Homegrown Hops

Last week while I was at Maltose Express picking up brewing supplies, I also bought some hop rhizomes to plant. These rhizomes will grow into hop bines so we can brew with our own hops. I bought Willamette, Newport and Galena hops and planted them in pots. They will be transferred to a planter this afternoon. The Galena and Newport already have active shoots. The bines will grom to over 18 feet tall if allowed. We/re gonna start with an 8 to 10 foot trellis and then run them our over the yard. I'll post more pics once we plant them and update them as they grow.

The three planted rhizomes

Galena has shoots started

Newport has some shoots too

Hops planter that I built. The bottom has already been removed

SBBC Brew Day. 5-25-2013

Good Morning Everyone. Our next brew day will be Saturday, May 25th, 2013. 12 noon start. I'm thinking we should brew a pale ale for the summer months coming up. Please feel free to bring food and beer with you. Please RSVP so we can get a head count for food.

Call or email me with any questions. Thanks.

CT Beer Week 2013

Good afternoon beer lovers. I just want to send out a hello and pass along some very, very important info along. May 11 through May 18 is the first annual CT Beer Week.

This is a big deal people! This is YOUR week. This is your week to get out there and drink some local, CT brewed beer. So get out there and get some!

CT Beer Week

Here is a link to the list of associated events: CT Beer Week Events

This week is also Cask Wednesday at Cavalry Brewing in Oxford. I'm sure Mike and Justin will have something special planned for CT Beer Week.

For anyone with Untappd, there is a CT Beer Week 2013 Untappd Badge. You have to check in at two of the listed venues between May 11th and May 18th.

Here is a list: Untappd CT Beer Week Venues

Keegan Ales, Kingston, NY

My beautiful wife, the kids and I just recently got home from Rocking Horse Ranch in Highland, NY. It's an all inclusive horse ranch / resort sitting on 400  acres. It is a beautiful place. They have 110 horses and you're guaranteed at least one ride a day. They also have an indoor and outdoor waterpark and an amazing assortment of stuff to do.

Thankfully for me, they also have the Silverado Saloon in the main lodge building. Pretty cool place that overlooks their main entertainment area and stage. It's a nice place to sit back with the my honey and enjoy a beer or glass of wine for her, and enjoy the show. They also have beer from a local brewery, Keegan Ales, located in nearby Kingston, NY. Since I'm always looking for a local beer, I had to try them. I had also planned on going to the brewery since it's only a 25 minute ride.

I started with Hurricane Kitty at dinner on our first night. It is a fantastic IPA. Nice, fresh hoppy beer. I will definitely need to get some soon. I'm going to put the beer's description from Keegan's website into the photo caption.

Next was Mother's Milk. This was my first, but definitely not last, sample of a Milk Stout. Nice and creamy texture. Another fine beer.

The last one I tried at the saloon was Old Capital. Apparently, in 1777, Kingston was the original capital of NY, prior to Albany. See, you just learned something.

On Tuesday, I drove up to Keegan Ales brewery in Kingston. It's a great looking, old industrial building. I later learned that it was a once a foundry. Keegan's also has a store and homebrew shop across the lot from the brewery. Of course, it was closed when I visited. Oh well, next time. The bartender Brie ( I hope I spelled that right) was awesome. She's been there from the beginning, so she was able to fill me in on all the details of Keegan Ales and the history of the building. She had the scoop on all of the brews. I decided to start with the Black Eye, their Black IPA. It was definitely the right choice. I loved it. Nothing like a dark beer with a ton of hops. I even grabbed a growler of it for later. Next was Joe Mama's Milk. This is Mother's Milk with brown sugar and coffee added. Two words..... Friggin Incredible! That was another growler I brought home. I also tried a sample of KD's Trippel, their own Belgian Trippel. While, I'm not a fan of Belgians, this was another great beer. I was also able to meet Geoff Wenzel, their head brewer. He's a really cool and approachable guy. He had a few tips and advice for me and homebrewing. He also said that they will be hosting homebrew classes at the brewery soon. I even got to sample the sour beer that he's working on. All in all, I must say it was an awesome visit.  We definitely need to go back there soon. It's only about an hour and a half away. That's all for now. Enjoy the pics below.

