For me there are two things that a Homebrew store must have that I haven’t found at other homebrew shops around me.  First the employees, or at least someone on premise must know how to homebrew and be able to help even the most seasoned homebrewers.  Secondly, the store must have the basics in stock.  What do I mean by basics, base malts, most color malts, DME, a good selection of common yeasts, and chemicals (Starsan, etc).

I was here for the first time a couple weeks ago and this homebrew shop far surpassed my expectations.  Joe, the owner, seemed to have a good knowledge of homebrewing (I was eavesdropping on Joe explaining some stuff to a beginner homebrewer).  After I introduced myself, he began asking me all sorts of questions; What I liked about the store and What I felt was missing. This tells me he cares about his business and wants to make sure he covers the basics but also can cater to the experienced homebrewer.

Overall I was impressed with the store, and will be back for sure!

On a side note, Cask and Kettle will be offering brew on premise some time in the near future.

Joe Verzi, Owner Cask & Kettle

Clean Bright Store

Brew on premise

New Homebrew Store in North Jersey, Cask & Kettle Homebrew is a post from: Simply Beer

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(Formulas were obtained from Realbeer.com)

so if take the formula:

cal per 12 oz beer = [(6.9 × ABW) + 4.0 × (RE - 0.1)] × FG × 3.55

OG = Original Gravity (1.048 in the example)
FG = Final Gravity (1.010 in this example)
ABW = Alcohol By Weight
RE = “Real Extract” (RE, in °P) is a measure of the sugars which are fermented
OE = Original Extract (The sugar content of a wort/beer is typically expressed as extract in degrees Plato)
FE = Final Extract (or apparent extract)

To calculate the calories first you need alcohol by weight:

A = (OE-RE)/(2.0665-.010665*OE)

However before we can do this we need the Original Extract (OE) by using the OG in points (basically the 3 numbers after the decimal place)
points = 1000 * (SG – 1)

OE = 0.258*(1-0.0008*Pts)*Pts + 0.003
OE = 0.258*(1-0.0008*48)*48 + 0.003 = 11.9114544

FE = 0.258*(1-0.0008*Pts)*Pts + 0.003
FE = 0.258*(1-0.0008*10)*10 + 0.003 = 2.56236

With the OE and FE we can now calculate the RE (Real Extract) for the A (Alcohol) part of the equation.

RE = .1808*OE + .8192*FE
RE = .1808*11.9114544 + .8192*2.56236
RE = 2.15359095552 + 2.099085312 = 4.25267626752

Now the OE and RE have been calculated we can figure the Alcohol by Weight.

A = (OE-RE)/(2.0665-.010665*OE)
A = (11.9114544-4.25267626752)/(2.0665-.010665*11.9114544)
A = 7.65877813248/1.939464338824 = 3.948914130137563 (% by weight)

The Alcohol by Weight (NOT ABV, Alcohol by Volume) is about 4% and the Real Extract (RA) is 4.3 we can calculate the calories in the beer

cal per 12 oz beer = [(6.9 × ABW) + 4.0 × (RE - 0.1)] × FG × 3.55
cal = [(6.9 × 3.948914130137563 ) + 4.0 × (4.25267626752 - 0.1)] × 1.010 × 3.55
cal = [27.247507497949185 + 4.0 x 4.15267626752] × 1.010 × 3.55
cal = [27.247507497949185 + 16.61070507008] × 1.010 × 3.55
cal = [43.858212568029185] × 1.010 × 3.55
Cal = 157.253621162668643

Just how do You Calculate the Number of Calories in your Homebrew is a post from: Simply Beer

One pair of gloves was a thin pair of texture latex gloves, to give my hands a bit of insulation.  The second pair, an extra large pair of waterproof gloves.  The two of these together left me with nice dry hands and allowed me to clean 8 corney’s in a 25 deg January chill.

Sometimes it is the little things that make the difference!

The Best $8 I’ve Spent in a Long Time is a post from: Simply Beer

This book was a very simple read, easy to understand concepts and language that was clear & concise.  I was able to read the book in several hours, one day of Jury Duty.  The book is  divided up in to four basic sections, Hops, Herbs, Malting and Recipes.  I got the most benefit from the hops sections since that is what I was most interested in.  There was tons of great information from planting to harvesting, soil minerals to pest control.  I was looking for information on pest control & treatment, pruning and soil care.  This book covered all with good detail.

Admittedly I skipped much of the Herb section, but it has lots of great information on how to include different herbs in your beer.  The malting section was very interesting; I knew the basics of malting but this book had good detail about how to do it at a homebrewer level.  The only thing I found missing from that section was smoked malt.

The last section which I skimmed, was a collection of homebrew recipes.  On the surface it appears to do a nice job of incorporating may of the ingredients/techniques described in the book.

A good book for me and would also say a Great book for the homebrewer looking to make a start of really putting the “Home” in homebrewing,

Book Review: The Homebrewer’s Garden is a post from: Simply Beer

After a couple tweets back and forth it was on!

A couple tweets after that we had roped a couple other homebrewers into our bacon challenge.  With myself, Scott, Billy Broas (@billybroas), Joe Postma (@JoePostma), and Jamey Barlow (@BarlowBrewing) this is going to be a crazy tough brew with some seriously stiff competition!

For this brew I actually decided to use bacon grease in the brown ale lending to it’s name, the Greasy Pig Brown Ale.  The smell of the beer while in the boil was friggin’ amazing.  My garage was overtaken by the ludicrous smell of fresh cooked bacon.  I still haven’t decided if I’m got to “Dry Pork” the beer. (Stealing Jamey’s phrase).  Going to try the beer again in two weeks to see if it needs more bacon before I carb it.  We are all going to be tasting the beer in feb; so I have a couple more weeks for it to settle in the corney before I decide what to do.

Now if you’ve been brewing beer for awhile, you’ll know that my main ingredient is the probably one of the worst things you can do to a beer.  Oil, or in this case grease, will destroy a beer.  It will kill the head retention and make the beer feel slick.  Yet, I did it any way.  In order to get around the beer killer problems, I lagered my beer before I fermented it.  Taking out the beer from under the grease that had solidified on top, then fermented it as normal.

Here is my recipe:

10 lbs                Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.00 SRM)        Grain
1 lbs 8.0 oz          Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.00 SRM)   Grain
12.0 oz               Chocolate Malt (350.00 SRM)              Grain
1 lbs 4.0 oz          Carafoam (2.00 SRM)                      Grain
8.0 oz                Biscuit Malt (23.00 SRM)                 Grain
0.80 oz               Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop  14.6 IBUs
1.00 oz               Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min      Hop  3.6 IBUs
1.00 oz               Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min       Hop  1.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg               Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast
10.00 Items           fermcap (Boil 60.0 mins)                 Other
1.00 tbsp             PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 mins)       Water Agent
1.00 Items            Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)        Fining
1.00 pt               Bacon Grease (Boil 10.0 mins)            Flavor             

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 14 lbs
----------------------------
Name                Description                       Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In             Add 4.88 gal of water at 164.7 F  154.0 F       60 min
Mash out            Add 0.03 gal of water and heat to 168.0 F       10 min

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