Everyone once in awhile you get lucky. I found out late Sunday night that instead of bottling today that I would be brewing a first day Amber Ale. Don't get me wrong, I have appreciation and respect for every aspect of the craft brewing process, but bottling is often a tough way to start your week -- kind of like walking to work during a mid-west winter with no pants on. Feeling
optomistic about the day, I arrived at the brewery just before 5 a.m. and prepared to mash in. I got my grain
layed out, adjusted the
leve of my kettle and fired up the mill. About 30 minutes later, I was at conversion rest and switched gears to start
cleaing tanks, one of which I used today and the other for Jim
Strelau,
OCBC Head Brewer, who will be dry hopping a fresh batch of pale ale. The rest of my brew day went really well. I had a good boil and the grain out procedure went quickly today, which is always good. Nothing can slow down a day like 1,500lbs of wet grain. I got a 13.0 for my gravity, which is right on the money. I found myself thinking back to our Big Brew event on Saturday where someone said the following to me "I understand you have to make Amber and Nut Brown to pay the bills, but your
specialty beers are what really set you apart." I can totally see where this person is coming from. Many beer drinkers have moved far beyond
Ambers, Nut Browns and light lagers. They are quite simply looking for something more. At the same time, we have some loyal locals who will hunt you down if the the Amber or the Nut Brown run dry. These folks couldn't care less about a
Saison, Belgian Stout or an Imperial Red. So, what's my point? I'm really not sure. I think I just found that whole dichotomy to be interesting.
I
guess what these folks have in common is that they both love good craft beer. Breaking it down further, I started thinking about the excitement that often goes along with brewing a
specialty beer. Is brewing a
specialty more fun or exciting? I guess for some it probably is. It's certainly more challenging in many cases. I was trained and taught that no matter what style you're brewing, you give it all you've got and make great beer. So what does define a great brewery? Is the
specialty beers? Is the standards? Most likely, it's the
ability to do both-- and to do them extremely well. In honor of the bottling crew, here's a shot of Zach
Beckwith,
OCBC Brewer, hard at work. I'm sure I won't be nearly as lucky next Monday.
Everyone once in awhile you get lucky. I found out late Sunday night that instead of bottling today that I would be brewing a first day Amber Ale. Don't get me wrong, I have appreciation and respect for every aspect of the craft brewing process, but bottling is often a tough way to start your week -- kind of like walking to work during a mid-west winter with no pants on. Feeling optomistic about the day, I arrived at the brewery just before 5 a.m. and prepared to mash in. I got my grain layed out, adjusted the leve of my kettle and fired up the mill. About 30 minutes later, I was at conversion rest and switched gears to start cleaing tanks, one of which I used today and the other for Jim Strelau, OCBC Head Brewer, who will be dry hopping a fresh batch of pale ale. The rest of my brew day went really well. I had a good boil and the grain out procedure went quickly today, which is always good. Nothing can slow down a day like 1,500lbs of wet grain. I got a 13.0 for my gravity, which is right on the money. I found myself thinking back to our Big Brew event on Saturday where someone said the following to me "I understand you have to make Amber and Nut Brown to pay the bills, but your specialty beers are what really set you apart." I can totally see where this person is coming from. Many beer drinkers have moved far beyond Ambers, Nut Browns and light lagers. They are quite simply looking for something more. At the same time, we have some loyal locals who will hunt you down if the the Amber or the Nut Brown run dry. These folks couldn't care less about a Saison, Belgian Stout or an Imperial Red. So, what's my point? I'm really not sure. I think I just found that whole dichotomy to be interesting. 
I guess what these folks have in common is that they both love good craft beer. Breaking it down further, I started thinking about the excitement that often goes along with brewing a specialty beer. Is brewing a specialty more fun or exciting? I guess for some it probably is. It's certainly more challenging in many cases. I was trained and taught that no matter what style you're brewing, you give it all you've got and make great beer. So what does define a great brewery? Is the specialty beers? Is the standards? Most likely, it's the ability to do both-- and to do them extremely well. In honor of the bottling crew, here's a shot of Zach Beckwith, OCBC Brewer, hard at work. I'm sure I won't be nearly as lucky next Monday. 
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