NJ Craft Beer Fest is Tomorrow!

I'm headed to the NJ Craft Brewers Guild's annual festival tomorrow. We always have a good time out on the Battleship drinking the best beers that Jersey's breweries have to offer. It looks like we'll be spared the rain tomorrow, but unfortunately not the heat. Looks like a high of about 93. Yikes.

I'm not entirely sure of the lineup, but it does appear that the new New Jersey Beer Co based out of North Bergen will be in attendance. I got a chance to try their pale ale at the Iron Monkey a couple of weekends ago and it was quite nice. I'll look forward to checking out the rest of their lineup and hopefully chatting up the brewers.

Hope to see you there!!! After the Battleship it will be a quick tour around Philly of some of our favorite stops (I'm looking at you, Nodding Head, with your Berliner Weisse and White Beans and Sage appetizer).

Super Buy-Rite in JC

I've had a few friends tell me that the Super Buy-Rite in JC (down by the Holland Tunnel) has a great beer selection. Finally made the trip down there today with R and it was well worth it. They have quite a few brands there that I haven't seen at any of my other go-to spots in New Jersey (Mikkeller, New Holland, Uinta, more).

So we mixed a few sixes and picked up some fun stuff to try over the next week or two. I'm currently getting into an Otter Creek Solstice. It's an easy drinker, but doesn't completely blow me away. It's nice and balanced and has some great American hop notes (citrus, orange, peach), but also has a bit of a garlic/onion thing going on. Maybe the Amarillo hops?

I also picked up a mixed-six of the Mikkeller single hop IPA's (Amarillo, Tomahawk, Nugget, Warrior, Simcoe, one other...) which we'll do a serious tasting of later this week. Kind of weird that all of these hops get grown here on the west coast, shipped to Denmark for brewing, and then back to New Jersey for me to buy and drink. I don't really know a heck of a lot about this brewery's process and this particular project. If anyone knows whether or not all of these single hop beers are the same grain bill, I'd appreciate the heads up. Anyone know what their house yeast is?

Best of NJ

The Star Ledger and Inside Jersey are polling for their annual "Best of NJ" survey. Find out more here, and if you're interested in taking the survey you'll want to look for the "Click here to get started" at the bottom of the article (nj.com always does a great job of making their site nice and easy to use, don't they?) If you register and vote you'll get a shot at a $50 gift card. Not bad.

The only reason I bring this up in this space is because they actually have a poll in the restaurant category for New Jersey's best brewpub!!! Or as they call it, a "BREWED PUB". Hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

I won't tell you who I voted for, just encourage you to vote yourself if you feel compelled.

Brawler

Just a quick love note to say that I'm having a great beer right now. We were in Lambertville today and the lovely R picked out a mixed six for me, one of which is Yards Brawler. It's 4.2%, has great chocolate and caramel flavors, a little bit of fruity English ale yeast character, and finishes with just the right amount of bitterness. A little dry, not too sweet. Great stuff.

The brewery calls it an English style "s*ssion ale". I'd call this a Mild, if ever there were a bottled one from an American craft brewery.

And on a great night of boxing on HBO and Showtime, the label fits right in. (I've got Abraham in a late round TKO over Dirrell tonight, by the way... but I can see a Dirrell decision too. Can't wait.)

Wonderful Word of Wines in Lambertville is a great, great store... for beer too! Plenty of bomber selections, mix-a-six, etc... Awesome.

So on Tuesday I'll be entered in this homebrew contest being held by The Office restaurants. Jeff at Beer Stained Letter wrote about it a few days ago here. My Oatmeal Stout will be in full effect at the Montclair location. If I'm lucky enough to be chosen the winner on Tuesday, I'll be back there again on Saturday to face off against the winners from all of the other Office locations. The winner on Saturday has their beer brewed at High Point in Butler and their beer will be served as a winter seasonal at all of The Office locations.

Wish me luck!

New NJ Beer Book - Jersey Brew

There's a new book out about the history of brewing in New Jersey. Sounds like a pretty interesting read. Hopefully Santa leaves a copy under the tree for me this year. He knows I've been good...

New Jersey was once a huge center of brewing in America - particularly in Newark. I'll look forward to reading up on this history. It's also nice to read that the author spent some time on the current craft breweries in the state and is giving them some publicity. We need more people advocating for New Jersey breweries like this. The more people talk about and take an interest in NJ beer, the more local bars and stores will get interested in carrying them.

$19.95 at beerbooks.com.

