New England Brew Session & yankee enginuity

On Sunday December 3rd I'm planning on hosting the 1st New England Brew session for those in the HB Talk Community.

Since daylight will be at somewhat of a premium we should probably get started no later then 11:00am. Feel free to arrive earlier if you need additional time. I'd be happy to supply some stuff to grill for lunch, potluck for side dishes.

Bring your own equipment to brew yourself. There will be plenty of room in the backyard to accomidate us all.

I expect to have my Bohemian Pilzner, Warrior Pale Ale, and French Country ale on tap.

I have a mill (corona) that spits out crap for efficiency (55%), which you are welcome to use. I have enough gear minus an extra propane burner. I do have an extra kettle, and makeshift mashtun, and lauter tun. I have access to FRESH 1056 American Ale yeast if you need yeast, just give me a heads up, so that I can make arrangements for it to be here. I can also supply small amounts of malted wheat, chocolate malt, roasted barley, and crystal malt.

If anyone is interestd I can also make arrangements for a private tour of Mcneills Brewery.

Cheers!

Glibbidy

Awesome, count me in. I should have my keggle all set by them, and I'll figure out something on the burner front (either buy one or borrow a friend's turkey fryer).

I know some of the Vermont folks are a little out of range of a home brew store; if anyone wants me to pick up supplies, I will be hitting Hennesey Home Brew (hopefulyl catching up with 2nd Street) this weekend. Shoot me a PM.

I will be bringing along some homebrews for honest critique. Papa Charlie's Good Life Pale Ale will be fully conditioned, I'll also have some Altbier/Oktoberfest-ey ale that may need another week of conditioning that I would like to get in some other peoples' hands. I suspect my IPA will be long gone by then.

It's a bit of a drive to VT, but I do have that day off work. Maybe I could drive up to the_bird's house, and go together from there? I'll chip in on gas and beer, of course!

Absolutely. Maybe stop in to Castleton, NY and pick up 2nd Street? We'd have to figure out how much gear we were bringing, I have a Honda Element that's got a good amount of space, but not as much as a pickup.

At this point, I should definitely be able to go. Got to work out a few detail but I think it should be fine. I don't have access to a burner setup, so I might not pack equipment or supplies for wort'ing - maybe just lend a hand to other's operations.

Let's see though, I might have an Oktoberfest RTG but it is definitely going to be a bit early to sample a few others as they have just recently hit the bottles. I'll dig something up - once I'm 100% I'll check in.

...might be able to talk myself into scratching together a burner setup to match the Bird on his smoked porter.....very tempting.

How about Kaiser? Can we get a real expert to come out and teach me how to mash properly? Make a lot of sense if people from the Boston area are coming out to carpool.

the date should be ok for me.
but since i have no burners or whatnot, i may just come and watch and learn! oh and try some good homebrew. i think i may have a few left that i can bring, too.

barrett

gremlin said:

the date should be ok for me.
but since i have no burners or whatnot, i may just come and watch and learn! oh and try some good homebrew. i think i may have a few left that i can bring, too.

barrett

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If I have my own burner setup by then, I should be able to borrow a fryer that you can use.

I don't have a burner either. I can bring a propane tank, however. Sounds like we might need to take turns on the flame.

I can bring my 5 gal MLT, ingredients, beer, propane, immersion chiller (setup for faucet, not hose) a 3 gal pot, fermenting and cleaning stuff, more beer.

If 2nd could meet me in New Lebanon, that would cut about 1.5 hours off the drive. If we are starting at 11:00, when will we need to leave your house, bird?

Hmmm...real names would be easier. Mine's Matt.

Probably 9:30, maybe a little earlier. It's about an hour back to Greenfield to hit 91, then maybe a half hour north to Brattleboro.

I have a 5 gallon MLT, a butt-ugly (but effective chiller), I should have a stainless steel chiller (someone here is giving me one), I'll have my keggle, probably a burner or two. I have an electric fryer if someone wants to use it to heat sparge water, I have a 5 gallon stockpot that can be used for the same purpose. If it's the three of us (I shot 2nd St. a PM and I should see him this weekend), we could probably squeeze everything into my car with one of the rear seats removed. I know he's working on putting together his keggle.

OH - we'll also need room to bring fermenters back. Bah, we'll figure it out - I am the KING of TETRIS FAMILY VACATION (i.e. loading the car).

