I’m going to be hosting my club’s first club brew in a few weeks from now. It’s going to be 45 gallons of a partial mash Blonde Ale that will then be split up between participating members.
Any advice on how to make sure this runs smoothly would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Sadly, the best one is - at least one person has to be the designated brewer (aka - the sober guy)
Also, have everyone get their equipment sanitized ahead of time. Designated brewer also should be keeping an eye out for a lull in the activitiy and offering new and exciting tasks for people to do. “So, guys, looking a bit well rested. Want to try and practice for the Olympic ‘Grains Out’ team?”
Everything at that size takes longer. If you’re crushing grain, do that a day before. I’ve seen it take an hour or more to crush large quantities of grain. A good pump and chiller will help chill that much wort quickly.
Familiarity with equipment means a lot too, many of the large batch problems I’ve seen were probably caused by using equipment that the brewers didn’t use regularly.
Depending on your group, you may want to have a clear plan to avoid “discussions” since there are at least 100 ways to brew a single batch of beer.
Lots of stuff to think about, thanks for your input. I’m still trying to figure out the cooling issue. I have a counter flow chiller I made a few years back but never use it because I don’t have a pump. I can’t imagine that my immersion chiller is going to work on this one. I guess that this might be the excuse I have been looking for to finally get that pump.
Thanks Again
This is sage advice.
Can you put a note out to attendees and see if anyone can bring a march pump? Nice thing about group brews is that there is a huge equipment pool. You might need mash tuns too, lots and lots of mash tuns.
The “designated brewer” or head brewer is sound advice. There definitely needs to be a coordinator or leader. This will be the one who calls the shots and might be a naysayer in certain situations.
Work out the payment details in advance - so everyone is aware of what their ‘portion’ of the brew will cost and comes prepared to pay (unless the club is paying - but usually, these types of costs are split between participants since not all club members are involved).