Posts Tagged ‘Hennessy Homebrew Emporium’

Hennessy Homebrew Emporium
470 North Greenbush Rd (Route 4)
Rensselaer, NY 12144
Call 283-7094 for more information.

November 7, 2009 is the American Homebrewers Association’s (AHA) 11th Annual Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day and Hennessy Homebrew Emporium in North Greenbush is participating in this year’s celebration.

Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day is an international event celebrated each year on the first Saturday in November with the goal of introducing people to the homebrewing hobby and establishing relationships with local homebrew supply shops and homebrew clubs. Hennessy Homebrew Emporium is happy to invite anyone who is interested in learning how to homebrew to stop by on Saturday, November 7, beginning at 11 a.m. To encourage participation in this rewarding hobby, Hennessy Homebrew Emporium will provide free grains for those who come by to brew and to learn.

In 2008, over 2,100 participants brewed approximately 2,800 gallons on Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day at 140 sites worldwide (including sites in Canada, Kenya, Denmark, and 40 states in the United States). This year, the AHA expects even greater participation.

“One of the great things about homebrewers is they are happy to share their knowledge and to pass on the joy that they find in homebrewing to others,” states Gary Glass, the director for AHA, “that’s really what Teach A Friend To Homebrew Day is all about.”

For information on how to participate in this year’s Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day event and to view the registered sites, visit www.beertown.org/events/teach/index.html.

Unless you are following my Twitter feed (and why aren’t you?), you would not know in addition to drinking beer – I also brew it. Mrs. Ohabeer encouraged me to start brewing in February 2009 and it is a decision I have not regretted. Prior to Big Brew Day 2009, I had brewed 3 beers: a not-so-good first Brown ale [Foamybeer Plain Brown Wrapper Ale]. an excellent (and getting better) Imperial Russian Stout [Foamybeer Itsa Stout] and (currently conditioning in the cellar) a cherry wheat for Mrs. Ohabeer [Foamybeer My Cherry Amore Wheat]. I had also done all of these brews pretty much alone and indoors. The concept of Big Brew Day was a bit daunting, but I decided what the heck.

For those unfamiliar, In 1988, May 7 was announced before Congress as National Homebrew Day. The American Homebrewers Association created Big Brew as an annual event to celebrate National Homebrew Day not only in the United States, but around the world.

Each year the AHA finds two or three recipes to highlight for Big Brew. Then hundreds of homebrewers register their locations for a communal brew-in to celebrate National Homebrew Day. They invite family and friends, or hang posters around town to advertise their brewing site. Then on the first Saturday in May everyone congregates at the brewing site early enough to join in a collective toast at noon Central time and get on with the brewing.

I chose to head up to Hennessey Homebrew Emporium for one major reason: FREE BEER! Unlike most Big Brew locations, Hennessey was giving the free ingredients for one of the Big Brew recipes – SS Minnow Mild Ale – if you joined them for the brew. Even though I was more than a bit nervous about doing my fourth brew in a parking lot surrounded by experienced brewers, a free 5 gallon batch of beer was too hard to resist.

My little slice of the Big Brew parking lot

I borrowed a friend’s Coleman camping stove, made a wort chiller (that copper coil on the left above), packed a couple bottle of Itsa Stout and 7 pounds of Smokey Pork Carnitas as bribing material in case I needed help. Packing the equipment for brewing is not unlike camping, so I decided to pack the car the night before using a checklist to make sure I did not forget anything. Of course, I DID forget two fairly crucial items: a lighter for the stove and a bottle opener. Thanks to running into a friend (and fellow brewer) I had a lighter. It turns out if you’re offering samples of your homebrew, SOMEONE will have an opener.

Back to that wort chiller (the copper thing on the left). I am quite proud to say it is my first DIY homebrewing project. I give a great deal of props to this article for laying out the build. Testing here at OAB HQ brought boiling water down to 70 degrees in 6 minutes. The water was a bit warmer and flowing slowly at Big Brew, but I was still able to break the wort in about 12 minutes. Of course, the water I was using for topping off was in a black pot (me not thinking) and raised the temperature back up to 80 degrees. So, I just packed the wort in the car without pitching the yeast and waited until I got home. Temp was down – yeast was pitched – and (as of two days later) things are bubbling nicely.

As I am still in the learning phase of this brewing thang, I went with the extract with specialty grains recipe. It was a bit strange setting up the stove and steeping the grain outdoors, but it did give me a chance to see many all grain brewers at work and check out their set ups. Specifically, I was hoping to find someone using a converted cooler as an infusion mash tun.

My brewing neighbors with a great cooler mash tun conversion

As luck would have it – that person was next to me. His system was quite nice and amazingly simple in construction. The cooler holds the mash at the proper temperature with little effort. Very efficient and – from what I could tell – not very expensive to make. It’s now on my list of upcoming DIY brewing projects.

I found it interesting the number of folks just dropping by to watch or hang out. As Hennessey Homebrew Emporium is on a main road – and as we were in the parking lot – many cars were parked along the road. That tended to attract the attention of people traveling down the road. Many of them stopped to see what was happening and some even took a few pictures.

