Brewing a Charity Brew

Join Us October 3rd from 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm at the Knotted Root Brewing Company in Nederland, CO for our Kick Off Charity Event.

What an amazing day at Knotted Root Brewing Company! We got to help in the brewing of a special charity beer for our upcoming introductory fund raising event that will be held at the brewery on October 3. Chris Marchio and Chris Klein, co-founders of the brewery have generously offered us their space in Nederland, Colorado for this event. Additionally, the new brew, a vanilla coffee porter,  will be tapped on the day of our event and then for every pint purchased there will be a $1.00 donation made to our pet care fund. This special day of brewing was an auction item at The Carousel of Happiness that was purchased at their fundraiser on September 7 by Sandy Hollingsworth specifically for the purpose of being able to be a part of brewing this charity beer.

The process of brewing beer was somewhat familiar to me from watching my son do some home brew. However, this was more than homebrew times 10. It was amazing! There were several 55 pound bags of 4 different kinds of malted barley, as well as 50 pound bags of oats. I actually got to taste each of the toasted kernels, each with its own distinct flavor. We mixed the grains together and then fed them into a masher. From the masher the mix was augured up to a very large stainless steel tank that was filled with hot water. As the mix was being fed into the tank the brewmaster was stirring the mix, much like you would stir your hot cereal while it is cooking.  The difference was that this mix was stirred with a large wooden paddle, much the same size as a canoe paddle. As it was cooking it started to smell really great! Reminded me of Malt-o-Meal!

This needed to be cooked for quite some time to break down the sugars and make a very yummy, dark colored wort. A lot of brewing is hurry up and wait, so we waited and waited and waited.  After some time (about ½ a day) the wort (liquid) was separated from the mash (the ground up grain). The wort was sent over to another large tank, the kettle, where it is boiled in order to concentrate the liquid to enhance the flavor. To bring good energy, luck, posterity, juju, call it what you want, we then took a few minutes to create a special drink from the wort and a bit of Scotch.  This is known as a Hot-Scottie. We got to each have a shot glass of the mix, raising our glasses in honor of Eddie Money (who had just passed on that morning), giving some to the earth and then through our lips.  It was also at this time that we named the new brew “Take Me Home Tonight”.

Now, as the liquid boils away, for almost 2 ½ hours, we continue to wait and wait and wait. Finally 7 ½ hours after the start we can add in the hops. Once integrated it is time to cool the wort down and move it over to the fermenting vat. As it is being moved the yeast is quickly added. Now fermentation begins. Again, more waiting, waiting, waiting. This time a long wait. Almost 3 weeks. Come on October 3rd. Time to have the first tap of Take Me Home Tonight  and the kick off celebration of Mountain Paws Pet Care Fund.