Last night was unseasonably warm, so any of you no-shows whining about the cold better sack up. We brewed a revised (beefed-up) version of our scotch ale last night. We also had some on tap, which was good, but perhaps not as full-bodied as we’re shooting for. This was also the first week for our new sparge arm:

I like this picture because it shows me in a saint-like glow. Then Jeff is cleaning a keg (which is almost impossible to catch on film), Colin is getting paid in free beer to lift a hose, and Nathan is trying to figure out a way to get our new sparge arm to work correctly using nothing but cardboard and masking tape. And Garrett looks on awkwardly. The sparge arm is a little different from our last one – it doesn’t spin, but instead creates a circular spray of water. It’s going to take a little work to get it to fit within our existing system, but Joel is on the job. And if all else fails, we’ll just get Colin to hold it again next week.

We had milk stout, scotch ale and IPA on tap last night. The milk stout actually turned out very well, and we’re excited to see how the second batch turns out. Interesting note on the IPA: we had two versions of it on tap, one with a Briess base malt and one with Marris Otter base malt and a different yeast. The two beers were like night and day. Marris Otter was much fuller and maltier tasting, the Briess had some strong grapefruit notes, probably brought out by the yeast. Both were good, but in different ways.

Thanks to everyone who came out last night! We had a lot of new faces, including the celebrity namer of our Eye Patch Ale.