brews and beats

PJ20: Montreal 2005

2011-08-30T23:20:00.000-04:00

09.15.05 - Bell Centre - Montreal, QC

When I first started this countdown, I wanted the opportunity to relive some great live Pearl Jam. My hope was that I'd find some gems that have escaped my memory over the years. Boy, does this show fit that description! For one reason or the other, I never found a copy of this show until now. I remember all the details of the incredible trip: The beautiful drive fall drive to Canada, bar hopping around the city, and one of the best nights of sleep I ever had in an open aired hostel.

This date marked the anniversary of Johnny Ramones' death. Besides his part in punk music history, he was also a close friend of the band. Eddie dedicated the show to him and the band kicked into I Believe In Miracles. The show was already off to a great start, but this was the turning point to something special.

Donned in his Johnny Ramone shirt, Eddie delivered a performance nothing short of legendary. You can hear his intensity in every line of Light Years. The heartfelt show continued with "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" tagged to the end of Betterman. This is one of those nights where everything clicked.

The crazy Canadian crowd only heightened the experience. I've never seen a more intense Alive than this version. You can feel the fist pumping "YEAHS!" that accompanied the last half of the song on this recording. The high energy second encore only made things more rowdy.

Anything I say won't do this one justice. It was a night that Pearl Jam paid homage to not only a legend, but a friend. Their playing demonstrates how much Johnny really meant to them. This one deserves to be played from start to finish... and turned up LOUD!

ENJOY!

Pearl Jam 09.15.05 mp3 Download Part 1

Pearl Jam 09.15.05 mp3 Download Part 2

PJ20: Camden II 1998

2011-08-29T23:06:00.008-04:00

08.29.98 - E Centre - Camden NJ

Hey there! So, obviously it's been a while since I continued my tribute to Pearl Jam. The fact is my computer blows! It's definitely time to get a new one... Now that the excuses are out of the way, it's less than a week till PJ20! I hope to post a couple more of my personal favorite moments to get you psyched for the big weekend.

Camden 1998 was the first time I saw Pearl Jam rock the east coast. It was surprising to me how different the energy was at this show compared to the first time I saw them in Maui. For me, it unlocked the key to how truly special the bond is between this band and their fans. Sitting in the front row of the lawn gave me a perfect vantage point to experience it first hand. I can still see the crowd's reaction to the "1, 2, 3, 4, 5 against 1" part of Animal.

This second night in Camden holds it's own against some of the other great 1998 summer/fall shows. To this day it's still the only show I've seen Long Road performed. By the first notes of State of Love and Trust, I was a Pearl Jam believer for life. If that wasn't enough they followed it up with Present Tense. Witnessing the "Hallelujah!!!!!" reaction in Do The Evolution was another uppercut to my jaw. Up to this point in my life, I've never seen 30 thousand so connected in the moment.

Then came the blissfulness that followed Better Man. Eddie wasted no time going into an extended version of Save It For Later. Just when you thought it was ending he kicked it back into gear and brought the place to a frenzy. Both encore closers, Rearviewmirror and Rockin' In The Free World, left me covered in sweat, fist pumping and hoarse for about a week.

It's funny how at the time I had to visit my local record store for month until an overpriced copy of this show was available. Now it can be found for free with a quick google search. ENJOY!

Pearl Jam 08.29.98 Download Part 1

Pearl Jam 08.29.98 Download Part 2

PJ20: fifteen

2011-08-08T07:50:00.000-04:00

Madison Square Garden - June 2008

I'm embarrassed to admit it took me over a quarter century before I made it to Madison Square Garden. The experience was monumental for obvious reasons, but the trip was an adventure in and of itself. I had two 10C tickets for both shows at MSG in 2008 and made the trek from Ardmore, PA each night. While sitting in traffic through the Lincoln Tunnel I noticed my car's battery light go on. I thought, "Just make it to the show and deal with it later."

The first time walking into MSG is a chaotic whirlwind. People flood the streets and corridors leading to the hallowed halls. Once in, it's an uphill hike to any level of seats. When you reach your seats you can really feel the history of the building. I've heard you can actually feel the building shake when the room's on fire. It wasn't till Corduroy on night one that I actually believed it.

Both nights offered some great moments and special surprises. For the first act, Pearl Jam invited a group of backup singers for a few songs including All Night and Who You Are. The trio included Fonzi Thorton who's worked with Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin and David Bowie to name a few. C.J. Ramone was also there to help out on bass for I Believe In Miracles. Other high points of MSG night one were incredible versions of Present Tense and W.M.A.

On the way home that pesky battery light was back. We barely made it to the first rest stop on the turnpike before the car was dead. The extremely helpful Sunoco night shifter helped us diagnose the problem. The alternator was shot so the battery wasn't holding a charge. We slept the night at the rest stop while the battery charged and at dawn we made a break for it before rush hour. We conserved every ounce of power to ensure the battery would last the long ride home. Fortunately for us the car made it back to the mainline where it eventually died on Lancaster Ave forcing us to push it the last quarter mile to the mechanic.

I had my doubts I'd be able to make the second show, but this was MSG night two! The car was repaired and less than ten hours after arriving home I was back on the road headed through the Lincoln Tunnel. I'm so happy I persevered.

From the word go Pearl Jam meant business opening with Release. The night got really serious when we were treated to the first Garden since 2006. You can tell how special MSG is for the band by the way they construct setlists for this building. It's their east coast home. In addition to the backup trio, Pearl Jam also welcomed Ace Frehley from KISS to perform Black Diamond with Mike and Matt exchanging lead vocal responsibility.

My first two shows at MSG were quite the introduction to how Pearl Jam owns MSG. It's hard to say where they rank compared to other great Pearl Jam shows there. Some are better, but is there really such a thing as a bad Pearl Jam show at the Garden? For your listening pleasure there's links to the audience recordings and a couple videos of the highlights. ENJOY!

Pearl Jam 06.24.08 Download Part 1

Pearl Jam 06.24.08 Download Part 2

Pearl Jam 06.25.08 Download Part 2

Pearl Jam 06.25.08 Download Part 2

PJ20: sixteen

2011-07-27T23:50:00.000-04:00

05.18.10 - Prudential Center - Newark, NJ

The 2010 North American tour started on the heals of a high energy performance at Jazz Fest in New Orleans and roared to the finale, a two night stand at Madison Square Garden. There was one date that mysteriously remained unannounced until right before the tour started. Since the date was wedged between gigs in Boston and New York City a lot of fans speculated a bonus show for one of the two major markets. Instead, Pearl Jam pulled a 180 and made a stop in Newark, NJ to perform in front of a modest Tuesday night crowd.

With many fans attending either Boston or NYC, it was no surprise there was a light turnout for the show. People traveling for the shows already had their plans and reservations set. It's was so light of a turnout that the Backspacer curtain was out and no seats sold behind the stage. I feel that nights like this can be a recipe for an unforgettable show.

Anyone who skipped this one missed a perfect appetizer for MSG. This show was an example of the sum of the parts being greater than the whole. The setlist is scattered with rarities like Alone, Brother, a WMA tag in Daughter, Jersey Girl and All Along The Watchtower with Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses. Beyond that the show featured standout performances of Insignificance, Amongst The Waves, Inside Job and Got Some. I especially remember being blown away by You Are too.

The mp3 download is my audience recording. I'll always contest the auds capture the to essence of live Pearl Jam better than any soundboard :) I also found some great videos too. ENJOY!

Pearl Jam 05.18.10 mp3 Download

moe. - Musikfest Cafe - 07.17.11

2011-07-22T15:42:00.008-04:00

There are certain nights where everything clicks perfectly. The great thing about moe. is these nights can occur at any random time. Last Sunday in Bethlehem PA was one of those sleeper shows. It was the first sellout for the Musikfest Cafe. The venue offers a layout similar to Rams Head Live in Baltimore, but smaller and reserved seating in the balcony. It's character comes from a panoramic view of the steel towers behind the stage. It's a beautiful venue with some great amenities.

moe. established themselves in their new surroundings with a perfectly structured set that tore the place apart. The energy was high as the sun set with Runaway Overlude and a Cathedral > 32 Things to start things off. This trio of songs alone could have been the highlight of any show, but moe. was just getting started. The newly revived reggae version of Letter Home was next and fit nicely into this portion of the night. Both Happy Hour Hero and Crab Eyes were the only choices that were fairly standard, but Al particularly was definitely digging it.

The second set was where things really took off. A stretched out Spine of A Dog led right into Jazz Wank and would set the tone for the rest of the evening. The crowd was loving The Ghost of Ralph's Mom that followed. It was really the last segment and encore that brought this show to a different level. Puebla > Queen of Everything > CIA > Time Ed showcased some of the best moe. I've seen in a while. If that wasn't enough, the crowd's Meat chant was answered and a twenty minute encore ensued. There was even some mention of playing Brain Tuba by Al during his announcements. PLEASE let it happen at moe.down!

The quality of the recording doesn't match the greatness of this show. We were put in the worst spot and the recording suffers because of it. Word to anyone planning to record here: Get balcony seats and clamp! This show is well worth the couple bucks from Livedownloads.com for the soundboard when it's available. Until then enjoy the best my MK41's can offer from a poor location!

moe. Live at Musikfest Cafe Download

PJ20: seventeen

2011-07-15T00:03:00.000-04:00

07.05.03 - Tweeter Center - Camden, NJ

In the Pearl Jam catalog, it's hard to contest any album is more political than Riot Act. Although the album may not always be discussed as one of the band's best albums, the subsequent tours are right up there with 1996 and 1998 in my book. In 2003 and 2004 they were on a mission to influence change. What better night to do so than the day after 4th of July in Philly... err I mean Camden.

I remember it was HOT! There was an "end of the world" storm that blew through and almost dumped Camden into the Delaware River. The show was heat from top to bottom, but there's one reason it stands out from others and that's the perfect mix of covers. It's very uncommon to see a setlist without at least a couple borrowed tunes in the mix. A cover can define a show depending on where it's at in the setlist and how well it's performed.

This show has a selection of the bands Pearl Jam loves to cover: Neil Young, The Who, Lennon, The Ramones and a little Last Kiss (Wayne Cochran) too. Hell, Eddie even throws some Snoop Dog in the breakdown of Blood. The placement of all is perfect, especially the early first set Rockin' in the Free World. Fortunately for us there's some quality video on YouTube of many of the covers. I included another staple of 2003 tours, Love Boat Captain. The link for the mp3 are here too. ENJOY!

Pearl Jam 07.05.03 mp3 Download

Smoke if you got em...

2011-07-10T15:35:00.001-04:00

I've been on a serious smoked beer kick this year. It really started when I was introduced to Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock and Märzen. How could beer taste this smokey?!? There are various degrees of smokey beers with something like Stone's Smoked Porter being lower on the scale, but equally enjoyable. I've even met homebrewers who used actual bacon in their recipes.

Grains being smoked over wood chips is typically what gives this style of beer it's flavor. Incorporating this into homebrewing is easy because major brands offer different smoked malts commercially, but they can be expensive and hard to find. Just like almost every aspect of brewing, DIY can be more rewarding and save money too. In his book Radical Brewing, Randy Mosher put the thought in my head that smoking your own grains is very attainable. I also found a great thread on HBT that outlines the process. Some online research helped me find an inexpensive, but reliable, smoker for $38 at Home Depot. Time to smoke!

The main reason for doing this now is because I entered another "Iron Homebrewer" contest. This one is being held by the Farmers' Cabinet, a new favorite of mine. The center city restaurant gave out the secret ingredient during Philly Beer Week: 2 lbs. of cherry wood smoked rye. The only rule is you need to use the rye so the flavor is incorporated in your recipe. To me, it seems hard to impart a strong smoke presence with only 2 lbs. Plus, I have a couple different directions I want to go with the recipe. Bottom line is I needed more smoked malt.

After assembling and curing the smoker I was ready to go. Below are some pictures of my process:

Getting my coals ready in the chimney. (No, that's not Bud Light)

While the smoker is being cured, I assembled the basket that will hold the grains. For the frame, I used what I had laying around the shed: 2x4's and shims (nothing pressure treated).

I bought some screen material from the Depot for $7 that will be used for the actual basket. This was close enough to keep the grains from falling through.

Staples and a utility knife were used to complete the basket. My hands only bled once :)

Soaking the cherry wood chips for an hour. I used about four handfuls for five pounds of malt.

Weighing the grains to be smoked: 2.5 lbs of rye and maris otter.

Loading in the cherry wood.

We're smokin!

I kept the grains moist by spraying them with water. I've read this helps the smokiness "stick."

Rye being smoked. The temperature wasn't as high as it should be for smoking meat, but for grains this isn't something to worry about.

Enjoying one of the last smoked porters I brewed in February.

Here's a shot of the basket after smoking. I was mildly concerned about the frame getting burnt, but it was far enough from the heat.

The finished product! I let both sit out for a bit before bagging to ensure there wouldn't be any condensation trapped that could cause mold. The aroma and taste are almost identical compared to the secret ingredient. It was a fun process I recommend to any homebrewer. I have a feeling next brew day may include a tasty meal too.

PJ20: eighteen

2011-07-10T11:23:00.001-04:00

06.01.06 - Continental Arena - East Rutherford, NJ

It was a nice early summer night in North Jersey for this one. My 10C tickets weren't that great, but I was able to upgrade to a floor seat. This was one of those shows that started off strong with a lot of the faster Avocado songs. The main set ended up being pretty standard for this tour with the exception of Alone. Due to guitar problems the song is pretty much aborted, which definitely had me bummed since it would have been my first.

But all was not lost! What really won me over was the first encore. It began with three slower numbers: Wasted Reprise, Man of the Hour and Come Back. This set the stage for the climatic ending of the set with a reverse Mamasan Trilogy. Mamasan is Pearl Jam's own mini rock opera. The trio of songs (Alive, Once, Footsteps) played in this order tells the story of a person who is wronged, does wrong, becomes a criminal, and ends up in jail. More info about these three songs, some of the earliest Pearl Jam history, can be found HERE. Typically, the band plays them in reverse order because I guess it makes sense to end a set with Alive instead of Footsteps. As great as it is to hear each song separately, it's even better to hear them together. This was the only time I've experienced the trilogy and one of the reasons this show is special.

Enjoy the mp3 download and some pics from this show!

Pearl Jam 06.01.06 mp3 Download

PJ20: nineteen

2011-07-06T17:35:00.000-04:00

02.20.98 - Alexander M. Baldwin Amphitheater - Maui, HI

This "best of" list isn't meant to go in chronological order. I'll be saving my most memorable moments for the end. This one would have been up there, but I feel obligated to at least start at the beginning. I was a junior in high school and up to this point Pearl Jam was "that popular grunge band". Like most people, I was introduced to them from what I saw on MTV and heard on local radio stations. You'd have to be living under a rock if you didn't know Jeremy, Evenflow, Daughter, Elderly Woman, Betterman or Spin The Black Circle as a child of the nineties.

It wasn't till Yield that I really started paying attention. The tide was receded for grunge, but Pearl Jam delivered an album that immediately grabbed me. As fate would have it my first concert would be the Yield tour opener in Maui, Hawaii. Let's just say one of my good friends was even crazier about Pearl Jam than I was and secured tickets. I convinced my parents it was a once in lifetime experience and they eventually granted me permission to go. So my friend's Dad made the accommodations and we were off to paradise.

The long trip to arrive at our destination was only the beginning of the wait. I remember arriving at the amphitheater early enough to catch the end of soundcheck. Of the 5,000 lucky ones who made the show, we were one of the first few in line and sprinted to the stage when the gates finally opened. Was this really happening?!?! Hear we were in paradise with the North Shore just beyond the stage about to get our faces ripped off by Mudhoney and Pearl Jam.

