The Beer Nerd - what are you drinking / brewing thread

This is at your house?
Like in your garage?

 

Thanks! There is a floor drain, which is awesomely handy, just out of the shot in front of the stand. Instant water heater is still not 100% functional. I need an inline low pressure LP regulator but when I do fire it up the bitch get's hot! I'd say close to 180. Scored that industrial sink of craigs list for $100

It's a section of a barn on my dads property. We've been building it all ourselves over the last 4 years.

 

Just for self consumption?
Or going to sell to the locals?

 

Hey @jayway

Ever hear of this brewery? http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=593175

I'm on that forum and I was following it.

Edit: its in lincoln CA called Bent brewery I think

 

Mostly for consumption, competitions, and parties. I can't sell it w/o all the licensing but I won't say no to donations for more beer.

Yeah I think I posted in that thread. They keep pushing out the dates so I'm not too sure when they are set to open but I'll be checking it out when they do. We need a decent brewery in our little town. Beermans keeps opening and closing every couple months and Goat House is a great place but their beer is not so great.

 

Hell yhea!
Wish i could do some shit like this.
Land here in Southern California to do something like this is unheard of or if you have it it's worth millions of dollars.
So much value that you would never consider doing something like this

 

Loves me some Left Hand

 

Has anyone seen this? You think It'll be any good?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1708005089/pico-craft-beer-at-home?ref=tag

 

It seems to be legit. But idk if I would pay that price for it.
Think I would rather just buy beer that I know is good. Instead of investing in something like this that's kinda taxed. And not knowing the outcome.
But if I had the money and time fuck it why not just another adventure!

 

Every day.

Every single goddamn day.

"I'm not going to drink beer tonight! Gonna be a big boy."

Then I get on this thread.

 

Same here. I think yesterday was the first day I made it through in like 2 weeks.

 

Seems legit. I'd be more incline for a grainfather like machine myself. Or the blichmen equivalent.

Although with a little effort you could brew the same beer for a fraction of the cost! Minimal investments.

I like brewing half for what's produced and half for the process in making it.

The pico machine seems idiot proof but takes some of the "art" out.

 

So around this time I did a beer trip around Philly. I was going to Ron's wedding. Ron is a college buddy who got me into homebrewing.

So I fly into Philly, get the rental car and head for State Line Liquor in Elkton MD. Its about 10 minutes or 2 minutes from I-95 south. 10
if you decide not to pay the toll and get off right before, otherwise 95 is visible from the store. For any that are in the area and dont know about this place, check it out. The selection of anything you want is outstanding. I first learned about the store from our Homebrew club website list of good beer stores. I first started buying from then around 2004 or so, when I was regularly flying out to the east coast for work. At once point in time I was hauling 2 checked bags back each trip with 70 lbs of beer and glass! Gold Elite status on Continental. The good old days. I recognized Robert from before and we chatted and I shopped.

So I got about a dozen bottles then killed a half hour. For $5, a free glass and all the 3 oz fills of Starr Hill product you wanted, they had 6 or 7 different beers, they were OK, and some good.


So this is the bottle haul. Starting on the right, Dogfish Head Gin, which was actually purchased from a Total Wine in Wilmington DE.
3 Beatitude series Tart Saisons
Great Divide 22nd Anniversay
Captain Lawrence Rosso e Morrone (2), Ale fermented with grapes in Oak barrel. It was highly recommended.
Boon Black Label Geuze (2)
Lindemans Cuvee Renee Kriek (2). A limited edition of their regular Cuvee Renee
Tilquen Geuze. They had the Geuze Stout blend on the shelf, I asked if he had the regular and he parted with a bottle from his reserve in the back.

The last 2 bottles arent from State Line. Ron (the lazy bastard) had put together a birthday beer box last November but never shipped it. It had 3 bottles
Victory Java Cask (coffee stout Bourbon Barrel)
Victory Java Cask (coffee stout Rye Barrel)
Red (Flanders Red)

He didnt know if I got the Java Cask, we do in Houston. When I was packing, I we tight on room, so I gave the regular Java Cask to Robert when I made a quick swing down there again on Monday.

So after grabbing beer at State Line, meeting Christine the separated wife and dropping of my stuff me and her went up to Victory in Downingtown, but we never made it, went to Ron's and drank and crashed there. One of the first things I had was some Port Older Viscosity. About 10 or so years ago, I used to regulary go to a friends in Leroy Ohio (NE of Cleveland) for Superbowl. One year I scored a sixtel of Older Viscosity (Bourbon barrel Imperial Stout). The beers stay in the garage. We couldnt get the sixtel to flow, we didnt realize it was probably due to the freezing/hardness of the rubber in the seal. It flowed fine when we returned to Ron's after that weekend. So we transferred it to a corny and the bastard has been sipping it in moderation ever since.

