Interns, Maple Syrup and the Exploding Pilot Brew
14.03.2011
We currently have 2 awesome interns here at BrewDog, Brett (from Canada) and Tobias (from Denmark). They are currently just over 2 months into their 6 month stint working as assistant brewers at BrewDog HQ, they have both been doing a pretty stellar job and both are evangelically passionate about great craft beer. Consequently, last Friday, we decided it would be cool to let them loose on our 50L pilot plant to design and brew their own beer.
They diligently and somewhat excitedly put together the recipe for a Maple Syrup Imperial Stout with the all veracity of a diligent and somewhat excited beaver building a dam. They also gave the beer a silly name (I forgave them) before cleaning the pilot plant and putting together the malt and hops for the tiny brew. Our 50L pilot brews perfectly fill a keg so the intention was to serve the single keg at BrewDog Aberdeen on the night before they left to return to Canada and Denmark respectively.
They mashed in under the watchful eye of our rock ‘n roll brewer Red.
I decided to help with the hopping (hope you like my cardigan – I own 7 cardigans – does that make me a gay?)
Brett goes all stereotypically Canadian and lavishes the beer with maple syrup at the end of the boil.
So all was well and the wort was cooled, tasting great and transferred into an adapted keg which we use to ferment our pilot batches. So far, so good. Our international intern beer started to ferment and our intrepid young brewers went home happy. However, the pressure release valve on the adapted fermenter was not working correctly (or was maybe not properly checked…….), and through the night the pressure build up caused the seal to explode and sent most of the beer exploding out of the keg.
A pretty sad end to something which started out so promisingly. We are debating whether to let them loose on the pilot system again. Should we?
Comments
- yeah, what happened to AB:06? Beer me!16.03.2011
- Wasnt AB:06 supposed to be released today ???
Nice of brewdog to give the old saying some new life .. couldnt organise a p*ss up in a brewery!!! Or a beer release it'd appear!
j16.03.2011 - Reverse (freeze) distilling, something you guys do so well was first done by accident. Let the Dane and Canuck have another go! Colin15.03.2011
- Since when did we gte "interns" in the UK. It was called "work expierience" when I was a lad. Damn americanisms! Andy15.03.2011
- Aye, fucking make it. Iain15.03.2011
- Cardigan = Slightly Gay
Face Pout = Defo Gay
Maybe a Gay IPA is needed!
Lets hope you dont mince around the brew house!Spunkmeyer15.03.2011 - I guess since you provided them with a faulty piece of gear that they should be allowed try again ;) Andy15.03.2011
- No. They failed. They should be tarred and feathered, and sent back to whence they came from.
Cardigan = not gay.
Whatever you were doing with your hands = gay.Phil Sutton15.03.2011 - Should definitely let them at it again but how about a full scale brew of it? sounds brilliant and could be very worth while having at least a couple of bottles available Tom Pickreing15.03.2011
- gay as min r15.03.2011
- sounds like it was either not their fault, or was a rookie mistake.
I'd give them another go eitherway. Sounds like an interesting beerneil, eatingisntcheating.blogspot.com15.03.2011 - Yes Maple Syrup Stout sounds great send some to West Yorkshire. And Yes Cardigans are Gay or Old ...... Pick 1 ..... Dave H15.03.2011
- welcome <a href="http://www.wholesaleidea.com">china cell phones</a> wholesaleidea15.03.2011
- Hey, just wondering, do you pay your interns the minimum wage? If not you may well be breaking the law (and not in a rebelllious punk way either). There's further advice on this subject at the following links:
http://internsanonymous.co.uk/claim/
http://online.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/openpopup?itemId=1081658393&type=ONEOFFPAGE
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1081674061&type=RESOURCES
Damn shame about the beer, mind.
Cheers!
TimTim15.03.2011 - Hey, just wondering - do you pay your interns the minimum wage? If not you may well be breaking the law (not in a rebellious punk way, in an exploitative and very Tim15.03.2011
- Absolutely let them have another go! Everything is trial and error, and the more talented craft brewers the better! Just save a keg of the new brew for when I visit Brewdog Edinburgh in August!!! Carl Dickson15.03.2011
- of course you should let them loose on it again after all someones got to clean it all up! Richard Boyden15.03.2011
- Yes! Brew the beer. Was looking forward to tasting it in BrewDog Brian14.03.2011
- It's a pilot plant. Things will go wrong, it won't always work out, but it's all about the learning. Put them back to work, same recipie, and have them keep an eye on the pressure gauge. I'm looking forward to drinking some of this now.
Owning cardigans doesn't make you gay. It just makes you look a little bit camp, but that's ok.Ian Prise14.03.2011 - Let 'em loose! Aaron brown14.03.2011
- Of course you have to!
The Craft Beer Revolution requires some explosion!Filippo Garavaglia14.03.2011 - Definitely. Dave14.03.2011
- Of course you have to.
Get them in there tomorrow morning.raphael basan14.03.2011