In the spirit of the season, I’ve been reviewing my brewing efforts from 2024 – 23 batches total on my system (and another 2 brewed collaboratively). The achievement of which I’m most proud is finally brewing a hefeweizen recipe that matches the version in my head!
How about the rest of folks? What do you consider your “best of 2024,” either in recipe or other achievement?
Happy New Year!
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Brewed 28 beers (3.5 + 1.5 gal batches), 5 meads, 3 ciders across 24 BJCP categories
Began competing more in ‘24: Best score 43 with Czech Dark Lager.
Leveled up 4x from ‘Unranked’ to ‘Recognized Brewer’ in Master HomeBrew Program (MHP)
Increased count to 27 of 41 BJCP categories w/ a score of 30+ for MHP ‘Jack Of All Trades’
Achieved 2 MHP Bronze Stars:
Top 5% in Mid South Series
Best of Show at New South Brew Off
13 entries placed in competition:
4 - 1st Place
4 - 2nd Place
5 - 3rd Place
2 Monthly 256 Brewer’s Club Challenge Belts:
Cider Challenge and Mead Challenge
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Nice! Sounds like you’re on a good roll. Is there one of these you particularly liked as a “house beer”?
I had “24 in '24”. 24 five-gallon batches. I don’t really know what I consider my “best of 2024” other than to say that I have probably never been more satisfied with my beers than I am right now. Consistent, clear, flavorful and satisfying. The recipes I envision in my head turn into the beers that I pictured which is always good. Anyone who is in my taproom seems genuinely impressed and happy to have the beer in front of them. I mentioned on another forum that my kids were around last week (29, 26, 24) and they all love beer. They spent many, many hours at my place drinking my beer and just filling and refilling their glasses. My kids are used to my beer so not once did one of them say a word about the beer itself. We were talking about a hundred different things and the beer was just going down easy. Maybe it’s a good signal that at no time was there a comment about the beer … just empty glass after empty glass. Saying nothing says a lot. It’s just beer like you might get at a brewpub or something. Cheers Beerheads.
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The one I liked the best was Curt Stock’s Porter recipe. Stephanie Butler judged it at NHC 1st round and scored it a 42. It didn’t advance to the 2nd round but one sip and I involuntarily said, “Damn, that a good beer”.
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I haven’t counted my batches yet, but I know it wasn’t as much as I would have liked to. I’ve had to cut back on drinking, so when I do brew it lasts a lot longer than it used to. The upside is I’ve come up with a WCIPA recipe I love and can brew consistently.
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I made 15 beers this past year which is least amount over my 20 years of brewing. Like Denny, my wife and I are drinking less and the kegs last longer. I also made 5 meads which I like to give to family and friends.
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I have been doing more small (3 gallon) vs. 5 gallon batches…thinking seriously about expanding to mostly 3 gallon batches, because I love to brew and love variety, but am also cutting back on consumption.
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I ended up making 15 - 2.5gal batches. 15 different styles, 12 different yeasts.
Can’t say one was my clear favorite. They are like my kids. I love them all and I greatly enjoyed making each one. 
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I brewed probably 8 or 9 batches ( 5 gal in keg), a couple or so less than I wanted. I really only have beer on the weekend and pretty much the only one drinking my beer.
I still tinker a bit with my beer recipes with most deviations being relatively minor changes
In 2024 I made two 3-gallon(ish) batches and was half of the brew team on one collaborative brew. On the other hand, I only brewed once in 2023. Life, work, and family health stuff all got in the way. I also upgraded my process in two areas (closed transfers and a recirculating chiller) and did a massive cleaning, purging, and reorganization of my brewing stuff. I also found a local brewing community and for the first time in a decade had expert feedback on my brews. Except for the collaborative brew, which was with someone else’s brew gear at their home, everything I did in 2024 happened after I retired in June…imagine that! Getting feedback means other folks are drinking my beer which means I can brew more. Goals for 2024 include getting more feedback on my beers and incorporating more process improvements, such as finally learning how to bottle from a keg.
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I hit 13 batches in 2024 ranging from 2 to 11 liters and comprising a couple of meads, an apple wine that failed miserably, one porter, & three takes on a holiday ale — with the rest being various mixed-ferm farmhouse ales.
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Hi, What a great post to respond to!
I am enjoying coming up with a House Saison recipe that makes me smile every time I pour a glass. I’m loving the current one in the keg, hoping it doesn’t run out too soon!
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Welcome to the Forum!! There are a lot of great people with tons of knowledge!
I brewed 14 times in 24’. All grain. 15 gallon batches, I know, that’s a lot of beer!! I share much of it when possible. Also lets me condition and lager for the “right” amount of time. I brew mostly pilsners and other lagers with the occasional Belgian and WCIPA. I also will do a barrel aged brew but not every year.
Cheers!!
I brewed only 6 times in 2024. I need to up my game in 2025 to at least 10 times. I have kits stacking up which need to be brewed. The other goal for 2025 is to improve my system to make it easier to brew more consistent batches. I still use a 10 gal cooler as my mash tun.
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You forgot. “I have spoken”
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Saison FTW!
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Last year I finally, finally, made a lager that stands up to the commercial imports. I used S-189 at 60 F in a Dortmunder a.k.a. “German Helles Exportbier”. It turned out beautifully, clean and malty with those subtle grapey esters that I love.
I also made a Polish Breslau Schoeps which I think is an extremely obscure style, can be of any color but is 70% wheat malt. I made mine black which I believe is traditional. Supposed to be a nutritious beer, the kind for nursing mothers or whatever. Mine tastes of cocoa and coffee and turned out just wonderful on my first attempt. Come to think of it… most of my porters and stouts turn out pretty damn great. According to Palmer’s water doohickey, my water is indeed best suited to brown beers anyway so maybe there’s really something to that.
I was also happy with an English style IPA, with Willamette and EKG, very nice. This one I split between Verdant yeast and 1098, and I honestly couldn’t decide which one I enjoyed more. Most people I shared with preferred the Verdant it seemed, but I was fond of 1098 as well. I’ll be brewing this style again. All of these honestly.
I also made at least 3 if not 4 (I lost count) accidental saisons, since Belle yeast apparently took residence in my fermenters and/or hoses. One of the unintentionals won me a silver medal so I guess I can’t complain too much, other than the fact that I don’t love saisons THAT much. Time to change sanitizers and replace hoses I guess!
Been a good year overall. I didn’t brew or drink all that much, and this seems to be the trend, I’ve no desire to brew anything other than an Irish red right now. But later I know the bug will bite again, maybe late spring or summer, we’ll see. I’ve got 10 cases of beer and cider to drink anyway, no need to brew much more. I’ll stick to average 1.5 gallon batches which I’ve been doing for a while now, it seems to suit me well.
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Hi All
We (my brew buddies and me) brewed around 20 batches of 15 gal resulting in around 2100 500ml/17fl oz bottles of beer.
Some of it was sold during our beerfest in summer to pay part of our brewery rent.
(We pay official tax for the sold beer… it was around 30$ for last year)
We have a special rate, since we are so small.
We made some pretty nice german/bavarian style lagers. We also brewed a clone of a belgian “Brugse Zot”, that was rated higher than the original…
The smoke beer clone of the Bamberg Schlenkerla also came out nice.
We also made some very hoppy IPA’s, (for our palates only…too bitter for standard beer drinkers)
We intend to keep it the same way this year. (We did this for most of the last 26 years)
Best
Thomas
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