Big A$$ed Brew Out in New Jersey

**sorry, this should have been in the local gatherings forum*** mods feel free to move...

I've been trying to get my fellow New Jersey brewers to engage in some real, in person, camaraderie; whether brewing, drinking or just hanging out, for at least a year now. Not a week goes by that a new HBT'r doesn't come introducing themselves with a "hi from new jersey" thread. Ok guys, HI....now come hang out and brew. Maybe it's weird to meet strangers or you're afraid of getting chopped up and used as a lampshade (yes I stole that one).

As a member of The WHALES home brewing club here in central NJ, I've offered to host this year's Teach a Friend to Brew day. Now the catch is that Nov 3rd coincides with the New England Cider Day so we've postponed it a week to Nov 10th.

The turn out should be great just counting the brew club members but I'm extending an invitation to any HBT members that are interested as well. You can come to brew or watch. If you're brewing, bring a food contribution. If you're just watching, bring food and some of your homebrew for everyone to share (or at least a 12 of commercial as a thank you gesture).

We usually pull off about 100 gallons of brew between a few 10 gallon all grain and a few 5 gallon extracts. There are a lot of all grain guys willing to teach extract brewers by splitting their 10 gallon batch.

PM me for more details. If we don't get a single HBT member (besides me) at this event, I'll officially declare the NJ contingent of HBT a bunch of lame closet brewers.



Here's a short video of a similar event last May:

[YOUTUBE]3H3FnLD3BgI[/YOUTUBE]

Where in central Jersey?

Like I said in PMs, I'll try to be there and to the next WHALES meetings. NJ homebrewers seem to be reclusive. Let's get together people!

Piscataway, NJ of course.

Awesome video. If I were in NJ, i'd be there. Heres to a great turn out!

I'm bumping this one more time since I'd like to get a total headcount by the end of this week. Anyone who's never attended a big group brew is strongly urged to get out from behind your computer and see what other people are doing. I'm not saying online reading (especially HBT) isn't extremely valuable, but there's NOTHING like seeing people brew and talking techniques in person.

I moved it for ya.

Bump one more time. I'd appreciate an RSVP on this ASAP if you're planning on coming. If you're in the central Jersey area and are not planning on coming, I'd love to hear why not. When is the last time you've had the chance to take 10 or so personal brewery tours in one place? Even if you think I'm a complete tool based on my HBT posts, you still stand to learn something from all the other veteran brewers in attendance. ;-)

What about that new guy, chrisknight, that says he knows you? And don't you and sirsloop go back aways?

Philadelphia is 1:20h
NYC is 1h.

I know that the_bird and those Yankee guys drive 1-3 hours to get together for a brewout!

WTF people?

I must have EAC written all over me ;-)

Sirsloop is invited but I think he's got weekend obligations for work. We hang out on occassion and he actually joined the homebrew club I'm in.

Chrisknight is a guy I talked to a bit on youtube but I'm not sure where he's from. I plugged HBT and he showed up. Cool!

Yup, Philly is just over an hour, I just drove it. I'm also a short cab ride from the New Brunswick train station accessible from both NYC and Philly.

I'm still in as of now. Is it just you and me? I don't have any samples but I can bring commercial stuff...

Some day in the future I may be down, maybe this spring.

I've got about 11 homebrew club members confirmed as coming. In fact, it was moreso a homebrew club event but I'm figuring it's a good way to meet some fellow HBT members and possibly get you guys to join the club. Some people will brew, others will watch. I'd imagine any non brewers would be willing to assist others, etc. Otherwise it's just an opportunity for folks to see other processes and equipment setups. None of them go to Brutus10 extents but some of them are pretty trick anyway. Many of these guys are award winning brewers so they're worth chatting with. There's also a couple mead/cider/cyser gurus doing a few batches of "non beer".

Unfortunately, I'm not looking likely. My wife started a new job this week and she has training this Saturday, so I have no one to watch my daughter. So right now it's a no, but if that changes, I'll let you know ASAP.

C'mon, Jersey folks - REPRESENT!

Jester's driving almost three hours to come brew with me and other folks this weekend. I've driven two and a half hours to brew and drink with Kaiser and Boston. Chillhayze and 2nd Street have driven even further than me.

