Over forty people gathered for the Boreal Brewers’ celebration of Big Brew Day in Northern Minnesota. (See older post below) People began gathering the night before to get equipment set up, do some camping and engage in a bit of pre-tasting and food testing. The Brew was held Saturday May 5th. Though brewers continued to arrive and set up throughout the day, the gathering was formally launched with the traditional toast at noon. Nine different batches were brewed, for a total of an even 100 gallons. The equipment ranged from simple extract setups to engineering marvels for all grain brewing. The weather cooperated which is always a plus this far North.
Old brewers, new brewers, friends, family and a few dogs gathered for a fun day of brewing, chatting, discussing and learning new techniques, recipes and ideas. A beautiful freshly carved mash paddle from a maple showed up and was used. We nearly made it through the food, but did not even come close to finishing the beer, as brewers ALWAYS bring too much. To use the old phrase, “A good time was had by all.”
Watching a few of the brews
A basic mashing system
Good use of gravity
Cooler style mashing and lautering system
The Blichman Extravaganza
Full use of electronics and pumps
20 gallon system, and the maple mash paddle
Working a mash for 10 gallons
Mash volume always expands to fit the size of the mash tun
Just a bit of a potluck ...
Just some of the sixty or so gallons of beer, mead and cider that showed up
The coolest portable cooler
And the obligatory wood-chewing dog
Then it was down to the racking ....
And the cleaning
Hope to see you next year!!!
zx
