Iron Hill Brewery Vs. Fool Circle Beer

Guess who get’s to brew at Iron Hill Wilmington tomorrow? You damn right!

Tomorrow morning at 7:30 A.M. your’s trully will be participating in the brewing of Iron Hill’s Iron Bound Ale (APA). Brian Finn will be brewing it up while I shadow him for the day.

(Afterward . . .)

That was some pretty cool stuff! I got there at 7:30 and we started to crack the grain to put into the grist hopper to send to the mash tun. When the grain began to enter the mash tun they asked if I wanted to be in charge of making sure everything went OK. Brian’s assistant, Wayne, was also there and he was very helpful and knowledgable through out the day. I think they asked me to stir-in the grain because it was hot and heavy work for about half an hour.

Later after we were done mashing in we had to get the spent grain out. So again they offered if I wanted to do it. Again, it was hot and heavy work, no wonder they offered. Then from there to the boil kettle, then lunch, then back to boiling. The whole process was very interesting to watch because basically it is the same thing I do with 5 gallons only a lot bigger and a lot more efficient.

The day ended at about 4:30 and with a beer tasting with the new staff (bummer). For me, it was an extremely long day. It was very hurry up and wait. When we were working I was working harder than I normally do, and when we were waiting, basically we were standing around looking at each other from 5 to 90 minutes. Waiting that long that many times in an unformilar environment with a bunch of nice “strangers” is a little wearing.

On the whole I had an amazing day. I thank Mark Edelson, Brian Finn, and Wayne very much for a great experience, a great day, and in the long run the great beer that we made together!!

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