h1. Jan 15, 2015 insights from Tom at Titgemeier's.

I visited Titgemeier's this morning to buy bird seed, honey, and a bottle capper. I broke our capper last night.

I chatted with Tom for a while. We definitely missed a good Glass City Mashers meeting last Thursday. Chris spoke. He's the owner of Black Frog Brewery that started in 2014. Ken presented his brewing style, which involves brew-in-a-bag, I think, and lining a plastic fermenter bucket with a plastic bag and covering it with plastic wrap. Ken will pitch the yeast over a dozen times.

At the store, I discussed some brewing issues with Tom.  For a bottling sugar, Tom recommended a 3/4 cup of corn sugar for a five-gallon batch. 

Tom said that he likes to make a wheat beer with an all-extract method. His store sells an extract mix with barley and wheat. Tom said the key is the German yeast. He recommended a yeast type, but I don't remember the name.

Tom showed me the new fermenting system which Deb showed me this morning on the Northern Brewer website.  It's a funky and fascinating setup.   Tom got them at his store within the past month.  It's called the "FastFerment 7.9 Gallon Conical Fermentor.":http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/fastferment-7-9-gallon-conical-fermentor.html?gclid=CPGIrf2El8MCFRaBaQodX78Alg

Tom said that he heard that the Black Cloister brewery/taproom now hopes to open to the public in April, around the time when the Mud Hens start playing baseball.

He said that owner of J & G Pizza Palace, located in downtown Sylvania, will begin crafting his own beer for sale at the eatery.

According to what Tom read, Grand Rapids, MI is the second most beer-friendly city in the country. Number one is Asheville,  NC.

Good conversation with Tom.

 #beer - #business - #toledo