to brewing late in the year. 8 brews since October 30 (my brew fridge holds 2 FV's) including two started in the last few days.

[PaulW31]

2 hours ago, #granted+brew said:

My other favourite is the toucan stout with the reactivated CCA yeast. Toasted in the New Year with one at 92days in the bottle. Very nice... only have one longneck left of it now. But have another 23litres in my F.V to be bottled soon 

 

May I recommend to you the 3-can Russian Imperial Stout recipe on the Coopers site. I've still got a few bottles left of my first batch of this, brewed in November 2013, and heaps left from the September 2016 batch. This really does change for the better with age. The 2013 batch is one smooth drop these days. Planning to go again this year.

[Gus96]

I snuck another 2 brews in New Years eve, a Session ale with Nottingham yeast and a Helga's Kolsh.

the session ale kicked off after 5 hrs but the Kolsh with us05 took 24 hrs and is going slowly .

Both are @18 degrees in the freezer.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I still have to move my desktop computer to the new house, which has all the records on it. But from memory something around 18-20 batches in 2018, which is probably around the 400 litre mark. 

The pilsners are always a favourite but I really enjoyed the Vic Secret pale ale I made a few months ago.

[Ocean's of Ale-]

Season greetings brew brothers and sisters,

On 12/30/2018 at 7:46 PM, Beer Baron said:

 

My favourite beer by far was my IPA. I really need a cool name for it and I definitely need to brew it next. 

 

How about the beer baron 's "mutiny Indian pale ale" ?

As for how many brew batches ive done this year? 

Well l lost count at 12 batches. At the star of the year (2018) il was trying loads of different  recipes, Caribbean Siesta, Cascarrillo  (which l loved), green neck lager ( which is nice if you wait and wait...and wait for it to age, which then becomes brilliant! ) ive also done  another Black mountain's porter.

The back half of the year ive doing more of my own porters brown and ambers using extract and grain. 

Also ive being brewing apple cider...also ginger beer...

....f#$k !! I think this may qualify me as an alcoholic! 

 

 

[Hairy]

Not a big one for me this year, only about 7-8 AG batches (23 litres), one 10 litre kit beer and a 23 litre EB kit beer I brewed with my brother in law.

My favourite would be a tie between a Centennial & Brooklyn Pale Ale and an ESB with Wyeast 1469.

Hopefully I get a lot more brew days in this year. First one is scheduled for Sunday.