I'll have to check on my availability but I would love to come up. My only problem is my truck's tranny is running rough and may not be up to the trip. I can use the wifes car but I would deffinately be cramped in what I want to bring. I doubt I would have my all grain stuff finished by then(but might give me incentive to hustle my butt) I have two burners w/ tanks I could bring plus a chiller w/prechiller. My keggle didn't get cut last weekend(my wife's aunt died and we had the wake and funeral) so I am cutting it off myself. Time to get out the maps

hmmm, and I can't really haul much in my car 2-4 people and about 6 cubic feet of trunk space. unless i buy a mazdaspeed3 by then. then plenty of room.

Hmm....

Chill, what's your gear load look like?

We'll figure this out. The only thing I'm really worried about is trying to bring home all the gear, plus three full carboys/buckets. I'll try and see how everything might fit together tonight. Wish I had a trailer....

Biggest thing is the MLT (5-gal bug-juice cooler). Ingredients will fit in that. The other stuff I dont know if we will even need. I posted above but here it is:
...
I can bring my 5 gal MLT, ingredients, beer, propane, immersion chiller (setup for faucet, not hose) a 3 gal pot, fermenting and cleaning stuff, more beer....

Maybe we could just chip in on a propane tank locally, and use that for the day, leaving it with gibbiby.

The brewery tour sounds nice, but with 4 batches and the driving, i dont think we can fit it in, unless we go when we're all mashing. That would be cool... unless someone's doing a decoction!

What about for fermenting? Bucket or carboy?

Well, like I said don't know if I'll be doing all grain by then,if I am am it might well be the first time. If the truck is rolling I have alot of room, Chevy S10 with a cap. If I can go(and I'm working hard at convincing myself it's doable ) I can fit alot. Only 2 people unless someone rides in the jump seat behind the bench seat. I'll let bird work on convincing me to go when I see him this weekend.

the_bird said:

What about for fermenting? Bucket or carboy?

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6gal BB. Prolly the obligitory sanitizing bucket too.

just to chime in - i'd be driving out in a chevy s10 also - we might be able to figure something out by which i at least can shadow the Bird's crew home w/ fermenters, OR I could always meet up with yawl earlier and cart all this stuff in the bed. might be a crazy bit of driving, but it could work if planned correctly.

Since this seems to be the kind of thing that is going to directly affect (effect, BAH?!?!) other's plans let me confirm tomorrow if I can make it. I can know by Thursday for sure.

I would desparately like to meet other homebrewers. The only person that I have spoken with besides this forum is my LHBS guy. Knows his stuff, but is very opinionated. If it ain't his way to do things, than it's the wrong way, which he will then explain in the most denigrating manner possible.

However, I have a hard enough time with the SWMBO putting up with me brewing for six hours at home. She won't like me doing the same and throwing a five hour round trip as well.

Time to do a lot of kissing up, maybe I can have my balls for the weekend.

Vermicous said:

I would desparately like to meet other homebrewers. The only person that I have spoken with besides this forum is my LHBS guy. Knows his stuff, but is very opinionated. If it ain't his way to do things, than it's the wrong way, which he will then explain in the most denigrating manner possible.

However, I have a hard enough time with the SWMBO putting up with me brewing for six hours at home. She won't like me doing the same and throwing a five hour round trip as well.

Time to do a lot of kissing up, maybe I can have my balls for the weekend.

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What's the difference between leaving to brew and hitting the links all day? Then you have 100 bucks in greens fees, 20 bucks in skins (if you suck like me) and another 20 bucks at the 19th hole. bah. come brew with up for about 30 bucks and you'll get 2 cases of beer out of it.

She should be happy! You're doing her the favor! never forget that, and make sure neither does she.

Wow, you New Englanders drive some sweet trucks! 2 S-10s and a Honda Element. Doesn't anyone believe in V-8s and 8 foot beds anymore?

I have my own subtle protest going in the war on gas prices - a full sized Ford pickup and a Hemi Durango, with a blown small block '41 Chevy in the works. It's not working...

All kidding aside, I'd love to join you, but a 2,500 mile drive is a bit much for a brew day.

Yuri_Rage said:

Wow, you New Englanders drive some sweet trucks! 2 S-10s and a Honda Element. Doesn't anyone believe in V-8s and 8 foot beds anymore?

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Hey, I *tried* to replace my old Mazda with a pickup (we already had the Element), but I can't argue too much with 38MPG on the Civic. Besides, I can fit almost as much in the Elm as I could in a pickup; hundreds (literally) of paver stones, 2x4, 2x8, 2x10, 4x4s, whatever. 28 foot ladders. And, it's a lot better a baby carrier than any truck in our price range.

And yes, I know you wrote that in teal - I just loves me my cah.

Glad you like your Element - everyone who has one seems to agree. Personally I can't stand the way they look. How did Honda design that thing? A pair of cardboard boxes with some donuts leaning on the side?



