eXiled: Part One - You Want The Good News or The Bad News?

Yesterday was the brew day for eXile 5 at DuClaw Brewing. I did the pilot batch for this beer in February and it turned out to be very close to what Jim was shooting for and with some minor tweaks it came to life yesterday as a 36 barrel batch of beer. Now anyone who has brewed beer knows that there are good days brewing and bad days brewing. I believe you need to have a bad brew day or two to know what a good brew day looks like if it ever happens. Yesterday was not a great one. Right off the bat, first thing in the morning we needed to mill in some more grain since the grain hopper would not hold it all that was need the day before and as the switch was thrown and I about to lift the first 50lbs bag of grain to the mill it made a hell of a noise and the auger and mill all shut down at once. Now this may not sound so bad, but the auger is what moves the grain after it is milled out of the blast proof grain room, up a tube system to the rafters and then to the top of the brew house where it goes into the funnel shaped grain hopper (see top picture)to be dropped into the Mash tun. Sadly this not just a couple pounds of grain we are dealing with. We a talking about thousands of pounds of grain needed to make a 40 barrel batch of beer. Now the beer we were making was not too badly impacted. We ended up grinding the remaining grains and adding them to the mash tun by hauling them up the stairs by the bucket full. This issue with the auger was going to severely impact the batch of 'Sawtooth' that was to be brewed the following morning much more. So we needed to get our brew going and it was going fine, but Jim was preoccupied with not knowing how to fix the auger issue for the next day so he troubleshot the auger between our brewing of X5. I'm sure when you brew all the time it does not seem like a big deal but even after all the times I've brewed with them at DuClaw I still think it is cool as hell to add hops by 5 gallon bucket. As the beer brewing went on when we had down time I helped Bo clean some kegs and check out the new 12oz bottling line. On a side note...to clear up any confusion the bottles are indeed twist off tops and bottle caps for beer bottles are universal so the beer is just as fresh in these bottles as pop or pry off tops. A ton of research was done to make sure that these bottles were going to be able to house and deliver the product to consumers in brewery form. To prove it, while there we checked a good number of bottles to make sure the beer was fit for consumption and each one we opened was in good form.
Now I'm thirsty...
Part Two Tomorrow!

No running this weekend....just beer runs.

The 1st Annual Mt. Hope Brew Festival was this past weekend in Manheim, Pa on the site of the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire . I was up there with DuClaw Brewing from here in Maryland, pouring suds for the masses. The beer was well received. How could you not be lured in by good beer, a cool trailer, free buttons, and a chance to talk to Jim Wagner? It didn't hurt that there were some 20 other breweries and we got to taste their beer too and hang out with the brewers. . Friday Night was a VIP tasting that was attached to the Punch Brother's concert going on that night on the grounds. Only a couple of breweries were attached to the VIP tasting: Seven Gates, Spaten North America, Cape May Brewing, Erie Brewing Co., Franklin's from Hyattsville, MD, Lancaster Brewing, Roy Pitz, and DuClaw. It was a great night for beer and bluegrass. Notable Beers Friday night: Franklin's Dubbel, Erie Brewing Maibock, Roy Pitz Daddy Fat Sacks IPA, and DuClaw's Naked Fish of course.


Saturday we woke up and had minimal set up since all the beer stayed nicely in the trailer on site all night. The weather man was calling for showers all day but of course it was bright,warm, a little overcast and not one drop of rain. DuClaw was pouring Venom (APA), 13 Degrees (Hefewiezen) and what was left of Naked Fish from the night before. Once the the gates opened for the first session (11am-3pm) we were pouring beers almost non-stop for the first 2 and half hours and then it was just steady for last half an hour which made it good to step out from behind the table and see what other breweries were pouring. Cape May Brewing were our neighbors and they were serving their Fishermans IPA ran through a Hop Filter filled with Simco Leaf Hops. Victory was pouring Prima Pils and their Wit, Charles from Franklin's was pouring their Twisted Turtle Pale ale and Anarchy Ale. My new friend Jim, from Erie Brewing Co. was pouring Mad Anthony APA and one of my all time favorite beers Railbender Scotch Ale. The guy's at Roy Pitz from Chambersburg, PA were pouring their Old Jail Ale and a really good German Blonde that was the perfect beer for the balmy day. There was a lot good beers at the festival, only the guy who ran face first into a keg, drank them all. After the last session (4pm-8pm) there was a 'afterparty' at The Swashbuckler Brewery there on the primises of the Renn Faire. Jim, Bo and I just hung out with the other brewers and talked beer, told bad jokes and drank beers from the other breweries and Swashbuckler's beers (Jim shared a 1lt. bottle of Colossus to rave reviews). It was great festival, great weather, and good beer. The brew fest was very well run and we cannot wait to go back next year.



Also There was some fine entertainment next to our booth with The Ride the Keg. Which was barrel that was in rigged into the hydraulics of a Wood Splitter and spun, dipped, dunked, and threw patrons to and fro. it had no handle so all you could do is squeeze with your legs and hold the lip of the barrel for dear life. (Thanks, Bo for the keg ride picture.)