Brewing Again

Saturday was another special occasion brew day.  I say “special”, because anytime we happen to get together for the occasion of brewing beer, it is special.  This time I was lucky enough to have both Eric and The Drew brew with me.  Dave, who is going to “commission” Drew for brewing next month, Brian, and Nate helped round out the day.

Eric brewed a saison with a ton of spices, Drew brewed a lager, and I brewed a hefeweizen.

There are two new rules for our brew days.  The first is we always BBQ something.  Today it was a Boston Butt.  The second rule is we always drink homebrew.  Drew and Eric both brought a smattering, while I served up some from my one good keg.

Drew, who is by far the brewmaster of our merry crew, spent most of the day sitting down.  From a distance it was quite easy to tell who the master was.  I, on the other hand, can’t sit still to save myself.

I was happy with my mash, as I my gravity readings were fairly close to target.  I’m still getting the swing of batch sparging.  For the first time, I made a true yeast starter and had incredibly vigorous activity in the fermentor before the end of the day.  I can’t wait for the results.

After our successful brew, and successful pork, we headed up to Boston’s to partake in Firkin Fest.  After an afternoon of brewing, we were treated to among others firkins of Bell’s Hopslam, Amber Ale, and Victory Hop Devil .  Lovely.  Four weeks from now we will do it all over again.