Saturday, May 1 is the national Big Brew on National Homebrewers Day, and we’re celebrating in a Big Way. Fullsteam is opening its doors and inviting ANY and ALL local homebrewers to bring their gear and brew with fellow homebrewers at our fledgling brewery!

YOU KNOW YOU’RE EXCITED
skip the details
REGISTER FOR FREE HERE

THE PLAN
Registered homebrewers (and beer enthusiasts wanting to learn more about the process) can come to 726 Rigsbee anytime after 10:00am on Saturday, May 1.

Bring  your brewing gear and supplies and brew up a batch alongside fellow local homebrewers and in the shadows of Fullsteam’s fermenters. This is a great way to meet fellow homebrewers and share tips, tricks and recipes, plus a great way to rub elbows with the guys that brew for a living! Even if you’re not brewing or not even a brewer come and hang out and have a good time. Any and all are welcome.

courtesy of pheaber via Flickr

As far as what to brew, you’ve got a few options.

1. You can brew any (beer) recipe you’d like, be it extract or all-grain.
2. You can choose one of the Big Brew recipes listed here.
3. Create a “local ag” or “Southern experimental” beer and have a chance to be the first “Deus Ex Machina” homebrew collaboration beer served at Fullsteam R&D (our tavern) when we open! That’s right, if you brew a recipe using local agricultural or Southern experimental ingredients — or if you’ve already brewed one –you can enter it in a Best of Show competition. The winning homebrewer will get to brew that batch on Fullsteam’s system and have this beer on tap at the R&D Tavern. (The competition date is TBD…don’t worry, it’ll be far enough after the May 1 Big Brew to let your beer properly age!).

THE DETAILS

• Brewing starts around 10:00am, but feel free to show up anytime. Brewers should bring their gear to the back of 726 Rigsbee (off of Madison) to set up. If you would like to drop your gear off on Friday, please email Chris (chris@fullsteam.ag) to coordinate a time.
• Homebrewers are not required to brew on-site in order to enter the beer competition (#3). The beer will need to be brewed with Southern agricultural ingredients in order to qualify for the contest. This is a for-fun-only competition (bragging rights!), and not sanctioned by anyone other than Fullsteam.
• All attendees will be required to sign a release form upon arrival.
• Fullsteam has plenty of water for all to use, all you need is gear and ingredients.
• Chris and Brooks will be manning the grill so food will be provided by Fullsteam. Feel free to bring homebrew to share, but remember to be responsible!
• Tell everyone you know and get them down to 726 Rigsbee on May 1st!

Learn more about National Home Brew Day:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/events/national-homebrew-day

Register for Fullsteam’s Big Brew Day:
http://fullsteamhomebrewers.eventbrite.com/

This is the first step in a long career ahead.

Earlier this week, I moved my hand-built homebrew-turned-pilot-system over to Fullsteam’s building. I’ve been watching the build-out of the brewery and tavern come along, but it’s never hit me like moving this system has. This is for real!

Last week, Brooks came by to help brew what is now my last homebrew on that rig, a 12-gallon batch of one of my favorites of all our offerings: Fullsteam, a recipe I’ve been working on and tinkering with for years. A recipe that came back from a competition with notes saying it needed more Northern Brewer hops (but but but, it is nothing BUT Northern Brewer! Oh well). A recipe that ultimately helped land me a spot on Team Fullsteam. Moving this little system is huge.

Hello homebrewers, pro brewers, and Fullsteam fans! By now you’ve surely witnessed Sean’s build out photos and posts (you can’t miss them, Sean’s marketing even reaches into your dreams at night!). Well, I look forward to giving you the brewing side of Fullsteam. I’ll be updating as often as I can with pictures and stories.

The homebrew in its new home

Jimmy makes good beer. Really really good beer.

