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Big Brew 2008 has come and gone!

And what a time we had.

A handful of folks decided to start early and headed to the campground on Thursday for a Big Big Brew weekend. The brewing started on Thursday and didn't end until late Sunday, and we ended up with 16 brewers brewing 23 batches for a total of 173 gallons, a new SFH record!. We were visted by a Bernie (Asheville) and Mark (Charlotte) and they contributed to the totals as well, and had a great time. As is usual with the first weekend in May, we had a bit of weather - not much in the way of rain, but lots of wind. The gusts wreaked havoc with the brewing on Saturday - it was hard to maintain a boil without a boilover - and after it beat on us for two days, it finally hammered us with such a gust that two folks had their popup awnings slammed to the ground with the frames twisted like pretzels. And then the wind decided to give us a break - it calmed down and became a gorgeous day. We strapped on the feedbag Saturday afternoon with Richard's BBQ (complemented by Jerry's sauce) and a myriad of side dishes from various members. I don't know how many attended, but I'd guess it was in the 40s, with 30+ camping that night.

And I'm already looking forward to the August campout ...

About the club

The State of Franklin Homebrewers was established in 1995 to bring together homebrewers of the Tri-Cities area of East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia. Michael Foster, proprietor of Depot Street Brewing (Map) in Jonesborough has graciously offered the use of the brewery as a permanent meeting place. At some point in the future we may look at other options, but for the time being we will continue to meet at Depot Street.

Come on out and join us at our next meeting or at our next 'Hump Day' gathering, which is a mid-month informal social gathering in between meetings. See the links at the top right side of the page form info on meeting locations.

We welcome all interested parties at our meetings, and especially those who are homebrewers from other areas of the country. Stop by for a visit if you are in the area.

Our meetings are rather informal. We have more than 80 members at several different stages of the homebrewing hobby. Some have brewed dozens (or even hundreds) of batches; others have brewed fewer; and some have brewed none but are anxiously awaiting their first opportunity. We have all-grainers, partial mashers, and extract brewers, as well as non-brewing beer lovers. Everyone usually brings their latest brews, commercial microbrews, or some appetizers to the meeting to share with everyone else. We usually conduct our business around 7:30, followed by our Brew of the Month competition, then followed by any other scheduled programs/events. After this it is a general sharing of homebrews and socializing.