Is that a hydrometer in your pocket or are you just happy to see me

Agreed, little hyperbolic

But might help locals with some supply chain issues regarding getting hops

But, no one is going to get excited about a locally grown hops (well, I might)

Sidehaaatch wrote:
But might help locals with some supply chain issues regarding getting hops

when it comes to hop supply, there are two issues:

1. there used to be cyclical and systemic hop shortages due to the fact that hops take at least 3 years to reach maturity, which resulted in supply corrections being delayed.  when there is a glut in the market, prices drop, and farmers rip up the plants to move on to something more profitable.  then supply drops, prices rise, so growers plant new hops - but it'll be 3 years before new fields come online to meet the demand = hop shortage. 

2. for certain highly desirable hops (AKA "ipa hops" like citra, mosaic, galaxy, simcoe, sabro, etc.) demand outstrips supply.  citra and mosaic are the most planted hops in terms of acreage but it's still not enough to satisfy craft breweries.  these hops are available, but at prices that a multiples of lesser-desired hops (which are slowly being phased out).  when brewers say "i can't get citra", they dont' mean it's not available, they mean they can't get it at a reasonable/viable price.

issue #1 has become less of an issue as the hop industry has matured and has moved to long-term contracts.  breweries project their needs 3 to 5 years out, sign contract for these amounts, and growers have some demand stability… hence the use of the past tense when i described the issue.  there hasn't been a significant hop shortage in over a decade.

issues #2 is irrelevant to a MD-sourced noble-like hop that isn't useful for IPAs.  locally-produced, small-scale farmed hops like those from a nascent MD industry are bound to be more expensive than equivalents grown on large, highly-productive farms in WA, OR and ID.

so MD hops will undoubtedly find a niche for themselves among locavorians, and they'll keep the MD farmers employed, but again… i question the game-changingness of this development.  i'd be most happy to be proven wrong ;D

I want to run the table but got nothing other than CVS is charging $12.99 for a six pack of that premium Mexican beer Corona in all their NOVA stores. I spent eight hours on Monday driving around in my Prius whose check engine light your warranty is way over went on.

Starsky wrote:
CVS is charging $12.99 for a six pack of that premium Mexican beer Corona in all their NOVA stores.

da fuq?  you could buy yourself a craft mexican lager for that price… unless beer prices in MD have gone redonk since i left.

What ha talkies about!? I thought Corina  was premium

Tecate is worse and so is midelozzz….not a fan of 2XX

sweetcell wrote:
haven't received anything, other than email updates.  at this point i've written off the BrewVide, so if it does come through i'll be pleasantly surprised. 

We asked for patience at the time while we explored alternate manufacturing strategies and/or additional synergistic investors that would allow us better economies of scale, and you, our community, have been extremely gracious with us during this period.

Despite our best efforts and several promising discussions, this has not happened. It is therefore with extremely heavy hearts that we must announce now that we have to cease our efforts to commercialize BrewVide.

they'll be issuing refunds for 65% of whatever backers put in.  after so many years of work, i'm surprised they have that much money left.  to their credit, the BV folks didn't take a dime for themselves, hence the leftover cash. 

sweetcell wrote:
i have most of the parts to build a RIMS.  i had abandoned that project when the brewvide came along but might need to resurrect that.  dammit. 

yeah, guess it's time to dust off those parts… ugh, i was hoping to sub-contract this project.  since i can't buy, guess i'm going to have to build…

That sucks, was really looking forward to a review as that would have been my next purchase

ok, now it really looks like New District is going under as all their equipment is up for auction
https://rasmus.com/auctions/gVLrSlOONYL4c75qsApa/a/Complete-Brewery-Line-And-Tap-Room-Auction--Arlington--VA?
all the makings to start your brewery

Sweets, any chance you wanna move back and open a brewery?

