Dodranscentennial Brewday

No, I didn't come up with that term off the top of my head; I harnessed the power of the interenets to find it.  While yesterday was not the seventy-fifth anniversary of anything that holds particular meaning to me (of which I know, anyway), it was the date of my personal Batch #75 (and #76, actually).  Though the forecast earlier in the week was for rain, the clouds cleared and it turned out to be a beautiful spring day.  Several friends, including my dad, came out for some beer sampling, grilling, hanging, and--of course--back alley brewing shenanigans.

Batch #75 is a Russian imperial stout, mirroring my first big "anniversary" beer, Batch #25, a couple years ago.  My friend Ted and his now-fiancee came over for that brewday, for which I attempted a single reiterated mash a la Chris Colby in BYO.  While the technique may have helped efficiency a bit, it turned into an all-day fiasco that ran well into the night.  Since I wanted to brew not just one beer but Batch #76 (an amber rye with a German bent) as well, I simplified the process to my normal single infusion mash schedule.  I also outlined the full brewday plan on paper and checked off items as I went, which turned out to be a great help.  Ted, a good enough friend to agree to come back for another extended brewday, also graciously lent his 10-gallon Megapot again as well as his aeration setup to get the RIS brewed and oxygenated.

All five of us had an active hand in the brewday; it was my dad's first all-grain brewday, in which he took part from measuring, conditioning, and milling the grain through mashing and boiling.  For my friend William, it was his first brewday altogether (as far as I know).  While we discussed some technique, it was mostly just a good day for enjoying each other's company.  Everyone also brought beer to sample; other than my homebrew on hand, we tried my dad's IPA, my raspberry Flanders red, Pannepot Reserva 2008, Bell's Batch 10,000, Stone Lucky Bastard, Surly Furious, Allagash Tripel Reserve, Port Old Viscosity, Schneider Aventinus, and Half Acre's recent Marty Stouffer's Wild America Barley Wine Style Ale.  That's a lot of flavours to absorb in a day!  Fortunately, we planned ahead and had plenty of food and water along the way.

Other than a boilover with the rye, the brewing side of things went pretty smoothly.  For lunch, my buddy Joe pulled grill master duties, tending to some fine Italian sausages, organic hot dogs, and green beans with marinated mushrooms.  We capped off the day with a couple pizzas from Homemade Pizza Company.  I'll put up the recipes for the beers in the next few days; for now, though, I thought it'd be nice to share some photos from this very satisfying brewday.