“Binghamton-Bound Breweries” via The Press & Sun Bulletin

We (Black Heart Brewery), were recently interviewed for an article in our local paper about the 4 breweries and brewpubs planning to open in Binghamton, NY. Today, the article ran in The Press & Sun Bulletin on the front page. Here is the section on our business:

Black Heart Brewery

What: Nanobrewery, using ingredients from the Finger Lakes region.

Where: Currently brewing 10-gallon, all-grain batches from the garage of Brett Martin’s home on Binghamton’s West Side. They made their first batch of beer around 2004. They now brew about once a week, making mostly ales — mainly a pale ale, a porter and a few other beers.

They’re looking for a new location — about 1,600 to 2,000 square feet — and are considering Binghamton.

When: They hope to open at the new site in the spring and initially sell their beer in kegs to bars.

Who: Friends Brett Martin, the business owner, and Jay Maslar, head brewer. Both are 2002 Seton Catholic Central High School graduates. They sat next to each other in class, thanks to assigned seating based on the alphabetical order of their last names.

Martin is an iPhone programmer at United Health Services. Maslar works at an area jewelry store and does video and audio work for Broome Community College. They expect to operate the business by themselves for at least the first six to 12 months.

On the Web: blackheartbrewery.com.

Here is the whole article:
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20111204/BUSINESS/112040349/Binghamton-bound-breweries

Brewhemoth Conical Fermentor First Run

We brewed our first batch and tested out our temperature controlled Brewhemoth 22 gallon conical fermentors.

Automated Fermentation Test Video

We have been working on modifying our upright freezers to be fully temperature controllable units, full programable via a Fermtroller unit. Here is a video of the test.

Brewhemoth Fermentors Un-Boxing

 

We just got in our new Brewhemoth 22 gallon fermentors. We had two of them built for us and each are able to produce 15 gallons of finished beer. In the video, we unbox them and test out the new fittings from Brewer’s Hardware. More in depth review to follow. Cheers!

August 2011 Update

A quick video about incorporating, merchandise, fundraising, Kickstarter, and how to increase your chances to try our beer.

Small Business Fridays

Recently, the gentlemen from the Binghamton Marketing stopped by to shoot one of their weekly webisodes – Small Business Fridays – about our nanobrewery, Black Heart Brewery. We were in the middle of a very hot Saturday brew session when they stopped in to do a video shoot/interview. They were great, with awesome questions and a whole lot of amazement (as often people have when they see our DIY brewing technology). So give the video below a watch. And there will be more nanobrewery video updates to come real soon. Cheers!

 

Black Heart Brewery Update & Control Panel Test Video

On Sunday, Brett and I spent the entire day, a good 10 hours of it, in the brewery soldering, cutting, stripping, and connecting wires and components. We are happy to announce we now have working switches and LED indicator lights. These let us know that the components are getting power, and are explained further in the video below. We are ordering the rest of the box parts tomorrow and it will be completed on Thursday, less the Brewtroller 4.0, which we are waiting to hear an arrival date on. Other than that, we can finish hooking back up the plumbing, route the wires, test the valves and connections. We will be brewing within 2 weeks; period.
We were pleased to find out today that our friend Adam, who is BHB’s welder, will be finishing up the mounting arm for the control box, and we will have it in place by mid week; pictures to come.
Our grain mill is hopefully going to be completed by the time we brew again, but if not, I will deal with ONE last manual crush session at the local homebrew store [Author’s note: As an aggressive inline skater, I have sustained many shoulder injuries through the years, most recently with a dislocation prior to massive snow storms, so that Monster Mill is going to be my new best friend soon.]
Like I said previously, we are 2 weeks away from being able to brew again, and once we do, the beer will be flowing. We just ordered up 11 1/6bbl kegs, that we hope to fill very soon via a weekly brewing schedule, a goal that we are on task to reach by the end of March.
That is all for now. Please enjoy the short update below, with many more to follow, including some in depth videos on nanobrewing. Cheers!

Black Heart Brewery – Brew Controller Preview

The Plexiglas has arrived, we have painted it, and it is attached to the door. Most of the connectors are hooked up and will be completed by the end of the week. Expect another video when we can fire up the system in manual mode.

Black Heart Brewery – February 2011 Video Update

Click through the video to YouTube for a higher quality video

Here is a little video we put together to update people on the brewing and business of Black Heart Brewery. It explains our next 1 month to 2 years. It sums up a lot, and while it might be a bit technical for some, it is really informative. Check it out and head over to our Facebook page at facebook.com/blackheartbrewery. You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/blackheartbrew.

Chicken Spiedies recipe and Black Heart Brewery “American Amber Ale” Review (#006)

Chicken Spiedies on Italian Bread with Black Heart Brewery’s American Amber Ale

The Spiedie is an Italian inspired meat shish kabob using a specific group of spices and herbs as marinade. It originates from my hometown in Binghamton, NY. They are an important part of local culture, much like the cheese steak to Philly, and has a food festival and balloon rally in its honor. Check out Wikipedia for more info.

Ingredients:
– 6 large boneless chicken breasts
– 2/3 cup olive oil (I used Smart Oil, which is a combination of vegetable, canola, and olive oils)
– 1/2 cup lemon juice
– 1/2 cup white vinegar
– 5 cloves of garlic; minced
– 2 tablespoons dried parsley
– 2 tablespoons dried basil
– 1 teaspoon dried oregano
– 1 teaspoon sea salt
– 1 teaspoon table salt
– 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
– 1/2 – 1 teaspoon dried dill weed (I like a bit more dill)
– Italian bread or rolls

Directions:
2-4 days prior to cooking, wash, trim and slice the chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes and place in tupperware container.

Mix all ingredients – except bread – into container with chicken and mix well.

Cover, refrigerate, and allow to marinade for 2-4 days; stir once a day if left for more than 2 days.

After marinading is competed:
There are a few ways to cook a spiedie, and the one I chose this time is to cook them in a large wok – I will be doing other ones later on. I heated the wok on the stove, then pourded in the chicken, marinade and all.

Cook the meat for 5-10 minutes and then carefully pour off the excess marinade to give the meat direct contact with the metal of the pan. Cook until a little darker. Check a larger spiedie to make sure it is cooked all the way through but cutting it in half.

When finished cooking, remove spiedies from the pan and serve on a slice of Italian bread.

American Amber Ale review
By Black Heart Brewery

This beer was made by us, was bottled the day before serving into a 500mL flip top bottle. I poured it into a fluted pilsner glass and was paired with the meal above.

Appearance: Poured a dark amber red, with little light coming through this unfiltered brew. A light lacy head caps it off at the top, with good lacing.

Smell: The smell was sweet and malty with subtle floral hops.

Taste: Smooth, light and sweet. Medium hops, balanced with the malts.

Mouthfeel: Light mouthfeel. Very approachable, but want just the slightest bit bolder; weakest part of this beer.

Drinkability/Palitability: Large, especially as a beer whose purpose and design is to be an introduction beer to craft beers.

Notes: I brewed this beer; we have been making this one regularly for the last three years. We made an “Extra Amber Ale” at the same time as this one; our biggest attempt at this beer yet, and one of my favorites we have done. This one is what we intend it to be, but personally wanted the Extra. We added hot sauce to the spiedies, and the sweetness in this was nicely balancing to the kick.