After Mudhoney, the crush of the crowd got bad in anticipation for Pearl Jam. I'll never forget that drawn out greeting from Ed when they took the stage. "Alohaaaaaa......," and with that we were off. By the time Corduroy and Hail Hail finished we had to retreat a bit from the rail as the crush got a little tighter. On the way back I got acclimated with my first couple mosh pits. The flying elbows didn't bother me, but it was hard to pay attention to the show with the ever present threat of getting decked.

We finally found our comfort zone as the band began Faithfull. The Yield era was just beginning, but most songs played from the album sounded like they've been performed live for years. It would end up being the shortest Pearl Jam show I ever attended due to the early curfew, but it still packed a good punch. This would also be the only show I would see without Matt Cameron behind the drum kit.

By the time we left the venue drenched in sweat and beat up from holding our ground, I was hooked. Yield will forever be one of my alltime favorite albums. To be a part of the warm-up shows to this monumental tour is something I'll always cherish. Hearing the radio hits live was like discovering them for the first time. THIS was Pearl Jam. Luckily, there was a taper in attendance to preserve the moment. The links below are for the tagged mp3s. The sound check is also included. Enjoy!

Pearl Jam 02.20.98 mp3 Download Part 1

Pearl Jam 02.20.98 mp3 Download Part 2

PJ20: twenty

2011-06-28T23:09:00.026-04:00

This Labor Day weekend Pearl Jam will celebrate their 20th anniversary with a multi band festival, PJ20. It pains me to say I won't be able to attend since there's only one place I can be that weekend. After the announcement I made it a point to collect all the live recordings of the shows I attended. I've been fortunate enough to catch some legendary ones and wanted to relive all the moments that made them special.

Pearl Jam understands what it means to be a touring band. They can play for over two hours every night and still mix up setlists by taking chances. The real moments of greatness occur when the collective energy of the band and crowd lock together. Pearl Jam's ability to decipher what the crowd wants and deliver is what truly makes them one of the best live bands ever... yeah I said it.

Leading up to Labor Day I'll be writing a couple posts a week discussing the best things I've witnessed this band do. Twenty posts total. It'll serve as therapy for not being able to make the big party. Feel free to post responses if you have anything to add about my "best of" list or anything PJ related! I want to hear what you think. Without further adieu, here's #20

06.08.92 - Pinkpop Festival Landgraaf - Netherlands

Obviously I wasn't there (since I was eleven years old), but the video footage was some of my first exposure to live Pearl Jam. Here's this young band gaining momentum by destroying little theater's, now playing to their biggest crowd. It's a performance that will ultimately define their careers. Here's some of the clips for you to see what I'm talking about:

What's Brewing

2011-06-27T23:38:00.020-04:00

I wanted to write a quick post about my recent brew. Before vacation I picked up an informative book by Ray Daniels called Designing Great Beers. One main point Daniels brings up early on is the importance of charting a course for the recipe by characterizing the beer you want to make. He lists six steps that I find myself and other brewers doing already, but goes into some great detail. The second part of the book breaks down each style of beer and how to achieve their characteristics. Check it out if you haven't already. Anyway... back to the recipe.

The purpose of this recipe was to clone Maui Brewing Co's Pueo Pale Ale. Since it's only available at the brewpub you'll have to catch a flight to try some. Even more of a reason to clone it... but I can only rely on my memory, taste buds and some useful info from MBC's website:

ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 35

Centennial and Simcoe Hops

This pale ale consists of two row malted barley and a dash of Munich and crystal malts. Centennial and Simcoe hops are used to give a crisp hop bitterness to balance the maly notes.

I remember the beer being lighter in color and sessionable, but still had a great malt backbone. The hops were much more on the nose and flavorful without being overly bitter. It reminded me alot of Stone Levitation. Here's what I came up with:

Style: 10A American Pale Ale
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 (American Ale)
Yeast Starter: 1L
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Target Original Gravity: 1.058 (assuming 75% efficiency)
IBU: 43
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 minutes
Color: 8.5 SRM
Mash: Single Infusion 154F - Batch Sparge

Grain Bill:
8.5 lb Two Row
1 lb Munich Malt
1 lb Crystal 40L

Hop and Other Addition Schedule:
0.25 oz Centennial (60 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (30 min)
0.5 oz Centennial (20 min)
2 tsp Irish Moss (20 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (5 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (Dry hop 10 days)
0.5 oz Centennial (Dry hop 10 days)

As you can see I went a little hoppier and a tid higher in achohol, but that's more what I was looking for! Here's some crappy iphone pics:

Aloha!

2011-06-13T18:48:00.000-04:00

Jen and I have returned to the east coast after a wonderful honeymoon in Hawaii. We visited both Kauai and Maui on our journey. The islands were beautiful, the food incredible, and the craft beer delicious. Hawaii isn't exactly a likely spot to find quality craft beer since it's more of a Mai Tai town, but we found it at the Maui Brewing Co.

MBC was founded in 2005 and currently has two locations in west Maui: The brewery and the brewpub only miles apart in Lahaina. Like many other successful breweries, MBC embraces their location and has adapted a mission within the same line. They distribute using cans instead of bottles, an uncommon choice for a brewery who only produces craft beer. An explanation for this decision can be found on their website:

...cans don't break like glass bottles do and it is particularly important for us to do whatever we can to keep our 120 miles of coastline, 30 miles of beaches, and other public areas free of broken glass! Cans can be recycled, are virtually unbreakable, and are lighter to carry and easier to chill than bottles. Also, key to the purity of our beers: cans eliminate light damage and the risk of oxidation. This will ensure that our canned microbrews will be flavorful, brisk, and satisfying.

Four beers (Bikini Blonde, Big Swell IPA, CoCoNut Porter, and Mana Wheat) are available in cans. You're unlikely to find any around here since distribution is limited to the west coast, but I highly recommend both the Big Swell and CoCoNut along any trip out there. While out in west Maui we only made it to the brewpub since the rest of our day was spent on the beach. The pub offers a larger selection of small batched brews so we headed there for lunch and snapped a few pics:

Outside the brewery

The brewery inside the pub

Fermenters

The owner with homebrew ambassador himself, Charlie Papazian. The website says they sell homebrew equipment at the brewery too.

Awards

More awards

Keg Lighting

The lineup at the brewery. We tried nine of the fourteen :)

Wild Hog Stout on nitro and the Smoked Hemp Ale

Bread made with spent grain. They incorporated a lot of beer ingredients into food.

The honeymooners enjoying a Pueo Pale Ale and Bourbon Barrel aged KGB

The taps complete with Hula Girl

A growler of Pueo Pale Ale to end the day.

As you can probably tell from the pics, the Pueo (Hawaiian Owl) Pale Ale was a favorite of mine. A very sessionable pale ale with great aroma and flavor from the centennial and simcoe hops. The website offers some insight to the recipe and it just so happens I have all the ingredients in house. This will probably be the basis for my next recipe. The rest of the honeymoon was incredible, but way too long to discuss here. I will leave you with some of my favorite restaurants we found that I highly recommend if you're enough to visit either island.

The Tavern (Princeville, Kauai)
Koiso Sushi Bar (Kihei Maui)
Capische (Wailea Maui)

Mahalo!

Wood Brothers - World Cafe Live - 03.26.11

2011-05-23T22:24:00.011-04:00

It feels like an eternity since I've offered some live music for you to download. Luckily, I have a surplus of great recordings from the past couple months that I've been dying to get out there. My hope is I'll be able to finish processing them all before I leave for Hawaii on June 1st. The first is from a memorable night at the World Cafe Live with the Wood Brothers.

I've been a fan of the Wood Brothers ever since I first saw them in 2006 when they opened for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at this very venue. To say they blew me away during that first encounter would be an understatement. I'm sure there's a lot to be said about the comfort level you have writing and performing music with your brother. Ironically though, these two developed musically miles apart: Chris with MMW in the northeast and Oliver in the south with King Johnson.

Every time I've seen the brothers perform at the World Cafe Live it's been setup in the "dinner theater" configuration meaning less dancing room. The upside is it gives you a chance to really sit back and take in the performance. The "holy shit" moments really engulf you without the distractions of a standing room audience. This night was no different. As an added surprise the brothers brought along Jano Rix who added another layer and allowed old favorites like One More Day, Twisted and Glad to take on a new life.

It's hard for me to describe these "holy shit" moments without experiencing it live. I think it has something to do with the juxtaposition of their styles, but people who've witnessed can attest: It's downright beautiful music. Examples can be found scattered across this recording with Losing Streak, Shoofly Pie, Pay Attention and Smoke Ring Halo being a couple of my favorite from the night.

It can be a challenge to tape the Wood Brothers because of the dynamic range of the performance. This one was no different, but the recording is definitely a great representation of the night. You may need to crank the volume to hear the discussion between songs, but it's best to play this one loud anyway! Thanks to Craig T for the pics:

Wood Brothers
March 26, 2011
World Cafe Live (Downstairs)
Philadelphia, PA

Source: Schoeps mk4 > actives > NBox+ > Sound Devices 722(24/48)
Transfer: Sound Devices 722 > Firewire > Wavelab 5.0a(+Gain/Fades/Resampler 192/UV22HR Dither) > CD Wave > flac16 (level 8) > tagged using Foobar2000 and Tag&Rename
Location: Floor/LOC
Configuration: DIN
Taped and Transferred by T.J. Samulis

01. -intro-
02. Up Above My Head
03. One More Day
04. Twisted
05. Walk Away
06. Smoke Ring Halo
07. Mary Anna
08. Chocolate On My Tongue
09. Losing Streak
10. Glad
11. Postcards From Hell
12. Shoofly Pie
13. When I Was Young
14. Pay Attention
15. Chevelotte
16. Blue And Green
17. Stumbled In
18. Atlas
19. -encore break-
20. Luckiest Man
21. Down The Road (1)

NOTES
(1) With Seth Walker on guitar/vocals

DOWNLOAD WOOD BROTHERS FLAC TORRENT HERE

DOWNLOAD WOOD BROTHERS MP3 ZIP FILE HERE

Levon Helm & moe. - Midnight Ramble - 03.12.11

2011-05-20T00:10:00.004-04:00

I'm playing a little catchup since my life revolved around the wedding for the past few months. Even though I was busy there was still a little time to squeeze in a couple shows here and there. One show, or should I say experience, trumped them all. On a cold week in March we made the pilgrimage to Woodstock for a Midnight Ramble at Levon Helm's barn. The opening band just happened to be moe.

Levon, drummer of The Band, has called Woodstock home for quite some time. During the late sixties Bob Dylan and the The Band could be found in this quaint town making music history. It's no wonder why they called this town home. You really need to stroll through the heart of town to understand it's charm, where both locals and out of towners enjoyed the sunny, brisk day.

Although the town itself was worth the trip, most visitors made the trek for one reason: Levon's Midnight Ramble with moe. So what is a Midnight Ramble you ask? Well, I'll let Levon explain it:

When the opportunity to see moe. play a ramble presented itself I knew I had to be there. Tickets didn't last long since moe. draws well in the area. Fortunately they were secured and we were on our way to see a living legend entertain us in his home studio (BIG THANKS TO DON!!!!!). The website says not to show up to the property until after 6pm, but we couldn't resist the urge to snap a couple pictures in the daylight:

With a little bit of time to kill before dinner there was one more mission that needed to be accomplished: Find Big Pink. It's very possible you've never heard of Big Pink, but I'm sure you've heard at least one piece of music written there:

A quick google search will get you the address and directions. Since it's a private property and you have to drive down a narrow winding road to reach Big Pink you get the feeling trouble could be waiting at the end. After all, how would you feel to have trespassers? We were respectful and stayed just long enough to snap a couple pics and let our minds wander a bit:

After a great meal a Joshua's, it was finally time to get down. Pulling into the "lot" felt more like a backyard BBQ than anything else. The empty fire pit we saw earlier in the day was going strong. I'll never forget the smell of that fire mixed with the fresh mountain air. It was calling you inside to the party.

I will say the tickets are expensive at $125 to $150, but it is worth every penny for obvious reasons. As an added bonus you can bring beer, wine, whiskey, or your drink of choice and go in and out as you please to fill your cup (I chose a cooler full of homebrews!). The community table is filled with free food from all over the place too. So I think it's safe to say the high ticket price is trivial. GO if you have a chance. Don't even think about it!

What can be said about the music played in the barn other than it represented everything that's right about live music. The line between performer and audience is non existent, which is something that truly makes live music much more special in my eyes. moe. gave us what we came for: A set mixing old and new with enough jamming to satisfy. Rebubla was great, but I think Downward Facing Dog was my highlight.

Levon is amazing. This was the second time I've seen him perform and the man rocks harder at 70 than most have in their entire lives. The night went too fast, but I do remember highlights being Ophelia, Deep Elum Blues, Attics of My Life and obviously The Weight with Chuck and Al. Out of respect for Levon there was no recording on this night. It was meant to be that way... some things are meant to stay inside the barn.

We're #1! We're #1! We're #1!

2011-05-18T16:46:00.000-04:00

That's right... Philly Beer Scene has named us Best Homebrew Club of 2011. Woohoo!!

Wedding Beer Reprise

2011-05-16T23:11:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm finally back to reality... sort of. In the blink of an eye our wedding has come and gone. It was a wonderful day and an absolute blast! There were moments shared with loved ones that will never be forgotten. Obviously, the one memory that will stay with me forever was seeing Jen walk down the aisle. The rainbow was pretty incredible too... love you Mom :)

Some say good beer is more of an experience than anything else. It can serve as a reminder of the good times in life. I can attest to this. The effort put into brewing the beer for my wedding was well worth it. It made me feel pretty damn good to see everyone enjoying the fruits of my labor. All three beers served were well received and went FAST. The compliments I received meant the world to me. It's nice to know that ten years down the road I can brew these same recipes and instantly be brought back to this one special day. I would be remiss if I didn't at least post a couple pics of the big day:

As a side note: I feel bad because I forgot to plug Barley Legal's Big Brew Day, which coincidentally was the same day as our wedding. Over 500 gallons of beer were brewed by our club! I will make sure to not miss one in the future. Below is a short video produced by beerstainedletter.blogspot.com that documents National Homebrew Day at Iron Hill in Maple Shade. Yours truly (black jacket/tan pants) does make a cameo at 1:19 from footage taped during a group buy:

That's it for now. Stay tuned for lots of posts in the next few days...

The Home Stretch

2011-05-07T09:11:00.001-04:00

Well it's officially been over a month since my last post. I was afraid life was going to limit my ability to update my progress. The good news is there are no horror stories of infected batches or exploding bottles. The better news is that I have over eleven cases bottled, carbonated and ready to roll. The best news is that I love the way each turned out!

I won't get into too much of the details since I've already posted the recipes and notes on the process. There's has been a lot to learn by brewing this much beer in five gallon batches with such a small time table. The most important of these lessons comes down to one word: BALANCE.

In order to make an enjoyable, highly hopped beer you must strike a balance between the bitterness of the hops and the flavors from the malt. You can use original gravity and IBU rating as measurements. This chart illustrates the point and is a good gauge of balance. I'm not sure where it originated, but it's great:

In the example above the beer brewed has an OG of 1050 at 20 IBU. The chart characterizes this beer as "slightly malty." So you can see that there's a range of flavor profiles you can achieve at different points on the scales with the yellow area signifying good balance. Even though the range of each flavor profile is subjective to the drinker, the overall concept still makes sense to me. Two beers rated at 20 IBU will each have a different percieved bitterness or maltiness depending where they fall on the scale.

