X-mas Presents

General Beer Discussion by COTTRELL

Any beer related gifts under the tree this year? I realized my infatuation with beer has gone to far this Christmas, I didn't get a single thing under the tree that wasn't beer related... no, I'm not kidding. I got a handful of glassware: DFH Pint, DFH balloon style Raison D'etre, Olde Burnside Pint, Redhook pint, and a John Harvard's pint. As a birthday gift (2 days before xmas, some of my gifts were a combination dealy), I unwrapped a digital scale that will work very nicely for my homebrewing. I also uncovered a sweet refractometer, 0-32 Brix with ATC. And the sweetest gift of all, a 1/2 bbl brew tree from my local homebrew shop. http://www.homemadebrew.net/beertree.htm I had hinted to my parents that I really wanted a conical fermenter, but though I was asking for too much. Holy Hell was I surprised when I saw mash tun, HLT, and a 15 gallon kettle sitting under the tree. Apparently they went and talked with the homebrew shop owner, Zok, and he talked them into the tree. From what I understand, he gave them a great deal on it, and is going to give me a tutorial any Thursday I can make it up there to brew up a batch with him. I can't wait to get brewing, I can do some bad ass 10 gallon batches now, all grain. Warning: shameless plug coming. For those who like to read the AHA winners every year, you've undoubtedly seen Paul Zocco's name there. I think he took home 6 or 7 awards last year in the first round, and Mead Maker of the Year in 2002 or 2003, can't remember. His shop is literally wallpapered with ribbons. He's the mastermind behind a couple commercially brewed beers in CT (Olde Burnside Highland Fling Spring Ale, Colorodo Brewing DoppelZok and EisZok, the latter of which he created by leaving his fermenter out on his back porch in winter). He's also written a couple articles here and there for Brew Your Own magazine, most recently a good article on ciders. He's a retired microbiologist, and is at his shop all day Wed-Sat. If you ever need some equipment, I suggest you check out his website, http://www.homemadebrew.net. His credentials are there, and if you order from him you'll undoubtedly get a ton of advice along with it, if you trade a couple e-mails back and forth. I know his site doesn't have pictures for a lot of the equipment, so if you're curious about what something looks like, drop me a line and I'll check it out for you, or simply e-mail him. I am within walking distance of his shop when at school, so it's no problem for me.