EPIC BREWING Co-op 2016
If you missed last year, check it out. We had a great brew day despite the rain and made what should be a great beer.
If you're interested in learning how to make beer, while drinking beer, chime in here. If there is enough interest I'll plan on doing it.
Again, the idea is everyone chips in some cash. You may or may not participate in all or some of the brewing demo (takes about 3-4 hours hence we start pretty early in the morning, day time TBD). If you donate to the co-op you will receive a special bottle of what we brew at EPIC 2017. I wont ship the bottles so if you cannot attend next year's Expo or meet up with me at some point, its up to you if you want to donate or not.
It will be $15 dollars this year, a little more, but it ended up costing a bit more last year than I planned.
There has been some discussion on last years thread about what to brew this year. It's not decided yet, but it will be a big beer seen as how it is aged for about a year. So, if you are a light lager person, probably not going to be for you.
Again, you don't need to donate to participate in the brewing event. Feel free to drop in and check, it is a lot of watching and waiting for stuff to heat up, but I'll be explaining the process and interesting information along the way.
I am going to try to produce at least 30 bottles (ended with a little less) this year, so the first thirty people get dibs. If in a few weeks they aren't all claimed I'll let folks claim a second. Due to the chaos of trying to manage payment I'm going to require payment through either Paypal or Google Wallet. Send to AndrewL.Conrad@Gmail.com for either.
Thanks, looking forward to it.
- @AlexDeGruven $
- @Linc $
- @Aaron $
- @Gargoyle $
- @GHoosdum $
- @BobbyDigi $
- @Ryder $
- @UPSLynx $
- @Tushon $
- @GnomeQueen $
- @DeathJester $
- @MAGIC $
- @GHoosdum $
- @AlexDeGruven $
- @HumerusMeg $
- @Gargoyle $
- @Annes $
- @pragtastic $
- @BobbyDigi $
- @UPSKingpin $
- @DontCallMeKelso $
- @Jokke $
- @primesuspect $
- @RyanMM $
- @RyanMM $
- @Linc $
Comments
In.
Throwing out some ideas:
Imperial Stout of some variant (coffee, vanilla, chocolate, all of the above)
Porters
Tripel (though similar to last year's quad in process, probably)
Are you planning on barrel-aging again? Any thoughts on alternative barrels (sherry, scotch, etc)?
Monieyed.
Yes, again barrel. Tough thing about them is finding what you want in an appropriate size. Most large scale distilleries age in 45 gallon oak barrels, way too big for our application. So I'm limited to what I can get from micro-distilleries and small batch makers.
Speaking of that, I need to contact Two James to see if they do small batch barrels and or if they sell them to the public.
Aaron and I are in.
In!
Regarding barreling, I recently had one of these. If you happen across a small port or red wine barrel, those could be good options (although finding those may be even more unlikely than small whiskey barrels). I'm down with this wine & beer combo trend.
IN. Paypal sent.
In.
In and $$
IN. So in.
Gonna restate my suggestion from the previous thread that we do a big barleywine beer. I also like the idea of a Tripel, if possible considering the time required.
A stout variant would be super cool. Some cocoa nibs, local coffee (chazzano?), vanilla beans, etc. We could put together something that represents local resources around Detroit. Mite b cool.
In and $. We could make a poll if you really want that much input from us (e.g. google forms lets you have a check box, select many option)
Good Idea, I'll put something together.
I like Lynx's Detroit sourced idea. I found a Detroit area hop farm, and have emailed Two James and Detroit Distillery about barrels.
Now we just need some of that Detroit honey B. Nektar used and we could make a braggot.
In and I promise to actually pay this time
Totally in, Brah!!!
Bump, and anyone can reserve additional if they wish.
In on second round and paypal'd.
Already? In for dos again.
Monied
In and $$$ can't wait to do this again this yearrrrr
Alright, in for a second. I'll send moneys momentarily.
Paid for both years. Heh.
Thoughts on a Bourbon County stout clone? I have had a picture taken off of a barrel from a brewery tour a few years ago saved that shows all the relevant information to try it. I've just never gotten around to it so it would be a complete hail mary. Hell of a beer. Maybe do our own vanilla rye?
BCS/KBS clone? 1000% yes.
Yes!
Sounds fantastic.
I will follow such brave leadership to our glorious future.
Alright, here's our recipe then based on what I know about what BCBS is made of and what I thing will work well for yeast (seen as we don't have GI house stuff). Still working on the water.
Preboild 1.094/22.5 brix Assumeing 10 gallons collected 2 gallons boil off.
Just wanted to make sure @RyanMM saw this before the list is full.
Oh man, awesome. Yep, definitely in for a BCBS clone, and DEFINITELY interested in a vanilla rye if possible.
ooooh. So hype.
Water,
13 gallons total of RO/Distilled water.
10.5 gallons Mash Water
3.5g Gypsum
4.25g Epsom Salt
8g Calcium Chloride
5g Baking Soda
2.5 gallons Sparge Water
0.8g Gypsum
1.0g Epsom Salt
1.9g Calc. Chloride
1.2g Baking Soda
Chloride/Sulfate ratio 1.04, for malt/hop balance.
Mash PH sould be right around 5.45, perfect range, but we can adjust as need be.
If you're interested I use a spreadsheet called EZWaterCalculator to figure out my water. Its an awesome tool. You still have to have a general water chemistry knowledge of how the different ions affect flavor, yeast, and PH but it eliminates all the number crunching. We can talk about all that when we brew if anyone cares.
If the final decision is to do a stout, I am in for a second bottle.