Labor of Love - Fest of Ales - DEBC - Discussion

[ejonsson]

We can use DEBC's cooler to keep the beer not in the keggerator cold.

Problem solved.

[JHarrington]

Red rose is a little too oaky. I am now bringing a strong scotch ale called Whale Oil Beef Hooked. Also I am willing to pour as long as needed.

[mgbeer]

You can put me down to help out on the pouring. You can also include my brew partner Eric.

[JGraham]

Jimmy,

My American Amber had a stuck fermentation -- long story short, I can bring a Kolsch instead.

Thanks,

Graham

[Jimmy Orkin]

Here are some of the the details for Sunday. I'll add more posts as I think of issues but this is the start.

We will arrive at DEBC at 4:00 with the kegerator. We need to get the kegerator setup and cooling. All kegs will initially go in DEBC's cooler.

All kegs must be clearly marked with owner of the keg and the contents, Please list the closest BJCP style of the beer in the keg. All kegs that are not clearly marked with ownership information become property of Jimmy.

I am planning to get the kegerator in place and cooling by 4:30.

Please bring your beers from 4:30 to 5:30. This will give us time to get the beers logged in and scheduled for pouring. I want to schedule what is pouring to minimize duplicate or close beer styles pouring at the same time. We will decide at 5:30 on the initial line up.

Kegs will get served in 1 hour windows. If a keg is still pouring after being on for an hour it will get pulled to make room for waiting kegs. The pulled kegs will get put back on an hour later. Kegs that get emptied will get replaced with complementary beer in the current line up. I don't really know how we are going to do this but this is my goal.

Kegs go home with you at the end of the event.

Deep Ellum Brewing Company is located at:

2821 Saint Louis Street
Dallas, TX 75226

[jedoug]

Any updates on the Labor of Love - Fest of Ales? I'm bring a keg and wanted details on set up, time to arrive, etc.... Please let me know..

Jeff D

[jedoug]

Sorry - just read the Post with the info.... as the saying goes "Read the Freaking Monitor" !! ...

I'll be there at 4 with my set up .... Black Jack Brown !!

Jeff D

[drewseslu]

Fellas and ladies,
We're very excited about Sunday's event, and I am to enjoy some very tasty homebrew.

Cheers and beers,
Drew

PS My dad is brewing a Cali Common this weekend.

[Jimmy Orkin]

Deleted my post about the competition. It would not work.

[TheMacheteMasher]

.

Thank you DEBC for an awesome event! I had a blast running around chatting with craft beer lovers and fellow brewers.

.

[Bill Lawrence]

Thanks especially to "Not Leroy" for running the show, I think we showed the "unwashed Masses" what we can do. Also, thanks to all the humble brewers who brought beer, good on ya. Needless to say, if we can come up with somewhere north of 100 gallons of good beer to give away to strangers (some of which were smoking hot by the way) certainly we can properly provission our own club parties, just say,n.

[Jimmy Orkin]

Here are some post event thoughts.

First, Special thanks to:
Dave Muckian for bringing ice and a spare CO2 bottle,
Bill Lawrence for his jockey box,
David Lee for the club canopy and banner,
Leroy, Einar, Graham and Jonathan for moving the kegerator,
Leroy for cleaning the kegerator,
Einar for the white board and easel,
Leroy for doing the ambassador job.

Thanks to all the brewers that brought and poured beer.

Thanks to DEBC for hosting the event.

If I missed anyone I apologize and know that your effort were greatly appropriated.

DEBC would like to make this regular event.

I had a great time in between moments of panic.

I think the participants really enjoyed the homebrew and were impressed with the quality and variety.

The problems with slow moving lines did not happen yesterday. Leroy did the ambassador job for an hour. Most of the people had made up their minds by the time they reached the people pouring so the lines moved quickly. I don't think the beer ambassador job was needed.

Here is what I think we did good:

• 1. We had all the faucets flowing for almost the entire night.
  2. We served over 100 gallons of homebrew.

Here were some problems:

• 1. Many of the beers poured foamy. Bill's jockey box was overwhelmed and did not have time to chill the beer in the coils.
  2. We were late getting the beers pouring.
  3. People were asking for supplies that we did not have on hand.
  4. We did not have a schedule for folks pouring.

Things I would do different:

• 1. I would have all the homebrew delivered the day before the event and stored overnight in DEBC's cooler. This would insure the beers were cold and the beers settled from transport. This would also give us a final list of beers with sufficient time to decide the line up and change out strategy.
  2. I would setup the kegerator 3 hours before the event start. This would give us time to work on the foaming issues, temperature, pressure, etc.
  3. The kegerator needs enhancements: The gas manifold is a disaster, it needs to be split 6 and 6 and mounted to the ceiling in the kegerator. It also needs to have cooling in the faucet housing on top of the kegerator. It was hot yesterday and the beer lines were warm in the housing.
  4. Jockey box kegs need to be on ice.

Please post your comments. What did we do good and what could be better.

[Jimmy Orkin]

Another change I would make to the kegerator is to drill a hole in the side for the CO2 line and put the CO2 bottle outside of the kegerator. It would be much easier to regulate the pressure.

[Jimmy Orkin]

I lost a picnic faucet and ball lock connector. They were connected with about 6 inches of tubing.

Did any end up with this faucet?

Thanks.

[Bill Lawrence]

Yeah, my jockey box was pouring some seriously foamy beer. You are correct, I never made that thing expecting to move that much beer through it, I mainly made it for club parties and picnics etc. I guess I could try installing those "fancy ass" faucets but I'm not sure that would solve the problem either. Brian's was doing really well, perhaps I need to get him to show me his design.