Capital Brewers First Brewday Review

The inaugural Capital Brewers Brewday was held last Saturday at TOG on Chancery Lane.

The general feeling on the day was that it was a major success, both from the NHC contingent and the TOG members present on the day. It was great to see so many new faces eager to learn about brewing along some of the same old faces hoping to pick up a trick or two along the way. The day kicked off with and all grain brew expertly stewarded by Rossa O’Neill, followed by the extract brew taken care of by the master brewer James Keane as well as a hacked kit brew overseen by our resident kit expert Declan O’Shanahan. The three brewers were taking turns showing us how it was done, weaving between the three methods with a few minutes rest between steps. This was all followed by the obligatory couple of homebrews to celebrate the end of a brew day. Afterwards a few pints were consumed at Bull & Castle who will host the first National Homebrew Championships on the 2nd of March.

After an amazing introduction Rossa took over the presentation and introduced the audience to the art of all grain brewing. He showed the audience some of his competition winning skills mashing with unfamiliar equipment he still rose to the challenge and hit his temperatures with ease. It was James’s turn to teach the audience some of the skills an extract brewer needs, starting with some steeping grains. At this stage it was time for Declan to start brewing the kit and most importantly getting all of his equipment clean and sanitised before  starting, at this stage not as important to the all grain and extract brewer as they are about to boil their wort.

After an hour the mash was ready and the steeped grains had made their contribution so it was time for the two boilers to be setup outside to save the inside of TOG from becoming filled with steam. After the kettles reached the boil and the first additions of hops were made, Mairéad arrived with the sandwiches, which hit the spot nicely! After the sandwiches were inhaled by the hungry Capital Brewers a thirst came across them, it seemed to be time for the lads to have a drink as the brewing was coming to an end. There were a few beers there on the day, ranging from coconut porter, wheat stout  to Pale ales including a version of the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone that was being brewed by the three brewers on the day.

During the day the official photographer of the NHC was present, we would like to thank Will Davis for once again providing us with photographic evidence of the day. Visit Will’s Flickr photostream for photo’s of the day and various other NHC events.

At this stage the beer was in the fermentors and the clean up was being completed. The yeast was pitched and the three beers were left in the capable hands of the brewers except Rossa’s which is being watched over by Padraic in an effort to bring the award winning brew down to a more mortal level.

After the brewday was completed it was time for the capital brewers to head up to the Bull and Castle to try out a few beers…

This Capital Brewer would like to thank everyone who helped out on the day especially TOG and our brewers, Declan, James and Rossa, a special mention for Mairéad for making everyone sandwiches.

It is hoped that we will have another brewday and/or meet up in the near future. Please feel free to make suggestions on the forum, by email capitalbrewers@nationalhomebrewclub.ie or on twitter @capitalbrewers.