Maybe I should quit drinking homebrew for the night...

It's all function and zero form, which is what I love about it. Howard Rourke and ****.

Yuri, I think you should fly out and join us. And bring some conicals with you. And a grain mill. And build me a brew closet in the basement.

What do you say?

You paying for the tickets?

the conicals can go in the bed of my v6. and then i can parallel park at my apartment, safely back in the land of asphalt, and lug 'em into the basement. all at 20 mpg.

i had a Ford Bad Larry-it a few years back....took too long to shovel out the bed.

I don't know if I'll be brewing or not, but I can bring 2 burners if that helps everybody for space. My tank is still in Mass, so i can't promise that though...
I'm interested in the brew tour, even if we set it up for a different time...
Speaking of McNiell's, which of their brews do you guys like? I usually go for stouts & porters, do they have any? I've seen a bunch of their brews at the local packie, but haven't grabbed any yet...

I'll have an extra tank of propane to use along with a kettle, so if hippie brings a burner, we' have an entire extra setup.

That helps a lot. I hope to have my new burner by then, but one fewer that we need to squeeze in the car will be a huge help.

Indeed. I would love to do a full boil AG batch. Only PMing at the moment. I could max out my 5 gal MLT!

I was going to try a lager, but the chilling and transporting process would be difficult, so I'll stick to a cali ale.

Should be a a good gathering fellas!

So does this look like a "go"? If so, I'll go ahead and order stuff for an AG Cali Ale.

EDIT: This is my prelim recipe:

AG Cali Common

10 lbs. American 2-row
1 lbs. American Caramel 20°L
.5 lbs. American Victory

Medium body Single Infusion around 153degF for 60 min
Batch Sparge!
maybe 70% eff. if I'm lucky

1 oz. Willamette (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Willamette (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 30 min.
.5 oz. Cascade (Pellets, 5.50 %AA) boiled 15 min.
.5 oz. Willamette (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 10 min.
.5 oz. Cascade (Pellets, 5.50 %AA) flame out


Should be around 1.045-1.055

Yeast is WY2112 Cali Common

Ferment around 60degF

Or something like that...

I'm hitting the HBS either this weekend or next, if anyone needs me to pick up supplies. PM me if so.

chillHayze said:

So does this look like a "go"? If so, I'll go ahead and order stuff for an AG Cali Ale.
Or something like that...

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yeah GREEN, GREEN, GREEN on that.

Anyone interested in attending PM me to confirm your spot, and I will get you directions, and a map.

I will also have a makeshift lauter tun which can be used in conjunction with a spare mash tun (which is not equipped with a means to lauter).

I've lost track of hardware needs, that is if my 2 burners will be needed (I just remembered I have a 3rd, but it is 2 side by side burners in a rectangular frame; I've never used it, and don't know it's output). I also have a full tank, and if I can find it in storage, a splitter to feed 2 burners off the same tank.
Just PM me or post here as we know more.

For the food, we could always use a spare burner as a friolator and do buffalo wings/tenders, mozz sticks, jalapeno poppers, fries & O rings (to name a few). If somebody has a Sam's/Costco/BJ's card those are fairly cheap...

The splitter would be great, as would another propane tank. I ordered my Bayou Classic Banjo Cooker last night (happy birthday to me!), so I'll definately want to take that out for a ride, but the less gear to squeeze into the Elm the better.

We'll need to figure out a solution for wort chilling. I have two hoses to use for those with immersion chillers, but it looks like there will be several of us potentially chillin :cross: while we are chilling!

I've thought about that... if you're getting started ahead of the rest of us, you'll be chilled before the rest of us need a hose. Seems, too, that we could put together a simple hose splitter using parts from the Depot to make two hoses into three. I'll play around with that when I'm down there next.

Yuri_Rage said:

Wow, you New Englanders drive some sweet trucks! 2 S-10s and a Honda Element. Doesn't anyone believe in V-8s and 8 foot beds anymore?



All kidding aside, I'd love to join you, but a 2,500 mile drive is a bit much for a brew day.

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LOL my truck is a 10 year old C1500, and I only can afford to drive it on weekend nowadays.......
I'd like to be there too, but my commute would be a bit long as well........do me a favor, though, and hoist a few for me that day-it'll be my birthday

ablrbrau said:

LOL my truck is a 10 year old C1500, and I only can afford to drive it on weekend nowadays.......
I'd like to be there too, but my commute would be a bit long as well........do me a favor, though, and hoist a few for me that day-it'll be my birthday

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Will do. There will be enough room in the Elm for homebrew, even if it means Chillhaze is strapped to the roof rack!