First Post (1/7/2010)

Well this is the first post of my blog. Before I talk about what I am doing right now, lets go back in time for just a second.

After graduating from college in West Virginia, I moved to Wichita, KS in August 2008 to work at Cessna Aircraft. Soon after the move, I found out there was a home brew shop here in Wichita. I had been interested in the idea of brewing my own beer since college, but I never had the money to get into the hobby. I went down to the shop and I bought the basic kit which included a "Kit and Kilo". After brewing the included recipe, I was less than satisfied. I guess that first beer was the beginning of it all. Soon after I began to purchase all malt extract kits from online homebrew shops and saw a definitive increase in quality.

Well, at about that time the economy went south and I was layed off 2/24/2009. After the lay off, I used my vacation pay out to make the jump into all grain brewing. I decided to start small so that the cost per batch would be very affordable. The mash tun I built was made from a 7 dollar cooler, and the rest of the pieces to finish the mash tun cost another $7. My $14 mash only held a total of 2 gallons, but it was enough to get started. Soon after my first few all-grain batches, I realized that the water in Wichita was not the best for brewing, so I began to tackle the issue of water chemistry.

After changing jobs twice, my wife and I bought a house just west of Wichita in Goddard KS. With more room and a new house, I decided to expand my brewery.

...Jumping into the present...

I am currently building a 3 tier all-grain system. I have bought a 15 gallon brew pot, and a 185,000 btu propane burner. I have also built the structure for the 3 tier system. Tonight I finished welding the tubing for my mash tun. I still have alot of work ahead of me, but my goal is to have the system ready to brew by the end of this month.

Well that's it for now...if there is anyone one out there interested, I'll keep you posted!