With Rob Zosars and Callan O’Neill
May the 4th may be internationally celebrated as Star Wars Day, but on this day, you could say it was Star “Wort” Day? Maybe not. But it was our annual Big Brew Day for BABBs at New Era Brewing in Woolloongabba, which is in conjunction with International Big Brew Day where homebrewers around the world are encouraged to brew a beery beverage around the same time.
We had four homebrewers show off three different home-brewing systems, one so easy to take anywhere you could cart it via bicycle. And four different beers, all of them dark beers (will not be tempted to make another Star Wars joke there). Dion with the lightest in style was brewing a dark mild, in the manner of Brew in a Bag. Then we had Damian and Callan both using the same brewing system, a G40 made by Grainfather, but Damian was making a Dry Irish Stout without sparging, while Callan, who was making an Oatmeal Stout, utilizing an extra component to his G40 for sparging, by having an ordinary electric urn. And then finally, Nick was using in-house equipment from New Era, a Brewtools B80 system, and he was making a 40L double batch of Russian Imperial Stout. 
All four brewers started their mash at the same time (after milling their grains to their required size), with the smell of roasted, chocolatey, earthy grains in the air. A few fellow homebrewers started trickling in, fielding questions to our Big Brew Day brewers about their systems, their processes, a few checking out the random brewing equipment and apparel that were up for grabs in the venue.
It was about 11.30 before the brewers started the boil, and Liam, our BABBs providore had the BBQ going for a simple yet delectable spread of snags and onion on bread, and some extras like asparagus and broccolini. We had some non-brewers arrive as well, family, friends, colleagues of our brewers who came to see what all the fuss about brewing was, and they were well impressed and intrigued. Eventually around 1pm the boiling process had finished for some, and it was time to put the freshly made wort into cubes. With Dion being the first to cube, he was the proud inaugural winner of the Big Brew Day “Creamy Brown” trophy, which was just a simple can of Creamy Brown malt extract made by Brewdemon (probably the highlight of his brewing career some might say). Eventually Damian, Callan and Nick followed (with Nick having to use two cubes for his double batch). And by 2pm the brewers, and those who attended, had cleaned up any mess before making their way to Future Magic for some post-brew beverages.
It was a fun-filled, interesting day. Something to make people keen on brewing at home or possibly collaborating with others to make a beer. But remember, May the Wort be with you. Cheers.
