January 2007 Meeting - Group Brew at DuClaw
On Saturday, January 20, 2007, the Wootown Brewers met with members of The Libation Association of Northern Maryland and The Midnight Homebrewers League at the DuClaw brewery in Abingdon, Maryland. There, Brewmasters Jim and Bo of DuClaw Brewing hosted the three groups for a day long brew with the professionals.
The day started early with members asked to arrive no later than 7:45 a.m. and to bring a covered dish and something to share with the group. Jim began the brewing process with a heating of the hot liquor tank earlier in the day which made for a successful mash-in at 8:00 a.m. The Mash-in continued until around 9:00 a.m.. Wootowners were able to climb up the ladder to peer into the mash tank and observe the milled grain falling directly through a hot water stream and into the tun.
Next the mash underwent a saccrification rest and Vorlaufing from 9:15 to 10:00 to allow the water to extract as much wort from the grain as possible, as well as build a sturdy grain bed against which the wort would be recirculated. Jim informed us that a short mash is typical of many of DuClaw's brews, and that he felt the 60 minute mash was really unnecessary.
From 10 a.m to 11:30, and after Jim had performed some "surgery" on the mash tun and the boil kettle, the first runnings of the wort was transferred to the boil kettle and sparging began. Jim showed the group how a ring was used on a sight glass to determine the adequate amount of water needed to sparge. The boil kettle was quickly filled and brought to a boiling temperature.
The group dispersed over to the DuClaw coolers where the hop bill was measured out according to DuClaw's exacting recipe for Venom. Attendees were also given the chance to take home an extra couple of ounces for dry hopping.
As part of their hospitality, Jim, Bo, and the crew from DuClaw were gracious enough to open two delicious kegs for the group of some of their fine seasonal beers: Naked Fish, their chocolate raspberry stout, and Mayhem, their Weisenbock. The elements kept the beer quite cool and all attendees enjoyed themselves.
In large breweries, in order to chill beer, a copper wort chiller dropped into the wort just simply isn't feasable. As such, many breweries, like DuClaw, use a method called "Whirlpooling" to cool their wort to pitchable temps. While the whirlpooling was occurring, the groups sanitized their carboys and fermentation vessels. After the wort had been whirlpooled, Jim doled out 5 gallon batches of the unfermented wort to those wishing to pitch their own yeast. He then hooked up the hoses to transfer the wort to one of DuClaw's sizable fermentation tanks. Bo connected several smaller hoses, and wort with (incredibly) vigorous DuClaw yeast was doled out in 5 gallon increments per attendee.
During the brew, Jim gave many incredibly insightful anecdotes and tips on brewing and some of the experiences he's had at the brewery. He also helped to speak on the virtues of good equipment and solid brewing practices.
Many of the attendees helped Jim and Bo with the keg cleaning machine. A great deal of their work on a day to day basis actually doesn't involve brewing, but the proper maitenance of DuClaw's equiptment and supplies.
The group wrapped up the brew around 4:30 p.m. and worked on clean-up. Shortly thereafter, Bo treated the group to sneak previews of DuClaw promotional videos.
Michelle Williams, the American University filmmaking student who filmed at the September Big Brew, debuted the DVD of her documentary short film on homebrewing. The film was well-received.
Since the brew, those members who brought home with them the DuClaw Venom yeast have had many "bubble overs" through out out of their airlocks. Said one member, "The yeast was so active, my dogs were barking at."
Wootown would like to thank DuClaw brewing, especially Jim and Bo, for their knowledge, hospitality and generosity, especially in brewing with our groups on a Saturday.
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