Brewing @BitterAndEsters

As the 2BeerQueers wedding day approaches, we set about brewing a beer for the special occasion. We heard about Bitter & Esters from fellow homebrewer friends who get their materials from the shop. We needed some way to scale up a batch for the 130+ guests expected and their on premises brewing setup worked out perfectly.

We chose the Nelson Sauvin Saison, a combination of our favorite hop and style. Bitter & Esters provides all the material, you just bring some friends and beer to drink while you wait.

Their 17 Gallon setup produces around 144 bottles. The setup pretty amazing, everything is digital, automated and expertly controlled by the knowledgable staff. You select and mill your own grains. We chose a partial extract batch to make the process go a bit faster.

When you’ve got your wort, you setup your carboy, pitch the yeast in, send the wort through a plate chiller via the attached hose and fill the sucker up. Something that usually takes a while in a home brew setting was almost instantaneous here.

One month later, we returned to sample our beer and bottle it up. With custom bottle caps ready, we got to work. We ended up with around 140 bottles packed and ready to go. The beer turned out fantastic. The yeast and hops gave it a spicy wine-like essence. A very special brew for a very special occasion.