Public home-brewing demo at Marchfest Nelson 22nd March 2014

[integersmirk]

Hello

For the past few years, with various levels of assistance, I have done a small little home-brew demo in a tent at the annual Marchfest event in Nelson.

Last year we expanded out a little bit and got more people involved. A lot of people expressed interest in making it bigger.

It looks like our pleas have been heard and we are likely going to get a reasonably large area for next year's event. At this stage I would like to find out what level of interest there is for people to participate.

Volunteers are expected to bring their own brewing set-up and to brew a beer on site during the event. At the minimum this means putting down at least a partial mash (no kit and kilo) and strong preference will be given to those able and willing to bring a full set-up and brew an all-grain batch. One goal we have is to get a wide variety of brewing setups so that visitors to the event can see how many different ways there are to solve the challenges of making great beer at home.

Clearly this will mostly be of interest to people based in Nelson or nearby, but I got a few expressions of interest last year from people out of town so I thought I would put a notification here in case any non-locals were keen.

At previous events, volunteers have received some or all of the following:

• free entry
• some beer tokens
• a t-shirt
• free brewing ingredients
• a small amount of fame or notoriety
• a fun day out

I am hoping that we can arrange for all volunteers to get most (if not all) of these things at this event.

If you are keen, please email me at [e-mail] so I can start to get an idea of numbers. Places are likely to be limited so getting your name on the list should be a priority if you want to be there.

Cheers

Mike

[integersmirk]

Hi folks

March 22nd is getting closer - time flies. Plans for the homebrew demo are coming together, and very soon I hope to have final details on exactly how much space we get and exactly what we can offer volunteers.

I am (still) expecting:

• Space for up to 12 home-brewers to put a batch down
• Free ingredients for each brew
• Free entry to Marchfest for each brewer
• Free T-shirt or a small number beer tokens for each brewer
• An unforgettable experience

I will confirm more details inside the next week. Have a think about whether you are a potential brewer for this event.

For the out-of-towners, there is a chance that there we can get some local kit put up on site for you to use. This would be in very limited numbers and as with all of this, first-come-first served.

Cheers

Mike

[integersmirk]

Hi there

After a few emails and meetings over the last few days, I can now confirm some more details:

• All ingredients for the brewers will be supplied at zero cost
• We have established that we should have enough power to make sure that any electric brewing set-ups are covered
• We have enough space for 12 brewers
• We want all brewers to do a single-hop brew, using one of 6 varieties (all NZ grown). This is similar to the commercial Marchfest beers, all of which have been brewed using the results of a random draw made last year
• I now have 5 confirmed brewers, and can think of a similar number of people who have expressed interest last year but who I have yet to ask chase up. So it's looking pretty positive we should get to the 12 without much drama.
• The gear being used looks like it will be a wide range of systems from basic to bling so from a spectator perspective there should be something of interest for everyone

I get the feeling it's going to be quite a show! Anyone keen to put their hat in the ring?

Cheers

Mike

[integersmirk]

Quick update: 10 confirmed brewers, one maybe, and me to brew if I need to make up the numbers. So we can fit in 1 more for definite, maybe 2. Let me know if you are keen.

Cheers

Mike