Brewday at Krogh’s brewpub

Last year I was lucky enough to win the New Jersey State Fair Homebrewing Competition with my Sorachi Patersbier.  Part of the prize was to have my beer brewed by Krogh’s Brewpub, a local brewpub in Sparta NJ.  Last week I finally got my chance to brew it and what I appreciated, besides being there to begin with, Dave (the Brewmaster) kept true to my recipe with ingredients, no substitutions, no excuses!

I started off my 1st real Brewday driving 40 miles in pouring rain.  Not fun, luckily I didn’t get stuck in any traffic New Jersey is famous for. But no rain would keep me away from today, I was so excited that I would get to brew my beer on a commercial scale.  It was an awesome brewday, Dave pretty much just told me what to do and I got to do it.  That was a ton of fun, I wasn’t sure if I was just going to be standing around watching someone do all  the work.  Thankfully I got to do almost everything.  Dump the grains, push some buttons, clean, sanitize, move hoses, get soaked, add hops and yeast. The best part of this brewday,  it really invigorated me and help me realize this is really what I want to be doing, especially satisfying since it was the day after I sent in my Brew School Application!

We should be tapping the beer in a couple of weeks, around June 17th at Krogh’s in Sparta NJ.

Check out these photos of my brewday:

Krogh's 5bbl copper fermentors

Crushing Grain at Krogh's Brewpub

Grain is crushed

Mashing in at 148

Filling Boil Kettle

300+ lbs of spent grain

First Wort Addition of German Tradition hops

Cleaning out the Mash Tun, spent grain goes to a local farmer for cattle feed

Cooling the Hot Wort down to 70

Aerating the wort as it is being transferred to the Fermentor

Beer Brewed and in the fermentor day is almost done

Now the day is done with a sampler of Krogh's Beers!