Expectations for a brew day...

[Ziggy_Zeigler]

Hi -

I have been an extract brewer for a year or so. I am thinking of taking the next step to an all grain experience. One of the data points that I was thinking of using was attending a brew day to see the equipment and an example of the techniques.

Is that a reasonable expectation for a brew day?

Thanks - Ziggy

[Guerra]

Ziggy,

Absolutely, I am an experienced AG brewer. What I enjoy most is watching how other people brew and the equipmnet they use. Then I go home and copy the good tech & ideas.

Since you have been doing extracts you know how to boil, add hops etc... What you need to show up early to the brew day and watch them mash and collect wort. That process starts early in the day and most people miss it because they show up late.

Orlando

[Mike Grover]

The brew days "officially" start at 09:00, and the host is usually heating strike water (if not already mashing in) around that time. Typically there will be a couple of other all-grain brewers there as well.

[ClayMahone]

Ziggy,
We also try to do some sort of demo or workshop "for educational purposes" at the brew days.
At the Feb 20th brew day for instance, Mike will be teaching us about the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) and we'll be doing a tasting of a commercial example from the American Ale catagory.

[Bill Lawrence]

In other words, there will be free beer, nobody will attempt to convert you or make you confess your sins and no small barnyard animals will be sacrificed (unless Grover has gone to the "dark side" since I last spoke with him).

[kingsbrew]

Anyone planning to do an all-grain at the next brewday? I don't want to show up and no one brewing. Last time Fred talked to me he was considering doing a mead.

[Brewboy]

I'll be doing an all grain batch. I need to make something for the cask ale I'll be presenting at our club room crawl station.

5.8 gallons of Fullers ESB recipe me thinks.

[Bill Lawrence]

Scott, you won't by any chance be serving that using a traditional beer engine will you? I have always been interested in getting one of those things, I think it would be very cool to do it just like the Brits. The problem is that they are very expensive and it would require almost a complete new set up. Some time ago, I found a guy in Alabama who does this and he has a little web site explaining his set up, serving suggestions etc. Because a home setup would not have nearly the volume running through it, you really would need to use a cask breather or you would end up wasting way too much beer. Otherwise, it would be just like they do it in the pubs. To simulate the effect of the open cask, what this guy was doing is letting just a little air into the keg at the beginning then putting the cask breather on to stop the oxidation. He said that this is needed to get the flavor going like they do across the pond. It all made sense to me but of course I have never had a chance to try it. I make a London Pride clone which comes out pretty well and would be great to serve with a hand pump. I usually try to have a lower gravity beer on tap for guaffing although right now all I have is pretty high alcholol stuff.

[Brewboy]

Bill, No I don't use a beer engine. This will be a gravity flow Tap. I don't usually keep cask ale on hand simplly because I can't drink it fast enough to keep it from going off. That guy in Alabama may have figured how to get the flavors with the cask breather but I don't use one of those either.

With Fred's brewday on the 20th, that give me two weeks to ferment, and two to get it conditioned. It should be mighty tasty. I'll soft stile it the Sunday before and have it hard pegged by mid week. I'll move it as gingerly as possible and have it at the Hotel by Thursday night. It'll be stillaged level until just before serving.

The trick is going to be maintaining proper temperature. I've got a few Ideas I'm working on.

Gravity flow tap from an English stainless steel Pin dry hopped and fined traditionally. I hope I can make it good for the room crawl.

[Bill Lawrence]

Well, your post got me interested again so I started poking around on the internet. I think you can get a cask breather for about $85 or so, that way you could keep your beer from going bad on you. You could probably purchase a paintball CO2 tank with a cheap regulator to run the thing since I doubt they use all that much CO2 just to keep the cost down. I also see that they sell a cask cooling device but it looks like you would need to pump cooled glycol through it which would be a big pain in the butt. They also sell cask insulation blankets and these ice blanket things that look like they might work in the environment of the room crawl, could get costly however for just a one time use.

It looks like you can purchase a reconditioned beer engine for about $400 which I guess if you used it all the time wouldn't be too bad. Of course then you would need a dedicated refrigerator and a thermostat since you need to keep the temperature between 50-55F if you are going to do it right (and of course you would or otherwise why bother). You could use a corni keg after cutting an inch or so off the dip tube and of course you would need a few other plumbing type items. At the end of the day I bet it would cost close to a grand if you wanted to make yourself a classy set up. On the plus side though, it would be pretty cool to have "real ale" served in the traditional way right at home.