Introduction

Howdy All!

My name is Mark Ardito and I'm a homebrewer in the NW suburbs of Chicago. I've been brewing since December of 2005. I started out brewing extract beers from kits and then quickly upgraded to "All Grain" within a few months.

I wanted to create a blog to update everyone on my brewing adventures.

A little bit about my setup/equipment/supplies/etc.

I do batch sparging and I brew 6 gallon batches. I have a big 10 gallon "Gatorade" type cooler that I use as my Mash Tun and use a Wort Hog instead of a false bottom in the cooler. I typically keep 50 lbs of each base grain in stock. I like to brew with: Rahr 2-Row, Rahr White Wheat and Durst Turbo Pilsner. I really like the Durst barley that they malt and the "turbo" variety is really great. The "turbo" malt is meant for people that do single infusion mashes, which is what I do. I then typically keep 5 lbs of each Crystal variety (10, 20, 40, 60, 120) and then a bunch of Munich, Vienna, Victory (one of my favorite grains to use!), CaraMunich, CaraPils, etc. I do prefer to use WYeast over WhiteLabs, but that is just because the two local brewing supply stories I go to only carry WYeast. I've ordered some WhiteLabs products, and do like them, but for ease I would rather just go buy something locally.

I brew mainly Ale's but have been brewing more and more Lagers the past year. I have a large laundry bucket that I use to ferment my lagers in. You can read more about that setup here. I use the same method my buddy Ken does.

I'll be posting more in the coming days on my setup, recipes, draft fridge, etc.

Cheers!
Mark A.