Oskar Blues Beer Dinner

Craft beer in a can? ABSOLUTELY! We went to Piccola Italia in Ocean, NJ for a beer pairing dinner. I had had Dale's Pale Ale, but none of the others. I'll definitely have more in the future.

Three course meal and four beers!

The Pils. Their "lightest" beer at 5.3% ABV.
Let's state upfront. Food here is excellent. I'm ok with salad. This salad was great.

Gordon. Soon to be G'Knight. A hoppy red. Mmmm. 8.3%.

Old Chub. A nice scotch ale. We got both with dinner. The red was a better fit for us.

A delicious Kobe Beef burger. Might have been the best burger I ever ate. (trust me that's alot of burgers!)

And for dessert. Ten Fidy. A monster. Super big beer. 10.5%. Rich, malty, strong.

Here's the Oskar Blues Gang....

Oh...and the real dessert. Somebody took a bite before the photo....that would be me.

The beer, the food and the restaurant were Great! The Red won best of show as did the chocolate mousse pie...

Triumph Brewing - Philadelphia, Pa

What...Triumph Brewing? Philly? Sure...

In Old Towne Philly...nice

Tanks were tucked away upstairs.

The brew area...

The Brunch Stout....big and bold. Mmmm.

We also tried several of the beers...and the navigator got us lost on the way home..(that was me)

Nice place...like the Triumph in New Hope better though.

Flying Fish Brewing Tour

A great day for a last minute brewery trip.... Flying Fish...Let's go!

Well, if it can't hold beer....

Their beers.
Tanks, tanks, tanks...

Oh...and oak....whiskey and wine...

The brewhouse.

Just put them in my car...

Bottling line.

where's the shopping cart??

Fun tour...oh, and tastings too!

Hops update

So a quick note about our hops.

The nursery with 10 plants reports that they are all the way up the strings. 12 feet on first year hops is really good! May even get a few early hops from them. (though they will probably not be "full strength" hops).

Hops at the NJ location have grown four feet past the top. So that makes them around 18 feet. some varieties have burrs while others are already starting to cone up. (see photo below...centennial)

Hops in Cooperstown were attacked and suffered some serious damage while I was not around to prevent it. Still growing well and are probably at 12 to 14 feet (or more now). Expect they will produce ok...just some leaves don't look great.

Hope things hold together and we have a good crop....

Hefeweizen Fermentation Update

Still....It has been in the carboy for two weeks now and it is still fermenting. The big fermentation is long over, but it is still actively brewing in there.

I hope if slows soon so I can bottle sometime next week....

Black IPA tasting

Broke into the stash and popped a Marmot Black IPA. Mmmm. It was a bit sharp a month ago...but much better now...

Brew Day...

Lots of new stuff going on this time. New equipment and methods... I brewed another Hefeweisen...great summer beer...

The new 15 gallon pot and high output burner....

Grains...wheat and barley..

Hops...Hallertau

My fly sparging in progress.

Now that's a boil! The new pot worked great.

It's raining hops.....

took a bit longer with 10 gallons+, but the chiller continues to work great. With the ice bath, it chilled in less than 30 minutes.

With tne new pot...no siphoning. Simply open the valve and into the carboys.

I pitched the yeast last night around 5:30. By 10:30 the fermentation had started. AND, by 9:00am I had to put blow off tubes on....and it is a good thing.... Biggest krausen I've seen out side of Ommegang.... :)

Smells and looks great.

Hefe II yeast starter

Soooo...brewing another Hefe on Tuesday...gotta get a yeast starter prepped for brewday.

Here are some of the tools required for sucess.

Dry Malt

Filtered water....fire!

Yeast...to start the starter...pour it in and let it grow "huge-er" by Tuesday.

More fire!

after the boil...gotta cool it down before adding the yeast.

the finished starter with the air lock on it. Now we wait a couple days for it to ferment.

It will be done and ready to use by Tuesday. Gives me a much bigger batch of yeast to add to my beer on brewday.

HEY! I'm still here and brewing on Tuesday!

Been awful busy lately....she's been cracking the whip! The good news is I am going to brew my first 10 gallon batch in my new pot and on the new burner...on Tuesday.

Going to get some yeast this afternoon to get it started so it will be ready on Tuesday.

So what beer am I brewing? Well, Susanne-eweisen of course!

Then a special science experiment is scheduled after that....more later on that one....