I feel my brewing came a long way in a short time because of the repetition I got in. You start to develop a rhythm which is important in brewing. Because you start to do routine things...well, routinely... you'll ultimately end up allotting more energy towards creativity. This is what I think everyone who ever picked up the paddle hopes to achieve. Below is the final lineup I'll be proudly serving at the rehearsal and reception:

Happy Hoppy American Pale Ale

Sunny Side Wheat

Oatmeal Stout

Imperial Dampfbier (Iron Brewer Entry)

Stocking up for one hell of a party:

The finishing touches:

Well this is it... my last blog post as a single guy. I can't wait to share this day with all my family and friends. Prost! See you on the other side.

Sun is shining, the weather is sweet...

2011-03-31T20:54:00.002-04:00

Unlike the past couple days, last weekend was beautiful. I was hard at work brewing batch #3 for the wedding. The final count was another ten gallons brewed, which officially puts me over the halfway mark. I had to split my brew day in two because I ran out of gas on Friday...literally, not figuratively :) It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Sunday was a beautiful day for outdoor brewing: Sunny with a chilly breeze. The cool air didn't bother you at all once close to the fire and boiling wort. It felt like the seasons changing on that exact day... that much closer to May 7th.

As I mentioned before when brewing the test batch, this beer doesn't follow the Reinheitsgebot. I went for a crowd pleaser and brewed a wheat beer with orange zest and coriander added to the boil. Just like every batch before, I tweaked the final recipe compared to the test batch. Adding coriander should balance the orange zest nicely.

Another nice surprise was when I calculated my efficiency. Friday's batch ended up around 78% and Sunday was my all-time best at 84%. Some minor tweaks including finer crush, longer batch sparges and higher sparge temperatures probably contributed to the exceptional numbers. This is a huge jump from my consistent low 70's. Here's the recipe and some pics:

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 3068 (Weihenstephan Weizen)
Yeast Starter: 1L
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Target Original Gravity: 1.052
IBU: 29
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 minutes
Color: 6.8 SRM
Mash: Single Infusion - Batch 1 at 151 for 60 min - Batch 2 at 153 for 60

Grain Bill:
4.5 lb White Wheat Malt
3.5 lb Pilsner Malt
1.1 lb Flaked Wheat
0.75 lb Honey Malt
0.5 lb Rice Hulls

Hop and Other Addition Schedule:
1 oz Hersbrucker (3.5%) at 60 minutes
1 oz Tettnanger (4.6%) at 30 minutes
1 oz Orange Zest at 5 minutes
0.4 oz Crushed Coriander at 5 minutes

Another sign you could be marrying a homebrewer: When you receive a spice rack as a wedding shower gift (thanks Michael and Els!), the coriander is emptied within the first week.

Steaming spent grains

The last few minutes of the boil for batch #2 of the weekend

Orange zest and coriander added with 5 minutes to go

Aerating the wort

Fermentation within 24 hours was huge!

99 bottles of beer on the wall....

2011-03-24T08:03:00.002-04:00

WOW! I can't believe over two weeks have passed since my last post. There's only about a month to go and I can confirm the rumors are true. Time truly flies when you get close to the big day. No pressure... There are only a dozen cases of beer to brew amongst the typical stress surrounding a wedding. It seems to me there's no fun in a stress free wedding!

Here's where we stand at the moment:

3.5 Cases of oatmeal stout have been bottled (woohoo!!). The samples tasted exactly the way I anticipated. They'll have over a month to bottle condition, which should give them some time to mature.
2 Five Gallon batches of IPA have been brewed. They've been fermenting for 10 days. The hydro samples were pretty perfect and gravity readings are where I expect. Secondary fermentation and dry hopping will commence today.
2 One liter yeast starters of Weinhenstephan Weizen are spinning now. My hope is to brew two five gallon batches of wheat beer on Friday. Hopefully I'll find time to wash some bottles too.

So, at the moment I'm only 23 minutes behind schedule :) That estimate may not be entirely accurate, since I won't have everything bottled by April 1st like I initially planned. I'm making progress though. Most importantly, both recipes look and taste really promising. I may sound like the stress is building, but in all honestly I'm just getting excited! Here's the recipe for the IPA I made and some pics of my progress:

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 (American Ale)
Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Target Original Gravity: 1.056
IBU: 61.5
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 minutes
Color: 11.24 SRM
Mash: Single Infusion - Batch 1 at 152 for 60 min - Batch 2 at 154 for 60 min

Grain Bill:

9 lb. Domestic 2-Row
1 lb. Crystal Malt 60 L
0.75 lb. Aromatic Malt

Hops

1 oz Cascade (5.4%) as first wort hop
0.25 oz Centennial (8.8%) at 45 minutes
0.5 oz Cascade (5.4%) at 30 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial (8.8%) at 20 minutes
0.25 oz Citra (14%) at 15 minutes
1 oz Citra (14%) at 5 minutes

First wort hopping. This is when the first hop addition occurs while sparging.

Hop additions ready to go.

Lots of beer fermenting away... a sign you could be marrying a homebrewer.

Sign #2 that you're marrying a homebrewer: The dishwasher is used for drying bottles while you're left to hand wash the dirty dishes.

Last night getting the starter ready and preparing to wash some yeast when I transfer the IPA.

Iron Brewer - Maple Shade, NJ - 02.05.11

2011-03-06T12:08:00.006-05:00

The Iron Hill Brewery in Maple Shade is the unofficial home of our homebrew club, Barley Legal. The club has experienced significant growth recently and also celebrated it's one year anniversary in January. It's amazing that we're close to 150 members. As a beginner, the knowledge shared by more experienced club members has been a huge benefit. If anyone in the area is interested in joining, please drop me a line or visit the Barley Legal homepage for an invite. All homebrew enthusiasts are welcome! I've also added a RSS feed to the right so brews and beats will stay updated on all things Barley Legal.

So... back to Saturday. It was a busy day at Iron Hill because Chris LaPierre and crew were brewing their golden barleywine beer, The Situation. This involved two separate mashes of pilsner malt to achieve the high gravity needed for the barleywine. I heard 880 pounds of pilsner mentioned at one point...not sure if that was one mash or a total of both. Since the wort needs to be at such a high gravity, the brewers only take the first runnings. The second runnings of each mash was then given away to members of Barley Legal for a competition called Iron Brewer.

The concept is pretty simple: Five gallons of the second runnings are given out to 20 lucky contestants. What you do with the wort is up to you, but it has to fit within the rules of the competition found HERE. Everyone then brings their finished beer back to be judged. The winning recipe is brewed and served at Iron Hill. The winner gets to brew their beer with Chris and receives a year of bragging rights. It's a lot like Iron Chef in the sense that everyone starts with the same base ingredient. Creativity counts!

I was fourth person to receive wort from the PM session, which usually yields a higher gravity wort. Sure enough this held true since the wort I brought home was around 1061. I think the first runnings started below that. This is what made the competition so unique. You knew the base ingredient, but weren't sure about the gravity you would end up with. Overall I was pretty happy with my spot and altered my recipe to accommodate. I won't disclose my entry just yet, but I'll say it's based on a traditional 19th century German recipe with a modern twist. In the meantime here's some pics of the afternoon:

What you're playing for... the plaque to your own brew and bragging rights.

Mash tun getting a workout

My keg getting filled with that sweet pilsner wort. It smelled great in the brewery!

Chris hard at work in the name of Iron Brewer

Chris and our fearless organizer, Brian

Jim's phone doubles as a door stop

Chris and Vince collecting more wort

The last of the wort down the drain... criminal

Lager tanks

Beer Lines

Hops! Shocking...

The starter I prepared on Wednesday, looking good.

Transferring the wort.

Boiling away...

The only casualty of the day. Luckily it wasn't filled with anything of value and no one was injured.

BIG fermentation after only a couple days. Things are looking nice already

This was such a fun day overall. Thanks to all involved with organizing and good luck to all!

Brewing for the big day... 5 gallons at a time

2011-03-02T07:59:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was officially time to start brewing for the wedding since we only have two months to go. I decided to brew the stout first since it would probably benefit the most from longer aging. Saturday was a fun, but long day. Since I decided to brew ten gallons of each kind and my all grain setup yields five gallon batches, I knew there would be some hours involved. My intentions were to get started by 9AM and be done the two batched early... that didn't happen. I used the same recipe and tried to match the process exactly each time. If anything, I hope to learn how to be consistent from batch to batch.

If it wasn't obvious from the picture, I went with an oatmeal stout. It's the type of beer that you've tried it for the first time, it's hard to turn down. Plus it's a staple homebrew recipe for those looking to brew with an adjunct. Here's the recipe:

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Ringwood
Yeast Starter: 1L
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.051
IBU: 28.2
Boiling Time (Minutes): Batch 1 for 60 - Batch 2 for 75
Color: 35.2 SRM
Mash: Single Infusion - Batch 1 at 152 for 60 min - Batch 2 at 155 for 60 min

Grain Bill:

7.25 lb Domestic 2-Row

1.2 lb Quick Oats

0.5 lb Biscuit Malt

0.5 lb Chocolate Malt

0.5 lb Roasted Barley

0.25 lb Black Patent Malt

0.25 lb Crystal Malt 80L

0.1 lb Crystal Malt 40L (leftovers)

0.5 lb Rice Hulls

Hope Schedule:

1.75 oz Fuggles (4.2%) at 60 minutes

0.25 oz Fuggles (4.2%) at 25 minutes

Action shots preparing the yeast starter:

Big thanks to Chris at Iron Hill for supplying some Ringwood yeast

This was some of the thickest slurry I've used, so I only added about 25ml to the starter.

Two identical starter ready to go.

The day game of a double header:

Weighing out the specialty grains.

Ready to crush.

The Phil Mill in action

Refreshments... this one is a cascade SMaSH (single malt/single hop)

A beautiful sight...

And the night cap:

A couple transition pics. I quickly transferred, pitched the yeast and cleaned the equipment for batch #1 while the second mash was going.

Light refreshments during the day, but dark ones at night.

Pretty cool lookin' pre-boil pic

Full blast. I did have some minor, controlled boil overs since the 7.5 gallon kettle was at maximum capacity

Happily fermenting less than 12 hours later.

Overall it was a successful brew day. I was surprisingly consistent by hitting an OG of 1051 with both batches. I was aiming for somewhere around 1056. My efficiency was a little over 70% for each batch. Had I hit 75%, I probably would have reached my target OG. Two batches down, 4 to go...

A Night of Bluegrass - 02.12.11 - World Cafe Live

2011-02-21T23:32:00.007-05:00

Well, this review is way overdue. It's been over a week since a whirlwind of bluegrass tore through the World Cafe Live. A sellout crowd packed the Downstairs anticipating a rowdy night. I haven't seen Downstairs at the WCL that crowded in a long time. Greensky Bluegrass would open with Cornmeal playing second on the co-headlining bill. I was extremely happy both bands would have the opportunity to play in front of a packed house on the Saturday night of their five night run. The reception was well deserved and neither disappointed.

I did my homework before the show and familiarized myself with Greensky's collection. I've always heard great things, but for no good reason never took the time to get into them. These guys sure can pick! I enjoyed everything from the upbeat Can't Stop Now to the slower ballad Bottle Dry. We were even treated to a couple great covers including a version of Prince's When Doves Cry with Allie on fiddle.

By the time Cornmeal took the stage, the place was ready to get down. The band responded quickly with a couple ragers right out of the gate. Both Run Away and Hide and River Gap are two of my favorite moments of the show. I'm not sure if River Gap was played in response to my FB post, but either way THANK YOU!! It was exactly what I was looking for. Black Smoke Rising capped of a set filled with some intense jamming prior to Greensky being invited back to the stage. The night wrapped up with everyone onstage for an extended encore including Ziggy Stardust.

It was very obvious in their playing that both bands had a blast on this mini tour. I hope they do something similar very soon. The only two complaints about the night: (1) The set lengths. I could've easily enjoyed another hour by each band and (2) Hummus. Although I'm sure it tastes fine at the WCL, it's not cool when some drunk chick decides to throw it into the crowd towards the end of the night. I mean seriously... who throws hummus?!?! Luckily I was out of the line of fire... some friends were less fortunate. The exchange prior to the encore contains some expletives, but didn't ruin a great tape. Enjoy the recordings and some pics by Team Philly's SonicSound (Thanks Sam!):

Download Greensky's set from at the Live Music Archive

Download Cornmeal's Set from at the Live Music Archive

Flying Fish Brewery Tour and Wedding Beer Update

2011-02-13T22:19:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday I scored a couple tickets to a XPN sponsored event at Flying Fish Brewery in Cherry Hill (Thanks Tyler and Megan!). 88.5 XPN is member supported public radio broadcast from the University of Pennsylvania and Flying Fish is the largest craft brewery in New Jersey. If I could make a recommendation for both it would be checking out Funky Friday on XPN every Friday from 5pm to 7pm while sipping a Flying Fish Grand Cru.

The event consisted of a tour of the brewery and tasting of a couple of their beers. I was drooling at some of the equipment they had. It was interesting to compare their setup with that of Ommegang Brewery where I visited last Labor Day. Both produce beer, but the layout and design was unique to each. It's a lot like the uniqueness when comparing homebrew setups. You need to determine what setup works best for the brewer given the space available. Here are a couple pics I took:

Where the magic happens. I think this is a pretty typical size for a 40 gallon per batch brewery. One thing I noticed was the large amount of pumps used to transport everything from the grains thru the finished product.

Conical fermenters with a huge blowoff tube attached that was bubbling like crazy as the CO2 is released. I forget exactly how many fermenters lined the walls, but they took up a large portion of real estate in the brewery.

The bottling machine was said to be by far the most expensive piece of equipment. Flying Fish is distributed with in a 90 mile radius, so it's guaranteed fresh.

Wedding Beer Update: Before the tour I finished brewing another test batch. Its ingredients don't follow traditional German purity laws. It does, however, use a famous German yeast strain named Weihenstephan (Wyeast 3068). Coors brews a similar style "craft" brew. I have you figured it out yet? I won't say what it is, but I will say it was delicious when transferring for secondary fermentation this weekend. Along with this I also bottled the IPA test batch. These two recipes will be served at the wedding as long as there aren't any bad surprises. Pictured below is my yeast starter for the final test batch and the washed 3068:

CORNMEAL AND GREENSKY ARE COMING!!!

2011-02-09T20:43:00.005-05:00

It's no secret that Cornmeal has quickly become one of my favorite acts to see live. So obviously I can't wait for this Saturday when they roll into town with Greensky Bluegrass to co-headline a show at the World Cafe Live. I've heard that Greensky can throw down with the best of 'em, so it's guaranteed to be hours of high energy bluegrass. The last time Cornmeal was in town inclement weather chased away what would've been a great turnout for a free show hosted by XPN. Don't be left out in the cold this time! If my endorsement isn't enough, perhaps some live footage will get you out:

Don't forget to bring your dancin' shoes and be ready to get down. Tickets can be purchased at the World Cafe Live's website for a whopping $14. Hope to see you down there :)

Brewing for the Big Day

2011-02-03T22:18:00.015-05:00

For those of you that may not know in less than three months I'll marry the girl I fell in love with almost nine years ago. Jen and I decided it would be a great idea to brew a majority of the beer for the reception. Not only will it give a personal touch, but it'll save us some money. Ultimately, it's the perfect excuse for me to brew a lot of beer in the next couple months. So, for the past couple weeks I've been doing my homework and devising a plan of attack. I've decided to brew three different styles:

1. A light, easy to drink beer that will appeal to the masses... first thought here was a Kolsch, but the test batches didn't come out as expected. It wasn't bad, but didn't have the “wow” factor.

