My brew-to and and brewing assistant

Today kicks off the first-ever homebrew competition restricted to ingredients grown in Virginia. The allowed ingredients are available from the Weekend Brewer in Chester, VA. This will be my first entry in a brewing competition.

Inside the mash tun

Brewing apparatus: hot water tank, mash tun, brewing keggle. Pvc pipe delivering water to the hot water tank and to the wort chiller.

My recipe is this.

10lbs Virginia 2-row
1lb red wheat
1lb medium crystal/55L
60 min 2oz Va Cascade hops
30 min 1oz Va Cascade hops
15 min 1oz Va Willamette hops
5 min 1 oz Va Willamette hops

yeast 805 RVA Piedmont

I plan to ferment at 64F for two weeks

My brewing assistant was showing signs of being cold, so I laid her sleeping bag on top.

It is one of my favorite type of fall days for being outside. Cool, occasional light rain from the deep gray skies, and trees still in fall transition. Its chilly, and I am not sure how long my furry companion will last out here. She is really an indoor dog. A 10 year-old rescue representing a kept promise to my son. She was four months old, give or take, when he brought her home from the shelter. Her arthritis bothers her and she is a bit lame in her back right leg. She is an absolute sweetheart though.

I love the renewed brew-to. Previously, the shelves and platforms were very minimal. These are more like counters. The height is right for a standard school if I wish to sit and type and just about high enough to stand and type. You may notice the mini-platforms that give about 4.5″ of additional height difference. These allow me shift things around and still use gravity to feed liquid from one place to another.

Ooops. I have screwed up. The instructions limit the IBUs (bitterness) to no more than 60, and I have hit 71. So, this batch will not going to the competition. Perhaps I will try again next weekend. Truth to tell, I didn’t really plan this recipe out, and a couple of things went wrong. It’s all good. I have four taps.

Inside the fermentation chamber