Happy new year, citizens. My last beer of 2013 and my first beer of 2014 were both homebrews. Standard gravity, mishmashed ingredients and of no particular style, brewed just for the sake and love of brewing. I have a German Pils conditioning in a keg and the grist for a Czech dark lager measured out and waiting for the hopper.
I did OK with my resolutions – how about you? What was your last/first beer of the years? When’s your first brew sesh?
the beer engine 
Last and First beer of the years were Devils Backbone 8 point IPA. Not sure about when the first brew session will be, next week I am building my EBIAB system so I will need to do some testing before I actually brew.
My last was a honig dunkelweizen and my first will be a dry-ish oatmeal-ish stout split and soured.
Last beer of the year was Bayerns Doppelbock, first beer was Laughing Dogs Sneaky Pete, both very fine beers in their own style.
This weekend I’m gonna brew 8.5 gallons of saison, 5.5 with belle saison, and the rest with some spontaneous fermented cider yeast
Last drink was a Nelson sauvin English pale ale. first one is a whiskey oak aged robust porter. Both were brewed for a screening of the hobbit for jrr Tolkien’s bday in a few days!
However. First brew day was going to be today, :that IPA I asked about with the galaxy… however once I turned on my controller, my relay for one of my elements blew across the room and got some awesome blue smoke… so I need to redo that before anything happens…. rule of thumb, do not rewire part of your electric brewery after a few glasses of wine 🙂 but at least it has gfci so that was able to trip before anything else did!
Splosions! Good luck rebuilding, enjoy that Tolkien film.
First brew of 2013 was a clone of Ranger IPA (my old house IPA). My last brew of 2013 was the fourth iteration of my own recipe for Obamacare IPA (my new house IPA). It was a good year. Happy New Year!
Last beer of 2013 was a home brewed Citra APA (if I’m remembering correctly), and the first one this year was a NEBCO Sea Hag.
I am pretty happy with my results in 2013, as for 2014 I’ve decided on two goals. The first is to brew the BJCP styleguide, not the whole thing, but start knocking some off the list. I think this will help me focus on the end result and give me a solid foundation for future experimentation. Dawson, do you have any thoughts on this? Are there merits to brewing several or all of the sub-categories? Any tips to stay focused?
The second goal is to stay in the game as much as possible, With my second little one due next month, there will surely be less time to brew. Making time for the fun stuff = sanity.
Sanity is good. I had a couple years where I tried to brew through a chunk of the style guidelines, but BJCP marathon or no, brewing schedules are usually at the mercy of family obligations and other non-negotiable stuff. I think there’s certainly merit to trying out different techniques and experimenting within different parameters and traditions, but there’s probably also diminishing returns in making sure you tick off, say, both Vienna and Oktoberfest, or both 60/- and 70/- Scottish ale. Keep it fun, congrats on the new arrival, and good luck!
Last beer of 2013: Faust Export
First beer of 2014: either champagne or vodka (bad idea)
I’ll be trying my hand at one of these new things folks are calling session pale ales this weekend. Keep the cool posts coming in 2014!
I made bookend Marzens in 2013 but I did 9 other brews of various styles in between. I have been consistently late for seasonal beers being ready to drink in time for each holiday. This year I’m trying something different. I have put together a project plan with all my brews by style planned in advance. This means I won’t miss having a nice dry stout ready for St. Patrick’s Day a beautiful Czech Pilsner ready for Memorial Day, a nice Oktoberfest ready at the end of September, and a luxurious Imperial Porter ready for Christmas in 2014.
My last and first beers were both homebrews. 2013 ended with a chocolate milk stout, and 2014 began with a California Common.
First brew session will be tomorrow. Staring off the year with a stout.
Last beer, Belgian Holiday Ale (Jolly Sinterclaus) First, S05 fermented version of the Belgian Holiday Ale with a little Spruce extract. 10 gal batch split for different yeat pitches. (S05 version makes some wicked Christmas tree burps!!)
My resolutions were lacking a little bit of “commitment” last year. Hopefully I will do better with this year. I polished off 2013 with a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout and ushered in 365 days of 2014 with a RICO (Russian Imperial Chocolate Oatmeal) Stout of the homebrew variety. Two months of basement remodeling work has kept me from brewing anything over the last 2 months but I plan on changing that within the first or second week of January with a new IPA.