Fulfilled-Hatch wrote:
Sweets, any chance you wanna move back and open a brewery?

thanks! but i don't want to move back.  don't want to move, at all - dang happy here, doubtful i could be this happy anywhere else.

wanna open a brewery?  sure, under one of two conditions:
- i win the lottery, so the brewery is my play-thing and not a must-be-successful business concern.  making a profit would be nice, but no need to work 20 hours a day for years under threat of losing everything.  essentially, it would be my vanity project.
- a rich benefactor bankrolls the brewery and stays out of the day-to-day operations.  i'll get him/her to profitability… eventually.  essentially, it would be someone else's vanity project and i would be its caretaker/mad scientist.

both of these scenarios are equally likely, i.e. not at all.  might help if i actually played the lottery.

sweetcell wrote:

Fulfilled-Hatch wrote:
Sweets, any chance you wanna move back and open a brewery?

thanks! but i don't want to move back.  don't want to move, at all - dang happy here, doubtful i could be this happy anywhere else.

wanna open a brewery?  sure, under one of two conditions:
- i win the lottery, so the brewery is my play-thing and not a must-be-successful business concern.  making a profit would be nice, but no need to work 20 hours a day for years under threat of losing everything.  essentially, it would be my vanity project.
- a rich benefactor bankrolls the brewery and stays out of the day-to-day operations.  i'll get him/her to profitability… eventually.  essentially, it would be someone else's vanity project and i would be its caretaker/mad scientist.

both of these scenarios are equally likely, i.e. not at all.  might help if i actually played the lottery.

what ever happened to GGW

brewing a doppelbock today.  an amazing craft maltster in central oregon, Mecca Grade, is shutting down their operations so i recently snagged several sacs of their grains.  already brewed a classic pilsner with their pils malt (100% pils, only Saaz hops - SMaSH!).  using the yeast cakes from those for the doppel which will be 50% pils & 50% munich malt, all Saaz.  not often that i brew with such simple grain bills, it's a tad unnerving… must resist temptation to add anything else.  maybe i should name one of these beers "death to tweakers".

sweetcell wrote:
- a rich benefactor bankrolls the brewery and stays out of the day-to-day operations.  i'll get him/her to profitability… eventually.  essentially, it would be someone else's vanity project and i would be its caretaker/mad scientist.

What advantages would Julian’s America receive from this “brewery” over, say, a train? Which we could also afford.

Julian, wrote:

sweetcell wrote:
- a rich benefactor bankrolls the brewery and stays out of the day-to-day operations.  i'll get him/her to profitability… eventually.  essentially, it would be someone else's vanity project and i would be its caretaker/mad scientist.

What would be the advantage to Julian’s America funding a brewery over, say, buying a railroad, which we could also afford?

while vanity vineyards are much more common among the JA set, there are a few vanity breweries out there as well. 

advantage?  you get beer out of it instead of wine or a smelly locomotive, i suppose… ;-D

Welp, I'm now registered in U of Richmond's Professional Beer Brewer Certificate Program.
(although classes are in Manassas)
I'm a spider baby!

on a related note, a person I know has a winery (where my airstream currently resides as an Airbnb) and wants me to help her start brewing beer to serve at her winery 

hanky/lanky-Hatchıll|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl wrote:
Welp, I'm now registered in U of Richmond's Professional Beer Brewer Certificate Program.
(although classes are in Manassas)
I'm a spider baby!

This is Hutch’s bad influence at work.

hanky/lanky-Hatchıll|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl wrote:
Welp, I'm now registered in U of Richmond's Professional Beer Brewer Certificate Program.

CONGRATS!!!  exciting development… once you learn everything about brewing, imma hit you up with some Q's ;D

Seriously…this was the best part of my Homebrew set up

Brewjacket has been discontinued

I think I'm going to make a fermentation chamber soon anyway, but I've recommended this product to so many new brewers.
They even repaired my unit twice since I've owned it…guess that won't happen again


This guy came up with a great solution
https://ballandkeg.com/products/temperature-control-coil
at $60 a great alternative for 5 Gal homebrewers (still have to buy inkbird)

eat wrote:
Seriously…this was the best part of my Homebrew set up

Brewjacket has been discontinued

like craft brewing, homebrewing is on the downswing… :(

eat wrote:
(still have to buy inkbird)

if you wanna save a few pennies, keep an eye on https://www.homebrewfinds.com/ (or sign up for their newsletter, or follow them on X) - inkbirds go on sale a few times a year. 

also, you'll need a small submersible pump.  harbor freight has them for cheap.

SideThatch wrote:
filtering and kegging 50 gallons of cider

dude.

have you gone commercial?

sweetcell wrote:

SideThatch wrote:
filtering and kegging 50 gallons of cider

dude.

have you gone commercial?

Them apples ain’t gonna squeeze themselves!