Big Brew 2019 – May the Fourth Brew with you!

May 7, 2019 Mike

This past Saturday I was able to take part in the “Big Brew”, an annual event created by the American Homebrewers Association to celebrate National Homebrew Day, announced before congress on May 7th, 1988. The global celebration is a great opportunity for homebrewers to get together and brew, and serves as an education event for anyone interested in home brewing.

Every year, the Homebrewers Association picks a couple of pretty easy and delicious recipes for the event. You can find more information on this page. They keep it updated, so if it’s something you think you might be interested in, set yourself a reminder to check the page in March or April.

Our local club here in Colorado Springs is the “Brew Brothers of Pikes Peak“, and for the last several years, the club has organized the event and it has taken place at Pikes Peak Brewing, who is an amazing sponsor. Seriously, Pikes Peak makes some terrific beer, and they really support the community and local homebrewers.

In short, it’s a great location, and to make things even better, Pikes Peak does all the hard work for us, they do all the mashing and you pay a very reasonable price for a bucket of ready to boil wort.

Chris filling up Homebrewer's kettles with delicious Wort. — Chris filling up Homebrewer’s kettles with delicious Wort.

This year, falling on May the Fourth (May the force) be with you, we had a bit of a Star Wars theme to it. Chris at Pikes Peak Brewing mashed up a wort for a White Stout, and the grains were on hand to go “to the dark side” if you wanted, and create a more traditional stout.

A few people showed up in costume for the big brew.

Did I mention delicious beer? Being in the yard of a brewery makes it really easy to quench your thirst. While I was there, I had:

Little London English Mild – 5.2% ABV – I have just been going a little crazy for milds lately. This one is delicious, light, malty, with slight chocolate notes. Really well done. It’s actually the second time I’ve had the opportunity to have a pint of it, and it really hit the spot.

Vienna Lager – 5.7% ABV – You can probably see the trend already. I really enjoy a good Vienna Lager, really similiar to a Octoberfest, but maybe a little lighter and less sweet. This one is pretty darn good. Gives you the malt flavors that you’re looking for, light mouthfeel. Finishes a little sweet and a little dry.

Besides the great beer from Pikes Peak, there were also a fair amount of homebrew that was available for tasting, and it was a great opportunity to talk about beer and brewing with other enthusiasts.

I’m pretty new to the whole White Stout thing, and I’ve never had one, so I decided to stick to the light side of the force with mine. I added some Lactose, and used Magnum hops for bittering and Golden hops for flavor. I split my 5 gallons up, and for 3 gallons I’m planning on putting it on Blonde Coffee and Coco Nibs, and fermenting it with a California Ale yeast.

One corner of the yard where homebrewers were set up.

With the other two gallons, I’m trying something a little different. I’m fermenting it with Hefeweizen yeast, hopefully getting lots of banana esters, and will have it on peanut butter powder in secondary. I’m shooting for a Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich type of feel. Once it’s all done, I’ll have to post some tasting notes.