The Silverado Saloon

This brew is a coppery and heavily hopped India Pale Ale. Named after brewmaster Keegan’s grandmother whose driving earned her quite a reputation with local police racing her six children to and from a local Long Island beach ferry during the 1960′s, Hurricane Kitty is the undisputed family favorite. We try to make the hop bill read as aggressively as her driver’s record.

As the name implies, Mother’s Milk is a dark and creamy milk stout. Hints of oatmeal, chocolate and of course, milk make this brew have a remarkably smooth and silky finish, a classic example of the style.

This beer is named for the Kingston area’s rich historical heritage, is reflective of traditional tastes. Simply put, it’s a golden, crisp and refreshing beer. Whether it’s out on a Saturday night with the gang, or home with dinner midweek, Old Capital’s exceptional smoothness makes a great choice for every occasion.

The sign out front welcoming visitors looking for a great beer.

Black EyePA. Nice dark, hoppy beer. Definitely a new favorite of mine.


“Black Eye” is back on tap here at Keegan Ales. This is a black I.P.A (Get it? Black Eye P.A.) that first hits you with a big floral hop aroma that really invites you in. Upon tasting this beer, the chocolate malty flavor overtones take over the forefront of the pallet. It then returns to you and finishes with a traditionally big I.P.A. hop character.

Joe Mama's Milk. INCREDIBLE!

Big Brother to our Mother’s Milk. It starts with our Mother’s Milk recipe, we then add copious amounts of brown sugar to add body and increase the alcohol content. Then, after primary fermentation, we infuse a cold coffee extract from our friends down the street, Monkey Joe’s Roasting Co.

This is the seating area near the bar. Artwork from local artists.
There is also a stage for live music in the next room.

A quick shot of me next to the Keegan Ales sign on the way out.

Surly Bitter Brewer Update

Just a quick update. I forgot to publish this posting and photos. This is our newest tool. A simple water filter, repurposed to filter beer. This removes ay residual hop particles and yeast sediment. Here are a few pics of it in use. The Surly Bitter Brewer beer has been kegged and carbonated. It's pretty damn good. It's also clear of any floaties due to this new addition. Enjoy!

Surly Bitter Brewer Brewday 2-2-13

This past Saturday, 2-2-2013, SBBC members met to brew Northern Brewers' Surly Bitter Brewer partial mash kit. Glenn, Nemec and Mama Granoth supplies some fine food to enjoy. Members also received their brand spanking new SBBC work shirts. Mike was also rocking his new kilt. The garage was warm, but outside was another story. We were joined by Andrew Hyduchuk as a new SBBC member.

Partial mass (PM) brewing is another step towards all-grain brewing. PM adds a step where grain is introduced into hot water (mash-in) and held within a certain temperature range for a set amount of time. Then after we seperate the grain from the wort, wer rinse (sparge) the grains with 170° water. This step ensures we rinse any leftover fermentable sugars from the spent grains. Afterwards, we top up to our normal boil volume and continue the brew. The OG was spot on at 1.040. The beer was cool and the yeast was pitched. Sunday morning, the airlock was bubbling away. This batch should be ready in about 4 weeks. 

Here's a few pics from the brew day: 



New SBBC shirt logo



Yeast starter with our new stir plate and 2000 cc flask.

Mike rocking the new shirt and UT Kilt

Joe, Glenn, Andrew and Bob enjoying the brew day

Boiling away

All aerated and ready for yeast

Happiness is a bubbling airlock

SBBC Brew Day. 2/2/2013

Good morning Beer Lovers,

Thanks to those of you who made it yesterday. Thanks to Nemec for an awesome Buffalo Chicken dip.

The next brew day will be Saturday, February 2nd, 2013. 1pm start. We will be brewing the Surly Bitter Brewer recipe kit. Surly Bitter Brewer Link

We decided to start trying Partial Mash brewing for our next brew. Partial Mash adds about an hour or so to the normal brew time. This brewing method uses more actual grain in the brew and less liquid extract.

This also helps us move closer to eventually switching to all-grain brewing.

We are going to try a Saturday brew day because Sundays are usually busy for most of us. Please call me with any questions. Thanks.

Mike