Follow me, Mark Grostick, on my adventures in home brewing. Here’s my original post on how I got started in San Diego, which you’d be surprised wasn’t always the beer mecca it is today. Since making beer in my mind is so process oriented, I feel that you’re always constantly learning, especially when you’re not using automated equipment. I like to make every style of beer, but of course focus on what I like to drink or what I believe I’d like to drink. This means mainly pale ales, IPAs, stouts and porters and some Belgians. I really love a good pils but really dont have the equipment to lager properly unless I wanted to make one batch every two months, which is kind of unacceptable. Although all the rage today, I’m not a real fan of sour beers, and really dont need any funk in my little brewhouse, although if you ever had anything by Rodenbach (which is still the gold standard in my opinion) you can see the appeal of a well made soured beer.

I’ve been dabbling quite a bit in historical recipes but one thing I find is there is no reference point for these beers. Is this how it should taste? All I know is that they come out good and sometimes great and to a hophead it can be disconcerting knowing there’s all these hops in these beers but its so different in taste from the dank American style we’re so pummeled with these days.

I’m a big fan of British ale yeasts for their ability to finish quick and drop clear. WLP007 is my favorite. You’ll see a lot of recipes using it. On the lower gravity beers like bitter or milds you can literally have a beer be ready to drink from the keg if 9 days or so.

Hope you enjoy reading my recipes and the odd factotum. Cheers.