Last year, Jimmy was talented enough to be selected for Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp. He provides us with a short backgrounder:

Beer Camp is a special program Sierra Nevada runs where they invite various industry people out for a two-day insider’s tour and brewday. The campers get together and come up with the recipe and help brew it on the 20-barrel pilot system. Our trip was the prize for winning a gold medal at last year’s National Homebrewers Competition. You can read a little more about that adventure here, if you’re interested. The beer is called “Old Cantankerous” after the trouble we had getting 12 homebrewers to agree on a recipe. We also caused a little trouble on the pilot brewing system, so it was a fitting name.

The good folks at Tyler’s Taproom in Durham are hosting a special tasting this Wednesday, January 20th, starting at 5pm. Come on out to taste a truly unique beer, and meet a very talented North Carolina craft homebrewer.

Let’s raise a pint of Old Cantankerous to Jimmy this Wednesday! Hope to see you at Tyler’s in Durham.

(click on the image to see it full-sized)

p.s. Spelling Jimmy’s last name correctly was much harder than spelling “cantankerous”

It was 32‘s idea. Less than a month ago, Chris said to me, “I think we should have a homebrewers gathering at Fullsteam on the day of the World Beer Festival.”

Those of you who homebrew know that’s not much time. Thankfully, the region’s homebrewer community is active enough that enough folks had beer available. A few (Jimmy and Erik, perhaps others) got to work right away to have batches ready in time.

First I cleared the idea with the World Beer Festival guru, Daniel Bradford. He thought it was a great complement to the World Beer Festival: his large, well-produced fest specializing in professional beers from around the world; our scrappy super-local festival showcasing homebrew all brewed with a 20-mile radius of the event. We called it the Backyard Beer Festival. I bet you knew that already!

All the work came together on Saturday. We hosted a dozen homebrewers who served two dozen beers…including several of our own. Nearly 300 people attended, and a good (responsible) time was had by all. Beer lovers enjoyed the more intimate venue size. Homebrewers spoke to an engaged audience. No one stuffed a glass in front of a brewer and mumbled, “Gimme your lightest beer.” And we got to test out five Fullsteam beers to a discerning crowd.

Indeed, a perfect (if humble) complement to one of the nation’s best beer festivals.

Two things in particular stand out:

Austin Dowd and Brandy Callanan brought their “New B” IPA and Brown ale to the event. Both were very tasty, of course.  But here’s what’s remarkable: prior to the BBF, these guys had never shared their beer with anyone. They’ve only been brewing five months. To come to a festival and share their beers speaks volumes to their skills, enthusiasm, and bravery!

Michael Sulyi wrote us this very kind email. Incidentally, Mike brought 20 gallons of awesome beer to the event.

Sean and Chris, I just wanted to send you both a personal thanks for hosting and putting on the BBF on Saturday. I had an awesome time to say the least. I think you guys were great hosts and I appreciate the opportunity to share my beers in that format with your brewery. That was the first time I was able to share my beers in a setup like that and it was great. I met many new people and got lots of great positive feedback on the 4 beers that I poured.

I will look forward to participating in BBF 2010 for sure.  Taking from the BBF poster, your event for me further solidifies my passion and drive with brewing: “…for a few, it’s a precursor for going professional.” Thanks again guys, and hope to see you soon and participate in future events.

Michael Sulyi

That’s what it’s all about for Chris and me. Yep, we’re doing it again in 2010…and we’ll be sure to give homebrewers more than three weeks’ notice!

LINKS — including some great pictures!

• Durham Magazine took some great shots at our humble warehouse
• Erik Lars Myers (a homebrewer participant) blogs about BBF at Top Fermented
• thinkingbrew proffers a World Beer Festival and Backyard Beer Festival recap
• The BBF program guide lists all the participating homebrewers, their beers, and some stories about homebrewing (PDF)
• Help us recover our costs from this free event! Order a men’s or women’s limited edition t-shirt!
• Interested in brewing beer at home? Visit the American Homebrewers Association…and your local homebrew store!
• The voices tell us to keep showing The Room — at least once a month! Stay tuned!
• Follow us on Twitter and Facebook! Blah blah blah social media!