2. A dark, full bodied beer... I'm leaning towards either a porter or stout since I've had success with these styles up to this point.

3. Last, but certainly not least, a full on hop assault in the form of an IPA. This is my personal favorite style, so there's no substitute for this one.

The goal is to have everything brewed and ready to bottle by early April in order to give it enough time to bottle condition. What's that?!?! No, you read that correctly... I'll be bottling around 12 cases of homebrew. Crazy? Probably. Fun? You're damn right! Fortunately I've already de-labeled enough bottles for the occasion. With the hard part is out of the way it was time to stock up on ingredients. The great thing about linking up with brewers more crazed then me is that they buy in bulk.

You want hops? WE'VE GOT HOPS! Three pounds of citra, centennial and cascade to be exact:

You want grains? WE'VE GOT GRAINS! Over eighty pounds of domestic 2-row and imported pilsen malt to be exact:

The final piece of the puzzle was finding an inexpensive way to mill all these grains. Thanks to a fellow brewer Tom, I secured a pristine second-hand Phil Mill for a resonable price:

So, game on! It's time to roll up the sleeves and get to brewing. I've already put together a recipe and brewed an IPA. Based on the inventory above you can probably guess what it entails. I don't want to give too much away, but I can say it's being dry hopped in the secondary right now with a couple days to go. Not quite sure what's next, but I'll continue to make it up as I go along.

To be continued...

Umphrey's McGee - 01.29.11 - Electric Factory

2011-01-31T22:33:00.012-05:00

A touring band can be defined as one that makes a living on the road by performing in a new city every night. Some bands can make a career out of it. Although life as a touring band sounds like a blast, I'm sure it doesn't come easy. I can burn myself out by attending three shows on consecutive nights. Umphrey's McGee has been through the rigor and is the epitome of a touring band. Their resume speaks for itself: Over 100 shows performed each year since 2001. They have it down to a science. Tonight will mark an end of an era for UM when longtime soundman Kevin Browning will hang up his touring shoes after UM's surprise performance at Brooklyn Bowl.

KB has been with the band since I first saw them in 2004. He's always been able to transform shitty sounding venue into something much more. Give him a room like the Best Buy Theatre in Times Square and you're in for a treat. UM returned to the not-so illustrious Electric Factory for his final show behind the board in Philadelphia. It was only fitting we setup to tape FOB in the best sounding spot. It's impossible to hide the rattling air ducts, but it's the best you can do for the factory.

I really liked this first set a lot. It had a great flow and some really smooth jamming: Booth Love was absolutely filthy, Turn and Dub kept the funk flowing, the second live performance of Deeper wedged between Pig, and JaJunk bookends were a good touch. The second set definitely had it's moments too, but I think the best portions were during the opening Mulche's Odyssey and the Hurt Bird Bath encore.

I can honestly say KB is one FOH engineer that has been able to get the best sound out the Electric Factory over the years. Although he'll be missed, his work with UM is far from over. Kevin has decided to continue mixing the band’s music for live releases from the comfort of home. Thanks KB for the years of great work! Your mix will be missed. Here's one last recording for the road from the sweet spot:

Umphrey's McGee
January 29, 2011
Electric Factory
Philadelphia, PA

Source: Schoeps mk41 > actives > NBox+ > Sound Devices 722(24/48)
Transfer: Sound Devices 722 > Firewire > Wavelab 5.0a(+Gain/Fades/Resampler 192/UV22HR Dither) > CD Wave > flac16 (level 8) > tagged using Foobar2000 and Tag&Rename
Location: FOB/DFC
Configuration: DINa
Taped and Transferred by T.J. Samulis

SET I
01. -intro-
02. JaJunk >
03. Booth Love >
04. The Fussy Dutchman
05. Turn & Dub
06. Example 1
07. Push The Pig >
08. Deeper >
09. Push The Pig >
10. JaJunk

SET II
01. Mulche's Odyssey
02. The Bottom Half >
03. Jimmy Stewart (1) >
04. The Bottom Half
05. Bombtrack (2)
06. Cemetery Walk II
07. Sociable Jimmy
08. Andy's Last Beer
09. The National Anthem (3)
10. -encore break-
11. Hurt Bird Bath (4)

NOTES
(1) With lyrics
(2) Rage Against the Machine cover/with Ilya Stemkovsky on vocals
(3) Radiohead cover
(4) With Imperial March Jam (Star Wars)

Download from the Live Music Archive

Thanks to Jon McLennand and UM for the ticket! Enjoy!

Brew Year In Review

2011-01-08T17:46:00.000-05:00

It was just a few short hours before the ball dropped on New Year's Eve and I was rushing to complete my brew day that started early in the AM. I needed to get two cases of Black Friday Milk Stout bottled, quickly clean the last of my equipment, shower, pack some home brews in the cooler and get movin'. I guess you can say the craft of home brewing has sucked me in hook, line and sinker. Luckily Jen likes beer because I'm not sure she'd be able to constantly put up with scenes like this:

All said and done, I brewed a total of 65 gallons of beer in 2010. Due to "the porter incident" only 60 will be consumed (mental note: glass carboys don't bounce). The last batch of the year ended up being a personal milestone as I graduated to all grain. This was the first 5 gallon batch I brewed free of extract. The gradual step doing partial mashes definitely helped. I'm no expert, but I have noticed the quality of my beers getting better with each batch.

The recipe was taken from HBT.com compliments of explosivebeer. I decided to use this as the base for my recipe. Since i couldn't find any hazelnut extract I opted to do a vanilla bean porter. My grain bill ended up being right around 11.25# which is very close to the max for my 5 gallon MLT. I went with 3.5 gallons of strike water. The mash started @ 152F and after 60 minutes was still right around 151F. I batch sparged at 170F and collected close to 7 gallons. Here's a couple shots to mark my the official move to all grain:

Doughing in

Sparging

Sean watching the boil

The final couple minutes of the last boil in 2010

Overall, I had very little problems with this batch and got some great fermentation for about 6 days at 62F using just a smack pack of Wyeast London Ale 1028. I'll definitely be washing some of this before the Birds game tomorrow for use in other batches. I have decided to transfer this one for secondary fermentation so I can add whole vanilla beans for flavoring. I bought two whole beans, cut them in half lengthwise, and scraped all the gunk out as suggested by many who have made a similar porter:

Cutting the beans

I decided to use some really good spiced rum to sterilize the beans and extract some of the flavor. They've been sitting in the rum since Thursday.

I'm really excited for this batch to be finished to see how it turns out. In the meantime I still have an IPA and a couple 2.5 gallon batches of Kolsch to bottle. There's a lot more on the horizon for 2011. Some big things in the works. But for now I'll leave you with a quote from a book I just picked up entitled Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales & World-Altering Meditations In A Glass. It states, "...beer is an art form, a gastronomic treasure, a political act, a mystical ritual, a food, and a fundamental craft." Randy Mosher, author of the book, offers this advice to help one become a better brewer and I couldn't agree more. Cheers to all of you who share in the quest for the perfect pint and here's to a great Brew Year 2011!

Winter Warmer 2010

2011-01-04T23:34:00.000-05:00

Season's Greetings and Hoppy Brew Year! I hope this holiday season has brought you good tidings of comfort and joy. No, this post isn't about beer as the title and picture may suggest. We've already seen enough snow for it to be past winter warmer brewing season. It is, however, a perfect time to choose my favorite recordings of the past year.

I've re-listened to every unforgettable moment of the 72 performances I've seen and selected my favorites. Below is a compilation of all these recordings presented as one continuous show. It's a hand picked selection of the best recordings I've made all year. They serve as examples of how rewarding the effort can be, but also as an affirmation that live music can move you in a way like no other.

Keep in mind recording conditions are different from night to night. Therefore, each recording will have it's own sonic characteristics and will sound slightly different. Optimal listening conditions include the volume cranked LOUD on a nice home stereo system with a cold one :) ENJOY and THANK YOU for visiting my blog throughout the year, whether you've just found it or have been here a bunch.

Winter Warmer 2010

SET I

Intro
Wappy Sprayberry (Umphrey's McGee - Electric Factory - 02.27) Probably the strongest set opener I heard all year and one of my new favorite UM tunes.
Act Together (Band of Horses with Eddie Vedder - Prudential Center - 05.18) Never miss an opener for PJ. Eddie makes an appearance with BoH for this Stones' cover.
Good Guys Bad Guys (Camper Van Beethoven - World Cafe Live - 01.13) Vintage Camper
Slacked Shot Billy (The Black Keys - moe.down - 09.05) Perfect example of what's so great about The Black Keys and a song (to the best of my knowledge) that hasn't been featured on a commercial yet.
Quittin' Time (Erik Deutsch - World Cafe Live - 07.24) First time seeing Erik. We were treated to a phenomenal early show upstairs with this song being my highlight.
Punk Rock Guilt (Dead Kenny G's - North Star Bar - 07.09) A slamming number with Stanton Moore sitting in on drums prior to Garage A Trois' set.
Sticks and Stones (Nate Wilson Group - North Star Bar - 11.20) Nasty Nate and Adam Terrell bringing some heavy grooves.
The Road (Cornmeal - Haddon Lake Park - 07.14) Probably my best recording of the year. This is an UNREAL exploration compliments of Allie and crew.
Another Brick In The Wall Part 3 > Goodbye Cruel World (Roger Waters - Wells Fargo Center - 11.09) The last few bricks before setbreak.

SET II

Crazy Queen (Orgone - moe.down - 09.05) Funk City! Hands down my favorite sets from moe.down XI
2001 (Phish - Susquehanna Bank Center - 06.25) On the one year anniversary of MJ's death, Phish paid homage to the King of Pop in their own spontaneous way.
Hear My Train A Comin' > Let My Baby Ride (North Mississippi Allstars - World Cafe Live - 02.25) On a snowy night in late February, NMA blessed us with a spirited performance to keep us toasty. This particular combo lit the place on fire.
Jukebox Hero (The Brew - moe.down - 09.05) Is it possible to cover Foreigner any better? Serious Rock Band moments in this gem.
Dig Further Down (Mike Gordon Band - moe.down - 09.05) Cactus doing what Cactus does best: Laying bass bombs. Scott Murawski's no slouch either.
Bloody Bill (South Memphis String Band - World Cafe Live - 04.02) Luther demonstrates why he's king in more ways than electric. A truly stirring performance by these talented musicians unplugged.
540 Groove (Rubblebucket - North Star Bar - 04.17) It's only a matter of time until this band takes off. This particular performance was off the charts in terms of energy.
Oye Vaya (Earl Greyhound - Kung Fu Necktie - 11.19) This was the loudest performance I've seen in about ten years, but in all the right ways. Don't miss this band if they're coming to your town.
Paper Dragon (moe. - Tower Theater - 10.09) moe.'s triumphant return to Philadelphia. One of twelve new tunes originals the band debuted this year.
Carbohydrates Are The Enemy (RAQ - Bowery Ballroom - 04.30) This capped off the second set of RAQ's three and a half hour comeback show.

ENCORE

Lukin II (Pearl Jam - Madison Square Garden - 05.21) Another way to skin a cat. Eddie accompanied by a string quartet for a version of Lukin that completely reinvented the song.
Black Red Yellow (Pearl Jam - Madison Square Garden - 05.21) What better way to follow Lukin II than with a song I never thought I'd see live.
Porch (Pearl Jam - Madison Square Garden - 05.20) This is one no-nonsense Porch complete with a little Black Sabbath.

DOWNLOAD SET I HERE

DOWNLOAD SET II AND ENCORE HERE

The sets are mp3s compressed as .rar files. Find instructions for how to download HERE

Gutters and Strikes

2010-12-22T07:39:00.001-05:00

I've come to realize that brewing is a series of ups and downs. One minute you're on the top of your game, then one issue comes along to knock you down. The past week was a perfect example of this. The first hurdle I faced was with my mash and getting stuck sparges. So far two of the three partial mash recipes I've brewed got stuck mid mash.

Anyone who's experienced this can attest how annoying stuck sparges can be. In my case the grains compacted against the stainless steel braid. I was finally able to troubleshoot my error. When mixing my mash I was pouring the water into the grains. This was the suggested method I've read, but noticed a lot of people doing the opposite (pouring the water first, then mixing in the grains). By incorporating this method, my stuck sparge issue was thing of the past. I also found it useful to add the water first because you can preheat the mash tun and get a more accurate strike temperature.

So life was good! The mash went wonderfully and my yield was noticeably clearer because I didn't have to stir the grains as much. The color did seem a little pale, but I wasn't worried. Another improvement I made to my boil was incorporating bags for my hops. This kept a lot of the hop residue out of the finished wort. So again... life was good!

When it came time to cool the wort I learned an important lesson the hard way: Check the immersion chiller's connections before every use. The tube connecting the hose and immersion chiller came loose causing water to spray everywhere. Instinctively, I kept the hose from spraying into the cooling wort, but the chiller still got dirty when turning off the water. I had to resort to the ice bath method of cooling. It was a pretty shitty situation all together.

After cooling to 70F I pitched my starter of washed Wyeast 1056. You can read about my process HERE. The yeast showed some promising signs while the starter was prepared. I anticipated some crazy fermentation the first couple of days, but got a whole lot of nothing. My concern sank in after two days so I took a peak to see if it was necessary to repitch... and we had fermentation!! It must have been unnoticeable with the blow tube. I immediately moved it to a warmer spot in the house and replaced the blow off with an airlock.

The batch of IPA looked like it would survive after all the bumps. While cleaning up I found this in the shopping bag from BYOB:

Yep, I forgot to add 3/4 lb of caramel malt to my mash. This explained the paleness of the mash. I was pretty disappointed considering the course this beer took. But since the beer was fermenting I guess things could have been worse. Tasting the hydro sample put my worries to rest. After all the hurdles, the beer still tasted pretty damn good. This batch was a reminder that through all the gutters and strikes it's important to RDWHAHB!

Washin' Yeasties

2010-12-12T09:38:00.007-05:00

It's early Sunday morning and I'm getting ready to brew an IPA. Since it's my favorite style of beer I want to master it and have a "go-to" recipe. The idea is to use a basic recipe and build upon that. This batch actually started a week ago because I decided to harvest yeast from the chocolate stout. The beer was ready to be transferred for secondary fermentation and I read this is the ideal time to do this.

I found a step-by-step instructional on how to wash yeast a while back. Bernie Brewer's thread on HBT.com illustrates how easy it is. The process allows you to re-use yeast from previous batches. It's obvious how cost effective washing yeast can be considering liquid packages can be $6 per 5 gallon batch. Washing yeast can yield multiple batches because you're actually harvesting living organisms. These yeast cells can multiply with the right conditions. The key here, like most brewing techniques, is...you guessed it...SANITATION!! I'm confident with my sanitation practices and decided to give it a shot:

Boiling and sanitizing everything.

Filled to the brim and sealed with the boiled water.

The layer of trub and yeast in suspension.

Awaiting my layers of beer, yeast and trub to settle.

The end result. The thin white layer is yeast that has been removed from the trub.

I've estimated enough yeast for about three more five gallon batches. The same amount of liquid Wyeast from the store would have cost about $20. Prost to saving money! I can't explain how easy this process was. Follow the instructions from Bernie's instructions and take your time. Almost any questions have has probably already been covered if you search.

To ensure the yeast would be viable and ready to ferment, I made a starter on Friday. This is another first for me. The hope here is to allow the yeast time to reproduce and build up their numbers. If successful fermentation should take off like a rocket. I made a 1 liter starter with 1 cup DME. Using Mr. Malty I calculated about 90mL of yeast slurry to use:

Surprise, more sanitizing.

The wort chilling after a 10 minute boil.

