Hop harvest & Bar Lee Whine

So I harvested the hops yesterday. Kinda dissapointed in the yeild. Only about 8 ounces wet. But I have talked to other farmers in the area and their yeilds were 1/2 of normal this year...

Hope to get a couple ounces when dried. That will do a couple batches of beer....

ALSO. Thinking about going big! Bar Lee Whine. Just have to come up with the grain bill and recipe....more to come.

Newhaus Hefeweizen update

Well. After a weekend away I figured I would come back to a pretty quiet fermenter. Nope. Slowing, but still moving pretty steady. Seems like another few days at least.

Abita Dinner Photos, etc

A great time at the Abita Beer Dinner. Good beers, great food and company!

Brickwall Tavern - Asbury Park,NJ

The Brickwall. Cool place.

The Amber and Purple Haze. Great beers for food pairings.


Their Wit. Very Popular with the group.

Some beer dinner folks.

Jockamo....hoppy goodness.

And the food!!! wow....

Turbodog. How can you go wrong with a name like that!

And food like this!

And the Finale. An Abita Rootbeer float. (with a ginger snap)

And the Hybrid Taxi rides were fun too....

Fermentation Update & Abita Beer Dinner

Just a quick fermentation update on the Newhaus Hefe. We have a solid fermentation going. It started a bit warm so I used the wet tee shirt trick. (not that one...come on!) I hadn't used it before but it worked great. It lowered the carboy temp by 3 or 4 degrees....just what I needed.

Also. Tonight is the Abita Beer dinner at the Brickwall Tavern in Asbury Park,NJ. I'll post photos and info tomorrow.

PLUS: check out Abita's SOS info posted in ALL ABOUT BEER today. A Weizen Pils!
http://allaboutbeer.com/learn-beer/reviews/staff-reviews/2010/08/abita-sos-a-charitable-pilsner/#comments

Cheers!

Newhaus Hefeweizen

So the first NJ brew....Newhaus Hefeweizen.....in the fermenter.....

Hot Liquor Tank

Da Grains
They sent a plane to check on us.

The Mash!

Assistant Brewers!

Hey...what is in there?

HEY....knock that off!!!

The Brew!

Now....the choppers are coming in....

Chillin!

Hey....what's going on?

Yeast....

Shake...shake....shake....

Clean...clean...clean.....

The Brew!

Brewday tomorrow! Newhaus Hefeweizen

Hey...is that a brewing platform?

Since our recent move, I have been asked "when is your next brew day?" Well....first I had to stain "the brewing platform". Plus a list of other things.... :)

Abita beer Dinner at The Brickwall Tavern

August 17th we are headed to the Brickwall Tavern for a night of beers and food. 5 Course dinner and 5 Beers from a great Louisiana brewery. Abita. We did a test drive at the Brickwall last week and loved their beer list, food and atmosphere.

Check them out:
http://www.brickwalltavern.com/index.html

And check Abita out at:
http://abita.com/

Photos and followup after the fun and frolic.

OOOhhh-Me-Gang! aka Ommegang.

I have been on the tour a bunch of times, but can never get enough of Ommegang. Took a couple of friends along to see the top fermentation and warm storage bottle conditioning..

The brew house

The tasting room.

It was Patti's first visit....think there will be more in the future!!

Hops Nursery

Just a quick note on the nursery. I enlisted a green thumb to tend the nursery. Actually, I ran out of time to find a spot to plant the rhizomes I had in the fridge so....

I did containers for the first year to allow for easy transplanting. I put together a PVC trellis.

7 different varieties. Of the 14 rhizomes, 12 came up....

They are even bigger now and those that are going to flower, will be starting soon....

Hops Update

So here are a few photos of the Cascade Hops. These are the 2nd year plants.

Sue and I flying in to check the hops. Kidding!

Nice cones.

Looks good.

The plants...

Finally a new brewery...!!!

Hey all. Sorry for the long delay...

We moved into our new place this past week and the brewery is mostly still in boxes, but I feel a brew day coming soon.

Hmmmm. Sue wants a Wit or Hefeweizen. Will come up with a recipe soon.

AND, Phil wants an ESB or a Black IPA. PLUS, I have to put together an Octoberfest soon to age it out before serving in Sept/Oct.

Stay tuned...

Snow in the Hop Yard!

It is May 9th! I can't figure out why my hops are not taking off....hmmm is that snow?

Yep....May 9th...snow in Cooperstown!!
Guess I'll water them, add some mulch and wait for sun!

Sooo, IT IS red.....

Test drive of "Little Red" was good. It is a light red...almost a pale ale. Great hop flavor and good body. Well cabonated.... BUT, now my "Liquid Gold" labels don't work..... It is good, but needs a bit more body next time around. Still.....very drinkable.....

I have a bottle of Big Red up next.

Mooooving Day is Friday

I have only been brewing for a short time.....BUT, wow what a load of stuff I have to pack!

Ever try to pack a carboy? How about 5? Pots and buckets, bottles (full and empty)....wish I was had switched to kegging.... and frozen hops....hope they make it....

Next brew day? Not sure....but wish it was tomorrow!

Mead....wow!

I bottled the mead last night. WOW! It is good....and STRONG! A bit on the sweet side. I bottled it without carbonation. I'll let it age and it should be even better!!!

It had been in the jug for over 2 months. I didn't take gravity readings (forgot when I put it up). So I don't know the alcohol. But based on some previous tastings...probably in the 10-11% range.

Remember: Oranges, raisins, cinnamon stick

Looks bad, but made the mead taste great...

Little Red Bottling

OK...so I guess I have to change the name. It came out golden. Tasted good though. Next time I'll add a touch of dark malt in the second beer to make sure it comes out red-ish.

Kinda golden.

plenty o yeast left over!

Big Red Bottling

Big Red bottling! First time using whole hops to dry hop....kinda looks midevil!

Looks cool though

Red....

Carboy with soldiers all lined up.

My bottling setup. Seems like kegs would be way easier!

Up next.....little red.