BYOBNJ

I came across this op-ed piece in the Asbury Park Press about the NJ state liquor license policy and it left me scratching my head. The gist of the it is that NJ does not make a beer/wine only license available for restaurants, making it much harder for joints unable to secure a liquor license to stay in business. Basically you're either a BYOB establishment or you have a full liquor license.

And anyone who's done any research on opening a bar or restaurant will know that you don't just apply for a liquor license, wait for the state to process some paperwork, and you're in business. Liquor licenses are controlled by municipalities and the number available is fixed based on the population of that municipality. According to the state's ABC handbook, it's one liquor license per 3,000 residents (with exceptions, of course). And I think you'd be hard pressed to find a municipality that has available licenses. 99.9% of the time a license is transfered when someone sells an existing business.

The head scratching on this author's part comes from having dined in NJ establishments where there's a limited selection of beer or wine only available for sale. I know that I've been in places where you can buy beer or wine or bring your own. I don't want to name names because I don't want to get anyone in trouble if they're bending any rules. But with no liquor license, how is an NJ restaurant selling beer or wine?

One thing I can say for sure is that if there were a beer/wine only license available, it would definitely make the opening of a certain someone's fantasy idea brewpub much more feasible. Just throwing it out there, Trenton.

River Horse - Meet the Brewer Night at LITM

Thought I'd take the opportunity to post some actual Jersey City beer news. From the Garden State Craft Brewer's Guild newsletter:

Come by to LITM to meet River Horse reps and sample
great beers. The event takes place Wednesday, November 18th from 6 to 9 PM.
Featuring all year round beers plus two special releases.

There's nothing on either brewery's site yet about this, so this is all the info available that I know of at this time. River Horse makes some pretty good beers - I especially enjoy the Special Ale. They're starting to get some more distribution up in Hudson County, so check them out.

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On the homebrew front, I'm about to start revving up the WLP925 yeast in a starter for my next brew. I can't wait to see how this yeast performs. I don't really care about all of the German tradition and having to lager a beer for six weeks. If I can get good clean lager beer in two weeks, I'll be super pumped.

I've also got two versions of R's Favorite Oatmeal Stout now - same recipe, one fermented with lager yeast, the other with an ale yeast. Should be tapping up the ale version soon, so it will be interesting to see how they compare. I have a feeling that given the strong malty flavors in this beer, the impact of the yeasts on the flavor will be subtle.

I also have one of my all time worst beers on tap now, a Dunkelweizen fermented with a dry wheat beer yeast strain. It's pretty brutal. Some of it is recipe, some is the yeast. I'm about ready to give up on dry yeasts at this point.

A week and a half until the Stoney Creek Homebrewer's Amateur Brewing Championship at the General Lafayette Inn. What are the chances that they'll have the PPV of the Cotto-Pacquiao fight at the bar? Slim or none?

Upcoming Jersey City Oktoberfest events

I've been unable to locate any info on the Oktoberfest "parade" on Grove Street in JC, but in the meantime, here are a couple of things going on:

Through 10/27, Zeppelin Hall will be celebrating Oktoberfest with oompah bands, dancing, food, beers, etc... Haven't made it down there to see how often they're actually doing it up, but it's a nice space and worth checking out. It's pretty reasonable and the beers have been in good shape each time we've been down there.

From this Thursday, the 24th through Saturday, the 26th, Iron Monkey will have some Oktoberfest and pumpkin beers on tap with a six pour sampler available. The Monkey's a pretty cool spot, though definitely much smaller and more upscale than Zeppelin if you're looking to chow down.

And for some non-JC Oktoberfest news that completely blew my mind up, check out what's going on at the Milford Oyster House. This is a pretty serious hike from JC, but sounds freaking awesome. Oysters and a pig? And Oktoberfest beers? Ate here with R a few months back and it was excellent, so I would completely advocate checking this out if you have the chance.

Charlie P in the Garden State

After missing BA/AHA guru Charlie Papazian at the Vermont Brewers Festival, it turns out I missed him again recently right here in Jersey. Here he is giving a few shout-outs to Krogh's and Long Valley. It's nice to see a few NJ brewpubs getting some national exposure. His next stops appear to be along the Delaware River, so lets hope he hits the Ship Inn and River Horse.

I wonder if he was at Krogh's on Saturday, the 1st? If so, he should have stopped by the Best of Show round at the NJ State Fair competition up in Sussex, not too far from Sparta. Krogh's sponsored the competition. Yours truly was lucky enough to take first place in the Specialty and Wood Aged Beer category for an oak aged olde ale.

