Hello from Albany, NY

Hi everyone.

I've been lurking on the forums for a few months(and drooling over some of the bar projects some people have been doing here...) so I figured it was about time I became a little more active on the forums (that and today's a slow day so far...)

Just a small bit about me: I've been brewing for a little over 2 years now with two close friends. Between the three of us, we try to meet up usually once a week to either brew or bottle (and, of course, sample some of our fine brews). We've also started growing some of our own hops this past year, so we'll see what kind of bounty we get in 2010.

We're starting to get into the actual science of the brew now (more than just picking up a kit, maybe making an adjustment or two, brewing and hoping everything comes out good), so I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions down the road. But for now, I'll settle for great tasting beers.

Cheers!

hi, welcome.
if you have any questions just ask, we gona be more than happy to help a brother out!

Welcome, CNote.
I lived just north of you in Troy up until 2007. You've got a really nice homebrew shop out in East Greenbush: Hennessy Homebrew Emporium. Not sure if you go there, but if not you should check it out.

Cheers!

Hi darknova.
First, congrats on getting out of the Capital District!

I'm quite familiar with Hennessey Homebrew Emporium. I'm there usually once every 1-2 weeks to pick up miscellaneous equipment/supplies. Good group of guys there. They just expanded their shop, too. They kept all of the wine supplies in the main part of the store, but expanded into what used to be their storage area, where all of the beer supplies are.

Ah, excellent. I always had great conversations with the guys at Hennessey. Glad to hear they're doing well enough to expand.

We don't really have any decent homebrew shops out here, unless you want to drive out to Buffalo, so the Capital District does have its advantages (not to mention Mahar's, my home away from home for 3 years).

Hi there from Albany current capital! I'm about an hour and a half south of you in the old capital, k-town. If I'm not mistaken, there's also a homebrew store over in Latham. I've never been there, but that's what I've heard.

There is one Latham: Hammersmith. I've never been there personally, so I can't really say anything about it.

Hammersmith is where I actually started getting all of my homebrew supplies. They're a pretty decent shop, and the guys there are good to talk with as well.

My thoughts on them, though: Hammersmith is a good spot to get clone kits (their Magic Hat #9 clone is excellent). But if you're looking to purchase individual ingredients and supplies for brewing, I prefer Hennessey. They have a much more extensive variety of ingredients (grains, hops, yeasts, etc...) than I've seen at Hammersmith.

Welcome