Boreal Brewers

Big Brew Day a Success!

Steve Benson — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:43:01 +0000

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!!!

Big Brew Day – May 5th

Chad Haatvedt — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:49:48 +0000

AHA Big Brew

Big Brew is a celebration of National Homebrew Day. Each year homebrewers around the world invite family and friends to their brewing site on the first Saturday in May to celebrate the holiday. Everyone is encouraged to help out with the brew, enjoy the fun and join in on a world-wide toast at noon CDT.

Each year the Big Brew event features a recipe that brewers all over the world do in honor of the event. This year’s recipes are the Bucksnort Brown Ale and the Ardley Brown Ale. The Bucksnort is an American ale, and the Ardley is a Northern English ale. The recipes are posted on the AHA website. Check it out and join us on the 5th.

The Boreal Brewers will be participating in the Big Brew. Home brewers and their guests are welcome. If you want to join us, please leave a comment below, and we’ll get back to you on the location.

2011 Big Brew Photos

Getting set up

Heavy metal

Watching brews

Part of the feed

The obligatory sleeping dog

Some Handy Brewday Calculators

Chad Haatvedt — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 04:14:20 +0000

Need to do some quick calculations on brewday, but don’t have access to brewing software like ProMash or BeerSmith? Check out these handy online calculators at the Brewer’s Friend (www.brewersfriend.com)site:

ABV Alcohol
SRM Calculator – Color
IBU Calculator – Bitterness
Brewhouse Efficiency
Mash Calculator
Quick Infusion Calculator
Extract OG/FG
Hydrometer Temperature

The “BrewLog” part of our site has some good calculators too, so you may want to check them out. Follow the link on our menu to get to them.

Relax, and have a homebrew!

Advanced Homebrewing Classes

Steve Benson — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:31:17 +0000

Advanced Homebrewing classes begin Monday March 5, 5-10 PM at Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids. Five weeks, Monday nights, for $75. All grain brewing; yeast management; water chemistry; kegging; troubleshooting brewing problems; growing hops; intro on wine mead and soda; and brewing four batches of beer for the students to take home. Call 218 322 2410 for info on signing up, or see the flyer on the ICC web site at:

http://www.itascacc.edu/continued-education/continuing-education-and-enrichment.html

Milling grain

Brewing