Waterford, NY Homebrewer’s Biggest Mistake: “Not learning how to brew earlier in life!”
Sal Greco is no brewing newbie, having gotten his introduction to the craft back in 1993. Still, his biggest regret is “not learning how to brew earlier in life!”
Well, Sal is certainly doing his best to make up for lost time. “I do brew once a week on Mondays with my brew partner Dennis Baker. Besides the neighbors that just so happen to be walking their dogs every Monday, and might I add, with an empty pint glass in their hands.” Sal, who works in law enforcement in Waterford, NY, brews 10 gallons of beer during these weekly sessions. “It is extremely frustrating waiting for the beer to ferment. I am a very thirsty individual requiring my daily dose of homebrew.”
When asked about his brewing setup, Sal tells us, “After deciding that the plastic buckets in extract brewing was not enough, I decided to go all grain. I purchased 3 half kegs from my local beer beverage center (note: they only charged me $10 a piece) and then had a friend cut the tops off. Now I had my hot water tank, Lauter tun and brew kettle. I fit the hot water tank with a sight glass and 2 stainless steel ball valves. The Lauter tun was fitted with a manifold to extract the wort from the grains and a ball valve, and finally the brew kettle was fitted with a ball valve. I purchased 3 burners and 2 conical fermenters. I then built 2 stands: one for my fermenters that I keep in the basement of my house (COnstant temp.) and a second to house my brewing equipment. I also built a grain mill to crush all my grains that I buy from my local brew pub (http://brownsbrewing.com/) Shout out to Peter!! The head brewer!!…I converted a fridge to a kegulator. This fridge sits in my basement. I no longer bottle but keg all my beer in 5 gallon Pepsi soda tanks.” He adds, “I would love to own two 15 gallon stainless steel conical fermenters.”
Sal points to local brew pubs as a valuable resource that most homebrewers overlook. “Get to know your local brew pub brewers. They will help you get great wholesale prices on ingredients and equipment as well as share all their knowledge.”
Other resources that Sal has found useful include the books The Complete Joy of Home Brewing and The Brewmaster’s Bible and a subscription to Brew Your Own magazine. He also uses the Beer Smith recipe formulation software program.
Sal is currently trying to start a homebrew club in the Clifton Park/Waterford, NY area.
Sal’s own brewing website can be found at www.birdsung.com/brew.htm.