NJ Craft Beer Festival wrapup and the weekend in Philly

It's about time I posted a recap of the NJ Craft Beer fest last weekend...

Needless to say, R and I were worried about a crummy day in Camden what with the constant rain all Saturday morning. The drive on 295S got kind of hairy at times with some serious downpours. After checking into our hotel in Center City we took a cab to the River Link ferry and arrived in Camden about 40 minutes before the festival. The rain made for some confusion for those early for the fest - take the self-guided tour or pass? We passed and stood around in a smelly shelter while we watched one confused, wet, thirsty ticketholder after another try to figure out where to go. If the Guild can straighten one thing out with this festival, it's just that. How about some signage to let people know where they should be?

Once we got on the Battleship though, everything was fantastic. The Guild got a great brewery turnout and the rain slowed down quickly enough that folks could enjoy the areas outside of the tent most of the time. One of the great things about this festival every year is that it's always easy to get samples. No waiting around on lines in front of each brewery's table. I should also note that the food at this festival is pretty decent, at least as beer festival grub goes. I got a chili dog and a pepperoni pretzel. R just had a pretzel. Not bad, and a good base for all of the beers to come.

If I had to pick a favorite, the Old Smokey from Basil T's was probably the best. I had this a few weeks back when I went with R to Red Bank for a day, and it has definitely held up well. A golden hued Rauchbier, not quite the mouthful of bacon that you might get from a Schlenkerla, but not wimpy either. Just right. All of Gretchen's beers were great, as usual, including the XXX Summer Ale. I'd also point to the Paymaster Porter from Cricket Hill and the Imperial Pilsner from High Point as standouts.

One highlight of the day was running into fellow NJ beer blogger Jeff Linkous, whose Beer Stained Letter is hands-down the best source of info and commentary on craft beer in NJ. Great meeting you, Jeff, and keep up the great work!

We also heard a rumor at the festival of a new brewpub being in the works in Newark. Some Google searches turned up a few forum threads and a pic of a storefront. So yes, it looks like Port City Brewing is coming to Newark at some point in September. Great news for New Jersey!

Post festival, we hit some of the Philly beer bars. I had never realized just how close Triumph in Old City is to the ferry terminal at Penn's Landing, so we walked straight there when we got back to the Philly side. The Old City location certainly does justice to the other Triumph restaurants. I look forward to trying their refreshing and slightly yeasty Kellerbier whenever I'm there, and they're getting it right in Philly. The Oatmeal Stout was velvety and delicious as well.

A quick nap later and we checked out Nodding Head. Had our usual, a pint each of the Berliner Weisse and a plate of the white beans and sage. Perhaps not a legendary beer and food pairing, but it's just one of those things that we do every time. I also had a Prudence Pale Ale, which I was supremely impressed with. I've had a thing for really low alcohol beers lately (like 4% and below) and I've been trying them wherever I can. Prudence is only 3.75%, yet has plenty of body, caramel sweetness, and a punchy Pacific northwest hop profile that comes across in aroma, flavor, and finish. Nicely done.

Last but not least was the legendary Monk's Cafe. Really crowded, as usual. I found a little space for myself at the corner of the bar and settled in with a Pliny the Elder from Russian River in California. I had to try one because I've never seen it anywhere in NYC before and it's a pretty well-hyped beer. As a matter of fact, it was just voted #1 beer in the Zymurgy reader poll (the AHA's mag). Let's just say that Pliny didn't do it for me. It had a strong resiny/catty hop character that just doesn't agree with me. Sure, I can see why most of the hopheads would love it, but I had a hard time choking back the last few sips.

I did, however, have one amazing beer at Monk's. The Cantillon Monk's Cuvee Gueuze. This is a blend made by the owner of Monk's and the brewer at Cantillon in Belgium. You can read the full description somewhere here. I would say that I'm not the biggest fan of lambic, gueuze, and other Brettanomyces fermented beers. I can appreciate them for what they are, but I hardly go out of my way to track them down. This beer was different. I think it really showed a lot of the earthy, woody character that can come from these beers without being a brett punch in the face that you get with a lot of lambics.

Maybe the best beer I had all weekend, and I consider it very fortunate that it was how I ended the night.

