Brew day

[Garry]

What are you brewing?

[johnrm]

I think a small batch BIG beer, so maybe 5l of barley wine...

[johnrm]

This will be done on an induction hob...

[derfel]

what kind of volume are you talking about for Barley wine? I hope the pot is big enough

[derfel]

We met in the Mad Monk around 2, and brewed an unexpectedly light IPA.
Johnrm and I brewed, using my small batch kit. We did a BIAB, all in the pub, all with minimal kit.
We had a few of the East Cork Rebel Brewers join us, and had a few people coming over to have a look at the process.

We finished up around 6/6:30, and Sam from Blacks in Kinsale was getting ready to give his talk.

Rebel Brewers Brewday in the Mad Monk, Midleton

Mashing in, at the Rebel Brewers Brewday in the Mad Monk, Midleton

Sparging, at the Rebel Brewers Brewday in the Mad Monk, Midleton

Cooling, at the Rebel Brewers Brewday in the Mad Monk, Midleton

We got the wort down to about 28 in the pub, so John took it home to finish cooling and pitch.

[donnchadhc]

How'd the induction job go?

[johnrm]

Super job yesterday Brian.
Good pics too.

The induction hob worked well, that said we were doing a small batch so was quick to heat up and held the boil with no issues.
I imagine it would be possible to do a 25l batch on this too but you would probably need a kettle on hand to speed up the process.

[johnrm]

Sam volunteered the brewery for a brew-day.
What say we try and calendar this?
Maybe do an NHC weekend and get some lads down from the big smoke?

[Garry]

Fair play Brian and John. That brew looks great. I bet the pub smelled fantastic for the rest of the evening?

@jrm, I know you were planning another brew in Midleton on the national homebrew day (4th Oct), but could we do a brew in Sam's that day? It's the one weekend I have booked off until the sister-in-law gets married at the end of October 

The twitterati would love it 

[derfel]

brew in an actual brewery? that'd never work

[donnchadhc]

My wife has an exam in Belfast that day so I would be up for that! What can I do to help with organisation etc.?

[johnrm]

@Brian, the SG was 1.030 when I checked which was pre-boil with the wort at about 70C
This translates to 1.051 which is closer to what we looking for but still off the mark a bit.

If you recall we boiled for 20 mins before starting the clock so this has helped.
We are now at 1.058 via refractometer.
I'm guessing we lost a few points in the sparge.
All in all we weren't that far off the mark.

As for brew days, the idea is to spread the word, so more demos is better.
I reckon 2 brewers per demo - one does a kit and the other an AG - do the kit while you're mashing.
I don't multitask so I can't talk about it and do it at the same time - 2nd bod doing a running commentary is good.
Alternatively - do a kit - you're done in 1/2 hour - then show people your AG gear and explain the process.

There was a lot of people (about 50) at the first demo in Midleton, not sure where this lot have disappeared to.
I ballsed up by not grabbing names etc. at this - important to have a sign-in sheet.
Cork City has to have a demo. Fran well seems to be the obvious place, the Lee Valley lads should step up to the plate here.
Donnchadh - I know you're in Clonmel some of the time - would you be up for doing a demo there? Maybe team up with Cara in Thurles?

Anyone wiling to hit West Cork? Clonakilty - surely there is an interest in a 'foodie' town like that.
Kinsale? Maybe the Folkhouse? Not sure what the setup is there but this is a sister pub to the Mad Monk.

Throwing it out there - how about ...
Mad Monk Midleton - John and Brian
Folkouse Kinsale - Andrew and Garry
Fran Well - Lee Valley lads?
Clonakilty - its a trek from Cork, so lámha suas

Thoughts?

[donnchadhc]

Doing a Cork/Dublin axis now, but can defo setup a brew day in Clonmel. What's the best thing, full 6 hour brewday? I'm assuming a pub would be the best option, though I know of other places which would be open to having us. Is there NHC literature I can bring? Anybody wanna help?

[Garry]

Thoughts?

We need a meeting?

[derfel]

@Brian, the SG was 1.030 when I checked which was pre-boil with the wort at about 70C
This translates to 1.051 which is closer to what we looking for but still off the mark a bit.

If you recall we boiled for 20 mins before starting the clock so this has helped.
We are now at 1.058 via refractometer.
I'm guessing we lost a few points in the sparge.
All in all we weren't that far off the mark.

excellent, that's closer than my guesstimate was.  looking forward to tasting it at the next meetup.