Hi there,

This is a big 'hello' from sunny Belfast. I first got into beer brewing back in March, believing that the imminent arrival of our first child would spell the end of my socializing, so I decided that beer brewing would be a rewarding way to spend all the extra time I'd have at home during the weekends (as if getting to grips with rearing a baby daughter wouldn't!). My work takes me over to New Hampshire periodically, and I’m a sucker for the Sam Adams Boston Lager, so I thought a clone of that would be a nice handy starting point (oh the naivety!).

Started my first batch on 17th March (those of you who know the significance of that date in Ireland will appreciate the irony; I'm stuck at home making beer while the rest of the country is out drinking unsafe amounts of the stuff!)

Anyway, I bravely dived into the world of all-grain brewing, after a shopping mix-up at the local (the only one in Belfast, to be precise) brew (and health food) shop. I was meant to start with extract brewing but ended up coming home with a large bag of crushed malt so thought 'what the hell, how hard can it be?' I bought no equipment whatsoever, thinking that I could use my old wine making kit (a load of 1 gallon demijohns, airlocks and syphoning kit) to brew small batches, and if I liked it enough I'd invest in proper 5 gallon equipment. Well, 8 months and 14 batches of varying size, taste and success later I'm still using the demijohns. I did a few 5 gallon batches along the way, but this was taking typically 6-7 hours on a Saturday or Sunday so I've scaled down to brewing 2-gallon batches on a weeknight until Santa comes with my proper gear (my wife is in no doubts as to what Daddy wants for Christmas).

I found the Brew UK site whilst Googling for online suppliers who would ship to Northern Ireland without asking for the deeds to my house as a down payment towards the shipping of a 25Kg bag of Maris Otter. My local brew shop was pretty small scale and not exactly specialist (like I say, it's mostly a health food shop), but I do thank them for aiding in my humble beginnings. I've ordered from Brew UK twice now and will continue to use them, as I've been very impressed with their range and the service. I think this forum is a damn fine idea too.

My brews have comprised ales and lager-like brews, mostly using Northern Brewer and East Kent Goldings hops. My last 2 brews were recipes from this site for the Amarillo IPA and the summer ale. Still aging them so haven’t had a taste yet, but they’re both looking good. My next batch is going to be an Xmas ale, so any ideas are welcomed. After that I’m going to try my most ambitious project yet – a Guinness clone (a moment’s reverential silence for Arthur’s lovely black soup). I normally primary ferment in the glass demijohns for 2 weeks and then age in 2L PET bottles. 2 weeks in the house to get the yeast working on the sugar, and then out to the garage for conditioning. That’s been working pretty well for me, but I might invest in a barrel at some stage. Like most of you guys on this forum, I find bottling to be far and away the most tedious aspect of brewing.

Hobbies? Nothing as scary or interesting as the rafting, knife throwing or chainsaw juggling that most of you fellows get up to. I play football twice a week (I find it more rewarding than watching my beloved Liverpool these days) and I love cycling and mountain biking. Like I said at the top, my absolute favourite pastime has been severely restricted since our daughter was born. I am into music to the point of being annoying, but my tastes are a constant object of ridicule amongst my friends and family. If they don’t have a German sounding name or growl badly-translated lyrics, I’m not interested, it would seem. High points have been meeting Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM fame, Michael Gira (Angels of Light / Swans) and of course dear old Dave Gedge of the Wedding Present. Best concert by a mile was Ministry in Glasgow in 2003. 2 weeks later my arms were still back and blue and I had lost the use of my neck for a few days. It seems that head banging and mid 30’s are not great bedfellows.

Anyway, so as not to clog up any more of the hard drive space at Brew UK with this ‘quick hello’ I’ll sign off for now, but be prepared for a LOT of ill-conceived questions in the future. Look forward to chatting with you!

Cheers!

Barry