Brewing in Western NY

Hey all, I've been brewing extracts for a little over a year now. I have 6 batches under my belt thus far, and my son was born in the middle of it all. I'm from a small city between Niagara Falls and Rochester NY, not too far from the shores of Lake Ontario. I've got a couple buddies who brew, along with one of them that also grows hops. Just wanted to give a little bit of an introduction, as i sit here and sip a few homebrews!

My first brew was an Anchor Steam clone-which was good...but i should have let more age, because as time went on it just got better and better. I drank the last bottle about a month ago.

my second batch was a Nut Brown Ale, which was good. My third batch i played around with adding extra hops and secondary fermenting on cocoa nibs...then it all got away from me as my son was born in May last year. That 3rd batch ended up sitting in secondary from march until mid august. I added extra yeast when i finally bottled it, but after a good 3 weeks of conditioning it is crisp, clean and clear for a dark beer.

My next batch was a SN Pale clone recipe-its getting to its peak right now. Probably my favorite batch thus far.

I just recently bottled a Winter Warmer kit from my LHBS. Can't wait to crack into one of those next month. It was good when i cracked a bottle to see if it was carbed, but it was definitely green (2 weeks after bottling)

My latest batch that I just brewed is a Hoppy Weizen. I got a Hefeweizen kit for christmas and I decided to play around with the recipe and decided to hop the poop out of it. I had some extra chinook pellets along with some homegrown hops from my buddy (Chinook and Zeus). The kit came with a couple oz's of Liberty so I added Chinnok (pellet and fresh) and Zeus (fresh) It smells amazing and is currently fermenting @60 degrees in my basement. Im going to let that go another couple weeks and check it to see if its ready to go.

Does anyone know of a resource that will give you a beer style and what typical ingredients are used for said style? Like take an Irish Red for example. Are there typical ingredients that would make an Irish red an Irish red? (stupid question i know...just not sure where to look/how to search that)

My name is Mark, I am from Rochester, living outside Brockport close to the lake. I went to school for culinary and found my passion for real beer during this time of my life, and after serious thought, have made the decision to invest in brewing school! Will be leaving for a three month course in England this upcoming summer. I have been told there are home brew clubs in our area but have yet to give them a try, have you any experience with these? Am always interested in networking. Currently in the process of building my all grain brewery. I have a lot of ideas, but nothing is concrete yet. I work at a machining shop and plan to build a brew structure. Does anybody in your network brew with one of these? The Brutus 10 in particular? If so, I would very much appreciate an opportunity to pick their brain. Thanks.

To answer your question, try Google-ing this book:

Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles

Phil,
Welcome from the east side of Rochester NY.
I started my recipes with books but nowdays, I look to the internet more than looking through my few brewing books.
Regards,
John

You might be getting lake effect today. We are!

markjburch said:

My name is Mark, I am from Rochester, living outside Brockport close to the lake. I went to school for culinary and found my passion for real beer during this time of my life, and after serious thought, have made the decision to invest in brewing school! Will be leaving for a three month course in England this upcoming summer. I have been told there are home brew clubs in our area but have yet to give them a try, have you any experience with these? Am always interested in networking. Currently in the process of building my all grain brewery. I have a lot of ideas, but nothing is concrete yet. I work at a machining shop and plan to build a brew structure. Does anybody in your network brew with one of these? The Brutus 10 in particular? If so, I would very much appreciate an opportunity to pick their brain. Thanks.

To answer your question, try Google-ing this book:

Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles

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I havn't had any experience with brew clubs-though i believe there is a few in my area. I don't have much for free time unfortunately. I don't know anyone with a brew structure at this point, but my one buddy is building some sort of automatic brew system (or its in "parts gathering phase")
And thanks for the tip! I'll check that book out!

smooth said:

Phil,
Welcome from the east side of Rochester NY.
I started my recipes with books but nowdays, I look to the internet more than looking through my few brewing books.
Regards,
John

You might be getting lake effect today. We are!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the 'Welcome' John! Im a bit west of that snow thankfully! Im out near Lockport.

Western New York in an introduction always gets my attention. Greetings....

If you are West of Olcott... your place is off my fishing circuit. Basicly have fished every stream along Lake Ontario from Rochester to Olcott.

Brew on brother.

Vernacular said:

Western New York in an introduction always gets my attention. Greetings....

If you are West of Olcott... your place is off my fishing circuit. Basicly have fished every stream along Lake Ontario from Rochester to Olcott.

Brew on brother.

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I live in lockport which is 20 mins south of olcott Grew up fishing out of olcott harbor.

Welcome fellow NY'er

Welcome, from the city of Rochester (and also Buffalo, but currently located in 14605 ).

thanks