Small Batch Sustainable Brewer in Southern VT

[Oethical_Oenologist]

Hi, y'all! I'm a small batch (1 gallon) brewer of mead, cider & herbal wine and also a writer. My first book will be out next summer. It's all about how to brew sustainably at home. I blog about what I drink, eat and brew.

I'm married to a beer brewer and we live in beautiful southern VT with three geriatric pets (2 dogs and a cat).

Always interested in learning from others, especially people who are doing things like brewing with rain water, using home grown or hyper local ingredients, etc. I'd love to feature people like this on my website... if you're far away you're in charge of the pictures

I'm very active on Instagram and would love to follow you so comment with your handle/username whatever it's called these days.

 

[Pappers_]

Welcome to HBT. Lots of folks here who grow their own hops, use organic ingredients, etc. Poke around a little bit, you'll find areas of interest to you. There are specific subforums here for cider, meads and wines which you might find interesting.

Regarding your blog, there is a subforum for promoting brewing related blogs, if you want to post links to your blog posts there. Or you can post the entire blog post in whatever subforum it fits. For example, if I write a blog post about growing hops, posting the whole article in the Recipes and Ingredients or the Growing Hops areas is fine. What I can't do is post a short blurb and a link to my blog in those forums. The content has to be there. If you have any questions about this, send me a PM.

As an urban dweller, I don't grow my own ingredients (or use rainwater), but I do add to sustainability by being a part of a community that has built out and maintains its own brewhouse, for members to use. Shared space for those of us who live on top of each other.

Again, welcome to HBT!

 

[GeorgeHenry]

Welcome aboard from Bennington VT!
I was just looking at your profile Nancy. You brew very much like me.
Meads & apple wines are my favourites. I also do mostly 1 gallon batches.
I saw that you are making blueberry wine this weekend.
I am making a blueberry/apple wine this weekend. I just started
my first ever large batch at 3 gallons. I pitched the yeast 5 hours ago.
It must be a blueberry wine Labor Day Weekend in Bennington.
I also made a 1 gal. must of raspberry/apple today.
I'll pitch th yeast tomorrow when it settles at room temperature.
Cheers
George

 

[Sammy86]

Welcome to the community and obsession from CT!

 

[Oethical_Oenologist]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice!
Despite my rural local I'm also an urban dweller. My across the hall neighbor grows on the roof but we don't have access from our space. Also, I kill anything I try to grow. It's pretty scary.

Thanks also for the info on posting blog content/sharing links. I totally appreciate it!

Welcome to HBT. Lots of folks here who grow their own hops, use organic ingredients, etc. Poke around a little bit, you'll find areas of interest to you. There are specific subforums here for cider, meads and wines which you might find interesting.

Regarding your blog, there is a subforum for promoting brewing related blogs, if you want to post links to your blog posts there. Or you can post the entire blog post in whatever subforum it fits. For example, if I write a blog post about growing hops, posting the whole article in the Recipes and Ingredients or the Growing Hops areas is fine. What I can't do is post a short blurb and a link to my blog in those forums. The content has to be there. If you have any questions about this, send me a PM.

As an urban dweller, I don't grow my own ingredients (or use rainwater), but I do add to sustainability by being a part of a community that has built out and maintains its own brewhouse, for members to use. Shared space for those of us who live on top of each other.

Again, welcome to HBT!

 

[Oethical_Oenologist]

Welcome aboard from Bennington VT!
I was just looking at your profile Nancy. You brew very much like me.
Meads & apple wines are my favourites. I also do mostly 1 gallon batches.
I saw that you are making blueberry wine this weekend.
I am making a blueberry/apple wine this weekend. I just started
my first ever large batch at 3 gallons. I pitched the yeast 5 hours ago.
It must be a blueberry wine Labor Day Weekend in Bennington.
I also made a 1 gal. must of raspberry/apple today.
I'll pitch th yeast tomorrow when it settles at room temperature.
Cheers
George

Hey, neighbor! Haha, I thought it was GARLIC weekend in Bennington. How'd your pitch go? I'm having all sorts of fermentation problems. I am convinced it's the temperature in our apartment... I don't think our thermostat has a clue (sensor in the wrong place is my guess) so I keep having all sorts of issues. I may have to find a another place to keep my primaries because it's getting to be a real nightmare. Just ordered some stick on thermometers so I can assess the best place to ferment. Keep me posted on your brews... they sound delicious!

 

[Oethical_Oenologist]

thanks!

 

[GeorgeHenry]

Hey, neighbor! Haha, I thought it was GARLIC weekend in Bennington. How'd your pitch go? I'm having all sorts of fermentation problems. I am convinced it's the temperature in our apartment... I don't think our thermostat has a clue (sensor in the wrong place is my guess) so I keep having all sorts of issues. I may have to find a another place to keep my primaries because it's getting to be a real nightmare. Just ordered some stick on thermometers so I can assess the best place to ferment. Keep me posted on your brews... they sound delicious!

Both fermentations are bubbling nicely. The rasp./apple is extremely active and I had to babysit it yesterday swirling the bottle to keep the CO2 from forcing raspberries up the neck. It would be in the same state with very little head space rapidly after swirling. I put on a tube to jar air lock to allow some rasp. to escape more safely than with a standard air lock. It is much more calm today and I'll put the standard air lock back on it tonight or tomorrow.
Bye for now
GH

 

[Oethical_Oenologist]

Both fermentations are bubbling nicely. The rasp./apple is extremely active and I had to babysit it yesterday swirling the bottle to keep the CO2 from forcing raspberries up the neck. It would be in the same state with very little head space rapidly after swirling. I put on a tube to jar air lock to allow some rasp. to escape more safely than with a standard air lock. It is much more calm today and I'll put the standard air lock back on it tonight or tomorrow.
Bye for now
GH

Glad it's going so well. I'm having a doozy of a time with fermentation over here. Our A/C is out and it's hot af in here (80°) so I wonder if now is the time to repitch and see if that helps.

Have you tried the new brewery on Harwood Hill? I just heard about it while I was in the city this weekend.

 

[Zimm9]

Welcome! I've been curious about using rain water for brewing. Don't have the collection set up at the moment but if a home purchase goes through then I might (fingers crossed) inherit a couple huge tanks with the property.