MGB: For the First Time in 10 Years....

.....I started a batch of home brew. I dusted off (and sanitized) my trusty old brewing equipment and boiled up a batch of wert. I'm just using barley malt extracts for this batch, I'll try some of the more advanced recipes later. Hopefully, I'll be enjoying a nice pale ale in four weeks or so. I forgot how much fun home brewing is...

I have some nice Meade fermenting. I love homebrew..//

Good for you, Jay! I don't brew as much as I used to, but still make at least two or three 5 gallon batches a year. That's enough to keep me in beer almost year round.

It became much more fun when I started using Cornelius kegs, because I hate to mess with bottles. Oh, and nothing wrong with using malt extract IMO. Never hurts to use a little crystal malt or other specialty grain in there though!

Now that's what i need to do!
A friend bought a home brew kit from harbor freight a few years ago and put it to good use. He made good beer!

I have just started wine making with my first batch of black currant I grew on my own plants. Hopefully it turns out drinkable. Country wines are my passion. Next summer I hope to have enough chokecherries for 5 gallons. And plums. And more black currants. And...

[quote=Speedy1]
I have just started wine making with my first batch of black currant I grew on my own plants. Hopefully it turns out drinkable. Country wines are my passion. Next summer I hope to have enough chokecherries for 5 gallons. And plums. And more black currants. And...[/quote]

Winemaking is fun and a very different animal from making beer. Lots of the skills and equipment do transfer though. I've only made three 5 gallon batches of wine, so am still in the learning stage. The first was a white dessert wine from our Venus grapes in the yard. It was good according to my wife, but way too sweet for me. The second, a dessert wine from blackberries, choke cherries, and elderberries. It wasn't so good, but a few of our friends like it so it's slowly getting consumed. My wife won't drink it! The third is Venus grapes again, and a work in progress. We had a great crop this year, and I fermented it on the skins for a red wine. I am making it dry this time. The color didn't turn out as dark as I wanted, but I'm hoping it will be decent wine. Won't really know until next Summer...

John - I have LOTS of different wine/mead recipes if you need any