Yeast to be pitched. I decanted most of the extra beer. The jar on the left has already been shook to awake the yeast.

Fermentation the next morning. No stir plate, so I'm shaking the bottle every time I pass.

MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: The IPA has been brewed and the starter has been pitched. So far there hasn't been any noticeable activity. I'm not panicing, but definitely starting to get a little concerned. Here's hoping things are rocking when I get home.

The Electric Lemoe.nade Acid Test - 12.04.10 - Albany, NY

2010-12-06T23:39:00.010-05:00

Fans attending the University of Albany men's basketball game must have been scratching their heads last Saturday in Albany. You see, it was mischief night in Albany and the freaks were out celebrating Halloween a month late. Due to unforeseen circumstances moe.'s annual Halloween show, originally scheduled for October 30th, needed to be moved to December. Similar to last year, the theme of the show was voted on by fans on jambands.com. Anyone who purchased a ticket could submit one theme. The top 30 selected by the band were included in the vote. The Winner: The Electric Lemoe.nade Acid Test.

The possibilities were endless as the band could take this theme anywhere. I was certain it would be one for the ages considering December 4th 1965 marks the Grateful Dead's first performance. It was on this night 45 years ago the Warlocks changed their name to the Grateful Dead and performed at a Ken Kesey Acid Test. The stars were aligned, but my assumptions were way off. moe. had other plans for the test and executed them perfectly.

moe. delivered a psychedelic ride mixing old and new. When all was said and done the band performed five new songs for the first time. What made things more exciting is the fact each member wrote one: Chromatic Mind (jim.), Suck A Lemon (chuck.), No Refrain (rob.), Mar-Dema (vin.) and Silver Sun (al.). The new songs were intertwined with quintessential jam vehicles. Not Coming Down and Wormwood were first performed in 2002 and the rest have been around forever. For good measures moe. added Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive to round off a jam filled evening.

moe. brought in a ton of additional lighting for Huffer to play with and even incorporated some technicolor lights created with colored liquid and glass. The crew of Big Nazo were invited to perform during the second set to maximize the sensory overload. It got weird as the band morphed into half alien creatures too. I'm told their was a storyline to all the antics, but I was too caught up with how great the band performed to follow.

The twenty year anniversary for moe. is already marked with so many highlights, but this will rank among them. The musical moe.ments of true improvisation and psychedelic jams are all here: WW > Interstellar Overdrive, meat > Mar-Dema > meat, Silver Sun > Rec Chem, and one of the best Busters I've seen recently. The production value of the evening could only be fully enjoyed in person. We passed the test with flying colors.

Download or Stream The Electric Lemoe.nade Acid Test at the LMA

Can YOU pass the test?

Link to jamforums.com for some excellent photographs:

Bitches Brew

2010-12-02T23:38:00.007-05:00

Dogfish Head Brewery rarely disappoints. They offer some greats: 60 Minute IPA, Punkin Ale, Chicory Stout, Sah'tea, Theobroma... the list goes on. The Discovery Channel has a new series about the brewery located close by in Milton, DE. Sam Calagione and crew are filmed developing some of their more experimental brews. So far the show is decent except for the rapping. The first one told how the limited edition Bitches Brew came to be.

I got a chance to try one over the summer at Eulogy and loved it, but didn't start craving it till watching the episode. A lot of others must've been enticed too, which is why it took some searching to find. A couple bottles were finally secured by Jen from the Foodery. There was also a duck beast from the Reading Terminal in the fridge and an Eagles game tonight. End result was surprisingly easy to make and paired nicely with a win. I couldn't resist taking some shots:

This was insanely good! I think the secret to cooking duck is letting it get crispy skin-side down in a frying pan prior to roasting. Is it possible to brew with duck fat? Just kidding... sort of. Of course the night wouldn't be complete without a home brew. The Death by Dunkel was ready and tasting great:

It goes without saying, but if you've never heard Miles Davis' Bitches Brew do yourself a favor and give it a listen ;)

Bonerama & Nate Wilson Group - North Star Bar - Philly - 11.20.10

2010-11-29T22:24:00.016-05:00

Before Thanksgiving I posted my recording and review of the first in a three night run of shows. Now that the leftovers are officially gone it's time to keep it going, although I'm going to jump around a bit. This was the grand finale of the three night rager. Amazingly, I was fortunate enough to attend all three nights for the total admission price of $5. This was only made possible with the help of others, for which I'm grateful. So a big thanks goes out to Bonerama and their archivist Bret for making this night a freebie.

I raced from NoLibs hoping to catch Nate Wilson Group open the night. I really wanted to catch the set, but was pushing it for time. I should've known... this is the North Star Bar and nothing starts on time. Nate warmed up the crowd nicely with a powerful opening set. The band's been busy this past year touring (including a trip to the Virgin Islands) and punching the clock in the studio recording a new album due out soon. It was noticeable in their playing.

The room filled up by the time Bonerama took the stage. The band played a show at the North Star one week before and must have convinced a lot to come back for more. New Orleans brass funk is not something we get on the reg in Philly. I'm told it was a sellout, which could be due in part to the special guests on this night. Both Kyle Hollingsworth (SCI) and Steve Kimock can sell some tickets in the northeast and were an added bonus.

It was a very organic mixture of musicians with everyone sharing the stage creating some fiery moments. We got two sets packed with originals not only by Bonerama, but the Kimock and Hollingsworth too. The rest of the night was dedicated to playing some great covers NOLA style. My favorite was either Frankenstein to end the first set or the Helter Skelter with Tomorrow Never Knows jam. War Pigs to end the second set is never a bad idea either. The "new" taping spot in the North Star proved to be conducive for taping once again, as these recordings are the best of my three nighter. Enjoy!

Obligatory crappy cell phone shots:

Download or Stream Nate Wilson Group from the North Star Bar on the LMA

Download or Stream Bonerama from the North Star Bar on the LMA

Cornmeal & Cabinet - Truimph Brewery - New Hope, PA - 11.18.10

2010-11-24T20:21:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday night I embarked on a mission that began in New Hope and ended in Philadelphia. It was a three night journey that gave me the opportunity to see six bands and taste some great beers along the way. If I was forced to pick, Thursday would be the one night I was most excited about. When faced with the hard decision between the New Mastersounds at the Note and Cabinet/Cornmeal at Triumph Brewery, I gave the nod to some raging bluegrass. The fact it was at Triumph Brewery made the decision easier. The combo of freshly brewed Rauchbier and three hours of dancing sums up what brews and beats is all about.

Cabinet from Wilkes-Barre got things started with a great one hour set. I've missed the last couple shows they played in Philadelphia and will make the effort to see them next time. These guys left a good first impression with the selection they played on this night. They were laid back but could segue nicely. One of my favorites was Treesap > Old Farmer's Mill.

Cornmeal didn't hit the stage until after eleven, so I wasn't sure what they planned to do in terms of sets. It turned out we got one long, two hour set that didn't let up. Both Onward and Rise Above topped the twenty minute mark and brought the heat. There was an obvious contrast in crowd compared to the last time I saw them. People were there to get down unlike the bumps on a log in Haddon Heights. I loved the entire set and was happy to hear a bunch of tunes for the first time. Among my favorites were the smoking Maggie's Farm, Mole, and the opening segment of Drinking Away The Memory of You > The Fox.

The Cabinet recording turned out nicely since there was mostly onstage amplification and we were so close. For Cornmeal the stacks were so spread apart we lost a lot. Originally I thought the recording was just okay and decided to run a preset compression tool for the first time. To my ears the sound improved. It definitely does the night justice. Here's the ole' shots from the iphone:

Download or Stream Cabinet from Triumph on the LMA
Download or Stream Cornmeal from Triumph on the LMA

More on the other two shows soon. Until then Happy Turkey Day!

Barley Legal Big Brew Day @ Cork

2010-11-17T23:07:00.003-05:00

Last weekend it was time to bring my brewing rig on the road. Both local homebrew shop BYOB and restaurant Cork teamed up to host a brew day in Westmont. The South Jersey homebrew club Barley Legal helped organize the event and got there as early as 8am to start brewing. I got there around 10 and set up my modest partial mash setup compared to some of these other massive all grain stands. It was awesome to see the different styles everyone had.

Overall I counted about 20 people brewing and at least 80 gallons of beer brewed. I decided to do a 5 gallon partial boil/partial mash pale ale. The recipe I used was Kabes Secret APA. The idea of using honey malt in an pale ale sounded good to me. I stayed pretty true to the recipe, but couldn't resist adding some Mt. Hood hops I had left over 40 minutes into the boil.

The first road trip wasn't as successful as I'd hoped. My mash temp was lower than I wanted and average around 145F. I tried heating and adding some water to raise the temperature, but couldn't get it past 150F. Then I got to experience my first stuck sparge. The weight of the grain must have crushed the stainless steel braid. It might be time to either rethink my design or buy a prefabricated one. All things considered, the batch is bubbling away right now. RDWHAHB... Here's a couple cell phone shots:

Special Thanks to:

Brett from BYOB for supplying some 2-Row, equipment and organizing
Kevin and Cork for hosting
Flying Fish and Iron Hill Brewery for supplying the yeast
Evan for the Maris Otter and the motor

It was great to try some tasty homebrews and meet some of you guys! Looking forward to the Spring Group Brew.

The Wall - November 9th, 2010 - Wells Fargo Center

2010-11-10T23:09:00.018-05:00

***SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW SPECIFICS READ THIS REVIEW AFTER ATTENDING. I DON'T WANT TO RUIN IT FOR YOU!***

Last night I got a chance to witness the traveling spectacle that is The Wall Tour 2010. Luck was not on our side as David Gilmour didn't return his favor to Roger on night two of three in Philadelphia. That didn't stop the band from delivering a fantastic performance.The show must go on...I made a conscious effort to avoid any type of review given the theatrical nature of the performance. I've seen the old footage from the original tour, but wanted to go in fresh.

It's hard to forget a quintessential album like The Wall. Every note of the album is so ingrained into memories that it's hard to disassociate the actual music from personal experiences. Roger didn't hide the fact this potential farewell tour carried an anti-war agenda. It was apparent from pre-show house music that included songs by Lennon, Dylan, and Mayfield.

The Wall was used as the soundtrack to portray it's message on current affairs. This message focused on a quote by Dwight Eisenhower, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." It was nailed home at the peak moment of Vera/Bring The Boys Back Home.

Roger Waters requested pictures, letters and home movies of all troops prior to the tour. This could be anything personal about service men and women. He incorporated all walks of armed services into the show including some of his father who died in World War II. The video during Vera didn't leave a dry eye in the house.

The band delivered, the effects were amazing and the sound was some of the best I've ever heard. It was well worth the hefty price of admission. It was noticeable that Roger put an incredible amount of effort into the overall production and performance. Here's a couple crappy cell phone pictures that actually look decent for a change:

If you've made it this far and now consider going, do it! He's still here Thursday night. But if it's not in the budget a little birdie dropped off this. Enjoy and remember to thank our service men and women on Veteran's Day for all the sacrifices they make.

PHiSH - Atlantic City - Halloween Weekend

2010-11-02T22:13:00.012-04:00

The most highly anticipated weekend of the year for Phish has come and gone. The build up lasts forever and then it's over in the blink of an eye. I ended up getting into two of the three shows through tickets from a friend (Thanks Mitch!). Unfortunately Halloween was the one I missed, but it wasn't from lack of effort on my part. I was on the boardwalk at 8:30 am on Sunday, but eventually ran out of energy. The prices, as expected, were outrageous and I've never paid over face value for a ticket. The thought definitely crossed my mind since leaving the party early sucks. I didn't gamble all weekend and wasn't about to start on Sunday. Football, World Series and Couch Tour were the consolation prizes. Driving home I was 100% satisfied with the two shows I did see.

I found myself on the floor Friday due to a last minute ticket upgrade (Thanks Jon and Liza!). This was the only night I was able to tape. The first set was a showcase of many tunes with little jamming until the Moma > Cities > 46. The selection leading up this was great and included a recently un-shelved but still rare Traffic cover, Light Up Or Leave Me Alone.

The second set was laced with more jamming and definitely a more cohesive set of music. Much like the first set, it scratched me the right way with tunes like Punch, Carini and Corinna. The intro to Piper is solid and the Slave ending was downright majestic. We even got a gratuitous Fluff for good measures.

Saturday was straight up balls to the wall! This show ranks among the best I've seen Phish play and definitely one of the funnest. In typical Phish fashion, the band threw us a curveball. It's traditional for Phish to cover an entire album on Halloween during set two as a "musical costume." One of the heavily rumored albums this year was Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin. Instead, we were treated to a Zeppelin themed show with twists and turns throughout on mischief night instead of Halloween. The insane amount of energy in the building is captured perfectly in this video:

There's not much to dislike about this one. Aside from the healthy dose of Zeppelin, some of my favorites were Guelah, Walk Away, Chalkdust, Bowie and Sleeping Monkey > Tweeprise. It was such a fun and beautifully crafted show that the energy spilled into the corridors and eventually onto the boardwalk. The cheers from the crowd leaving rivaled those inside the venue earlier in the evening. It was a feeling like we won game six of the World Series and were ready for game seven. Bravo PHiSH

My mk41/OTS torrent of 10/29/10

Taylor's mk41/OTS torrent of 10/30/10

Sam's mk41V/FOB 24Bit torrent of 10/31/10

Death by Dunkel Update

2010-10-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

A couple nights ago I decided to bottle the oatmeal stout and wanted to transfer the dunkel for secondary fermentation. It's been twelve days and looked like active fermentation had slowed. This was noticeable by the lack of bubbles in the airlock. To my surprise when I peaked in I saw this:

Looks tasty, right? :) I'm no expert, but the yeast still looked pretty active to me. I grabbed a hydrometer reading just to see where I was in terms of gravity. It was right around 1.019. The Kolsch yeast took about two days to get started. On the side of caution I decided to let the beer ferment for another couple days.

I'm not 100% sold on the notion of secondary fermentation. The trouble and time it takes doesn't seem worth it for every batch. The main reason I've decided to get the dunkel off the trub is to try my hand at harvesting the yeast by washing and storing for future use. More on that tomorrow. In the meantime I want to discuss the efficiency of my first true partial mash.

The Home Brewing Wiki provides a good background on efficiency and how it relates to both all grain and extract brewing:

In extract brewing, the malt extracts that are used to provide
fermentables always yield a predictable amount of sugar. A pound of LME in a
gallon of water will yield 37 points of specific gravity, and a pound of DME
will yield 45 points (give or take a point or two, depending on the brand of
extract).

For grain mashing, the story is different. Various types of
malt yield different amounts of sugars, and there are many other variables that
also influence how efficiently your mashing and sparging procedures extract
sugar from malt. Because of these factors, the amount of sugar obtained from a
pound of malt can vary over a fairly wide range. The good news is that as long
as your procedures remain reasonably consistent from batch to batch, it is
possible to predict how much sugar you will get from your malt, provided you
know what your extraction efficiency is. Extraction efficiency is the ratio of
the amount of sugars you actually obtain, to the theoretical maximum amount of
sugars available. Because of the large number of variables involved, the only
way to really determine the extraction efficiency of your brewing system is by
trial and error.

Typical extraction efficiency in a homebrew setting is
in the 60-80% range.

So considering 60% to 80% is the typical range for efficiency, how did I fair? Luckily I found an efficiency calculator thanks to the fine folks of brewersfriend.com. Simply input your amount, gravity reading and ingredients to get the efficiency calculation:

Woohoo 83%!! It's still a little hard to believe considering it was my first attempt, but I guess I'm doing something right. I double checked all the ingredients input and I'm confident the hydrometer reading was accurate. I'm not going to argue... if I can consistently hit that mark I'll be a happy brewer. The only thing that confuses me is that I missed my OG by a couple marks. I would have assumed I would be dead on with that kind of efficiency.

