I was getting ready to start brewing up sixteen 5gal batches of beer for the wedding.
I emailed my local homebrew shop to give them some heads-up and to let them know that their Q1/Q2 were about to be made.
They got back to me stating that they offer brewing services on site. Their boiler is 30gals and they have four fermentors upstairs and a number downstairs (I did not get the downstairs tour). Materials, usage fees and electricity would come to $125 to $150 depending on the beer. They have a couple of half barrel kegs on hand, but would do the leg work to come up with the others as needed. A single half barrel is 15gals, so it is two half-barrels per 30gal batch. I want at least four types of beer at the wedding. That is a LOT of beer. I told him I was still kind of jazzed about brewing it all at home, but if the first batch, 20gals of Pale Ale, breaks my spirit, it was good to know that they have that service available.
So I ordered (3) 6.5gal carboys, (4) 5gal carboys and a 6.5gal carboy handle (5gal handles were in stock on the shelf). I also brought in a busted intake valve from one of the kegs that Peter gifted to me. They are ordering up a bunch of shelf stock kegging stuff that they didn’t really realize they were out of (I smelled shrinkage) and we had a nice chat about kegging, etc. I’ll be picking up all that glass tomorrow morning.
Now, I was just going to do a basic extract and specialty grain brew (times four) for this beer, but after seeing that countertop all-grain video, I’m thinking it might be time to step my brewing methods up a notch. I already have all the equipment I need, minus a pitcher for putting the spent hops into, but that is just a stop at Benny’s away. Hell, I even have a sparge arm already!
I can’t link to the videos right now, but they are here, Parts 1 & 2.
This morning I ordered up my magnetic stir plate and a 2L Erlenmeyer flask for yeast propagation. A question: if I buy a vial of yeast from the homebrew shop, I should be able to spin it up into enough yeast to pitch into the four carboys, right?
Now I just need to come up with a new recipe for all-grain Sierra Nevada Pale Ale!!!