Sh*t, I drove all the way to freakin' Virginia this summer, to see family in DC but also to hang out with Dude for a couple days. Olllllllllllllllllllllllo's flown clear across the country.

C'mon, people!

I'm in!

The only question I have to resolve is whether to fly into Newark directly on the FRI red eye and land at 7:56 AM SAT arriving at Bobby's at perhaps @ 9:30 AM

OR

Fly on the red eye into Philly and land at 5:40 AM and either rent a car, take a train or ride in with someone from the Philly area and be at Bobby's @ 8:30 - 9:30

AND/OR

stay in Piscataway OR Philly depending on whether someone steps to the plate on the Philly tip. I'm going to need to know in the next 24hrs or so.

I think that this is going to be an awesome brewout and it would really be fun to ride up from Philly.

C'mon. Who's with me?

I've asked one PENN HBTer already, but he has an excuse as his wife is due. He has a legit excuse.

This is some hardcore brewing commitment. It kinda makes you tri-state area brewers look kinda lackadaisical huh? Nothing like flying into crappy NJ fall weather.

Hmm... if I wasn't hosting Yankee Ingenuity this weekend, I might drive down. Yahoo! says it's only three and a half hours - a trip, but do-able. Maybe next time...

Ok. I booked in and out of Philadelphia other wise I'd have to connect through Las Vegas and that's usually trouble.

So, redeye to PHI, landing at 5:40A, I should be on the road by 6:30A.
Invite is still open to riders from PA.

I hope to arrive at Bobby's after 8A.

I'll stay in Piscataway on SAT and then drive into PHI on SUN. My flight leaves at 4:15PM If anyone would like to catch brunch or part of a football game let me know. Or if you want to give me some tips as to where I can hang out and have a few, my preference would be to slurp beer, free WiFi and watch some game.

Anyone know if the car rental is on or offsite in PHI.

I wish I had seen this before i agreed to go to DC for the weekend, this is exactly what im looking for. Im from Philly and interested in getting into all grain, i really want to see it first hand before i make the leap though. Im completely self taught (other than the help I get here) so far with extract.

olllllo, If you are strapped for time and want a decent beer, there is a local brew pub that has a spot right in the PHI airport. in the mall sort of area between B and C terminal, its called Independance brew pub. Its not favorite brew pub, but it pretty good.

I might be able to make it down there, I'm about an hour from jersey. I'd be a definite if my car hadn't been stolen this week

Do it budz.
That'd rool.

yeah, I might need to put some extra miles on the rental car

It's gonna be cold and rainy, perfect brewing weather. It's still on by the way. We've got some tents and tarps to keep it bearable.

Bobby_M said:

It's gonna be cold and rainy, perfect brewing weather. It's still on by the way. We've got some tents and tarps to keep it bearable.

Click to expand...

Figures Sunday will be warmer and sunny. It wouldn't be as manly then :rockin:

Crap. I would go, but I have plans for Saturday. I plan on taking you up on the brewing offer in the future. I want to learn all grain and would be interested in splitting a batch.

Mike

njnear76 said:

Crap. I would go, but I have plans for Saturday. I plan on taking you up on the brewing offer in the future. I want to learn all grain and would be interested in splitting a batch.

Mike

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I'm really bummed that I can't head up there as well. (Nobody to watch my daughter). So I will be living the joy of the event vicariously at home by brewing tomorrow morning.

I'm also interested in learning AG, so Bobby, still keep me in mind for future events even though I suck for this one

We have 8 or 9 rigs going now. Weather is holding up well. I'll post some pics later.

So, what HBT folks made it out?

How many HBT'er have you met IRL now, olllllllllllllllllllllllllllo?

eric_duel
cbg3868
foxbrew

Still waiting on Soulive.

Had I seen this earlier in the week (working sh*t load of OT) I would have jumped on a jet and come up, but at least I'm brewing!!!

Hope you guys are having a good time. I wanted to make it down but can't due to my annoying car issues at the moment. I'm with you in spirit though

Me, a friend and my father (joejaz) brewed out a SNPA clone today... still a little tipsy... been drinking since 10:30.. woo! hope you guys are having a good time!

