Spring 2007 RCB/ASS/ABC Big Brew

Here’s some (early in the day) pics from the Rocket City Brewers‘ Spring 2007 Big Brew held on May 12. Several members of the Nashville area’s greatest homebrew club, the Antioch Sud Suckers, were in attendance, as well as the infant membership of the Auburn Brew Club, so I’m calling it a combined RCB/ASS/ABC Big Brew. Hopefully, Auburn Brew Club’s participation will double for the Fall Big Brew and quadruple next Spring.

RCB has been having Big Brews every Spring and Fall for many years. These are events were a bunch of homebrewers will get together for the day, many of the brewers setting up their equipment and getting started early in the morning. Last Fall, we had about 12 different brewing set ups. If you’re a beginner, Big Brews are a great learning opportunity because you get to walk around and ask everyone about their systems, and the brewers are always happy to explain how they do things. There’s usually lots of food, a lot more homebrew, great music and ton of fun.

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This is Adam’s JT’s set up. Everyone’s brewing systems are a little different. Adam JT uses 3 converted kegs, using one for a Hot Liquor Tank (HLT), one for a Mash Tun, and one for a Boil Kettle. It looks like there’s a pump in the picture, so apparently he used gravity to move the hot water from the HLT to the mash tun, then used gravity to run the wort from the Mash Tun to the Boil Kettle, and pumped wort from the Boil Kettle through the Counter Flow Chiller you see in the bag next to the propane tanks (not sure why its in a bag) into his fermenter, which I believe was a glass carboy. This is JT’s portbale system. The table breaks down for easy travel. He has a bigger brew stand on wheels at home.

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Spouses, S.O.s, friends and kids are always welcome. There’s always plenty of food and homebrew for everyone (except the kids of course… they get bread, water and broom stick beatings from Todd).

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Chris is doing a decoction mash, which is requires that you separate a portion of the grist from the main mash and slowly bring it to a boil for a certain amount of time. Then you add the boiling grist back to the mash and stir it in, raising the temperature of the main mash to its next rest.

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The vast majority of all conversations at a Big Brew involve beer brewing techniques, sensory analysis, homebrew clubs, competitions, brewing equipment, etc. Then there’s always the inevitable sophisticated discussion about sex in modern relationships. Sophisticated… yeah, that’s the way to describe it.

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