Brew day

[johnrm]

Lads and Lassies,
We should get together to do one.
This could be at someone's house if you have the space, or else in the Well.
Beer swap, tastings, BBC BBQ.
Thoughts?

[Garry]

Beer swap, tastings, BBC.

I've only got saorview 


It's a good idea. We could bring it up at the next meeting?

[Taf]

If you were to do it at the Well, you would need a member of staff present, so maybe do it in conjunction with the Lee Valley lads, as they probably have a brew day coming up in the non too distant future anyway.

[johnrm]

We could, and probably should the first time around.

[johnrm]

Only 3 interested parties?
Come on lads!

[LordEoin]

My location crap working hours kinda screw it for me, unless you want to do it mon-wed in kanturk with your own gear, then you're more than welcome...

[Taf]

I'd be up for another brewday at my place at some point, but probably not for a while, and definitely not on the scale of the barell brew! Might be an option to do a brewday when we are emptying the barell? Maybe if we aimed for about 60 or 80 litres, we could do one or two big mashes either with the same grist or different, and then brew seperately, with the wort being split into three or 4 different fermentors for people to take away and use different yeasts and dry hopping.

[johnrm]

I think just keep it simple.
Do you want to purpose a date?
I'm just not Central, all the way out in Midleton.
If people were willing to travel I would do a brew day.
Any takers?

[Taf]

I think it all depends on when the barrel is ready to be bottled, so don't think it's possible to pick a date at the moment, but I'd say we are still talking a couple of months minimum, as there isn't much wood character in the beer so far. Maybe that is because of the strength of the beer, and it will come with time, but I would hate to take it out of the barrel too soon. I could really do with a couple of second opinions, as to what people think it's like now as I'm obviously no expert on barrel beers.

The reason I was suggesting different yeast and dryhops was to keep it simple, as in do one big grist/mash and then combined boils in a couple of different kettles, as that would be a lot easier than people all doing different brews. Then split into seperate fermentors for people to take away with them, as I would only be holding onto a portion of it.

[Garry]

Are you planning on bottling ALL the barrel? You'll need a hand for that anyway?

I don't think you'd need to do a very large brew. If Taf was hosting I'd suggest he just does a 20-25L brew as normal and everyone else would just help. It would be a bit of craic and take the boredom out of it? That's what happens at the Lee Valley brew days anyway, I don't know how other clubs do it. Do they do very large brews?

I've no bother driving out to Midleton John, I could give a few others a lift too? I'd like to host one too sometime but it won't be until the baby is a bit older. Next year sometime?

[Taf]

Are you planning on bottling ALL the barrel? You'll need a hand for that anyway?

I don't think you'd need to do a very large brew. If Taf was hosting I'd suggest he just does a 20-25L brew as normal and everyone else would just help. It would be a bit of craic and take the boredom out of it? That's what happens at the Lee Valley brew days anyway, I don't know how other clubs do it. Do they do very large brews?

I've no bother driving out to Midleton John, I could give a few others a lift too? I'd like to host one too sometime but it won't be until the baby is a bit older. Next year sometime?

No, won't bottle all of it. Will hopefully put some into a cask, some into a few corneys, but I would see a lot going into bottles, as that is probably the best way to age it and share it.

Re the brewdays at Lee Valley, in the past everyone did there own brew, but with a limit of maybe 3 or 4 brews total. That process has now turned into one communal brew, which also makes sense, but isn't the most efficient when you consider the amount of members. To be honest, if there was a brewday out in my place, I would want us to do a fairly decent size batch, and not just have 7 or 8 fellas coming and going, standing around a bolier chatting. A brewday opportunity is only going to be possible at my house once or twice a year max, so I'd like for us all to have a healthy amound of beer to show for it.

[Dara]

I could really do with a couple of second opinions, as to what people think it's like now as I'm obviously no expert on barrel beers.

Wouldn't mind having a taste of it. Not sure that I can offer in terms of an opinion on how long we should age it for but would love to taste it to see how it's coming along.  I'd imagine that as the barrel is at the end of it's useful age for whiskey aging most of the tannins would be removed. So I'd say we have a fairly large window of error. At least, whatever length of time we do decide to age it for we can blame more than one person if it all goes south. Could call up some evening with a straw for a sip!

Dara

[johnrm]

I volunteer Billys for a handy 25L brew and taster
Just the one brew, and I'm not driving this time!

[mr hoppy]

I'm not driving this time!

Only fair. Black IPA then?

[Blackbrew]

I will host something early October in Kinsale we can do a decent size pilot batch maybe 80L?