Not to toot my own horn, but I won a gold medal at the National Homebrew Competition held in San Diego this weekend. Check out category 17:

http://www.homebrewersass...hc-winners

Congratulations Gunnar... thats awesome!

Gillette is in dire need of a microbrewery. It would be a great opportunity for you!

congrats Gunnar, what a great accomplishment!!!

Well done hermano. Now if you could only show up in Denver with a keg someday...

Nice!

Congrats, Gunnar!

Most homebrew I've sampled tastes like urine, I'm guessing yours is better!

Congrats, Gunnar. But educate me a little. What's a sour ale?

And how many entrants participated in the "sour ale" competition?

I'll let Wiki do the educating....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic

The particlar beer I brewed, a gueuze, is a blend of an old lambic and a young lambic. I have a 7.5 gallon wooden cask made out of French oak that I age lambics in. The longer time the beer spends in the cask, the more funky and sour it becomes. By mixing yound beer with old beer, you can achieve the right mix of souring (and still bottle-carbonate the beer, old lambics pretty much kill the yeast with acidity).

This gueuze was a blend of a 3 year old lambic with one that was about 6 months old. I bottled it 5 years ago. Its been aging in my basement since then.

As far as the number of competitors, there were 6,994 entries from 1,650 homebrewers competing this year. My beer was entered by a Bozeman homebrewers club, the Bridger Brew Crew, after it won Best of Show at their February 2011 competition (beating out 47 other entries). It went to a regional competition in Denver, where it scored third place out of 25 entries. The top three entries from each region move on to the national competition. Since there are 10 regions in the U.S. and Canada, I guess that means it was the best of 30 sour ales.

That's really great - and a notable competition. Congrats, Gunnar!

Gunnar,
Since returning from Germany after being stationed there 90 months, beer in the U.S. doesnt really float my boat, unless I visit home in M.C., where I can slam some Busch light with the best of them. I really want to start trying to make my own home brew. I am reaching out to you to see what info you can set me up with to get me pointed in the right direction.
Congrats on your award.

Matt:

I'm guessing from your post that you want to brew fine German pilsners. They are easy to brew, but as a lager, they require temperature control. That is best achieved by buying an old refrigerator or freezer and buying an external temperature controller.

For information on how to brew, look here:

http://www.howtobrew.com/

After the initial equipment outlay, brewing a great German pilsner is real easy... just buy a sack of European pilsner malt (German, French or Belgian origin)....noble hops (Saaz, Hallertauer, and/or Tettnanger)....and a good quality lager yeast, such as Wyeast 2206 Bavarian lager. Good luck....and stay away from Busch Light.

Pils OK, but Im a real fan of the Ungespundet hefetrüb/Keller Bier, then lager, then Pils. I have had Pils in Pilsen Czech Republic, good, but I still prefer my Upper Franconia/Bavaria specalities from Bamberg and Munchen.

Thanks for the info. Since I am a Paratrooper, I think the place to start is a creative name (Airborne Ale already used, plus I dont want to make ale). Suggestions?

Oh and I love my Belgians too, Duvel, Chimay, and Hoegaarden.

man....Europe was GREAT!

[This message has been edited by Matt Hom (6/23/2011)]

I'm in today's paper!

http://helenair.com/lifes...002e0.html

Great picture and now I can put a face to the name...Congrats again on such an awesome achievement...

Congratulations Gunnar!