Lagunitas Beer Dinner

We went to a Lagunitas Beer and Burger dinner at Nip & Tuck in Long Branch, NJ. It wasn't one of those fancy food pairing dinners. But Lagunitas and Burgers...sounds like a great pairing to me!

Here's the lineup!

Hop Stoopid!
Trevor from Lagunitas led us through each beer.

Such silliness

Bob...our Nip & Tuck host.

About 40 of us enjoying the beers, etc.

We cannot live on beer alone...

The crew enjoyed the night of food and drink.

We had a great time. And they will have more dinners over the next couple months....

Updates...updates....

Ok..so...an update on a few items....

The Black IPA is still in the fermenter. I will rack it to secondary on Monday...give it a few days to settle and then bottle late next week.

The Hefe and Weizenbock are finishing up fermentation. Still bubbling a couple times a minute, so they need at least a few more days to finish and have the yeast clean up the beer.

Hey....Cider....still in the fermenters. Will potassium sorbate them next week and then back sweeten and bottle. They are both crystal clear right now.

Mead. Well....I have honey...but, haven't gotten to the mead yet.

Got the Triple Blow off!

For my friends who know what a blow off is, but haven't seen one.... I was expecting one, but got three!

Set up one blow off hose.

Had to add one more and take care of the third...

I was a little worried about the amount of yeast per fermenter...guess I shouldn't have been!

I'll replace the blow off tubes ina couple days with airlocks...they'll settle down probably tomorrow....

Two Beer Friday! Two brews in one day.

Two brews in one day. Started at 10am... The "Susanne-eweisen" is for her. The "I'll be Bock" is for me. Let's start with the hefe.

With 50% wheat I had to put a bunch of rice hulls to prevent a stuck sparge.

I used what is left of our snowbank to fuel the chiller.


OK...so I have done a bunch of brews. You're looking at my very first boil over....

Boilover tamed...

Funny...I didn't even see the schmoots in the beer while I was siphoning. The flash froze it in the photo.

So. I only have one 6 1/2 gallon carboy. (currently fermenting the black IPA.) So I put it in a 5 gallon and hooked up a blow off hose.

Now onto the Weisenbock. A darker, stronger wheat beer. Here we are crankin' up the sparge arm.

Some pretty nasty break material there. Lots of wheat protein.

Ooops. Did I forget to mention that I am splitting the batch and adding raspberries to one half?

The Chiller in action....

Da Siphon!

Can u tell which one has the fruit in it?

Phew....a long day....and two beers (three kinda) in the tanks...

Bed and Brew...Ommegang

So....If you ever want a great weekend beer event...this is it. A two night stay at a 5 star bed and breakfast. Get to hang out in a great baseball town, and enjoy a food pairing beer dinner at a world class brewery. PLUS....meet a group of homebrewers and craft beer lovers.

So....first...a stop on the way at the Albany Pump station for lunch and a growler fill.

Friday night was craftbeer/homebrew night at The Inn at Cooperstown. We enjoyed ourselves....can you tell.

The cool part was...Wes from Ommegang, stopped by on friday to hang with the group.

(Third from left)
It was snowing Saturday when we hopped on the Trolley for the ride to the brewery. (and let's just say it was a white knuckle ride! We arrived safe and sound)

Our Ommegang tour guide...Scott. Always very informative...and funny too....

At the end of the tours...we enjoyed a tasting. This was no "visit the brewery" tasting! We had some stuff that you don't normally have on the tour. My favorite? Zuur. And how about "Cave Aged" beer. Ommegang!

Our new specialty cuisine friend Lucy, put together some perfect pairings. No, really....perfect.

So....here are our hosts...Marc and Sherrie, Wes and Lucy.

Here were the beers with our dinner....a great line-up. And the loud table.....

Just a great weekend...fun, food and beer...what more could you ask for....

Oh and....mystery "gakker"....we are still gathering recon.... :)

http://www.innatcooperstown.com/

http://www.ommegang.com/

Up Next..wheat, wheat and more wheat!

So what is up next, you ask? Working on a Hefeweizen and a Weizenbock. May do a double brew. Two separate beers in one day.... Just gotta find the right day.....

International Great Beer Expo

We made a trip to the International Great Beer Expo. I visited 23 Countries! It was fun to taste beers from far away places that I'll never get to see.... Pilsners...mostly pilsners. PLUS there were a ton of great beers from the US of A. It was the inaugural event here in NJ.

Distributors were on hand to pour beers you've heard of.....
Some from europe....

Hey....a polish beer.....

two sessions....2500 people each.

We support the Beer for Brains Foundation.

The Beer Garden

Japanese beers...

Tons of folks enjoying over 100 beers.

They put a call out for volunteers....here's a few of the fylsbrewing folks.

It was fun...and we look forward to next year.....

Black IPA in the fermenter

Brewed up the Marmot Black IPA. Lots of home grown whole leaf hops. Which is good for the taste, but bad for the siphon.... Looked, smelled and tasted great going in....

Da Hops

+Lettuce....kidding...vacuum packed hops before goin' in.

Easy way to cool the preboil SG sample

Now, that's what I'm talking about.

Chilling with local ingredients..

BLACK IPA!

Leftovers....it's tough to get it all out with that "salad" in there....

Yeast starter at high krausen....

In the fermenter.