Brewing Vienna Lager with Nick and Todd and Stephanie

Nick Spies, Todd Wyatt, and Stephanie Ahlschwede, fixtures at the Huber Haus, are here at Gottberg today. We're brewing a Vienna Lager that we'll serve up at the Sunfest in a few weeks.

The gang's all here

Here's what they had to say about their brew day:

Todd: I'm very excited to be experiencing my first taste of commercial brewing after 18 years of homebrewing! Yippee!

Richard and Todd do some record-keeping

Stephanie: So far I am most impressed by two things - 1) the grapenut-like scent of the grain we are using, and 2) the subtle and effective slope of the brewing room floor, which means you can rinse anything off at any time and the water immediately drains away. Perhaps this feature should be included in every home kitchen remodel?

Nick: I've been here for almost an hour and I'm good and sweaty already. While we were waiting for Todd and Steph to arrive: I put the false bottom in the mash tun, moved some 100-lb bags of sugar (for the their root beer), got all the grain together, dumped the grain in the hopper, stirred the mash, and now I'm typing about all the aforementioned. Almost done recirculating, then we will be pumping it into the kettle.

Smilin' Steph and Nick

Stephanie: thrill of the day so far - getting to pour the hops into wort!

Just like she said

Tom: Arrived just in time to avoid all of the work, but had the pleasure of company and beer, Good brew day!

Paris: Arrived for lunch, still working at home -- but got to have fun with the gang for a little while.

Todd: We'll the brewing day is done. Unfortunately, I was injured by a flying waterhose during the clean up phase. The upside is that the beer has a new name: "There Will Be Blood" Red bier. Good times had by all.

Todd retrieves the scrub pad that he dropped into the kettle

Nick: Well, we are done now and at Rich's place sampling the cellar selection. I brought along a bottle of Alaskan Smoked Porter from my recent trip to Alaska to share (reminds me of sitting by the campfire after catching my King salmon). Enjoying a Bigfoot 2002 as I write this.

Richard: From the cellar: New Holland Dragon's Milk, Verhaeghe Duchesse de Bourgogne, Sprecher Mamma Mia Pizza Beer (thanks, John!), Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2002, JW Lees Harvest Ale 2006, JW Lees Harvest Ale Port 2006, and De Landtsheer Malheur Brut Reserve. A small price to pay for all the help I got today.