I hope to see many posts from you, Jake, and Chip this year and want to thank you for all your past work. You guys are the reason why I started homebrewing and continue to be an inspiration.
Cheers, Bill!
Last beer: snuck in a Helles ferment before the basement got too cold (I’m looking at you Canadian air masses).
First beer: moving upstairs with a Belgian single. You should have seen it, MD, I have a flask of 3787 swirling away next to my kid’s Legos. Science.
Science! I like both Legos and starters in flasks.
A Lambic and another Lambic to top the 2 year old Lambic I have sitting for a gueze
2013 was finished off with a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. To kick of 365 days of 2014, I decided to have a homebrew RICO (Russian Imperial Chocolate Oatmeal) Stout. 2013 resolutions were lacking commitment. I will have to try to do better in 2014. I plan on brewing a new IPA recipe within the next week or 2. This will end my 2 month brewing drought that was the direct result of refinishing my basement.
I look forward to seeing your posts in 2014 and would like to thanks you, Jake, and Chip. You guys were the ones that inspired me to try homebrewing. Thank you.
my first beer was a pale ale last beer local double ipa i have a paterbier i need to rack after work and i have a ryepa planned next. start homebrewing was my resolution for last year was to start brewing. first resolution i knocked out of the park.
Last beer I think was either a German-style Red Lager (Durst Pils and Munich, Roasted Barley for color, a touch of Caravienne, with Perle hops and WLP802) or a Black and Tan made from my Schwarzbier / Best Bitter.
First of 2014 were samples of Black IPA, Dortmunder, and Best Bitter from my newly installed 3-tap tower (installing the second one tonight!).
With neighbors at a party on 12/31: Last of 2013 – (I think it was) my Belgian Dubbel aged for a year in a magnum bottle; first of 2014 – I dislike champagne, so SA Tetravis (a much better toast, for sure, using a wood aged Belgian Quad that had been mixed with some of SA’s Kosmic Mother Funk from a barrel that they keep Solera style). Then the next morning I brewed a simple extract batch of Saison with the brewers from the party (we keep it simple for a lot of reasons on 1/1).
Last homebrews were an export stout and a sort of Belgian Pilsner… First brew session is scheduled for Jan 11 – a nice Winter Warmer…
Last was a Budweiser, first was a Budweiser. So much shame. I beseech thee Gods of zymurgy for thy forgiveness.
I started watching Brewing TV in late December 2012. I brewed my first batch of 2013 on January 6th. By the 29th of December I had brewed my 24th batch of 2013, my first lager, an all grain Bavarian Dunkel. Yes, I’m obsessed! 20 extract and 4 all grain. My first batch of 2014, as soon as I can free up a carboy, will be a California Common. Don’t worry, it’s not totally your fault for turning me into a beer nerd. Chip’s Chop and Brew along with Don O. helped as well. It’s all good though, cuz I love beer! Cheers!
Ended the year with a home brewed Belgin Strong Dark from a nice man that I met and began the year with a nice porter from 7th Settlement in Dover NH and a bottle of Yankee Swap from Slumbrew in Somerville, MA. My first batch is in the tubes and will be a maple milk stout. Cheers!
New to brewing this fall, though I’ve made wines and meads for about 10 years. I’m really enjoying all the options, flexibility, and additional “process” of brewing. And the smell of freshly-crushed grains still makes my head spin!
Last brew of the 2013 was a Special Bitter partial mash with Whitbread Ale 1099. Clearing happily after a week and a half, and already tasting terrific!
First brew of 2014 – yesterday morning – was a big Belgian Tripel that I plan to have ready for my 40th birthday at the end of March. Again a partial mash, based roughly on the NB’s recipe but with about 24 IBU, to bring it more “to style”. A little bigger at 1.086. Used my first yeast starter on this batch (Belgian Ardennes 3522), and it’s now cheerfully blasting out the blow-off hose! My plan is two weeks in the primary, secondary until beginning of March or so, bottle with plenty of time to condition before the 4-0.
Thanks for all the great reading, recipes, and inspiration. Have a terrific 2014!