Hey all,
I wanted to take a minute or two to pass along a few important updates and ask for your feedback on a possible change to the shop. We've got three things to cover:
ONE
If you haven't checked the website in a little bit, I have finally updated the events section and would like to invite you all out to the Homebrew Hangout on July 26th @ Kick-Off Sports Bar in Waterloo. It runs from 7:30-9:30pm. This month’s hangout is featuring Kevin Freer, head brewer at Block 3 Brewing in St. Jacob's. Kevin and I did a collab brew on their Blichmann BrewEasy system back in June in preparation for this event. We brewed a sour ale that is hopped with the new Cryo hops (which I am hopefully bringing in for the shop very soon). I am particularly excited about this hangout because, if you haven’t noticed, my go-to style has been sour lately. Kevin is going to do a talk on kettle souring techniques and quick sours. He is a great resource on this topic and an excellent speaker, so I highly recommend getting down early and bringing some questions for him.
TWO (+ feedback request)
We are planning some fundamental changes in how SFBC moves forward with grain selection. There are more than a few pieces of the puzzle that need to be put together at this point, but before we move too quickly ahead I thought I would check in with everybody and make sure this change would be something that would be advantageous (or at least acceptable) to the community. Essentially, I am getting tired of repacking grain all day and would like to move towards a more efficient way of pulling malts through a Bulk Barn-style service. As a customer, you would be able to come in and weigh out your malts by the gram rather than selecting the 1 and 4lb options. This would allow people to select the exact amount of malt needed for any given brew day. The plan currently is for this option to only be available in store; the online service would remain the same using 1 and 4lb bags. This way, if you don’t want to come in and pick your own malt, you can still order online and come in later that day to grab your order and keep moving. Have thoughts on this change? Please let us know in the comments section below, or by emailing me at rob@shortfingerbrewing.com. Your feedback is important - we're not into making changes that won't be positively received by this great homebrew community.
THREE
Lastly: Our next homebrew competition is coming. Kat is putting together the full competition page this week, and registration will open once it is up. Keep an eye on social media - she'll let you know as soon as we're up and going. This time around, we're working with Royal City Brewing Co. on a BJCP sanctioned event. In an effort to keep things manageable, we're capping entries at 100. The styles included in this competition will be as follows:
LIFE IS SHORT. HOMEBREW.
- Rob
I think the “bulk barn” idea is fantastic. I would love to be able to buy the exact quantities I require for a recipe and not have small amounts of grains left over after a brew day. This is yet another reason why I love shopping at short finger.
Love the idea. Limits wasted grains. Everything you guys do to evolve has been welcomed. Really appreciate it.
I’m in agreement with everyone so far: By-the-gram is the preferred way to go, in my opinion!
Bulk barn style grain picking sounds great. Can’t wait for the competition.
Hi Rob, Bulk Barn style grain would be great. I often do small batches which leaves me with a bunch of spare specialty malts.