Surly Bitter Brewer Brewday 2-2-13

This past Saturday, 2-2-2013, SBBC members met to brew Northern Brewers' Surly Bitter Brewer partial mash kit. Glenn, Nemec and Mama Granoth supplies some fine food to enjoy. Members also received their brand spanking new SBBC work shirts. Mike was also rocking his new kilt. The garage was warm, but outside was another story. We were joined by Andrew Hyduchuk as a new SBBC member.

Partial mass (PM) brewing is another step towards all-grain brewing. PM adds a step where grain is introduced into hot water (mash-in) and held within a certain temperature range for a set amount of time. Then after we seperate the grain from the wort, wer rinse (sparge) the grains with 170° water. This step ensures we rinse any leftover fermentable sugars from the spent grains. Afterwards, we top up to our normal boil volume and continue the brew. The OG was spot on at 1.040. The beer was cool and the yeast was pitched. Sunday morning, the airlock was bubbling away. This batch should be ready in about 4 weeks. 

Here's a few pics from the brew day: 



New SBBC shirt logo



Yeast starter with our new stir plate and 2000 cc flask.

Mike rocking the new shirt and UT Kilt

Joe, Glenn, Andrew and Bob enjoying the brew day

Boiling away

All aerated and ready for yeast

Happiness is a bubbling airlock

SBBC Brew Day. 2/2/2013

Good morning Beer Lovers,

Thanks to those of you who made it yesterday. Thanks to Nemec for an awesome Buffalo Chicken dip.

The next brew day will be Saturday, February 2nd, 2013. 1pm start. We will be brewing the Surly Bitter Brewer recipe kit. Surly Bitter Brewer Link

We decided to start trying Partial Mash brewing for our next brew. Partial Mash adds about an hour or so to the normal brew time. This brewing method uses more actual grain in the brew and less liquid extract.

This also helps us move closer to eventually switching to all-grain brewing.

We are going to try a Saturday brew day because Sundays are usually busy for most of us. Please call me with any questions. Thanks.

Mike

Brew Club Meeting 01/20/2013

Good Morning Boys and Girls:

I was wondering if anyone wants to have a meeting this weekend. Does Sunday January 20th, 2pm at my house work? I want to discuss the next brew and equipment upgrades needed to start working towards all-grain brewing.

Bring a beer or six to share. Shirts have been ordered. I hope to have the artwork soon.

 

Please remember that dues are due this week as well. Thanks.

 

Mike  

Fleming's Irish Red Ale

Sorry for the delay in posting, but November 11th, 2012 was a great brew day. Jon's spirit was with us that day. We all had a great day, with great company and great food. Jon's wife Joanne and Jon's best friend Jeff Pranger came to visit and watch us brew Fleming's Irish Red Ale. Mama Granoth made a big batch of homemade chili complete with all the fixins. 

We decided to brew two batches that day. One batch would be bottled and given to Joanne to share with friends and family. The other batch will be kegged and enjoyed by SBBC members.  I decided to to further honor Jon's memory by numbering the batches with Jon's badge numbers. Batch 289 (Jon's Campion Ambulance number) and Batch 207 (Jon's VEMS badge number) were brewed. The beer came in at 1.046 SG and finished fermenting at 1.016 FG. That gives if a total ABV of 4.5%, which is perfect for this beer style. I was able to bottle the beer right before Christmas. I ended up printing the labels myself. The original plan to order them online would have taken too long.

Please take a peek at the photos below. I'll be adding photos of the brew day later tonight.

Both batches in the fermenter

Batch 298

Batch 207

Krausen cap on one of the batches

Checking the color and ABV %



Getting ready to rack the beer in to the secondary fermenters



Racking to secondary

Both batches in secondary fermenters

Asst. Brewer Joe D. checking progress as we rack into the kegs for carbonation

Racking into the kegs

Racking into the kegs

Both batches in kegs carbonating

Batch 298 bottled, waiting for labels

Bottled and labeled

Trying to be artsy with my photo



Fleming's Irish Red Ale 2012

Jon getting ready to serve some warrants. We will miss you brother.
Keep an eye over us. Love ya.

Pumpkin Porter Update

The Pumpkin Porter that was brewed on September 22nd was racked into a keg last night. It'll now sit in the fridge carbonating with CO2. It should be ready to enjoy on our next brew day on 11-11-2012. Here's a pic and quick video.

CLUB BREW DAY 11-11-2012

Good Morning All:


The next SBBC brew day will be Sunday, November 11th 2012. 12 noon start. We will be doing a double brew day as voted on by the membership last Sunday.

We will be brewing an Irish Red Ale in memory of a good friend to many of us, Jon Fleming. Jon was 36 when he passed away on October 3rd. He was a Paramedic at Campion and VEMS and a former volunteer firefighter in Avon.

We will be brewing one 5 gallon batch to give away to Jon's friend and family and one 5 gallon batch for ourselves to keg and enjoy. I hope to invite some of his former co-workers and maybe his wife as well to join us for the brew day. The brew kits were ordered on Monday morning and should be in tomorrow. I'm also working on a memorial label for the bottles. A sample of the label is posted below.

Brew Club Meeting 09/28/2012

Good Morning Everyone:

We will have a Brew Club Meeting on Sunday, October 28th. 5pm at my house. I'm thinking beer and pizza. We will be discussing the next brew and the SBBC shirt order. Please bring any dues that need to be collected. Please call or email me with any questions. Thanks.

Mike