Neighbor Dan has undertaken some upgrades at the little
brewing operation he’s had going on over there around the bend. It all started last spring when he decided he
was ready to graduate to all-grain brewing – the pots required to do this are
just too big to fit in a standard kitchen, so it’s typical that a home brewer
would move outside or to the garage once he or she reaches this threshold.
In his case, Dan had room in the little barn on the property
– I’ve posted in the past about his efforts to get the place in shape for
scaling up the operation. Last week I
stopped by for a little while to visit him and Sally, and they told me he’d be
brewing on Saturday, so I stopped by with Tessie to help out.
There’s a plan to feature a Beaver Run Brewery product at an
upcoming nuptial, and he was setting out to brew a batch of the Flat Tale
IPA. I learned that he will be putting
part of the batch into the new kegs, shown here. That’s an upgrade even from the all-grain
move!
While we were waiting on the boil, another one of the valley
home brewers, Josh, stopped by to use the grain mill so that he could grind
some malt for an upcoming brew he’d planned – an oatmeal stout. I didn’t get the whole grain bill, but I know
it includes Briess Victory, English Barley, and English Dark Crystal malts – he
gave me 4 oz. leftovers of each, which I ground to save and mix in with a
future brew.
During all of this, we sampled a few home brews. I’d brought along a quart of the honey porter
and the saison, while Dan had his smoked ale – “Rauch” – and Josh had a double
IPA to share. This was a robust range of
styles, very suitable for a winter’s day.
I’d look forward to a tasting like that anytime!
Soon enough, it was dark and the boil was finished. We called it a day. But I can say this, that’s a lucky couple who
will soon be enjoying that Flat Tail IPA “vom fass!”
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