FInally! A new homebrew store in North Jersey and it is in reasonable distance from my house.  Now I know many of you are not in NJ and don’t care, but for those of you who are in NJ you really should go check out Joe Verzi’s new Homebrew Store, Cask and Kettle.  You can find the store at 904 Main Street in Boonton NJ.

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So it has been a couple of weeks since I posted anything about the Brew Steel single tier brew stand I ordered. My last post was when Kurt asked me if I wanted a design change to save some money on the build.  Since then, Kurt got a couple weeks behind on my stand.  But this didn’t bother me.  First because he let me know and apologized for the delay.  Secondly I’d like to think that he’s building it correctly for someone else and then in turn will build mine with the same craftsmanship.  While my stand is not completed yet, Kurt sent me a couple of progress photos of my stand. Here they are:

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There are always lots of great events in NYC, but finally we have one in New Jersey that includes some great local cooks and now great local Homebrewers!   20 amazing Homebrewers will be competing for some great prizes at this years’ Hoboken Volunteers Annual Chili Cook-Off & Homebrewing Contest.  Why should that interest you?  Besides supporting a wonderful charity; there are People Choice awards for the best chili and the best homebrew.  That means you will get to sample over 20 different chili’s and just as many home brewed beers to help pick this years People Choice award!  Come down to the Elks Club in Hoboken on Sat Feb 25th from 2-6pm to be part of this wonderful event to sponsor HOPE CAP!  http://www.facebook.com/events/274452915942327/

As many of you know I have a handy chart that shows how many calories are in your beer.  Today I got a question about how exactly did I get the numbers, well here is the nitty gritty of how to do it using good old math! (more…)

I brew year round and in the NorthEast it can get pretty chilly, down right cold working in the garage through the winter.  Not to mention the water coming out of the hose is no more then 50 degrees in the winter.  I’ve spent countless time in my garage cleaning equipment as my hands have gone numb from the cold.  I must be a moron because it has taken me years to finally figure out I should get some waterproof gloves.  A quick trip to home depot, 2 pairs of gloves, and about 8 bucks has finally saved me from a winter of numb hands.

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This book came to me as a Chirstmas gift this year.  I’ve been struggling with growing hops the last two years.  While the hops bines usually grow well I have not had the yeilds I would have liked.  As you can imagine, I was very excited to get this book to help me with the finer or more complex details of growing hops.

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