Indian Summer Brewing

As I alluded to earlier, although my grilling has been minimal, my brewing has been on target.  The Oatmeal Stout from last month (was it last month?) turned out great.  Now, with October’ meeting of the Backyard Brewing Society on deck, I needed something festive, so I decided on pumpkin ale.

The Drew was kind enough to host our “session” (What else do you call a 9 hour stretch of brewing, frying, & grilling?!) because he has a beautiful house overlooking the ocean bordered by a monastery and a nature reserve.  Ahhh, who am I kidding?  He was host because he has this:

Yes, Drew’s 3 tap kegerator was the centerpiece of the day.  It also paved the way for my own fridge/keg conversion (Thank you Zoe!).  Now take note of the ABVs of Drew’s fine brews.  Not exactly session brews, are they?

The rest of the day was typical brewmania: loud noisy burners, sweet smells of wort, and good food.  With 6 of us brewing, the day was in constant motion.  I struggled a little bit with my mash temp, but was able to overcome my problems…I think.  Drew relished in his new burner and Dave had his second all grain batch down pat. 

The food, thanks to Mike and his amazing frying ability, was stellar.  Although I don’t have any pictures of the grub (it was dark…and other reasons relating to balance and focus), it looked the same as brew days past: succulent wings, a killer pork loin, and an onion loaf the size of a small man.

Outside of a joint taste of one of Drew’s older vintage brews, the funniest part of the day came from Drew’s daughter who was thrilled, disappointed, and then thrilled with our all day event.

With cold weather definitely on tap (no pun intended), the Backyard Brewers will be moving to the garage in the coming months.  None to worry, a roof over our heads doesn’t take away the fun, it simply adds to our chance of carbon monoxide poisoning.