The Apartment Homebrewer

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Spring seems to have sprung in Texas, and homebrewing was quite dynamic this past week. First, an update: the Apartment Homebrewer is now on Twitter. Followers of this blog will also enjoy the spontaneous happenings of brew day, additional updates, related news, etc. If you’re on Twitter, please follow me at the handle @apthomebrewer

On Saturday, I attended the March brew meeting of the Austin Zealots homebrew club. It was held at Twisted X brewery in Dripping Springs, TX, about 20 minutes southwest of Austin. The monthly style was stout, but as standard tradition of the Zealots, no one ever follows the meeting style schedule, so I got to try just about everything. Indeed, I tasted loads of great beer, many perfect German lagers, some great 3 years old Belgian strongs, and even a 11 year wee heavy, which was out of this world. Also, I received some good feedback on my 2% ABV session amber ale. The standard opinion was sheer disbelief that a 2% ABV beer could have so much body and flavor, essentially, taste like beer! I was pleased with their reaction.

In addition, a number of homebrew celebrities showed up at the March meeting. Notably, Drew Beechum, homebrewing legend (his resume is too long to list here), showed up when coming into town for SXSW. I had the enormous opportunity of chatting with him, discussing brewing philosophy, and just having good fun. Also, my good friend Neil Spake, of the Leaky Spicket blog and Brewing Network correspondent, showed up after a hiatus. Being a fan of British ales, he very much enjoyed my session amber, and also, gave me a hard time about not being an AHA member. I’ll be getting on that soon!

Lastly, I (finally) started the Passion Fruit American Wheat beer. On Monday, I brewed an American-style wheat beer (50% wheat, 30% 2-row, 20% pilsner). It was a standard brew day affair, no major problems, taking about 5 hours, and hit all my target gravities. I tweeted a number of brew day happenings on Twitter for the first time, and included a number of impromptu brew day pics. A more formal blog post with be arriving soon on the Passion Fruit wheat beer once active fermentation begins.

That’s all from me for now! How was your week of homebrewing, and have you ever met a homebrew legend? If so, leave your thoughts in the comment section below. Cheers, and happy brewing!