Not living up to potential

When I lived in New York I would brew in a kitchen that could be summed up as a stove, a sink, and the 2 square feet of counter space needed to secure them to the wall.  I made amazing beer in that kitchen, almost effortlessly.  I even switched to all grain using a hodgepodge of chairs and a homemade sparger.

I would ferment at ambient temperatures, and it always worked, even when it was 90 degrees out.

Now I'm in Chicago and I have a real kitchen with tons of counterspace, and nearly all of my batches fail.  I made cider, but it didn't carbonate.  I made a raspberry imperial stout, it got contaminated (my first contaminated batch ever).   Heck, I can't even get people over to empty enough bottles to let me brew more.  Woe is me!

Part of the problem is that my equipment is new, I'm missing a few pieces and have gone back to extract brewing.  Some of it might be because of Chicago's hard water vs New York's soft.  Mostly though, I think I'm just not living up to my potential.  I don't have much to say, but I can't even be bothered to post my results on my own blog.

So, time to stop sucking, and start posting.