Hello, all!
I live in Concord, Massachusetts, USA. Concord was the first non-tidewater community in the US and is the location of (what we here call) "the shot heard 'round the world" when, in 1775, the colonists stood up to the British regulars who had come out from Boston to confiscate cannons and other arms.
I found references to this site on
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/, where I am a member.
The only confusing thing on this site so far is that it took me a while to figure out that I need to post here to become a full-fledged member.
I got started in this hobby making cider, with the goal of making something similar to a French cider. (I'm still working on that, but getting closer.) From there, I branched out into 1-gallon batches of wine: mead (honey wine), blackberry, elderberry, and raisin. My latest wine is 4 gallons of black currant wine. I kept saying that I didn't want to make beer because it was too complicated, but then the LHBS had a sale and I decided to try a stout. (I love stout and my wife does, too.) So, I borrowed the buckets and made an extract batch. A week later, I got the bug to make a hefeweizen, so I borrowed another bucket and made an extract batch of that, too. I bottled the stout after 3 weeks in the fermenter and the hefeweizen after 2 weeks. This Saturday, they will finish their 3 weeks of carbonation. I plan to drink the hefeweizen over summer (which we are heading into here) and save the stout for the fall, which will give it time to age to be ready when the cooler weather hits. I'm getting tempted to try an all-grain. I realized that if I do a BIAB half-batch, I won't need to buy any additional equipment, so here I am!
Yes, I work (systems engineer), but when I meet new people, I ask them what they do for fun instead of asking them what they do. It is scary how many people go silent in answer to that question! For me, the answer is (in addition to beer/cider/wine making): rock climbing, Scouting (I'm an Assistant Scoutmaster), fiddling (Irish and Scottish), travel, some shooting (plinking), and trying to have fun with my kids before they grow up and move out.
Oh, yeah. My login is because I have a Smyrna quince tree. I love quince, but most Americans have no idea what they are. I have a few other fruit trees, as well.