Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

You should definitely add a jpeg to your HA moniker. Like what, you ask? Pedaling down Main Street with twin Corny kegs in tow. I'll even snap the shot. 

Brewed a Munich Dunkel this past Saturday. The weather started our gorgeous, then turned dark, hailed, rained, got sunny again, then turned gray for good and the freezing wind picked up. Not the most fun being out there, but the beer doesn't seemed to have suffered, thank goodness! Lagering away in a cooler in the basement now.
 
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"The weather started our gorgeous, then turned dark, hailed, rained, got sunny again, then turned gray for good and the freezing wind picked up."

With the wonderful smell of brew in the air, reminds me of Edinburgh!

Very, very cool, BarleyP.  Thanks for sharing your brew day with us.

Some people find the StarSan bubbles unsettling, but I love them.  They make me feel like things are getting cleaner and I'm keeping the bugs out of my carboys.  All psychological, of course.

I feel ya on the wind thing.  Why does it always seem that I brew on the windiest days of the year?  I end up, like a little kid, making some sort of fort around my burner with the grill and other things on my deck.

I was thinking we should form something freestanding to put around the flames on days like that. Maybe one slow brew day, we'll fashion something. Though I have to say I appreciated the heat while I was holding the boards. It was *cold* that day!

The guy who runs the company that produces StarSan gave a lecture at last year's AHA conference, and he told us the StarSan residue really does act as a yeast nutrient (esp. in foam form), which is such a plus. Not to mention that it's a million times easier to use than Iodaphor and so more reliable than bleach (back in the early days). You're absolutely right when you think the bubbles are making things cleaner!!

Hope some other people will post more pics soon (hint hint)...

I made a shield from aluminum flashing for my burner. Trying to brew in a Cleveland winter was difficult at times, but after I installed this... 1.) I've never had a flame blow out and 2.) I think it may even concentrate more heat up to the pot. (not a proven theory  )

Here's a link to the photo of my shield.

Sounds great -- I can't get in to see the picture though. I got a message that it was private.

?

Oops...try now. 

Now THAT rocks! Brilliant idea! Thanks for posting.

Sure! Super easy to do and cost under $5.

I have tossed a couple of pics of John Baker and my first big brew day (3/15/08) on my blog.  I hope to post some pics of last weekends brew session soon.  Enjoy.

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