I learned more than a bit on this Big Brew Day. I’m certainly glad I made the trip. The folks brewing were a great bunch. Everyone was sampling brews, checking out each other’s set ups, discussing whether one should or should not strain the wort (consensus was “strain”) and having a great time. Hennessey Homebrew Emporium put together a great event. So great – many of us hope they do one in the Fall without a Big Brew Day. We all agreed we’d even buy the ingredients for another event like this.

In any case, it has inspired me to see if I can get a group of homebrewers together in the Catskill region. If you happen to be in upstate New York near the Catskills – OAB HQ is in Roxbury, NY – drop by the OAB contact page and send me a note.

The idea of a bunch of brewers in my driveway brewing with BBQ going in the front yard and tourists driving by amuses me greatly…

The rest of the crowd and the obligatory food table

Saturday March 7, 2009 meant a trip to Albany to check out The Watchmen. As there are no decent theatres in the general vicinity of Ohabeer HQ, we have to travel over an hour to see films (usually Albany or Kingston). For that reason, we generally only go to those films we feel are cinema worthy. It also usually means making a day of it wherever we choose to go see films.

With that in mind, we made plans after seeing the film to get a little lunch, grab a few home brewing supplies and finally get over to a legendary Albany pub.

Fox & Firkin Pub (Colonie, NY)
112 Wolf Road, Colonie, New York 12205 (518) 453-2369
A bit of an update on the Fox & Firkin Pub. Back in February 2009, we had lunch here and were impressed by the beer selection. Sadly, one month later is appears they are “undergoing some changes” (said our mildly ineffective waitress) and I’m guessing that means LCD beer. Other than what I am guessing were some left over Dogfish Head 120 and 90 minute IPAs, all of the interesting crafts from a month ago were gone. I had a couple of the Dogfish 90s. Sadly, this really leaves us without ANY place to get a good beer and some lunch in the Colonie Center area. If anyone out there has suggestions leave them in the comments.

Hennessy Homebrew Emporium
470 North Greenbush Rd (Route 4) Rensselaer, NY 12144 (518) 283-7094
I needed to get a couple of cases of bottles for an upcoming stout bottling, so decided to check with the beer crowd on Twitter for Albany suggestions. Three of the four responses recommended Hennessy Homebrew Emporium. I would like to thank all those that did. It’s a great well stocked store with a friendly knowledgeable staff. I chatted for a bit about sanitizing options, possibly buying a few hops rhizomes, various options when I am done with this bottling thing (want to go keg) and beer in general. One just can’t help but fall into a conversation in a home brew store. The prices are great. It’s fairly easy to find. Plus, they give demonstrations and are hoping to expand soon. All in all an excellent find and some place I’ll be returning to often.

Mahar’s
1110 Madison Ave Albany, New York, 12208-2248 (518) 459-9416
We have been trying to make it to Mahar’s since a friend who knows we like great beer told us about it three years ago. Only problem is it does not open until 4pm and we’re usually no where near it at that time. This time – however – it worked out perfectly as it was (sort of) on the way back home from Hennessy’s. It’s a great smallish space with a very very authentic British local ale house feel. Very few seats – mostly bar rails to set your glass on while you stand. A fairly older mixed crowd – 30/40 somethings mixing easily with old timers. The beer list is massive focusing a great deal on European brews. They had six cask engines all running brews from Middle Ages Brewery in Syracuse, NY. As I am a cask fanatic, I set about having a few…

Mr. Ohabeer had:
Middle Ages Mahar’s 20th Anniversary Ale: nice simple dark ale. Slightly sweet with hints of caramel. (Cask engine)
Middle Ages Kilt Tilter Scotch Ale: Scotch style porter tasting greatly of chocolate and raisins. (Cask engine)
Middle Ages Wailing Wench: a strong ale with a big hops taste. (Cask engine)

Mrs. Ohabeer had:
Middle Ages Mahar’s 20th Anniversary Ale: nice simple dark ale. Slightly sweet with hints of caramel. (Cask engine)
Harpoon Winter Warmer:lovely copper ale with a nice spicy edge. (In bottle)
Middle Ages Mahar’s 20th Anniversary Ale: She decided to try this out on draught rather than cask engine. A completely different beer. More carbonation and much sweeter. Plus – as she put it – more “lacing, because I AM a sewer.”

Sadly a bit of a mar in the otherwise nice evening was the somewhat dick-ish attitudes of both the Slayer t-shirt wearing bartender and the biker dude/hippy owner. I get it – that whole “We got attitude so deal with it fuckwit! You don’t like? Then get out!” Really though. The owner refers to US craft brews as “US crap brews”. I’m quite glad we did not run into this guy until we were leaving. Probably would not have stayed as long as we did. Sad really – the beer is pretty good. The place is nice and chill. A couple of people actually brought in slow cookers with free chowder and chili. The attitude from behind the bar might just keep me from wanting to return very often. And I’m certain Mahar’s will not care one bit if I do…