Topics

1

Homebrew Clubs / No East End Long Island Homebrew Clubs?

« on: April 30, 2013, 01:23:59 PM »

I've recently returned to my hometown of Sag Harbor, Long Island after being away for a couple of decades.  I was looking for a club to join on the East End of Long Island from the AHA "Find a Homebrew Club" page and saw that all of the clubs in New York/Long Island are west of Riverhead, NY.  The closest club is 30 miles. In the tourist season that could be a three hour drive one way!

I went to Zeemaps.com and mapped all of the AHA clubs which were listed in the directory from Manhattan heading east into the sunrise. View the map.  Are there any unlisted or non-sanctioned clubs out East?

I was wondering if there were any East End home brewers from Hampton Bays to Montauk or on Shelter Island that would want to hook up in our area? 

2

General Homebrew Discussion / Moving Home Brewery Equipment and Stock

« on: July 14, 2011, 09:14:01 AM »

My wife and have to move in a two of months. My wife found a place on the other side of town with a great detached garage with electricity and water.  She knew that she could sell it to me by calling the garage a brewery.  When we moved into our present house 5 years ago I brewed with simple equipment and one carboy.  Since then I've accumulated more and more equipment and stock.

I need some advice as to the best way to pack up the home brewery so that a moving company can schlep it (and the rest of our stuff) to the new house.  I have some ideas, but I'd love to get a range of suggestions to make this episode smarter, safer and smoother.

3

Homebrew Clubs / JBreW - Johnson and Wales University Brew Club

« on: May 17, 2011, 01:26:12 PM »

Anyone in this forum go to, or are going to Johnson and Wales Culinary Arts program?

4

Events / Spring Mashpit Homebrew Session - Worcester - Central MA

« on: February 25, 2011, 11:14:41 AM »

On Saturday, April 16, the Mashpit Brewers along with Dr. Gonzo's Uncommon Condiments will be having their Saint Gambinus Spring 2011 Mashpit Homebrew Session in the Mashpit behind the Doctor’s store at 122 Main St in Worcester. beginning at noon until flameout. This event celebrates the legendary birthday of the patron saint of beer, King Gambrinus of Flanders, circa April 11, 1250. Some of the brewers will be making Belgian beer styles to honor Gambrinus’ legacy to brewing. Others brewers will be concocting other beer styles enticing the other patron saints to sit beside them. There will be extract and all-grain recipes brewed and all of the Mashpit Brewers love to discuss and show you how they brew, while they brew. They will also be proud to share their amazingly flavored beer with you throughout the day. We’ll also have food, Dr. Gonzo’s condiments and some Wormtown craft beer available. If you want to brew with us, all you need to do is to log on to the Saint Gambrinus Spring 2011 Mashpit Homebrew Session’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=201115489901701 and add your name to the list. The first 6 people registering get in the mashpit to brew. Casual observers are welcome to stroll in and visit without registering. Brewers will need to bring their own ingredients and homebrewing equipment including a propane burner and tank. Water for brewing and cleaning up is provided. Think about your Belgian or other recipe and ingredients, register and brew with us!

5

Kegging and Bottling / The Humble Bottle Cap

« on: February 02, 2011, 08:45:54 AM »

The bottle cap, which was known as the "Bottle Sealing Devise" was patented by William Painter on 2 February 1892 (U.S. Patent 468,258) http://www.google.com/patents?id=mBBrAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false Let's hear it for the Bottle Cap!  Who patented the bottle cap opener and when?

6

Ingredients / Edme Maris Otter Light Malt Extract

« on: January 21, 2011, 10:14:02 AM »

I've been doing a search for retail suppliers of Edme's Maris Otter LME but all that seems to come up are forum topics discussing the product or the usual online sources for MO whole malt.  I also read that Crisp produces an LME (Crisp and EDME are malting sisters).  I emailed Crisp for a US distributor, but haven't heard back yet.

Does anyone have an online source for either MO LME?

7

Kegging and Bottling / Loss of CO2 at higher psi

« on: January 18, 2011, 09:04:55 AM »

I carbonated 5 gal. of soda and cranked it up to 30 psi.  The tank went from 600 to zilch in two days at about 40ºF.  I'm sure that all joints and seals were tight.  Should I loose that much that soon at that psi?

8

All Grain Brewing / What malt does Weyerman uses in making their rauchmaltz?

« on: September 23, 2010, 09:52:25 AM »

In Oct. 2010's BYO, Horst Dornbusch wrote the article about Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier "Liquid Bacon."  He wrote that Schlenkerla makes their rauchbier with 100% of their proprietary rauchmaltz.  The classic rauchbier recipe included in the article uses 28% rauchmaltz, 59% munich, 8% Caramunich, 2.5% Carafa Spec. 1 and 2.5% acidulated malts; utilizing a step mash of 140ºF, 147, 152 and mash out at 172.     

Since Weyerman and Schlenkerla are both in Bamberg, is it likely that they use the same malt for smoking? What might that malt be?

9

All Things Food / Donut Recipes found in Beer Advocate

« on: September 12, 2010, 12:20:57 PM »

I was reading the Raised Beer Donut recipe in Beer Advocate from... I think it was in the Spring sometime before May of 2010... my wife and I were waiting for the Friday tour At NOLA brewing and I was reading the recipe from B.A. and I jotted down the ingredients for the Raised Beer Donut at the beginning of the article but forgot to write down the method.

