Photoblog: Saturday at Weyerbacher

While meandering about the East coast of the USA we happened to be in Pennsylvania where the locals suggested we make the detour to Easton on a Saturday to visit the nice people at the Weyerbacher brewery. 

Here is what we found:

 Well it took us a while to find. Tucked away up what appeared to be a nice residential street we finally came across the little sign.

 Plenty of beers

 A flashy beer menu.

 

 Some interesting branding. Insanity is Blithering Idiot aged in oak bourbon casks.

 Craft beer, brewed in small batches...

...and served in small measures...

...so there was no shortage of people at the bar.

 So on with the tour with our guide Billy Bragg...no not that Billy Bragg...but he does get a proper glass (jealous)!

 These barrels have something interesting and sour in them, no tasters unfortunately.

 The Homebrewers Tap. Some of the workers at Weyerbacher are homebrewers, here is where they showcase their beers to the rest of the staff.

 The tour was interesting...

 ...and Billy was knowledgeable about the beers even though he is not one of the brewers himself. 

 Rented Kegs with the previous labels still on there or a lot of brewery swaps?

 The Big Bottling line

 Little Brother of Bottling Line...hopefully not bottling from the little room behind it!

The only drawback of the visit was not Weyerbacher's fault. The crazy Pennsylvania state laws state that we could only buy a case of 24 beers, no single bottles, no six packs but you could get growlers.  We did not have that long to go with our trip so all we could go was get a growler of the fantastic harvest ale.

Anyone in Pennsylvania should make the effort to go visit these great people and fantastic beer. For UK people wanting to try Weyerbacher beer, it is available in bottles in the Craft Beer Co and the Cask Pub and Kitchen.

Photoblog: LABrats brewing at Brodie's.

The London Amateur Brewers (LAB), a bunch of keen homebrewers who meet monthly in London, were invited by James Brodie  to come and brew a beer at his brewery. Not surprisingly the homebrewers jumped at the chance. And here are some photos of the day.

The KingWilliam IV is the brewpub and hotel where all the action would take place. Though it was all locked up when we arrived.

Soon we got inside and and started an inventory of the grains and hops.

So off to the cafe for breakfast and discussions on the beer we were to brew.

Someone had to bring out the laptop!

Eventually we departed back for the brewery with two recipes - a Kiwi IPA and a hoppy US-style porter.

Discussions ensued and the IPA was ditched as too close to an existing product so LABrat Porter was born.

Eric the Brewer made some tweaks to the recipe to make it viable on the Brodie's brewkit.

John the brewery assistant looking a bit rock'n' roll.

Mash in starts...any resemblance to projectile vomit is purely coincidental. 

The mash tun was nearly full....

...time for a beer. Brodies Summer Special a 1.9% uber-session ale.

The main man arrives..."Hey am I late?"

13 brewers? The brewhouse was a little cramped.

First runnings onto the Warrior and Northern Brewer hops.

Sparging started and the runoff was very slow...so time to grab some lunch.

And take a few arty shots.

By the time I returned the mash tun was already dug out. What a shame!

Important equipment for mash tun cleaning are: Beer, Handleless Brush and Serious Boots.

One of 4 hop additions in the last 3 minutes.

This left about a foot deep of spent hops in the boiler.

That someone has to clean!

So James,  what did you think of the beer?

A very fine day was had by all. I look forward to trying the beer when it goes live in a few weeks time. A big thanks to James Brodie for inviting us along and to Eric and John for looking after us during the day.

Photoblog: Redemption Collaboration Day.

Redemption Brewery is a newly founded (2010) 12BBL micro a stones throw from White Hart Lane in North London. They brew a cracking 3% beer called Trinity among other hoppy brews. 

Today they were brewing a collaboration brew with Evin from the Kernel Brewery a subject of a previous Photoblog. 

They were good enough to invite a few more interlopers along.

Tony, Manager of  the Euston Tap and ex brewer at the Florence Pub.

Bryan, a fellow beer geek, brewday virgin and owner of some of the best facial hair around, he is slowly been weaned off a Brewdog obsession.

Meet the Redemption guys. Andy Smith is the brewer. He moves so fast it is impossible to take a picture of him in focus FACT!

And Andy Moffat. An ex city trader who is the organisational brains behind the the brewery and as nice a guy as you would ever want to meet.

By the time I got there after a 2.5 hour commute they had mashed in and were weighing out the first of the hops.

Still there were some advantages with bacon butties on the go.

Evin and Andy discussing the recipe which was a mash up between Redemption's Trinity and The Kernel's SCCANS. 

The conclusion....

More hops....

and more Hops....

And even more HOPS

....they ran out of buckets as there was so many hop additions 22 in all.

I liked the Redemption brewery. It has a well worn look to it, well I say well worn, battered would be a better word especially for the brew kettle.

Although they seemed to have a bit of a large slug problem.

Mexican standoff for who digs out the mashtun.

Strangely enough lost by the visitors Bryan and Tony

Time for some Trinity straight from the conditioning tank.

With so many hops in the brew it is no real surprise that the hop filter clogged a few times. but it was still a really fast brewday. Done by 2pm.

Time for an arty shot...there is always one.

Finally off for a bit to eat at the Jolly Butchers.

It was another really fun brewday. Many thanks to Andy and Andy for their hospitality and Evin for allowing me to continually stalk him! Really looking forward to getting a pint of this beer.