Death By Dunkel - Partial Mash Brew Day

2010-10-15T23:55:00.000-04:00

It took a while to get everything together, but I am finally ready to brew a true partial mash recipe. I already assembled the mash tun, but also needed a larger brew pot and immersion wort chiller to accommodate a larger boil quantity. The world of mashing means more attention must be given to the brewing process, but the trade offs are well worth it. Among them are more control over the flavor characteristics, the ability to brew with more grains and hopefully a better tasting beer.

I randomly stumbled across a partial mash recipe for a dunkel converted from all grain. This was perfect because I've been wanting to brew with munich malt and also was looking for a dunkel recipe. This isn't a true dunkel since I'm not lagering. The recipe calls for Wyeast's Kolsch strain, which is an ale yeast that is pretty darn close to a lager strain without being one. Per Wyeast's webiste: Used to produce quick-conditioning pseudo-lager beers. Special thanks to chainsawbrewing and janitorjerm of homebrewtalk.com for providing the recipe and conversion. The following is my partial mash process:

Grains! While I prepared everything the MLT was filled with 1 gallon of 170F water with the lid on. This was drained before the grains were added and used to heat up the LME. I did this so the temperature in the mash tun was already elevated to minimize any huge temperature fluctuations.

Let's mash! My strike water was right at 165F as the recipe suggests. I used a ratio of 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain. Since I had 3.6lbs I ended up with close to 1.5 gallons as my volume for the mash.

I mashed for 60 minutes which gave me enough time to have a homebrew and go over some notes from my last brews. This night I enjoyed a 4C IPA and think it's getting better with age. YUM!

I checked the temperature about every twenty minutes. I was able to stay above 150F for the whole mash. I did add a bit of 165F water for good measures around the thirty minute mark.

A couple of vorlauf pours to allow the grain to separate a bit and get some grind out of the way.

Although it's hard to tell, but the wort is a much lighter and less grainy in this picture compared to the last. It confirms my steel/copper braid is holding up.

Spent grains for the compost.

My mash yielded 3.5 gallons with a gravity reading of 1.030. I still need to calculate my efficiency. I added another 3/4 gallons to bring my boil volume around 4.5 gallons

Boiling the wort chiller to sanitize it prior to use.

Overall I think the first true partial mash was a success. I still have some kinks to work out, but I think everything will be a little easier as I become more familiar with the process. If I subscribe to any philosophy it's that in brewing you just have to do what you feel is right at that time. With experience you'll begin to make the right decisions, yielding better beer.

Mash Tun Build

2010-10-10T11:25:00.001-04:00

It amazes me to see all the customized setups brewers have devised to use in their craft. It's almost an art in and of itself. Creativity can go a long way and will save you a couple bucks. Up to this point I've only needed store bought equipment for extract brewing. Now that I'm making the move to partial mash brewing, it's time for some good ole' American ingenuity!

So what is partial mash brewing? It's an additional step where the homebrewer makes a portion of the wort from scratch by mashing grains. This is the same process as an all grain brewer, except instead of making all the wort from scratch the brewer still relies on some extract.

In a nutshell, the mash process is mixing the milled grains with a ratio of water at a certain temperature for a predetermined amount of time. The brewer then separates the wort from the spent grains, which is called lautering. Mashing allows the enzymes from the grains to convert starches to sugars that will later be fermented by the yeast. The final step is to sparge, meaning rinse the grains with water usually at a higher temperature and collect the liquid. Sparging stops the enzymes from converting starches. From there it's off to boil.

There's different techniques to mash, all of which affect the final product for better or worse. In order to successfully mash you need a mash tun. They can be bought at local homebrew stores prefabricated, but I decided to make my own. There is a ton of resources on how to make your own on homebrewtalk.com. A little research definitely went a long way. Here's what I came up with:

Here's all the parts I'll use to make the mash tun. Everything can be purchased at Home Depot with the exception of the cooler. That was a yard sale score. The only thing not pictured is a couple wire ties and the rubber gasket from the cooler.

I decided to use brass fittings since it's a cheap alternative to stainless steel. I've read that brass can contain a small amount of surface lead, which doesn't exactly lend itself kindly to brewing. Fortunately there is a process to cleanse brass called pickling. You need to prepare a solution of two parts vinegar/one part hydrogen peroxide and let the brass soak for about 5 minutes. It's important to remove the brass and rinse before it turns a greenish blue. I had the brass begin to turn this color so I had to redo the process. In the end everything that will come in contact with the wort looked good to me.

The stainless steal braid I'm using is a toilet supply tube. I hacked off both ends and pulled out the rubber tubing. The braid will act as a filter for the mash tun allowing the wort pass through and leaving the spent grains behind. I've made a spiral coil from copper wire to line the inside of the braid. My hope is this will prevent the tube from crushing due to the weight of the grains. This could cause a stuck sparge. It's a little challenging to get the spiral through because the braid' s like a Chinese finger trap. My fingers bled from the frayed stainless steel. Take my advise and use something to feed the spiral through like a wire tie as pictured above.

After the wire is through I secured the one end with a brass nut and wire tie. This will not only force the liquid through the braid by closing off the end, but will also provide enough weight to keep the braid on the bottom of the tun when stirring.

Before attaching the fittings I've made sure to wrap the threads with teflon tape to avoid them getting stuck together. Wrap it the same way the threads will screw together.

I needed to attach some washers so I could fully tighten everything. I also used a rubber washer and the original rubber gasket from the cooler to ensure it didn't leak.

Here's the braid secured. The brass fitting wasattached to the braid with wire ties just like the bolt.

All secured tightly and ready to use.

Success! No leaks and everything is functioning properly.

I'm very pleased with the way this turned out. The total cost was right around $30. I think it should be durable enough to last for some time and also large enough to do some nice sized partial mashes (SPOILER ALERT: It worked great on it's inaugural run!). Since the cooler is only 5 gallons I'll have to upgrade again for all grain when the time comes, but this should be fun in the meantime.

pumpkin ale transfer & oatmeal stout brew day

2010-09-22T15:26:00.020-04:00

Let me get you caught up to speed on what's been brewing. First off I decided to add a list of what's been bottled and what I have fermenting on the right. As you can see the 4C IPA has been bottled and is almost ready. I learned after the last batch to allow at least two weeks for bottle conditioning to avoid under-carbonation. Based on that, the IPA will be ready next Tuesday. I can't guarantee I won't sneak one before then :)

The Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale has been transferred to the secondary last Tuesday. The hydrometer reading was a consistent 1.013 for a couple days, so it was time to transfer... and the samples have been pretty tasty. This recipe calls for a spiced tea to be added at the time of transfer consisting of 1C hot water combined with 1.5 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice. Here's a couple shots:

Safety first! The milk crate makes things so much easier. Remember those handles aren't meant to support the weight of a full carboy. Also take note of the surplus growing in the closet for Rocktober :)

Checking the gravity before transferring. Since the baster wouldn't reach I attached a cleaned and sanitized piece of rubber hosing. It works like a charm.

Right between 1.012 and 1.014

Transferring is boring...better have a homebrew.

Steeping the Pumpkin Pie Spice for around 15 minutes at 90F. This was added slowly while transferring.

En route to it's new home. Many reported they ended up with a gallon less than usual since the trub is so thick. I already lost about a half gallon. This just means I'll have to brew some more if it turns out the way I'm hoping.

With the pumpkin ale back to the closet for secondary fermentation I decided to get another brew going and inadvertently found myself making my first partial mash recipe. A partial mash recipe calls for an additional step where wort is produced from grain. This isn't an all grain recipe because it still calls for both liquid and dry malt extract. It's like the training wheels for all grain.

I decided to make an oatmeal stout. It seemed hard to find an extract recipe primarily because the oats must be mashed to get the most flavor. Mmm.... chewy oaty goodness. Luckily I stumbled across some great suggestions for doing a partial mash without any additional equipment other than extra pots. Here's some instructions from Northern Brewer that is similar to my proces.

Oatmeal Stout Ingredients:

0.25 lb Munton's Black Malt (470-560 L)
0.75 lb Breiss Chocolate Malt
1 lb Two-Row Brewer's Maltt
1 lb Flaked Oats

6.6 lb Munton's Light LME
2/3 c Light DME

1 oz Fuggles hops 4.4% (60 min)
0.25 oz Kent Goldings hops 4.2% (60 min)
1 oz Willamette hops 4.9% (20 min)
Irish Moss (10 min)
Wyeast 1056 American Ale smack pack

My ghetto mashing setup. Nothing too fancy...

After steeping the grains in a muslin bag around 155F for 20 minutes, I wrapped the pot containing the grains in a towel. This was put in the oven on low for an hour. The idea is to keep the water/grist combo at a constant temperature for an hour. I checked the thermometer regularly and it looked dead on.

After mashing. I used 5L of water as the instructions suggested. It looked and smelled amazing!

This was the final step in the partial mash. As the grains mashed I heated up another 5L of water to 170F. The temperature of the wort was also raised to 170F. While holding the grains above the wort I slowly poured the 5L of water through the grains 3 cups at a time. This is called sparging, which ends the conversion of sugars. That bag got heavy fast as it's probably over 10 lbs.

From there it was business as usual: Add DME and LME and let 'er boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops when scheduled. I did notice a much more distinct hot break and wish I grabbed a picture. This could be due to the change in process. Overall I hope to gain much more distinct flavor characters. From this point there's no turning back. No more extract only for me...

moe.'s friday set, tortoise, built to spill & the brew from moe.down

2010-09-21T22:15:00.004-04:00

It's been a while, but I'm still churning out all the recordings from Labor Day weekend. The master list is updated with all the links and is available HERE. Below a a few of the newest additions.

What better night to catch moe. than Friday night of moe.down? Nothing compares to the anticipation of how things will play out over the six sets of the weekend. The first one is usually a good indication. moe. continued the theme of the summer with some great concentrated jams and explorations of new material. The encore had a great segue with rob leading the charge. As a matter of fact all the segues hold up well on tape. Top notch moe.

Earlier on in the day, Tortoise opened the main stage with a solid set. These guys were one act I was most eager to catch since I haven't seen them since Bonnaroo 2003. The set didn't disappoint, but was on the sort side. The band retired with thirty minutes left in their allotted slot. I thought the last half of the show was great, especially Dot Eyes and Salt the Skies.

Built to Spill was another act I was pumped to see. I've listened to these guys for quite some time and always thought they'd be pretty good live. We got everything from Nowhere Nothing Fuckup off Ultimate Alternative Wavers to Carry the Zero from Keep It Like A Secret through Conventional Wisdom on You In Reverse. Surprisingly nothing was played from their newest album. The Shure windscreens were no match for the wind and it's noticeable on this recording.

The latest recording I uploaded is The Brew's two sets right before moe.'s performance Sunday and during setbreak. Their sets rocked pretty hard and won the award for best covers of the weekend. They nailed No Quarter and absolutely destroyed Jukebox Hero. I don't think it's possible to perform Foreigner's classic rock anthem any better. It was a great couple sets to close the Buzz Stage in style.

Photos by Rob Clarke and Mike Salvo (last 2 shots of BTS and Brew)

lotus - saturday on the main stage

2010-09-14T00:15:00.011-04:00

Lotus always throws down at festivals. They have a knack for getting people to move and at moe.down they had an eager audience awaiting moe.'s first set. As it got dark and the temperature dropped everyone was looking to stay warm. Why not dance your ass off?

Unfortunately I missed some of the set because I needed to bundle up for the cold night ahead. Lotus is one of the few bands not only to play moe.down twice, but also graduate to the main stage. They won over a lot of fans that night at the beer tent in 2007. This set was a healthy mix of old and new with straight forward playing without too many segues. I thought they had some of the best lights and sound of the weekend.

Download Lotus from the main stage at the Live Music Archive

Photos by Rob Clarke

Turbine & Orgone - Saturday at the Buzz Stage

2010-09-12T23:57:00.006-04:00

Two bands not as well known to the fan base of moe.down set up camp Saturday on the Buzz Stage. It was apparent after both Turbine and Orgone's performances totaling five sets that they came with something to prove. Turbine's second set saw some of the worst of the weather of the weekend, but it didn't stop them from ripping through a great set including diversity from song to song. I personally liked Blackout Song and War of 9161. I'll make the effort to see them next time they come through Philly.

Orgone was the true wildcard of the weekend. Who was this west coast band bestowed with three sets on the side stage? At one point during the second set they mentioned how this was the largest crowd they ever played to. How'd they do? You could tell from the reactions of everyone who stuck around that these guys (and gal) would be the most talked about band after moe.down. What a fun band! I feel the Orgone recording is one of my best of the weekend. Thanks to permission from the band and management I've been allowed to post the recording to etree. The setlist is incomplete so any help is greatly appreciated. Enjoy the funk and crank this shit up! I highly recommend listening from start to finish.

Download Turbine's Buzz Stage performance from the Live Music Archive

Download Orgone's Buzz Stage performance from etree.org or the mp3s from mediafire

Some pics for Orgone compliments of Rob Clarke:

For links to all moe.down XI recordings CLICK HERE

moe.down XI - sunday - main stage

2010-09-12T22:10:00.010-04:00

As you can probably tell by the first recordings I've released, the highly anticipated Sunday lineup on the main stage lived up to the hype. The rain subsided overnight and the only inclimate weather we faced was gale winds during Grace Potter's set to start the day. After that it was smooth sailing. With the lineup Sunday boasted there was no reason to leave the stage area all day.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were a late addition replacing Jakob Dylan. The set included a lot of her more recent and in my opinion more poppy tunes. It was a very well played set but my standouts were some of the older songs like Joey and 2:22. Grace was definitely the loudest all weekend as Rob Clarke pointed out. Here are some of Rob's photographs:

Next up on the main stage was Mike Gordon and his band. It hasn't been too long since Mike was on the road with Phish and decided to do a one-off show in between tours. He won't perform solo again until November so this was a treat. We even got the debut of a new song off the album Moss to be released in October. It was called Idea and was a what I consider a great Mike Gordon Band tune. Not too many bass bombs, but it's still a very signature little tune for Cactus. Here's some more of Rob's shots:

The biggest act of the weekend, and arguably ever at moe.down, followed when The Black Keys took the stage.This was one of the more energetic sets I've seen from Pat and Dan despite the setlist rarely changing. The staples like thickfreakness, 10AM Automatic and I Got Mine all had a little more feeling in my opinion. Great set:

The festival closed Sunday night with two of moe.'s best sets of the weekend. The first had some incredible jamming right off the bat with the segue from Buster into Haze. Like the rest of the weekend, new songs debuted this year were the focal point. The entire first set is on point and some of the best moe. I've seen this year.

After a mayoral vote for the ages with Rage Lincoln winning for his Headysburg Address, moe. ended the weekend in style with a set book ended by Moth. Both Four and the obligatory Rebubula were thrown in for good measures. We got a little more than 20% effort as suggested by Rob. The Superman vs. Hulk debate between The Pit and Farmer Ben on the other hand... This weekend left me wanting moe.re as usual. Luckily the Beacon/Tower run is right around the corner. Hopefully I can find some shots of the new mayor, but until then here's some of moe. from Sunday:

CLICK HERE for links to download all these performances

moe.down XI

2010-09-09T22:58:00.016-04:00

moe. celebrated their 20th anniversary this year. With the milestone came a change of venue for the band's annual end of the summer bash. Originally I thought, why fix what isn't broke? In the end this move really became a welcomed, fresh start to a career spanning two decades. Gelston Castle Estates was perfectly conducive to host moe.down in just about every way imaginable. Sure the trek to your campsite took about three hours and multiple trips carrying everything you'll need for the weekend (A wagon was essential this year).... and sure... we faced drastic weather changes almost every day. Besides these two minor formalities the new home was a dream.