If anyone has that issue and could slap it on the forum, that would be great.  B.A. doesn't seem to have it online.  If someone shares that info, I'll post my Beer Pretzel Bread recipe.

10

Questions about the forum? / 1st Kit and Other Rankings

« on: September 04, 2010, 10:34:14 AM »

<just a short rant>
How many posts do you have to create, read and/or reply to before you get out of the 1st kit category and on to the next.  I'm over 50 years old and now I feel like I'm back in grade school and despite being picked out of the 50% ranking of the P.E. class for kickball, I feel that I'm relegated to being picked last. 
Why rank new members or anyone in this forum?  It's about sharing the information. Does it make the masterbrewers superior to the 1st kitters?
</just a short rant>

11

Ingredients / Long Cascade hops

« on: August 25, 2010, 04:20:55 PM »

I just harvested some interestingly long cascade hops today.  These are four of the longest cascades at about 2.375". 
What's the longest you've ever grown or seen?
I know, I know. it's not the length of the wand, but it's the magic you create with it that counts.

12

Homebrew Clubs / CSB Community Sustained Brewing

« on: August 17, 2010, 08:31:14 AM »

Has anyone started a homebrew club with the idea of Community Sustained Brewing as their mission, using the same ideas behind Community Sustained Agriculture? Please read the CSA mission I found at http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml#define and let me know your opinions and if you think the tax "Man" would have a problem with this if the mission were converted to brewing purposes.

Community Supported Agriculture consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or "share-holders" of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer's salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm's bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing.

13

Homebrewer Bios / Starting my Homebrewing Experience

« on: August 07, 2010, 09:43:43 AM »

I began home brewing in 1991 while I was teaching at Southampton College in Southampton, NY.  In my night time Technical Theater class two of the seniors started to talk about how good a beer would taste after cleaning up the studio.  We began to discuss the beer we drank and the qualities that made it our favorite.  They discussed with me about how they started making beer in their dorm room after a bio class experiment and how good it tasted and how cheap it was to make.  After showing my wide eyed interest in their beer making, they asked me if I wanted to try some of their beer. I said, "Sure!" To the following week's class they brought in some bottled dorm brewed beer. After class and cleaning up the studio, we shared a few bottles surreptitiously in the parking lot.  I was amazed that the flavor was so good coming from a kit brewed in a cinder block dorm room.  While drinking their beer, they described the liquid malt extract and the sanitation process to me.  They said that fermentation was easy. It was boiling three gallons in their dorm late at night on a hot plate that was the hardest part. Some two months after the term ended I was at one of those "new fangled" warehouse club and I spotted three Billington's Homebrew Kits on the shelf.  Each kit included one 3.3 pound can of Coopers hopped "Lager" ale extract, a five gallon glass carboy, a package of dried ale yeast, a bottle capper, caps and an instruction booklet. This kit cost $35.00. One like that cost $129.00 today.  "Well," I said to myself.  "If two bio students can do it in a dorm, so can I!"  I bought the kit.  When I got home, I began to brew my first batch by reading the instruction booklet that came with the kit.  Those instructions contradicted those in the ingredient kit.  So I went with the equipment kit booklet.  It was more complete and coherent.  I began boiling the water... adding the extract... boiling the brew, what I now know of as wort, ...cooling it down... adding it to cool water... proofing and pitching the dried yeast.  Later that night I sat next to the fermenter watching and listening to the bubbles coming from the airlock as if it were a television.  Apparently I was hooked and I needed more knowledge. A few weeks later, I found Arbor Wine and Beermaking, http://www.arborwine.com a homebrew shop in Islip, NY, about an hour west from my home.  Homebrew shops were far and between in the early 90's, especially in a small town like mine.  The trek was worth the time to enhance my new passion.  Jim and Carol Whitley, the owners, and I chatted for quite a while.  Jim introduced me to Charlie Papazian's book The Complete Joy of Homebrewing (1st Ed.), which still sits on my shelf today all dog eared and stained.  And after a considerable chin wag, I found out that Jim knew my dad’s family’s and their hardware store when he was a kid.   I was hooked for good. Thanks Charlie! Thanks Jim! Thanks to the those two students! Many years and numerous recipes have been made and enjoyed since my first exposure to homebrewing. Despite living in various cities with an assortment of varied sized kitchen spaces, I have continued to be a passionate zymurgist and beer lover ever since.  I've combined my love for cooking and brewing: trying new and various recipes, which has brought me a greater appreciation for craft brewed and commercially brewed beer of all types.  I've also begun growing my own hops and writing about my process on my website http://web.me.com/sespach/KettleandCask

14

Classifieds / I'm looking for used/old/antique draft beer faucets

« on: July 07, 2010, 06:42:42 PM »

If you have some old draft beer faucets of any kind that don't work so well or your not using anymore I'd like to buy them.
Anything is okay as long as liquid will pass through them. Even if the shank is frozen on, that's cool. 
Just about anything's okay except for cobra head/plastic picnic faucets, tap handles (unless they're stuck on), Sankey or keg connectors.
These faucets will never touch beer again!  Let me know what you have. Attach a photo to your reply and make me an offer for your old faucet.

15

Questions about the forum? / Is there a way to sort the members

« on: December 09, 2009, 04:45:58 PM »

Is there a way to sort the members, for instance by state and city, so you can see members in your home area?