The next day, Friday, I did shopping with Christine. I hit up a Total Wine in Wilmington, got the Dogfish Gin and a 6 pack of Stone Ghost Hammer IPA.

Saturday, wedding day I went to Victory in Kennet Square to get beer and lunch before I checked in to the hotel.


That's my burger and either a Braumeister Pils, or a Kiwi Gose. The guy next to me was down from Jersey and was taking back 6 of those growlers.
Note the stainless box next to the bartender. That is an automated growler filler. The owners saw them in Germany and had the manufacturer come out to make them. Yeah, the grid of buttons on the left side is the beer selector. Otherwise you put the growler in, press go. The filling wand comes down, does a CO2 purge of the growler, then fills it.

So the wedding after checking in. Ron had 5 homebrews on tap and Prima Pils. Well, 4 actually.

Bitter, Barleywine, Pale Ale, Hefeweizen. There was supposed to be Belgian Strong Golden, but he had me sample it Thursday Night. He was not happy with it and neither was I. It was off with its profile and just not on target. The bitter was OK, the pale good, the Hefe outstanding. I didnt try the barleywine and I had a bunch of the Prima.

Sunday me and Ron hit up a few places.

First stop, Victory's new production brewery in Parksburg PA. The original Downingtown location is shifting over to R&D.



I have a video of the outside, but no photos.

Now I had to go here. On the right end of the bar you can see the familiar growler filler. What I needed was on the left. That black machine. Its a Crowler canner. I had a flight of beers here, and I can say avoid the latest Victory Blackboard series. Its a Golden Ale with Peaches. It is just too sweet. Unless you are totally into that, of course.

Anyways, I left with these


7 32 oz Crowlers
Vital IPA
Round Robin American Pils
Hoppy Quad
Bell Ringer I2PA
Helles
Braumeister Pils
Prima Pils. Yeah we get it here, but this was from the source!

On the end you can see the 2 Stone Ghost Hammers. It was OK. I knew I was tight. On Monday I drank 3 of the Ghost Hammers and a couple FW Luponic 6s. Yeah, Luponic 6 came out. Its good, but still not as good as 3 was.

After Victory we went to the Bottle Room. Its in Downingtown by the rail, next to the Station Tap Room. Owner by the same people basically. This was an outstanding little beer bar with 12-16 taps. And a crowler machine. By then I knew I was out of capacity. They have a very intriguing bottle selection. Naturally something caught my eye.



Of the four Russian River bottles there, the left 2 are the top. They were 20 each. I didnt get any, but its interesting to know that a small quantity makes it out there. When I discussed this with Robert at State Line he said it originally came through in a small pipeline after Vinnie was hooking up the with people at Monk's Cafe. So he sent them some, then others complained, so a small amount gets in.

Last we stopped at Escalantes at the Stables. So Escalantes is a new brewery. The stables location was on a hillside with a food truck and tons of seating, very family oriented. They had about 8 beers or so. I had the NEIPA and the IPA, which were both good+





So then we headed back to Ron's. I hung out there for a while as we grabbed a few items from his beer cellar. I have a few things in there, I like to call it my beer cellar north. Anything with a P is mine.



The dogfish case, lower right is 1st edition Paulo Santo Morrone.

So we took these out.



The V12 is the first release. It got contaminated and came out sour, it used to be nice, but its past its prime now.

When I got to the airport, I had one bag at 50.5, the other at 51+. I shifted over some clothes to the backpack and was good to go.

I wasnt able to make it past TSA without having my backpack opened. The lady wanted to inspect my sausage, but she didnt handle it roughly.



Gaspars Linguica and Chorizo. They are out of Massachusetts. Portugese sausage. It makes it around the east coast and into some Publixx grocery stores in the south (at least as far as Atlanta) but not to TX. So I bought this, froze it and hauled it back. If you havent tried it, you need to.

 

Looks like they made that again.

I remember having it around Christmas over 10 years ago at Dogfish Head's Rehoboth Beach DE location. So I asked for a taste, it was different and nice. I ordered a pint. There is a big problem with spruce. It becomes accumulative. So I enjoyed the first half of the pint, but then it became too heavy. I think I pushed through it, but maybe I just said fuck it and stopped.

I was able to wipe the taste away with a 120/World Wide Stout Black and Tan afterwards though!

 

Grimm Double Negative Imperial Stout

 

Not bad, not great. Good flavor, thick head. Easy to drink. Local/new place.