I'm Getting Hitched! - To Serve Homebrew At A Reception Or Not

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

The missus and I have finally done it!! set a date for a wedding..... (about 5 years too long)

The wedding will be held in the garden of the local golf club and the reception will be held at an un-licensed venue nearby which means we (or should i say "I") supply the "after-ceremony" festivities. The father-in-law and my self are very (very, Very) keen home-brewers, and have been throwing the idea about putting home-brew on at the reception. Has this ever been done before??

This is a pretty ambitious project i know, but with 18 months and 3K or 4K under the belt to play with is this the ultimate home-brewers dream?? plus if i decide to keg, i have a heap of empty kegs to play with after the wedding.. errr... should i say after the honeymoon.

The father in law and myself are K&K'ers and thats all we're thinking of doing. While i'm going nuts on the Keyboard... does anyone know some nice recpies that will make the night a night to remember?????

 

[geoff_tewierik]

If you have the budget mentioned, I'd be inclined to make the move to AG and incorporate those costs into the budget.

For a wedding you'd be after a selection of the following:

The quaffing lager for the megaswill lovers
The midstrength ale for the designated drivers
The fruity wit for the ladies
The hop driven monster for the true beer afficianado

Plenty of beer recipes in the database to choose from. Also you have plenty of time between now and the event to tweak and tune your recipes.

Volume wise, depends on the number of guests, but something around 2-3L per person is a good guide, as there will be those that over indulge, and those that won't be touching a drop.

 

[Effect]

The missus and I have finally done it!! set a date for a wedding..... (about 5 years too long)

The wedding will be held in the garden of the local golf club and the reception will be held at an un-licensed venue nearby which means we (or should i say "I") supply the "after-ceremony" festivities. The father-in-law and my self are very (very, Very) keen home-brewers, and have been throwing the idea about putting home-brew on at the reception. Has this ever been done before??

This is a pretty ambitious project i know, but with 18 months and 3K or 4K under the belt to play with is this the ultimate home-brewers dream?? plus if i decide to keg, i have a heap of empty kegs to play with after the wedding.. errr... should i say after the honeymoon.

The father in law and myself are K&K'ers and thats all we're thinking of doing. While i'm going nuts on the Keyboard... does anyone know some nice recpies that will make the night a night to remember?????

18 months?

I would be seriously considering going all grain. I have been brewing for 12 months now and have done just under 30 brews. Every second weekend, brew a batch of beer to hone your skills. Then you will still have 6 months to make all the beer you need. You won't regret going AG!!!

Cheers
Phil

 

[jdsaint]

If you stay in KK try and get a hold of steve youngs I.P.A , which is at the bitter and twisted festival and was fantastic better then any kk I have made.............

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

Very tempting to go AG but the f.I.L. is not interested... "too much work, what we're drinking now is ok isn't it?' is what he says. maybe i can set it up on my own,.... ok its off to youtube for an hour or two....

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

Volume wise, depends on the number of guests, but something around 2-3L per person is a good guide, as there will be those that over indulge, and those that won't be touching a drop.

Mate, you should see the invitation list, its a loooooong list of drunken yahoos (FIL included in the list) 2-3L just sounds a little under the quota to me (roughly 5-8 stubbies), if its too much, well i guess i'll be enjoying alot of beer after the honeymoon.

 

[Andyd]

Whether you go all grain or not, go for it. One of my best friends Simon served up a different brew with every course and they were just amazing. Trying to do the same with commercial beers is prohibitive financially for a start, and doesn't have the same "intimate" feel to it.

Also, if you are sticking with K&K, use your lead up time to learn a bit about partial mashes and adjusting the flavor profile of your beers using a combination of specialty malts and hops...

Andy

 

[clean brewer]

This one is meant to be a Cracker... Boonies Little Creatures Pale Ale...

 

[Fester]

Around 10 years ago I brewed a 20lt keg for a mate's wedding. I settled on an AG Munich Lager style because of it's appeal to non hopheads. Even the bride's parents (Japanese) liked it and I think it was one of my best brews ever.

So definitely, go for it, you won't regret it.

 

[Neill]

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=35657

virtually a K+K but about 500 times better. dead easy to do as well.

 

[katzke]

Well I will step in to this with both feet.

I would have cheap beer and wine for those that know no difference.

