TOPIC:

Hi All,
Those nice people at slowfood have arranged for me to teach a brewing class in a demonstation kitchen in Dun Laoghaire this month. I will be going through a full all-grain brewday and will explain extract techniques too. A hand out guide to brewing (mostly harvested from articles Barry and I wrote for ICB) will be given to each attendee. PM me it you are interested in attending.

Séan Billings

"Hermione Winters of Slowfood":34zjlayr wrote: Event: How to Make Your Own Beer! – to include beer making demo; craft beer tasting with light buffet; ingredient starter kit to take home;

Date: Sunday 13 June, 1pm
Location: Cook’s Academy, Crofton Road, Dun Laoghaire
Cost: €40 for Members, €50 for Non-Members

Firstly, a big thank you to Bill O’Dea for his tireless work in organising this event for us. Also thank you to Cook’s Academy for hosting this event for us.

Sean Billings from the Irish Craft Brewers group will lead us through the process of making a quality beer brew from grain. This is a group of people dedicated to the enjoyment of natural craft beers, be they commercial or home made – more information on this group at – <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="www.irishcraftbrewer.com">www.irishcraftbrewer.com

It is important to note that the emphasis will be on brewing quality and not cheap beer. In Sean’s words “The big problem is that people tend to buy the cheap kits, follow the simplified (read: misleading) instructions and when they taste the results they conclude that home-brew is foul tasting muck. Even with the quality kits, you have very little control over the beer you make, so there is about as much creativity in making a kit beer as there is in microwaving a ready meal. Most people either move on to more complex brewing methods or quit the hobby after a few kit beers” .

This brewing day will be about encouraging people to appreciate quality craft beers and to try craft brewing at home. The agenda is to walk you through the process of brewing from basic ingredients, give everyone a taste of some of the quality beers donated by Sean and other craft brewers and to leave you with the knowledge necessary to do your own home-brew from a quality grain extract rather than from a kit beer where you just add water and sugar. It is hoped that about ten weeks (or so) later we will regroup to taste everyone’s beer!

We will have a home-brew equipment supplier there on the day to advise on the type of equipment needed, which will also be available for purchase. - <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="www.thehomebrewcompany.ie">www.thehomebrewcompany.ie

The Convivium is considering buying a couple of boilers and chillers for the Convivium to share amongst the group – depending on demand.

We are limiting this event to about 20 people, so please book quickly – all bookings through me please.

Hermione Winters
Convivium Leader
The Garden Convivium
Slow Food Ireland
Blog: <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="www.hermionewinters.wordpress.com">www.hermionewinters.wordpress.com[/quote:34zjlayr]

Repped for this, it's a very good thing to do .

Good luck with it- I'll give you a wave from the bay.

I'm looking forward to it. Should be a good day.

wouldnt mind seeing an all grain brew.....bit pricey for me though, and a busy weekend ahead too!

Good luck with it

Best of luck with the course Sean