Gearing up for the NJ Craft Beer Festival

The 13th Annual New Jersey Craft Beer Festival is this Saturday on the Battleship New Jersey on the Camden waterfront. We missed it last year, because R & I were on our honeymoon. So we're looking forward to being back there after a one year absence and hoping for a great brewery turnout.

Unfortunately not all of NJ's breweries are members of the Guild and not even all of the members actually show. You can't blame some of the North Jersey brewpubs for not wanting to trek down to Camden - how many new customers is a brewpub in Sparta really going to win this weekend? I would love it if the Guild could either get a North (or even Central) Jersey festival off the ground. It kind of rubs me the wrong way that I'm spending the weekend (and my money) in Philly to support NJ brewers. But for now, I guess the biggest craft brewer in NJ gets to call the shots and have the fest in their backyard.

Rumor has it that Iron Hill will be making its debut at this year's festival. That will be something to look forward to. Let's hope that the deteriorating weather forecast doesn't scare anyone off from attending this year. I think that tickets are still available, so run out and get yours now!!!

Finally, some Jersey City beer news

Looks like Jersey City will finally get a new beer bar - Zeppelin Hall. Their open date has been shifting for a few months now, but rumor is that they will be open for business this Friday, June 19th. I drove past this place with R a few weeks back. It's tucked away behind Grand Street just south of the hospital in the ground floor of what looks to be some new condo development.

On first glance it appears to have some potential. It looks like a nice open space with some decent outdoor seating. Their initial draft list doesn't really have anything mind blowing, but hey, it's something right?

A few things I'll be curious to see...

1. What will the atmosphere be in this place? If it's a nice place to relax, have a few beers and some grub and converse with some friends, then they'll have two new loyal customers for sure. If they're poisoned by their proximity to the Sand Bar or succumb to the downtown JC need for every other bar to have some crappy DJ blaring techno music then count us out.
2. Are they really goint to have 144 draft lines? Sounds great up front, but if they're not turning the beer over as often as they think they will that could quickly become a negative. You can have all the taps in the world, but if the beer is old, who cares? 144 taps seems awfully aggressive to me, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.
3. Will they be receptive to carrying more NJ beer or are they tied to some distributor who's dictating what goes on all of the lines? One River Horse beer out of the three dozen or so listed won't cut it. Especially not when they've made room for both Blue Moon AND the Blue Moon seasonal, whatever the hell it's called.

Big beers, hot weather, and a history lesson

First things first, a great big tip of the cap to the community of Lambertville, NJ for putting together such a pleasant and wonderful weekend. Shad Festival or no Shad Festival, Lambertville is a fantastic town to spend a weekend in. In addition to being quite picturesque, the town has the added advantage of being supremely walkable - you can walk to anything in town, and you can also walk across the bridge to another town, New Hope, PA. So if you haven't been - go.

We were treated great everywhere we went. The folks at the Inn of the Hawke were great hosts, served up some quality grub, and had a pretty nice beer selection to boot. Mitchell's was a trip late on Saturday night with a pretty boisterous crowd.

As for the beer-angle this weekend, it was just mildly disappointing. Granted, I know that nobody could have possibly predicted high-80's this past weekend, but I was still baffled by the number of really big beers served up by both River Horse and Triumph. Sitting outside in the sun at 1PM on Saturday with a long day still ahead, I bypassed River Horse's 10% Belgian and 8% Weizenbock and went for the Lager and Special Ale. The lager is unfiltered and still a bit yeasty (think Kellerbier) while the Special Ale is a nice, light, flavorful English style mild. I had forgotten what a great beer the Special Ale is.

When I asked at Triumph why they only had four beers on tap, I was told that the brewery is "going through some growing pains". No idea what that means. Triumph is a great spot, and I don't recall ever seeing fewer than six on tap, so seeing only four on the board came as a great surprise. And it was a bit of a disappointment that only one was lower than 6.5% ABV. Looking around the bar, it seemed that almost every customer was opting for the Kellerbier, weighing in at about five percent. I did have the Uber Pils (a boozey, full bodied pilsner) and the IPA (seemed a bit easier to handle the heftier beers indoors than under the sun), while I also tasted R's Keller. Oh, and the food was great. And with a $6 bar menu, I completely retract my earlier comment about the menu being a bit pricey.

And not to end on a sour note here, but I'm afraid I have a bone to pick with River Horse. Before leaving, I had a seat with R in the gift shop to finish off our beers. They have this great table with little stools that swing out from underneath that we love to marvel at - but I digress. I was about to buy a t-shirt when R advised me to open it up and look at what's printed on the back. And I'm glad she prompted me to do that, because I found printed on the on the back the following; "New Jersey's Oldest Craft Brewery".

