Batch No. 1

Batch No. 1 was brewed on Friday, March 7th by Tyler and I, and on Saturday, March 8th with the help of Loren Miraglia (one of the winners of the homebrew competition, along with Mark Graham who unfortunately could not make it), and our friend Brent Rahn. Both days we had visitors who were eager to see the first batch being brewed.

The batch didn’t go perfectly, but I’m confident the end result will meet our high expectations. The burner system for my boil kettle was acting up a bit, so we had to watch for boil overs and occasionally turn the burners off. I’m learning how to keep it under control so the burner has been less of an issue for the past few batches. Our efficiency /extraction from these batches were a bit higher than we expected, so this beer will come out to 10.5-11% ABV instead of the 9.5% we were shooting for. I even subtracted about 25% of the grain bill for the second day and still overshot my target. I guess this was meant to be a big beer!

Thanks to Loren for making the trek out here from Encinitas, and to Brent for all of his help! Also, a special thanks to Tyler for bringing his brewing and sanitation skills to The Bruery. He’s a very talented brewer, and the beers wouldn’t be what they’ll be without him involved.

Thanks to Spence Coleman for photographing the brew session! These photos are much better than what I’ve been taking!