I proposed to Homebrewers Gorizia to organize and follow a public brew. Giovanni and I have already tried to organize one in the past but Covid has blown everything. So I decided to follow another idea that I had: in my hometown there is a pub specialized in Bavarian beers, the Bierkeller, and it seemed to me an interesting idea to make a Märzen in March as German tradition.
First I went to Bierkeller to check if they were available and if they agreed with that idea. The owner was happy about it but proposed to do it later so we could do it outside in the garden. So we decided to talk again in April. In the end, considering events scheduled in the pub and my own time the brew was planned in the first half of May.
In the meantime I started to contact other guys to help me: many of them were very interested and helpful, and we were able to build a team of four people very quickly. In the meantime I prepared the recipe (you can see it on this page) and ordered all the ingredients to Mr.Malt store. Since my friend Max had to go to that store for his own purposes I took advantage: he also picked up my order and with this excuse I went to visit him and drink two beers together.
A final briefing at Bierkeller a few days before and the day of the brew finally arrived. Since the pub opens at 17.00 I decided to make an evening brew, starting at 17.30. As soon as I arrived I started to unload the car and immediately a team mate came to help me with the preparations. We warmed the water and around 18 we did the mas-in with the malt already crushed at home.
In the meantime, I took the opportunity to hang up some information panels about brewing and distribute some flyers with a description of the Märzen style and the recipe we were brewing. At this point people began to arrive and soon the other brew mates too. At that point everything went smoothly, following the brew, chatting with friends, giving explanations to the curious who came to see what we were doing and of course, drinking some beer.
Late in the evening the place was full of people, many came to see and ask about the activity, others instead limited themselves to read the information panels and observe us from afar. The crush ran smoothly without the slightest hitch until the end, when after filling the fermenter I took it to the house of a friend of mine who kindly gave us his fermentation fridge.
Once back at Bierkeller we cleaned and settled everything very quickly and enjoyed the rest of the evening. My wish would be to be able to organize a tasting at Bierkeller in the Oktoberfest period, but for this we have to evaluate how much it is possible.
Ah yes, I didn’t tell you that among the first things I did was place a GoPro and some warnings that we were recording a video. You can watch the rest of that on your own below or on YouTube.
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