Then I would come up with a nice quality home brew. Something you can name after the festivities. Not very good at naming beers till after the fact but something like Shotgun Stout. You get the idea.

That way the winos will be happy as well as the game day drunks. The real beer drinkers will know you put some effort into it and even if the beer you chose is not a style they like they will be polite. Sorry I left out the wine snoobs.

I think if you are having a fancy garden party wedding you will be so busy with what flower do you think goes with what ribbon you will not have any time to brew more then one beer. The exception would be if your bachelor party is about a month out and you have everyone bring a kettle ,burner, and fermentor. Then you will need a second one to find the time to keg or bottle it all.

If you are correct and you can only quench the thirst of 2 or 3 friends from every brew you will need lots of help or best to brew some bad beer so it lasts.

 

[Tony M]

If your friends drink your beer now and hold out their glass for more, then your beer is the choice for the wedding; but if they just drink one glass, politely tell you it's fine then reach for a can from their esky, then stick to what they like and buy your beer, otherwise you'll get talked about behind your back for years.

 

[svyturys]

I'm presuming, WALLACE, that you and your FIL brew a pretty good drop already.
If that is the case, then, GO FOR IT!
Your wedding will be the talk of the town cos it has something completely different. It will stand apart from the normal "reception place". Your beer will be a talking point that will have people intermingling and chatting right from the first glass.
Now, if you could do the food as well....

 

[bullsneck]

Your situation is similar to the folks at Buckley's, a brewery in the Yarra Valley. They brewed a beer for a relatives wedding, a pils, then after the reception the beer got, added it to their line up of commercial brews.

Called it Nuptials or something.

 

[lefty2446]

I'll throw my 2c in here as well and recommend that you offer a choice.

Some people no matter what, Will Not try home made beer. I have the stance that if it is offered and people are not under pressure more people will try it. Let your guests know that you are not after feedback and you don't care if they don't like your beer.

If they like it they will drink it if they don't they won't. I offered a selection of commercials and craft beers at my wedding, it went well. Had a lot of full cartons left over at the end.

At another mates reaffirmation of vows, 4 other brewers invited, we all took kegs. They were all emptied.

Adrian

 

[glaab]

man o man, you priorities are all up the creek. You might wanna re-do the thread with this heading;
"I'm throwing a BIG piss-up and serving home brew, should I get hitched?"

 

[sxs19]

_WALLACE_

Fantastic idea.... if only i can convince my missus to let me do this when we tie the knot although it is a long way fro us to cart kegs considering we live in SA and plan to get hitched it QLD but what the hell.

Best of luck and please keep us up to date on what you decide

 

[newguy]

Go for it. When I got married I brewed 10 x 20l batches to give away at the reception/dance (kegged). I was surprised by how many people loved it. I brewed 3 x kolsch (light stuff for the mega-lager drinkers; consider it to be beer training wheels), 2 x weizen (wife's favourite), and the other 5 were an odds-n-ends of styles I thought may fly with the crowd. Almost all the kolsch was drained, all the weizen was drained, and of the 5 remaining kegs, about 30-40% altogether was gone. We had a little over 200 guests.

One thing I did that the guests liked was to print out a one sheet description of the beers (large font) and these were posted when that particular beer was on tap. It was interesting for them to read a bit about the beer, its history, and its ingredients.

 

[dgilks]

Don't assume that all people will drink is macro-swill, even if they are macro-swill drinkers. There is a user on BeerAdvocate who served several mid range micros along with some homebrew and Budweiser at his wedding. If I remember correctly, the homebrew was an Abbey Singel and a Weizenbock and the micros were a hoppy Pale Ale, a AIPA, a Belgian Strong Pale, a Dubbel and a chocolate stout. The only beer leftover at the end was the Bud.

The moral of this is: Don't assume that people will only drink what they are familiar with. As for the homebrew, sure go with something like a Kolsch so there is something approachable then do some interesting stuff. And go to AG, you have 18 months and will never regret it. If your FIL doesn't want to go for it, you can watch him be jealous when he tastes your AG brews.

 

[The Ginger Bread Man]

If you want an easy to make brew I always find the ESB Australian Draught is easy no matter the temperature it is brewed at, If you do a few kegs of this you will do fine as it appeals to the vast majority. Then do a larger. For light beer just go for the commercial brands, most people wont trust you have brewed a true light.