Starting Something New

There’s a theme that seems to keep bubbling up for me right now: things that are new. New project at work. New floors in the house. Unfortunately, shopping for a new chest freezer for my keezer. New location for our Brew Club! Sadly, I can not be present for the October 9 meeting at Champion Mill / Spooky Nook, but most of these new things are really exciting. It’s got me thinking about what other new things could be coming – like maybe even some new homebrewers in our club.

November 5 is Learn to Homebrew Day, and we’ve aimed to hold a brewing event for that milestone date each of the last 4-5 years now. The timing is pretty good because the insanity of September and October has wound down and folks are starting to get a little more time and think about their upcoming breaks for the holidays. Trying out a new hobby, like homebrewing, is tailormade for getting started in early November.

Think about it – doorbusters on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to pick up minimal equipment to get started on the cheap. The winter in Southwest Ohio is cool enough that hovering around a burner with a cup of coffee in the morning seems to check a lot of boxes while you brew. And to top it off, you can have a batch of your very own home-brewed beer ready by Super Bowl.

You’ll see more info soon about the wort purchase (free to club members) coming up on November 5th courtesy of Municipal, but the plan is to have an American Pilsner base wort available. You can brew it out on the patio or take it home (you really should try to hang around so we can share home brew). But with the base wort being mostly Pils malt, you could take this in a bunch of different directions:

1. German hops, lager yeast = German Pilsner
2. American hops, lager yeast (or try some Lutra at warm temps) = American Pilsner
3. A pound of specialty malt, some American hops, ale yeast = Pale Ale or IPA
4. A pound or two of roast malt, etc., etc. = A porter or stout
5. A pound of candy sugar, Belgian yeast = Belgian Blonde or Single

A number of club members have wanted to do an event around common wort for a bit. It’s been a year and a half or more since our last time (common wort, totally different yeast). I would challenge you to bring a friend out to take a whirl at brewing next month. Somebody that’s been on the fence of brewing or maybe is just a craft beer aficionado. Talking about brewing and sharing knowledge are fundamental components that have driven this club since the beginning, and now you have a chance to help someone start something new!

Cheers!