Andy's Corner Bar

There are more bars now where you can have craft brew at because it's really caught on in recent years. Maybe the Dogfish Head show had something to do with it I don't know.

The one place that has been around longest and probably one of the first in the area to get rid of bud and only have craft of tap would be Andy's Corner.

Owned originally by Andy Gray and now George Gray, this bar is literally a place where everyone knows your name. Only it's cooler because he has 12 taps continually rotating the best beers around.

A review I wrote in Beer Advocate:
Truly a great bar and for more reasons that just great beer. The people that go there are not only from the neighborhood but from other close by states and while there are a lot of regulars and it's somewhat a cheers atmosphere, this is the kind of place most people would be comfortable in. The Bartender / Owner George is exceptional. Very knowledgeable, and one of the things I love about this place is that all the beers are served in their proper glassware not just everything in a pint glass kind of a deal.
Did I mention how good the beer was? It's rotated regularly and there's always a representation of all different kinds of ales, IPAs stouts, pilsners, etc. There is also almost always a English style cast conditioned beer or two for you to try. That in itself is pretty hard to find.

I also want to mention he has a 100 beers club. By the order of the Foam Fraternity.
You drink a hundred beers and your name goes up on a plaque and suddenly you've become immortal. Way cool!
My wife and I just did it after trying for 5 years just a week ago. I got most of my education of beer in on  beer here thanks to George. Best part of everything is I live within stumbling distance.

My Copper coil Immersion wort chiller

For only 50 bucks you can make a simple wort chiller with 50ft copper tubing. I used 5'8 ID

I coiled mine around a can of paint and now I can chill 5 gallons of wort in 15 min.

I'm sure there are many like it but this one is mine. 

First Mash Tun

Once I knew that I really liked to brew I went out and got a cooler to convert to a mash tun.
I wanted to spend as little as possible so I got all the hardware at lowes and only spend 20 bucks on the cooler. I thought I did a nice little job in this and I'm totally glad I did.

My efficiency is in the mid seventies and I think I can get it higher. The only think I would do different is get a cooler next time with a latch. When doing a double brew day I noticed the tun becomes softer and doesn't close all the way.

Here are some pictures of my set up

THE ASSEMBLY

A closer look at the assembly, believe it or not I took all those washers out and left only one because it was leaking.

Stainless bazooka tube

In action

Celebrating a dairy farm heritage

What better way to commemorate my Uncle's dairy farm in Tennessee than to make a milk stout?

My Father's family in Cuba we dairy farmers until the day Castro came and took the farm from my grandfather. When my family came to the states, my father in 57 but the rest of the family came in 1963 they moved to Union City, NJ. It wasn't long before my Uncle Yiyo sold his grocery store in NJ to buy a farm called Little Ranch down in Tennessee. If was a fun time to spend summers and I'll never forget the smell of the farm. As gross as it might be to some, it brings good memories to me and even though I'm a city boy, it's good to know where you come from. Might make where your going more visible.

Here's the recipe

8.0 lb (66.7%) 2-Row Brewers Malt; Briess 

1 lb (8.3%) 2-Row Caramel Malt 80L; Briess 

8.0 oz (4.2%) Roast Barley; Bairds Malt 

6.0 oz (3.1%) Chocolate Malt; Breiss 

12.0 oz (6.2%) Oats (Pregelatinized Flakes); Briess 

6.0 oz (3.1%) Barley (Pregelatinized Flakes); Briess 

.5 oz (66.7%) Chinook leaf; Hopinion (11.9%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min 

.25 oz (33.3%) Chinook leaf; Hopinion (11.9%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min 

8oz  (8.3%) Lactose at burn out

I mashed it at 154 for 90 minutes Loss about 4 degrees which I think it's great! 


Using a cooler Mash tun I converted.


Boiling this beer for 90 mins


going to cool and use Safe ale 04 english yeast. 


I'l be sure to report back when I open m first one, can't wait. 

A dozen beers I cannot live without

Weyerbacher brewery tour Easton, PA

Weyerbacher is located in Easton, PA right over the river from Phillisburg, NJ. I hadn't been to a brewery since I visited Harpoon in Boston so I wasn't ready for what I saw.

They basically took a warehouse and threw brewing equipment in wherever it landed it remained. Pretty disorganized compared to bigger breweries. You looked at that place and it just seamed impossible to pump as much beer out of there as they do.

But they do! and Great Beer to boot!

The mash tun, lauter tun and boiler were new, they just received delivery this year. I can't remember how many fermenters there where but it wasn't many. I had to try real hard not to stick my head in one of the buckets used for blow offs, they were fermenting some blithering idiot so you know it was violent.

The bottling line was just brought in as an upgrade, an older model used by Victory.

Staff was great, they guy giving the tour was knowledgeable enough to keep the crowd at bay. They let us sample any beer even if they don't have it on tap. They have no problem opening a bottle for you.

No cost and if you buy beer you must buy a case as per Pennsylvania state law. The good thing is that you can mix it up. You can also have a growler filled or buy a growler from them.

Brewery is only open Saturdays they make great beer at this place and it's definitely worth visiting.

Once we were done visiting the brewery we made our way to downtown Easton. Place called Pearly Bakers. Absolutely a beer drinker's haven.

First time I had Anchor's Steam beer on tap.  Food was top notch as well. I would go back and do the tour with Peary's all over again. Maybe even stay the night next time.

Check out their website for more info

http://pearlybakers.net/