Hi,
I am from from Newfoundland, the most eastern part of North America, Britian's first overseas colony (circa 1498 - the vikings were here 1000 years ago, but thats another story) and the oldest European settlement north of the caribean.
I started brewing last summer, I did one extract brew (with a partial mash), and then switched to All Grain. I brew about 3-4 times a month (at least) and i brew 6-7 gallon batches (I haven't done the math but since August I have done a few batches)
My favourite beers to brew are hop head IPAs and witbiers. Although have been making forays into the world or lagers with an Octbefest, a CAP and a wild franken-dunkel-weizen inspired by the brewer from pyramid.
Getting brewing materials in newfoundland is very difficult and expensive so I have been experimenting with using alot of unmalted adjuncts to stretch my precious malt. To date I have brewed using whte wheat berries, red winter wheat berries, pearled barley, stone ground barley flour, corn meal, corn starch, wheat flour, flaked rye, flaked oats, rice and buckwheat. Which is why my brewing motto is "sucks to the reinheitsgebot". I have also been playing around with sour mashing.
My equipment is all homemade and ugly as sin, but my technique has now allowed me to pin down a predictable eff of about 88-90%, which is really important to squeeze all the milage I can out of my malt.
I have become thoroughly addicted to the show and listen to it in my office nonstop and while there is alot of chaffe, the chaffe is extremely entertaining and I wouldn't want to trade it. I find the hosts and guests to be very knowledgable although I do fervently disagree with Jamil's slavish addiction to the style guide. Which is why I particularly enjoyed the brian hunt show.
But keep up the good work, its a fantastic resource.