For the third year straight I decided to capture every note played the entire weekend. This meant keeping two recorders running simultaneously at both stages from noon till 2 am. Luckily the distance between stages was reduced this year, which made for a little less running around. This post will be your one stop shop for every set played at moe.down. I'll keep the list below updated with links for everything as they're available, so check back often. A special thanks has to go to Jon Merin for generously donating some of his gear for the effort.

Friday September 3th 2010
Buzz Stage
Macpodz (3 sets)

Main Stage
Tortoise : [etree torrent] [mediafire mp3]
Nas and Damian Marley
moe. (1 set): [live music archive]

Saturday September 4th 2010
Buzz Stage
Turbine (2 Sets): [live music archive]
Monkey Wrench
Orgone (3 sets): [etree torrent] [mediafire mp3]

Main Stage
Punch Brothers
Built to Spill: [etree torrent] [mediafire mp3]
Lotus: [live music archive]
moe. (2 Sets)

Sunday September 5th 2010
Buzz Stage
Ryan Montbleau Band (2 Sets)
Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds
The Brew: [live music archive]

Main Stage
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals: [live music archive]
Mike Gordon Band: [etree torrent] [mp3 sendspace]
The Black Keys: [etree torrent] [mp3 sendspace]
moe. (2 sets): [live music archive]

**For any help with how to download please check out this post***

Ommegang Brewery - Cooperstown, NY

2010-09-08T23:57:00.005-04:00

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............. My favorite weekend of the year has come and gone. This year, however, was even more exceptional than ever before. Every Labor Day weekend one of my favorite bands moe. hosts a music festival in upstate New York. The eleventh annual moe.down was held in a new location. For the first time in a decade moe. wouldn't be entertaining on the slopes of Snoe.Ridge, but instead at Gelston Castle Estates in the city of Moe.hawk. Much, much more on this very soon... In the meantime I want to tell you about my stop on the way to the .down.

Since Cooperstown is only about thirty minutes south, we decided to visit Ommegang Brewery. This craft brewery specializes in authentic Belgian ales. If you've never tried any of there brews I urge you to make the effort to search out a 750ml of any variety they sell, which is limited to a select few. Quality over quantity.

The original owners of the Belgian beer company Duvel invested in the brewery. The building embraces Belgian architecture and art. It was built in one of North America's most densely populated hop regions many years ago until mold spread, killing the area. Ironically, the brewery uses imported European hops like a Czech Saaz. If you couldn't tell we took the free tour and tasting. Here's the tour in a nutshell:

Before the tasting, although it's probably hard to believe.

Woj checking out the field behind the brewery.

These are the wild hop vines growing around the front of the building (you can see them in the very first picture too).

Entrance to the tasting room.

Mmm....beer.

Well said Frank. Underneath the chalkboard are samples of the ingredients used in all the beers. These are discussed during the demonstration. The beers we had during the tasting were all pretty stellar.

From what I could tell these were massive water tanks.

The "kitchen" of the brewery: The actual brew house. I'm fairly certain this tank is used to boil the wort. There was a gigantic mash tun behind it also used in the six hour process to create a batch.

Although it doesn't look like much, I believe this is where the fermentation is done. I found it pretty amazing that all varieties of Ommegang beer go through at least one stage of open fermentation, sometimes with the roof opened. Even as a homebrewer this seems risky with the threat of contamination.

Here's a shot of one BBT. A Bright Beer Tank is used in the time between fermentation and bottling to make sure the beer is suitable to be sold. To the right you can see the level of this batch of Three Philosophers.

This is the bottling plant. Unlike most commercial beers, Ommegang conditions in the bottle. A bottle of their stronger ales, like Ommegang Abbey or Three Philosophers, can age for ten years and yield a matured taste and texture. The hard part is letting it sit for ten years :)

Rollie Fingers?!?! Oh yeah, the other attraction in Cooperstown.

I needed to take the opportunity and pay my respects to Michael Jack. FYI the Baseball HOF is amazing. I know it's cliche to say, but any fan of the game must check it out.

Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale - Brew Day

2010-09-02T08:11:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday was one week since brewing the 4C IPA and I was back at it. I strayed away from the kits again and went for a recipe I found online. So thanks to Yuri Rage of homebrewtalk.com for the recipe:

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: WLP002 English Ale
Yeast Starter: Yes - at least 1L
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.015
IBU: 32.1
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 14.3
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 - rack off of trub to clear

Ingredients:
6.25 lbs light DME
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
8.0 oz Biscuit Malt
4.0 oz Wheat, Flaked
60.00 oz Pumpkin, Canned (Boil 60.0 min)
.75 oz Goldings (5.0% AA 60.0 min) 13 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) or Fermentis S-04

I made the mistake of incorrectly measuring the biscuit malt and accidentally added a full pound. I decided not to make a starter and substituted Wyeast 1318 London Ale. One introduction of a new element to the brewing process was enough. I didn't want to overly complicate things by attempting a starter and brewing with pumpkin and spices for the first time. This was a great brew day because I was also able to transfer the IPA to the secondary and also enjoyed a couple freshly brewed Robust Porters. More on that later...

Baking the Pumpkin in the oven @ 350F for 30 minutes. Wyeast pack just smacked!

Steeping an extra heavy bag due to some excess biscuit...

I'm not sure if it was the 7 lbs. of DME, but this was a very frothy boil. I was constantly adjusting the heat to avoid a boil over.

About 45 minutes into the boil and still very little room to spare.

I decided to keep the baked pumpkin in a muslin bag to avoid the all the pumpkin becoming part of the wort. It really didn't matter since 90% of it ended dissipating out of the bag making for some sticky, grainy wort in the end. I added a pinch of Pumpkin Pie Spice with 10 minutes to go in the boil. I'll add this as a spiced tea during secondary fermentation as the recipe suggests. I hit 1.056 with 0.001 correction @ 72F (So really 1.057). Since I had already added 3 gallons of water I stopped there. I need to remember to make a notch on the new glass carboy at the 5 gallon mark for future reference.

Here's a shot of the Robust Porter I finally got to taste. It was still a little young, but definitely enjoyable. I think it would have turned out better had I kept the fermentation temperatures lower, but it's got that smokey, malty taste I was looking for.

In addition to brewing, I was also transferring the 4C IPA for secondary fermentation. It appeared that primary fermentation had slowed since there seemed to be little activity coming from the air lock. The hydrometer reading of 1.016 indicated fermentation was close to completion too.

Close attention was give to fermentation temperatures. This is a shot of what remained in the primary fermenter after racking the beer. It's apparent the yeast was very active, which hopefully will result in some great tasting beer. The hydrometer samples are promising!

This shot was taken shortly after storing the beer on Saturday. The IPA is on the left and the freshly brewed pumpkin is on the right. To my surprise the IPA wasn't done fermenting and kept bubbling away for another 3 days! It would have been better if I left it in the primary for another day or two, but I don't think it'll affect the end result too much.

Finally, here's a shot I took last night. As you can see the IPA's active fermentation has stopped and pumpkin ale's has begun. I've found fermenting in glass carboys to be much more entertaining than plastic buckets since you get to see the bubbling and churning.

That's it for now since I'm headed to moe.down for the weekend. With some luck I'll be back with a bunch of recordings to share. Happy Labor Day!

4C IPA - Brew Day

2010-08-22T21:40:00.006-04:00

Yesterday morning I made a quick stop at Brew Your Own Bottle in Westmont and wanted to piece a recipe together instead of buying a kit. This homebrew shop opened a couple months ago, which coincided perfectly with my new found obsession. Brett, the owner, has been more than willing to help me out with all the questions I've had. I didn't have too much time with Jen waiting in the car and asked for his assistance. We put together a recipe, ground the grains, smacked the Wyeast pack and I was on my way to brew. What we came up with was a variation of an IPA recipe called 4C. The name is derived from the hop varieties used in the recipe. All of them begin with the letter C:

4C IPA

Steep specialty grains for 30 minutes @ 155F
1 lb Victory
1 lb Caramel 40L
60 Minute Boil
Add DME (Briess CBW Sparkling Amber 1 lb) and LME (Muntons Plain Amber 3.3 lb can x2)
Hop Schedule
60 min: 1 oz Cascade
45 min: 1 oz Columbus
30 min: 0.5 oz Centennial
15 min: 0.5 oz Centennial and Irish Moss
5 min: 1 oz Citra

Things went much smoother yesterday because I learned to keep everything needed close by, cleaned and sanitized. To do this I decided to turn a brand new cooler into my "sanitation station." I placed all the cleaned tools, utensils and dishes I could possibly need in the cooler and filled it with sanitizing solution. It helps to keep some cleaning solution on hand too just in case you need to clean anything on the fly. Sounds simple, but it definitely makes things much easier. Running around while trying to keep an eye on your boiling wort can be dangerous... a disaster can strike in a matter of seconds if you're not attentive. Here's some action shots:

I'm all out of homebrew, so this was the beverage of choice. It's good, but definitely not as good as Sah'tea

My 'Sanitation Station' with everything ready to go

Steeping the gains...it already looks tasty :)

Your's truly getting ready to add some hops

Boiling away...

The cold break 10 minutes after I terminated the boil.

This was my first time trying a liquid yeast smack pack. Brett recommended Wyeast 1056 American Ale. The package was fully swelled within four hours of smacking.

I noticed that in the summer months the closet I've used for fermentation was above the recommended temperatures of the yeast. Fermentation temperatures are equally important to the overall flavor characteristics of beer. Because of this I decided to pay closer attention and incorporated a swamp cooler. This is essentially a rubber container filled with cold water and frozen water bottles to maintain a lower temperature. I used the same bucket to initially cool the wort so it was already cold when it was time to store in the closet. I've also taken a wet towel to drape over the carboy. So far the thermometer strip on the carboy has been between 62F and 64F, which is optimal for this yeast strain. Active fermentation is just beginning. Stay tuned...

Gov't Mule, Jackie Greene & Trombone Shorty at Penn's Landing 8-14-10

2010-08-21T23:58:00.007-04:00

One week ago today Gov't Mule rolled into Philadelphia on a picture perfect weekend. It's hard to believe I haven't seen them since 2005. I couldn't wait to rock out to some Mule. The work week was long enough and after checking out a few of their recent shows from Europe on etree I was ready. As an added bonus both Jackie Greene and Trombone Shorty opened.

The Great Plaza is probably the most annoying place to grab a ticket day-of-show and caused me to miss the beginning of Trombone Shorty's set. Luckily another taper Jim (aka Dr. FOB) was there to record the entire set. I'll post my incomplete recording until the full set is available . I'm missing the first twenty minutes, but started rolling right when the set was getting good. Troy Andrews aka "Trombone Shorty" was exchanging solos with a passing boat's horn when I finally got setup. Pretty entertaining stuff lol...

Download the mp3s of the end of Trombone Shorty's Set

Trombone Shorty with mics in "The Sweet Spot".

The place filled up nicely by the time Jackie began his set. I've seen him once in 2008 at the World Cafe Live and he didn't disappoint. His set started off slowly with some more mellow tunes like "I Don't Live In A Dream." True to form, Jackie treated us to a pair of Dead Tunes: New Boogie Speedway and Scarlet Begonias. Overall, I thought it was a well played set.

Download or Stream Jackie Greene at Penn's Landing from the Live Music Archive

As the sun was beginning to set, you could hear the cheers from stage left as Warren and crew made their way to the stage. One unique feature to the Great Plaza is the always animated backdrop. Boats, fireworks and other sources of entertainment seem to find their way to the stage. This night was no different as the boat pictured buzzed by during the Birdland teases in Gameface. The first set had it's moments with my highlights being Thorazine Shuffle and the end of the set featuring Trombone Shorty. The Other One jam was highlighted with Warren singing the lyrics to the Stones' Gimmie Shelter at the end. Trombone Shorty also accompanied the band for 32/20 Blues and Soulshine.

The second set brought more teases, jams and covers with the spotlight being Led Zeppelin. After a nasty Trane > Eternity's Breath > St. Stephen Jam, Mule jumped into Zeppelin's Trampled Underfoot. This capped off my favorite segement of the show. The band wasn't done with their oade to Led Zeppelin and preceded to play D'yer Mak'er and Moby Dick during the set. Mule is more than capable of handling the covers as Haynes, Abts, Louis and Carlsson tore through them almost effortlessly. A trio of hard hitting tunes ended the set: Any Open Window, Mr. Man and Broke Down on The Brazos. For the encore, Mule welcomed Jackie Greene back up to join them for a pair of Beatles tunes to end the cover fest and finished the night with a pair of jovial singalongs.

Not too much too complain about... except the ticket fiasco. The combo of these three acts was a great way to spend the summer's night by the river. The recordings will speak for themselves. "The Sweet Spot" at the Great Plaza always delivers those fatty low-end FOB tapes. Hopefully I can make it there for My Morning Jacket next weekend. Enjoy the recordings!

Download the torrent of Gov't Mule from Penn's Landing at etree.org

Download Mule 8-14-10 Set I mp3s
Download Mule 8-14-10 Set II and Encore mp3s

Brewer's Best Robust Porter Take 2 - Bottling Day

2010-08-17T00:14:00.010-04:00

It's been exactly three weeks since I brewed this Robust Porter. I carefully monitored the hydrometer and noticed the last few samples hovering between 1.011 and 1.010. I was hoping to get it down to 1.008, but at this point I'm ready to bottle. Three weeks has been long enough! Here's some progress pics:

Sanitizing the last of the bottles. I made sure to clean the dishwasher drawers and spray them with sanitizer prior to loading in the bottles for drying.

While the bottles are drying I prepare the priming sugar by adding it to 2 cups of boiling water.

One last hydrometer reading.

Mixing the Priming sugar with the Porter being siphoned from the secondary carboy to the bottling bucket.

Let's get to bottling....only 46 more to go.

Getting there...

...slowly but surely....

Complete! I was able to get 47 bottles out of this batch. The bottling was easy compared to what's next: The waiting game. See you in 10 days for the official tasting after the beer has had a chance to bottle condition.

Some Tasty Tunes

2010-08-09T23:38:00.001-04:00

I've been fortunate enough to catch a bunch of live performances over the past few weeks. Before the recap I wanted to provide a little direction on how to download these recordings. Sometimes I forget not everyone is familiar with the distribution methods. Hopefully this will answer some of your questions. I share recordings by providing links where you can find them. Typically I'll do this in three ways pending permission:

For download or streaming on the Live Music Archive. This site is great because not only can you download shows as either mp3s or flacs, but you can stream them from your computer or mobile phone without having to download. Check out the FAQ for more info or my bookmarks for everything I've uploaded.
For download as a torrent. If you don't know how to download a torrent, then you should! This is a pretty concise FAQ for what a torrent actually is and how you download one. I suggest using uTorrent as a client. It's extremely easy and has everything you'll need.
For download as a zip file using mediafire. I'll try to provide an additional link to the mp3 files since the torrents I share are usually in flac format. This is the quickest and easiest way to download the recordings I share. Just download, unzip and drop the files into iTunes.

