See One. Do One. Teach One.

I bought my brother a brewing kit for his 21^st birthday. He hasn’t fully embraced brewing like I had hoped, but I hold out hope. Labor Day weekend he wanted to come down and it was the perfect opportunity for a little teaching session.  Things really got interesting when he brought along a friend who was interesting in learning how to brew.

The thought of doing a double brewday of course was tantalizing. I’m a brewing nerd and so I love balancing things like that and geeking out on all the beer talk… but I didn’t want to get up my hopes as so many of my friends have so greatly disappointed me in the homebrew arena.

The old maxim “see one, do one, teach one” is so very very applicable to homebrewing. I WISH I had seen someone brew before I tried it myself. Alas – I was new to the Wilmington area and there was no homebrew shop when I got the urge to jump into the hobby. I would have had to do a lot less reading and worrying if I had seen someone brew first! I think all first time homebrewers worry they have ruined their batch some some extent or another without reassurance from other homebrewers.

Back to the story – I was trying to gage the real interest of the friend to see if he was serious. Sometimes when you tell someone they need to drop a hundred bucks on equipment they get a little concerned. Brewing on my system is a great intro so someone can see if they like homebrewing and all that it entails. This particular adventure would take a turn for awesome upon arrival to the homebrew store.

I had basically convinced him to get a primary fermentor and a pot so we could double brew and he could take home his creating. I was handling all the recipe formulation so they knew they’d be getting a solid beer following under my tutelage. The homebrew store presented a dilemma – should he go ahead and buy the Brewers Best kit that had everything he’d need? He asked if there was a downside – and quite frankly other than a little more up front cash there really isn’t a downside that I can see. He jumped in head first and even bought a 5 gallon stainless steel pot.

This is the kind of excitement that really gets my beer juices flowing! I was like a general commanding my troops as we scooped and weighted grains for both of the stouts to be brewed. I had my first Wilmington Brewing Company Tropical IPA in my hand (which was amazing) and I walked them through how to grab hops, yeast, and mill the grain. Of course they’ll help you out at the store, but making beer is enhanced when you get to pick up your own ingredients and taste a grain or two along the way.

One all-grain brew and one extract brew were started shortly after returning home. We got the water heating for the extract brew and the strike water going at the same time. What better way to teach brewing than to have an extract brew AND an all grain brew going at the same time? I made the grunts do a lot of the work with my oversight. Look at the troops mashing in with the hacksaw paddle!

The extract brew steeping grains were finished and we brought it up to a boil. I warned about the green monster that would attack when the hops were added. He had quickly read Learn to Brew Part 1 but clearly my warnings weren’t enough. The green monster roared and instead of jumping in and stirring he got a little startled and I had to go drill sergeant on him and get him back in the game before a catastrophic boilover occurred. He jumped in to the fray shortly after and beat it back. The rest of the extract brew went without any major issues – except missing the flavor hop addition by 5 minutes. We boiled for 5 minutes longer than planned so the non-crisis was averted!

In order to increase their edubrewcation we also kegged the “Lead your taste buds” pale ale and even got a cider going in the fermentor bucket. Be on the lookout for how to make a cider in the near future. It’s insanely easy and while it isn’t beer – it can be delicious and make people’s taste buds happy.

The all grain stout brewing session was going great until I had a stuck lauter/ sparge. Post brew I realized my stainless steel braid had gotten pulled so tight it majorly restricting any flow. Other than spending a little longer brewing than planned all went well.

Two happily bubbling fermenters were seen the next day showing our work had not been in vain! These future brewers strapped the fermenters in their car and were plotting out their bottling day. I pointed them here  and suggested bringing a friend along! I’ll tell you all about how the beer turned out in a month or two when they pay me my teach fee (2 bottles of the finished batch).