Grainson Brew Day with Tubedinoz

It is 7:01pm, the sun is still up and summer is almost here. Today, not only was the weather great, but it was a brew day. Brew days are a special thing. They get the heart pumping and the mind whirling! You are up way earlier than you should be, stronger coffee than normal, and the anticipation. Why? Because it is brew day.

The only thing different about this brew day, is that it was not mine... A good friend of mine, Tubedinoz, is brewing a SMASH beer on his new system. It will be a Wai-Ti and NZ mild ale malt beer on his newly built Grainfather clone, called "The Electric Recirculating BIAB System aka Grainson", his words not mine...
I did not have a big part in this brew day except for support and brews. I took along some of my Casket Ale(SMASH) and two bottle of my Pale Death Ale, one keg conditioned and one bottled conditioned. By the time I got there the brew day was already afoot,strike water had reached temp, grains had been mashed in and temps achieved. So there was nothing to do but troubleshoot some small matters. Nothing big, just some teething issues on a virgin brew rig. Once these issues had been sorted, a 75min mash was in progress, so nothing left to do but to try out some beers and spin a yarn about our favorite subject, brewing beer.

The mash went without a hitch, temp was raised to mash out temps, brew bucket raised and grains rinsed to get the last bit of sugars and to get to preboil volume. There where a few more teething issues, some discussions and a fix/upgrades settled upon.
By the time the sparge was done, boil was upon us, very nicely timed by Dean.
Tubedinoz is still brewing, I am still there for moral support and with a beer in my hand. First hop addition was added, time for a wee lunch, proved by Mrs Tubedinoz, was a great lunch of ham, cheese and pine nut scrolls and short bread biscuits. So much for the weight loss...
The last few hop additions went without a hitch and before you knew it, it was time to chill the wort.
So far, besides a few minor hassles I think the brew day has gone quite smoothly and very quickly. Wort was chilled, post boil gravity of 1.052 @ 9L(Dean only does half batches) was reached and it was time to clean up, well would you look at that, it's getting late, the wife will be angry, I would love to stay and help but I....

So the brew day went quite well from my point of view, not sure Dean thinks the same, but have had way worse brew days! I am quite impressed with the system that Dean has built. There were a few teething problems, but nothing major and quite minor for a first brew day. I think that Dean is going to make some outstanding brews on his new system, and I am personally excited to see what he comes up with. I had a great day, spinning a yarn, moral support and drinking some good beer. What could be better on a spring day? Nothing that I can think of.