Big Brew In Santa Cruz, California

We braved the weather for Big Brew, hauling our brewing equipment down to the parking lot of the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing http://www.santacruzmountainbrewing.com/ parking lot for the group brewing session. Six of us had our kettles of various sizes boiling away by the time we lifted our glasses for the 10am. toast.

We started to draw a crowd, including students from nearby UCSC as the day progressed.


Although the sky threatened to rain, it never got worse than a light mist.

"It's not rocket science, unless you want it to be."

The gravity of my Saison came in where I wanted it, but the chilling process was a disaster, as I plugged up my plate chiller with coriander and grains of paradise.


We had several kegs of beer on hand for sampling and to keep us revived as we brewed.