Successful brewday, 70 gallons of beer and 5 of mead. A few brewers backed out due to early rain the the day shaped up nicely. It got really cold but I fired up the firepit to take the edge off once the day turned from brewing to drinking. Everyone took off by 6pm and I'm ready to pass out. Olllllo very cool of you to make the effort to come out here.

cd2448, foxbrew, bobby_m, eric_duel, ollllo


For the other NJ guys that didn't make it, let's plan ahead for an all grain learning session. It's probably easier when I'm not running around hosting.

thanks for hosting, bobby_M, i learned a lot and hope to one day make the jump to the big leagues!

The hospitality was much appreciated, especially for someone never having even spoke with anyone there!

I had a good time and even picked up some good tricks. Probably would have learned a lot more if I had made it earlier in the day (mash time instead of boil time). It really was a pleasure meeting some fellow brewers.

Thanks!

It really was a great brewout, Bobby. I'll post pics when I get home.
Good to meet some HBTers. The Whales (www.WhalesClub.com) are a great bunch of guys and Chris an Eric should consider joining up.

I had a few Lambics and Gueuzes with landhoney, Mrs landhoney and two of their friends at Monks. Awesome bunch of people. If anyone hasn't already noticed, land is a real resource here for those that are interested in sours.

Well we had such a good time, I missed my 4:15 and nor I'm on the 6:20...

I mucked up the drive to the airport and decided to re-visit NJ and pay them an extra $3.

Oh well, I have more time to drink here at the bar. Victory Hopdevil and Stoudts All-American so far...

I had a great trip, thanks to all.

It just gets better - I was explaing the AG procedure to my wife, and she became frankly outraged to hear that I'm not making beer properly like you guys, and that taking all these short cuts (DME/LME) is just cheating. Looks like AG will be on next summer.


In any case I want to get the rest of the process sorted out first - I'd hate to go through the whole AG process, only to mess things up doing the easy stuff like racking and bottling.

olllllo said:

Awesome bunch of people.
Well we had such a good time, I missed my 4:15 and nor I'm on the 6:20...
I had a great trip, thanks to all.

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You're the awesome one olllllo ! I hope you had as great a time as I did. I won't fully detail your generosity for fear of setting a dangerous precident whenever you meet up with other HBTalkers , but you were really too kind. I had heard that Monk's only flaw was the service/rudeness, but our server/s where very nice/helpful. They took their time on a few orders, but we were certainly not acting like we were in a hurry. Sorry to hear you missed your flight, hope Mrs.olllllo wasn't too upset.

We enjoyed:
-Monk's House Gueze - tap -blend owner made at Cantillon w/various Cantillon Lambics(excellent, low carbed(wonderful), nicely sour, moderate funk, a Delight!)
-Rodenbach Grand Cru - tap <- On Tap! We should all be so lucky!
-Kasteel Rouge - tap (OK, bit too much of a fake cherry flavor)
-De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva 2005 - bottle( as a second option -turned out soo good)
-Monks Flemish Red - tap ( nice low sourness, good complexity)
-Drie Fonteinen schaerbeekse kriek - bottle (very good, maybe not worth the price, very intense cherry flavor - low funk/wood/everything else)
etc. etc. (the above were the 'interesting' ones)

My favorites were Monk's Cantillon Gueze and the De Dolle Oerbier Reserve(sour brown oak aged for two years). I/we got the Oerbier because they didn't have the Still Nacht Reserve, I was diappointed they didn't have it until we received the backup Oerbier and it turned out to be so great. I think we drank it a bit too cold, the last few sips seemed to be the best.
(And now looking at beeradvocate it appears this was a 13% ABV beer! Holy Crap they did a good job with this! There's no way I'd think it was 13%, half that maybe. This would be good be to clone and try to try kill the Brett/etc. by upping the ABV until they die in order to leave some body/sweetness. )

Sorry this is so long. To summarize:
1. If you get a chance to meet olllllo, do it - he's a great guy
2. If you get a chance to go to Monk's, do it
3. If you get a chance to do both at the same time, :rockin:

Thanks again olllllo, anytime you're in Philly......it's on!