Carboy

Double Trouble

An idea so crazy, it just might work

From Carboy

For Father's Day this year, my gift to myself was a brew day. I invited over my friend John and his family. We quickly decided that since there were two of us brewing, we should really try to do two batches together.

From Carboy

So we set up a brew station in my driveway and had at it, in what was certainly my most ambitious brewing project to date. We did an Oktoberfest from my tried and true Northern Brewer Marzen recipe. Even though I forgot to do the yeast starter, it seemed to go well.

Because we wanted to drink something before September, we also did a batch from a great Saison recipe I found in the fantastic new Craft Beer and Brewing magazine.

By the end of the day, we were wore out from the effort of juggling two different mash schedules, chilling and pitching, but I'm certain the effort will pay off.

This brew day saw a number of firsts for me:

• I got my grains and yeast from a new (to me) homebrew shop, the incredibly helpful Cask and Kettle
• This was my first (and probably last) day of brewing two batches at once.
• My first collaboration brews, with John.
• My first recipe from a new source, Craft Beer and Brewing magazine.
• Perhaps most importantly, this was the first time I used a propane floor burner. After more than four years of brewing on kitchen stovetops, this simple tool revolutionized my brewing in a way I haven't seen since I first got my immersion chiller. It was so much faster and better at keeping the temperatures of the mash and boil where they needed to be. After this, I can't imagine brewing any other way.

Now, we wait for our beers to ferment. Until then, we'll just have to drink a few good craft beers.

By Tom on 06/15/2014

Stage: Primary