Unfortunately I can't wear a shirt that would turn me into a walking billboard for a falsehood - especially when it comes to craft beer, and especially when it comes to New Jersey's craft beer. A little research would reveal that Dave Hoffman's Climax Brewing is in fact two months older than River Horse. It's right there on both company's web sites, so perhaps the folks at River Horse could have done a bit more research before getting those shirts printed up.

Getting awesome at the Lambertville Shad Festival

Taking a trip with R this weekend down to Lambertville, NJ for their annual Shad Festival. For those who have never been down that way, we'd totally recommend making a day of it on any weekend when the weather is nice. Lambertville is one of those quaint little river towns where you can have a nice day just walking around and exploring. Plus, New Hope, PA is an easy walk right across the bridge. Between both towns there are plenty of antique stores, sight-seeing opportunities, and restaurants to take advantage of.

But what does that have to do with beer, you ask? Plenty. Located in Lambertville is the River Horse Brewing Company, a craft brewery that within the last year or so received a sizeable investment and is now producing more specialty beers in addition to their regular lineup and is also expanding distribution. We've seen them on tap in JC, Hoboken, and NYC recently, so they're getting out there. And in New Hope, you've got one of Triumph's three brewpubs. The food is excellent at Triumph (if a bit pricey) and they always keep the rotation of taps interesting. We always find more than one beer on there that we've never seen them serving before.

We'll also probably hit one of our favorite spots in Lambertville, the Swan. And check out a new one recommended by Lew Bryson and Mark Haynie in their New Jersey Breweries book, the Inn of the Hawke.

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I transferred my oak aged old ale to a keg to carbonate a few days ago. It tasted fairly awesome. Super oaky, which I'm actually hoping mellows out a bit with time. It's about three months old now, and the hot alcohols already seem to have aged out. Probably going to bottle it tonight.

Do to a household-wide bottle shortage, I'm probably canceling plans to brew a Biere de Garde. I'm going to keep the German Ale yeast slurry going with an IPA. And then it will be on to another lager and a saison. I'll need all of the bottles I can get my hands on for the old ale, berliner weiss, and saison.

Crappy NJ Brewery Regulations

Great post over at Beer Stained Letter about the state of regulatory affairs in the New Jersey craft brewing scene. Read Jeff's post for the full scoop, but here's the quick and dirty:

The state of New Jersey makes things way harder on craft brewers than it is in other states. Production micros can only sell a customer a max of two six-packs or two-growlers per visit. Brewpubs can only sell on premises in their restaurant - they can't distribute kegs to other bars or packaged beer to liquor stores. The state forces a craft brewery to be either strictly production and distribution or on premises consumption. Why? Why wouldn't the state want these small businesses to be able to expand their revenue streams, get their names out there, and flourish?

And we wonder why New Jersey is so far behind the craft brewing curve. Maybe if an NJ brewpub could package and distribute throughout the state and in neighboring states they could make a bigger name for themselves. Maybe if a production brewery could make more money for themselves and for the state by selling more beer on premises they'd be able to grow their business a little more. Let's hope that enough people in the state start caring about this and can eventually affect some change in the antiquated legislation.

Ox

If you should happen to find yourself in downtown Jersey City around happy hour and you're looking for a drink, Ox is well worth the visit. Definitely more of a wine/mixed-drink scene than a craft beer bar, but half price drinks until 9 can't be beat. Of their four taps, three seem to be dedicated to North Coast's Blue Star Wheat Beer and Red Seal Ale, and DFH 90 Minute. The fourth tap rotates (last night it was a Smuttynose Ale - not sure which, my guess was Old Brown Dog).

I'm no hophead and not really a fan of DFH's offerings, but I'm sure that there are a lot of people out there who would be very interested in $3.50 pints of 90 Minute. Not sure what the deal is with bottled beer. They used to have the bottle selection on display, but that was not the case last night. Saw a dude drinking a Peroni, so at least we know they have that - thank god.

Getting your money's worth

Had a blast at Brewtopia on Friday night. Working the NYCHG table was a lot of fun. It was great to get such positive feedback on the beer that I brewed and served, and also fun to talk to some new people about homebrewing. Hopefully we'll get some new people interested in the hobby.

As for Saturday...