If you have any more questions, just let me know. Another great program I highly suggest is Trader's Little Helper. This is an awesome, free program good for just about everything flac/wav/mp3 related. Although it's probably obvious, it's worth mentioning: ALL RECORDINGS ARE OFFERED FOR FREE. NEVER BUY OR SELL. And with that, allow me to offer you some tasty tunes:

Widespread Panic at the Tower Theater 07-20-10
I was on the fence about this show until I was able to score great seats about ten rows from the stage dead center the day before. The show was decent and comparable to Panic's last visit to the tower in 2007. I was definitely pumped to hear Chilly Water and Tall Boy in the first set and the second set really kept everyone moving. Good to see some of Team Texas made their way up north to tape the show. Six sets of mics DFC/FOB was the way to roll because this recording sizzles. Thanks to Craig T for the pics:

Download the torrent of Widespread at etree.org

Download Set I mp3s
Download Set II mp3s

Erik Deutsch at the World Cafe Live (Upstairs) 07-23-10
Erik is a jazz composer and pianist from Brooklyn that has worked with many musicians. I was familiar with him performing alongside guitarist Charlie Hunter. After listening to some tracks from Hush Money, his newest release, I decided to make the trip. It was well worth the effort for the early evening performance. Erik and his band consisting of Ben Rubin on bass, Marc Dalio on drums and Brandon Seabrook on banjo and guitar treated us to an hour set. I can best describe the set as an innovative mix of both compositional and improvisational jazz, although it doesn't do the performance justice. Erik was kind enough to allow me to offer it for download. Enjoy!

Download the torrent of Erik Duetsch at etree.org

Download the mp3's

Hot Buttered Rum at the World Cafe Live (Upstairs) 08-03-10
How 'bout some more bluegrass?!?! I've been on a serious bluegrass kick recently and this show scratched that itch. This was the first time I've seen HBR and was seriously impressed how many fans they drew on a Tuesday. This is not meant as a knock to the band, in fact it's a compliment. You could tell this SanFran band has built a strong following out east. I really enjoyed this two setter especially Crazy Glue, Amanda Lynn and Beneath the Blossoms with guests.

Download or stream Hot Buttered Rum at the Live Music Archive

Umphrey's McGee at Penn's Peak 08-06-10
There's a little town in by the Poconos. It's named after the football player Jim Thorpe and has a road that feels like it leads to nowhere. Follow it for a couple miles and you'll come to one of the coolest venues on the east coast. Penn's Peak offers stunning views and an immaculate venue. It's worth the trip on a Friday in the heart of summer for the venue alone. Luckily we got a great show to go with the beautiful day. Overall I enjoyed the second set much more because it really gave the band some room to stretch out. Definitely check out the "mash-up" cover of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song and White Zombie's Thunder Kiss 65. Here's some shot's of Waful's scenery (thanks to Tyler for some of the images):

Download or stream UM at the Live Music Archive

That's it for now... the good news is the hydrometer read 0.011 tonight, so we'll be bottling soon!

R.I.P. Jerry

Brewer's Best Robust Porter Take 2....Part....2

2010-08-04T00:03:00.015-04:00

Yesterday I decided to transport my beer to the glass carboy for secondary fermentation. To give you a brief recap, I discovered the closet I've been using for fermentation wasn't keeping an optimum temperature. Ideally, the temperature should be between 60F and 70F for primary fermentation. Many local homebrew stores sell adhesive thermometer strips you can stick to the fermentation bucket to monitor temperatures. The first couple days I noticed the temperature was closer to 80F. I did have some active fermentation for a few days, so I don't think it affected the process too much. But what can you do... you know what they say... RDWHAHB!! I am, however, devising plans to construct a fermentation chamber since this is the coolest spot in the house. A fermentation chamber will give me consistent temperatures and result in better tasting beers...so I'm told. Here's some pics:

After cleaning the carboy it's time to sanitize. Notice the newly purchased carboy handle to make transportation much easier. THIS is highly recommended :)

Black Gold

Here's the hydrometer reading after one week. I was right around 1.014 and hoping to be closer to 1.008 by bottling time.

Siphoning from primary to secondary.

Almost done...I can happily report this carboy made it to the closet safe and sound.

That's it for now. I'm hoping to bottle this batch next week at some point. Hopefully I'll consistently see a lower reading on the hydrometer for a few days. This will be an indication fermentation is complete and it's time to tranport the beer for bottle conditioning. In the meantime I'll be preparing by cleaning all those bottles needed for the last step.

Brewer's Best Robust Porter Take 2

2010-07-26T23:45:00.001-04:00

There's an old proverb I came across recently that says, "A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner." I find there to be a lot of truth to that. If you don't overcome hardships in pursuit of mastering a craft, how can you truly say you've mastered it? My first major hardship in the art of homebrewing came two weeks ago when a broken carboy left a huge mess. Luckily for me, I have an understanding fiance who didn't let a little spilled porter come between me and my ultimate goal of brewing perfection. Yesterday I jumped back in the saddle and tried my hand at brewing another porter. I snapped some pictures throughout the process to document my brew day. Hopefully others new to the hobby find this helpful. I followed the directions provided, but also added some additional steps.

Here's my "brewery" setup in the back room. Luckily there was just enough rain to cool it down a little. Everything to be used in the brewing process has been thoroughly cleaned and sanitized. Before I begin, I'll boil about 6qt of water on the stove. This will be used to later to rehydrate the yeast and help the LME become more viscous.

IMPORTANT STEP: Never forget to enjoy some of your last batch while brewing. This is a Sierra Marde (Sierra Nevada clone) from Northern Brewer.

STEEP THE GRAINS

Steeping is process of extracting flavor from the crushed grains that will become the base of the wort (pronounced wert). The wort will eventually become sweet, delicious beer.

While 2.5 gallons of water is heating up, I'll prepare the specialty grains for steeping. This is accomplished by making a giant tea bag to submerge in the water. The porter recipe calls for 8oz of de-bittered black malt and 4oz of both chocolate and crystal malts.

Add the bag of grains when the temperature of the water approaches 150F. Make sure the temperature doesn't exceed 170F because this can introduce tannins that create off flavors in the finished product. Treat it like a huge tea bag by dunking and swirling it every so often. Let the grains steep for approximately 20 minutes. Without squeezing, allow all the liquid to drain from the bag when removing.

START THE BOIL

Now is time to turn up the heat and get started! While waiting for the wort to reach a gentle boil, reserve 1c of hot water into a sanitized Pyrex container. Use the boiled water from the stove prepared earlier (I'll come back to this later). The rest of that water can be used to submerge the unopened containers of liquid malt extract (LME). LME is very thick, making it hard to pour. Submerging the containers in the hot water makes the LME more viscous. Believe me, this makes the job much easier.

I've found it safer to remove the brew pot from the burner when adding ingredients. When adding ingredients like LME, and more so with hops, the boil usually intensifies. If you're not careful you run the rest of your wort boiling over... not fun. Make sure to stir the LME completely so nothing burns at the bottom of your pot.

Oh yeah...

ADDING THE HOPS

I can say with confidence that I am a hop head. I'm really looking forward to trying all kinds of hops when they're in season. The porter calls for 3 types added in different stages during the 1 hour boiling time. Most kits include pellets instead of whole hops since they keep longer:

Northern Brewers Bittering Hops (Alpha Acid 8.5%): 1/2 oz added at the beginning of the boil
Willamette Flavoring Hops (Alpha Acid 4.9%): 1 oz added 30 minutes into the boil
Willamette Aroma Hops (Alpha Acid 4.7%): 1/2 oz added 25 minutes later. Let the wort boil for 5 more minutes then terminate.

I also added 2 pinches of Irish moss with 15 minutes left in the boil. This is supposed to help with clarity by breaking down proteins that cause sediment.

REHYDRATE THE YEAST

About halfway through the boil it's time to rehydrate the dried yeast. Make sure the temperature is warm, but not hot because this could kill the poor yeast. Sprinkle the contents of the yeast package over the water, but DON'T STIR. Cover the Pyrex with tin foil or plastic wrap and let it sit for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes it's okay to stir gently but re-cover and let sit for another 15 minutes. This will suspend the yeast activity and will aide with the fermentation process. Now, get back to that brew pot before it boils over!

COOLING THE WORT

Once the 60 minutes is up terminate the boil and quickly cool the wort. Cooling the wort is essential to the brewing process because the longer it takes, the larger risk of chill haze. This is a noticeable haze that occurs when beer is chilled for drinking. Although this doesn't change the taste, it can make the beer unappealing. Something tells me it wouldn't matter to me, but others might be bothered.

I'm learning there's many methods to cooliong. I use the ole' ice in the kitchen sink method. I'll also freeze some plastic water or soda bottles so I don't have to buy that much ice. It took me around 20 minutes to get to the target of 70F. While this is happening I got my sanitized primary bucket ready. I added about 2 gallons of water, put the lid on, and shook the water aggressively to aerate it.

TRANSFER THE WORT

Transfer the wort into the primary using a sanitized strainer to keep as much trub (pronounced troob aka gunk) from transferring. Splashing the wort around while pouring is encouraged to aerate. Once finished fill with water to around 5 gallons total.

Next, I add my hydrated yeast to the party. Pour the now creamy yeast evenly over the wort, seal the lid, cover the hole with the plastic wrap and shake her up! This will further aerate the wort, which basically gets the primary fermentation stage off on the right foot. The last step before the wort is stored for primary fermentation is to steal a small sample for a hydrometer reading. I forgot to take a picture of this, but no worries... I'll be checking again in about a week. The original gravity (OG) was 1.044. The target was anywhere between 1.051 and 1.055. So I was a little short and have found this common with extract kits. I think the temperature of the sample could have threw it off too. Regardless not too bad...

Storing the porter in it's new home for a few weeks. The little plastic piece on top is an air lock filled with sanitized water. This is where the CO2 escapes during fermentation and is definitely the main event. I can happily say that sucker is bubbling nicely a little over 24 hours into fermentation. This is a good sign because it means the yeast is healthy and the beer is doing it's thing.

To be continued...

Cornmeal - 07.14.10 - Haddon Lake Park

2010-07-19T22:28:00.010-04:00

You may have asked yourself, "Brews and beats... I get the brews, but what's with the beats?" Well, this blog is about my two hobbies, brewing beer and recording live music. I may be a newbie when it comes to the art of brewing, but I'm more than experienced when it comes to recording. I've been capturing live performances from a large array of music for almost a decade. For me and many other "tapers" it's a labor of love. We do it to preserve and document the music we love. Taping is difficult to summarize, but I think Steven Hoffer does a tremendous job in his article, "Audiophile: The live concert taping sub-culture." So from here out I'll label my blog posts with either brews or beats so you can easily identify them as such.

Anyway, onto why I'm posting: Cornmeal! I fell in love with this band the first time I saw them at moe.down in 2008. They've quickly became one of my favorites. So when I discovered they were playing for FREE in my backyard it was ON! I was so worried Mother Nature wasn't going to cooperate since it poured all day. After the "porter incident" early in the week, I needed a release and a chance to get down. Luckily the band and crew were just as determined to give us a great show.

Johnny Miles and his wife Chrissi got the evening started with captivating opening set. For those in the area, Johnny plays with the Waywards. If their performances are anything like Wednesday, I highly recommend you check them out.There's something about Haddon Lake Park because each time I've attended a show the recordings and the performances have smoked. There's magic in that little amphitheater during the summer months, especially when 88.5 XPN plays host.

Cornmeal rewarded the few that ventured out last Wednesday with a blistering eighty minute performance easily highlighted by The Road. This particular twenty minute version left me absolutely floored. Listen to this excurion start to finish, believe me it delivers! The rest of the set was nothing short of perfect. The band showcased their style and gave equal time for Allie, Dave and Kris to take the lead with Chris and JP holding the beat. How many opportunities do you get to see a bluegrass version of the Bee Gee's hit You Should Be Dancin'?

There's alot to be said for a band to travel from Lake Placid to Haddon Heights in horrific weather, setup in the little amount of time they a had, and still have the energy to bring it like they did. For free. My sincerest thanks to the band, but also XPN and the Camden County Board of Freeholders for that. Come back soon. Please. I personally promise to promote the hell out of it next time :)

Download or Listen to my recording at the Live Music Archive

Tuesday Morning...

2010-07-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

It’s early before work. Normally I would be sleeping at this time had it not been for the disaster last night. As I tossed and turned trying to sleep, I tried to convince myself it didn’t happen. But when I approached the now emptied closet it was still so true. Evidence could be found by carefully surveying the scene of the crime. Tiny pieces of glass sparkled in the morning's light and the smell of stale libations was in the air. To make matters worse, when I walked closer I noticed the Nectar of the Gods oozing from the laminate flooring. It was an open and closed case of home brewing gone bad.

It was suggested when I started this hobby a couple of months ago to get a milk crate or carboy handle to help with transportation. A carboy is a large glass vessel used to hold beer while it’s fermenting in the brewing process. That orange handle pictured could have saved me had I not forgotten to pick one up. Everything happened so quickly. I remember asking Jen if it’s starting to look like a porter as I carried the full carboy to the closet for secondary fermentation. My hand slipped, less than a foot away from safely storing it in the closet, sending a sea of porter gushing. A five gallon sea to be exact.

This was my third attempt at extract brewing and, believe it or not, I've actually enjoyed success. I've encountered my first catastrophe. To sop those five gallons of black gold from the floor was a crime, especially considering how promising this batch was. Since I'm now on 'brewing probation' for a bit I decided to start a blog to document the trials and tribulations as a green home brewer. My goal is to eventually brew all grain batches. I want to take simple ingredients from scratch and create a variety of beer styles.

brews and beats

PJ20: Montreal 2005

PJ20: Camden II 1998

PJ20: fifteen

PJ20: sixteen

moe. - Musikfest Cafe - 07.17.11

PJ20: seventeen

Smoke if you got em...

PJ20: eighteen

PJ20: nineteen

PJ20: twenty

What's Brewing

Aloha!

Wood Brothers - World Cafe Live - 03.26.11

Levon Helm & moe. - Midnight Ramble - 03.12.11

We're #1! We're #1! We're #1!

Wedding Beer Reprise

The Home Stretch

Sun is shining, the weather is sweet...

99 bottles of beer on the wall....

Iron Brewer - Maple Shade, NJ - 02.05.11

Brewing for the big day... 5 gallons at a time

A Night of Bluegrass - 02.12.11 - World Cafe Live

Flying Fish Brewery Tour and Wedding Beer Update

CORNMEAL AND GREENSKY ARE COMING!!!

Brewing for the Big Day

Umphrey's McGee - 01.29.11 - Electric Factory

Brew Year In Review

Winter Warmer 2010

Gutters and Strikes

Washin' Yeasties

The Electric Lemoe.nade Acid Test - 12.04.10 - Albany, NY

Bitches Brew

Bonerama & Nate Wilson Group - North Star Bar - Philly - 11.20.10

Cornmeal & Cabinet - Truimph Brewery - New Hope, PA - 11.18.10

Barley Legal Big Brew Day @ Cork

The Wall - November 9th, 2010 - Wells Fargo Center

PHiSH - Atlantic City - Halloween Weekend

Death by Dunkel Update

Death By Dunkel - Partial Mash Brew Day

Mash Tun Build

pumpkin ale transfer & oatmeal stout brew day

moe.'s friday set, tortoise, built to spill & the brew from moe.down

lotus - saturday on the main stage

Turbine & Orgone - Saturday at the Buzz Stage

moe.down XI - sunday - main stage

moe.down XI

Ommegang Brewery - Cooperstown, NY

Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale - Brew Day

4C IPA - Brew Day

Gov't Mule, Jackie Greene & Trombone Shorty at Penn's Landing 8-14-10

Brewer's Best Robust Porter Take 2 - Bottling Day

Some Tasty Tunes

Brewer's Best Robust Porter Take 2....Part....2

Brewer's Best Robust Porter Take 2

Cornmeal - 07.14.10 - Haddon Lake Park

Suggested Reading

Tuesday Morning...