Hollow Tree Farmstead Brewery

Bissell Brothers "The Substance" is the first IPA that really made me taste hops (more then just the bitterness in a West Coast style IPA) and is still one of my favorite beers of all time.  Luckily, the fact that I live near Portland,  Maine means that it is pretty easy for me to get a hold of. A couple weeks ago, I saw a reddit post on /r/homebrewing about beer recipes from each state and The Substance was one of the recipes .  While I couldn't get every ingredient, I made some substitutions and brewed up a batch during our most recent snowstorm. Here is the Beersmith BeerXML file if you are interested.  You'll note that this is not 100% dead on, but I think it should be close. I ended up buying most of the ingredients from MoreBeer. I ground all my grain using my Corona style mill pretty fine.  Since I BIAB (brew in a bag), I tend to crush things a bit finer since I feel it helps with my efficiency. Per Beer Smith, I heated the water to 158...

This is a blog that I'm putting together to document my brewing and growing experiences in Maine.  We live on a small (4 acre) plot in Southern Maine and aside from brewing beer, I've been trying to grow some of my own ingredients. Additionally, Maine is one of the most exciting places in the country now for beer, so drinking and sharing some of the great brews I run across will show up from time to time. Thanks for reading Sean