My Big Brew Day - Beer, Wine, Homebrew, and Everything Fermentable!

My Big Brew Day

Written by DJ Spiess

Sunday, 03 May 2009

Saturday was Big Brew Day. Here's my big soggy brew day.

Since 1988, the United States has recognized May 7th as National Homebrew Day. Big Brew Day is the day homebrewers get together to make beer and celebrate National Homebrew Day. It is an annual event held on the first Saturday of May. I decided to start making it an annual tradition in my neighborhood to officially mark the start of the brewing season. I make the beer for neighborhood, so this is my way of conning them into helping out.

If you asked someone who isn't a brewer, I'm sure they wouldn't know about it. Don't feel bad if you didn't know about it. There are an estimated 750,000 homebrewers in the United States, but I'll bet you a beer most homebrewers don't know about the day. According to the American Homebrew Association this is a world-wide event. You can read the official word on the event at the beertown.com site. (Humorously they even mention Americans have been homebrewing since the Pilgrims - um... not exactly)

Unfortunately this year the weather was crappy in Denver (six f-ing crappy weekends in a row). It didn't stop me. Despite the poor weather, I and a friend "celebrated" Big Brew Day. Here's a few pictures of us brewing in the rain. Hopefully in the future the weather will be warmer so more people show up. If you're a homebrewer, you should plan a homebrewing event with your friends too!

I usually share my brews on Twitter, follow me if you want to follow along!

Chilling the wort at the end of the brew. #bigbrew

collecting the wort from the sparge #bigbrew

Me draining the mash from the kölsch #bigbrew

Who is behind fermentarium?

My name is D.J. Spiess I've been homebrewing for many years and I hope I can help you enjoy this hobby as much as I do. If you enjoyed this article, please leave a comment, share it, digg it, or stumble it using the icons to the right or the top of the page.
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