Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.

We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.

Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!

Search found 108 matches

by JasonTremblay
Thu Feb 01, 2024 12:54 pm
Forum: Breweries, Tied Houses & Taprooms
Topic: Breweries closing and/or restructuring and/or bought out
Replies: 82
Views: 14199

Re: Breweries closing and/or restructuring and/or bought out

what's the actual reason behind the closing of these many in this indusrty? :o It’s the sum total of lots of things. Input costs for breweries skyrocketed in the early days of the pandemic and haven’t come down much. Commercial and industrial rents have gone up. Shroom and weed stores all over the ...
by JasonTremblay
Thu Dec 21, 2023 8:17 pm
Forum: Breweries, Tied Houses & Taprooms
Topic: High Park / Lost Craft Brewery & Taproom
Replies: 2
Views: 621

Re: High Park / Lost Craft Brewery & Taproom

They did some restructuring and let their brewer go a while back. I’m not sure if they’re brewing at the physical location anymore.
by JasonTremblay
Fri Apr 24, 2015 2:37 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: What're you brewing right now?
Replies: 1139
Views: 344476

You can't realistically over-aerate with air You also can't aerate enough with only air, theoretically. For something high OG you want much more than the 8 ppm max you get with air, closer to 12-16 ppm would be better, which needs pure O2. A 2nd aeration after 12-18 hours would help mitigate this o...
by JasonTremblay
Fri Apr 24, 2015 2:14 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: What're you brewing right now?
Replies: 1139
Views: 344476

i'm with eric on this. but jason, just wondering what's a pain about O2 stones? just don't touch the stone and it's fine. rinse immediately after and it's fine. sanitize first and it's fine. Dry yeast doesn't need O2 (seriously, it's in the spec sheet the manufacturers give to brewers). That, the c...
by JasonTremblay
Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:24 pm
Forum: General Beer Discussion & Random Talk
Topic: New Beer Store Initiative
Replies: 20
Views: 6474

I'll always remember the time a craft beer loving employee there called me out on returning bottles I didn't buy in Ontario. I had a bunch of Founders, Bells and Dark Horse empties I had originally purchased in Michigan and they refused to give me the deposit money. I returned bottles/cans purchase...
by JasonTremblay
Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:12 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: What're you brewing right now?
Replies: 1139
Views: 344476

2 curious questions for you 1. oxygen stone to aerate? 2. will you re-oxygenate at 24 hrs? I've never done a brew this big, but oxygenation is really for yeast growth. If you're pitching it on a healthy cake, I don't think it's necessary. yeast growth isn't my forte. but oxygen never hurts yeast gr...
by JasonTremblay
Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:52 pm
Forum: Beer Events & Festivals
Topic: Toronto Beer Week 2014 - September 12th - 20th
Replies: 57
Views: 13354

For a mild thread jack. I have been thinking about what makes a good bar. And, top of the list, is ALWAYS good staff. I'd rather hang in places with 6 craft taps and a good bartender than a place with 30 and a staff with no clue. The number of places I've been to with both a bunch of taps and good s...
by JasonTremblay
Mon Aug 04, 2014 2:30 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Nano brewing systems - Brew-Magic, PicoBrew, Brewbot?
Replies: 5
Views: 6081

If you are going to invest big time into homebrewing be sure not to skimp on fermentation temperature control and yeast management. Far too often do I see people with fancy 3 vessel systems fermenting their beer at ambient temperatures.... ^^^^ This The stuff that happens in the brewhouse is, undou...
by JasonTremblay
Wed Apr 30, 2014 8:24 am
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: What're you brewing right now?
Replies: 1139
Views: 344476

Do people normally de-chlorinate in Toronto? I've never bothered. Slipping in a late post ... I've brewed the same recipe using straight Toronto tap, carbon filtered, sediment + carbon filtered, and deionized water. In general, I prefer deionized water + gypsum / calcium sulphate with a bit of calc...
by JasonTremblay
Tue Sep 17, 2013 1:33 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Carboys for sale
Replies: 7
Views: 4884

Hi guys,

I'm at Jane / Dundas. They're good to go for pick up Th or Fr evening, daytime is a little harder to arrange.

I'll even sweeten the offer to $90 just to see them all go.

You can reach me at shacklands <at> gmail.com

Cheers!
Jason
by JasonTremblay
Mon Sep 16, 2013 1:06 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Carboys for sale
Replies: 7
Views: 4884

Re: Carboys for sale

damn it. i need 2 of the 6 gallons. like, badly. for this week. So ... it's a sellers' market? :) They retail for a hair under $40 here, http://www.torontobrewing.ca/servlet/the-450/6-Gallon-Glass-Carboy/Detail Or $46 here, http://www.homebrewsupplies.ca/product/245-6-gal-glass-carboy/ And if you'r...
by JasonTremblay
Sat Sep 14, 2013 2:49 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Carboys for sale
Replies: 7
Views: 4884

Carboys for sale

Hi Folks, I'm clearing out some carboys from the basement. 5X 6 gallon 2X 5 gallon 1x 3 gallon (?) $100 for all of them -- the approx. retail value of new ones from CHS is just under $300 + tax. They're as is. I just washed them with Oxi, but 2 or 3 have some flecks of schmutz (about the size raspbe...
by JasonTremblay
Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:46 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Bottling a quad
Replies: 12
Views: 6857

For a 20l beer, it takes about 1 gram of dry yeast to provide the yeast necessary to bottle condition a beer. The math goes something like this. 1 - 2 million cells per ml. 1 - 2 billion cells per litre. 20-40 billion cells per 20l batch. 20 billion cells per gram of dry yeast. So ... between 1 and ...
by JasonTremblay
Wed Jun 12, 2013 1:39 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: What're you brewing right now?
Replies: 1139
Views: 344476

J343MY wrote:You know what, the smell coming from the airlock today is pretty good actually. Unmistakably durian, but subtle.
I don't think I've ever seen the words "durian" and "subtle" is such close proximity before.

Good luck :)

Jason
by JasonTremblay
Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:11 am
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: What're you brewing right now?
Replies: 1139
Views: 344476

J343MY wrote:The Durian Saison is official, no backing out now.

Image
This image is useless without an aroma attachment :)

Good luck!
Jason