One of these days I'll learn that I don't need to drink every drop of beer I can get my hands on at these beer festivals. I went with R on Saturday afternoon. The two tickets were pretty expensive - came to about $130 - and somehow I think we actually managed to get our money's worth. By the time we left, the fates had determined that Saturday night and Sunday morning would be shot.

This was the second year in a row for Brewtopia at the cruise ship terminal, and this year definitely went better than last year. They made much better use of the space available and there seemed to be more tables - meaning fewer lines. They also set up a specific area for food and made it much easier to get food quickly, though the quality was nothing to write home about (probably being generous here). It's really expensive, though I think we'll probably go back again next year.

Speaking of tickets to fun events...

After being given quite the hard time while tailgating before the Giants game due to my condition (paying for Saturday), the game itself was a blast. Always fun to see those Cowboys fans leave Giants Stadium with their tails between their legs. Does it get on anybody else's nerves that all of these asshole Cowboy fans who come to Giants Stadium are all from Jersey? I mean, these people aren't flying up from Dallas to take that kind of abuse.

Also got tickets to the Cunningham vs. Adamek Cruiserweight championship at the Prudential Center in Newark on 12/11. I can't wait for this. I've never been to a prize fight in person before, and I've been looking forward to it for a long time. Thankfully the Prudential Center has a (small) craft beer selection.

Chili and Beer at the Newark Museum

I came across an article in one of the beer rags about a chili and beer tasting event at the Newark Museum on Thursday (10/23). It's a shame that there hasn't been more publicity about it, it sounds kind of cool. R and I will try to make it over there, but that's not set in stone yet. It starts at 6PM which may be a bit too early for us, especially considering that it will be over at 8:30. $50 is kind of steep for a 2 1/2 hour event, but the money is going to a pretty good cause. Tickets will be available at the door and there's plenty of parking right on site.

Weekend brew

Busy weekend. Friday night, met R in Hoboken and did a bit of bar hopping. Nothing too exciting on the beer front - Old Scratch Amber, Rowhouse Red, and Reissdorf Kolsch at Mile Square (yes, corny, I know), Radeberger Pils at L&J's, Flying Fish ESB and about the most disgusting pint of Pilsner Urquell I've ever had at the 8th Street Tavern. They also served up about the worst plate of nachos we've ever had. Not even ballpark quality.

Finished up Friday night at the Malibu Diner. Nothing like dumping disco fries and a taylor ham, bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll on top of all that beer. I'm surprised I'm still alive.

Saturday was brew day. I went back to work on tweaking my lager recipe:

10 lbs Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner (would have preferred an American lager malt, but this was all I could get at the LHBS)
1.5 lbs Weyermann Light Munich
2 oz. Briess Carapils

Shot for a 122° protein rest, but missed it and hit 126° (for 30 minutes). No big deal. Mashed at 148° at a 3:1 l:g ratio. Wound up with a two hour mash, due to trouble cleaning the wort chiller. Again, no big deal. Mashed out at 168°, recirculated until clear, sparged, and collected 7 gallons wort. Boiled down to 5.75 gallons at 1.054. Added 5g Gypsum to the boil since the pH read a bit high. Oh, hops:

1 oz Polish Marynka pellets 6.5% AA boiled 90 minutes
5g Sterling whole hops 7.0%AA added with 20 minutes remaining
5g Sterling whole hops 7.0%AA added with 15 minutes remaining
5g Sterling whole hops 7.0%AA added with 5 minutes remaining
5g Sterling whole hops 7.0%AA added at flame-out

Added whirlfloc tab with 15 minutes remaining, and 1/2tsp rehydrated yeast nutrient with 10 minutes remaining. Chilled and collected 5.5 gallons at about 66°. Cooled the wort overnight down to 54°, pitched about 300ml Carlsberg yeast from a starter, oxygenated and continued cooling the wort. Had active fermentation at 49° within 24 hours of collecting wort.

The Carlsberg yeast is Wyeast Danish Lager, I believe. This is my first time using it. It seems to have formed a weird looking mass at the top of the carboy. Always interesting to see how a new yeast performs. Also, I counted cells with a hemocytometer and microscope. I'll post more on that later...

Went to Krogh's in Sparta on Sunday afternoon. Had the two seasonal beers - Lindfor's Lager, a Czech style pilsner, and their Oktoberfest. The lager was malty with a pleasant hop nose, though a touch too bitter for me. The Oktoberfest was a deep amber, rich and malty, though there was a slight sulfury note that was a minor distraction. All was forgiven with some rarebit sauce.