Last Thursday, I once again got the opportunity to help Mickey brew a batch of ale at MickDuffs Brewing Co. in Sandpoint, ID. I drove up to stay at my girlfriends in Newport the night before so that we could get an early start to the brew day. While the boiler was getting up to temperature, I began milling the grain into small garbage cans (clean, of course!). We ran out of cans, so we dumped some of them back into the empty grain bags. Once the boiler was ready to go, we began mashing in with me dumping the grain into the auger while Mickey stirred vigorously. Once we got the grains in the tun, we continued to stir as there was a bit of a problem with the mash consistency.
After a nice mash, we began sparging and then the slow transfer to the lauter tun. Our first addition of hops went in before the wort was even up to a boil and once that was added, we set to work cleaning the mash tun and the rest of the brewery. As we continued the boil, it was time for a well deserved lunch. Dave, 
the brewer from Laughing Dog in nearby Ponderay stopped by to chat with Mickey and he eventually invited me over to his brewery after I was done at MickDuffs.
Mickey and I finished cleaning after lunch and when the boil was complete, we ran the wort through the chiller and then into the fermentation tank. A little more scrubbing and then we were ready to call it a day, but not before a tester off of the zwickle of the new Gnarly Nine Barleywine. Still a little green, but aging deliciously, I am excited when it will be on tap again. Mickey needed to take off for the day, but I wanted to sample the product of my previous labor in the form of a pint of the ToeHead Blonde. Well balanced and light on the tongue, the blonde went down easily while I had my growler filled with some of the IPA.
Then it was off to Ponderay. Dave was not in evidence when I first arrived but I began chatting with what looked like a group of regulars in the tasting room. The man sitting next to me turned out to be Skip, who is currently the “head keg washer” while he waits for Laughing Dog to expand in August, at which point he will become the distiller of a line of liquors. As I was ingraining myself with Skip, Dave appeared with the owner and brew master, Fred. After some introductions, Fred made me goad Dave into giving me a tour of the brew facilities and he happily obliged. Fred and Skip came along and we eventually found ourselves leaning on pallets of grain, chatting about beer and sharing a growler of Arrogant Bastard that they had been cellaring since 2007. Fred then invited me to come and apprentice brew with him and Dave at some point in the near future. Fred and Mickey work at not competing with one another and there is much mutual respect, so I wouldn’t be stepping on any toes. I will seize any and all opportunities to expand my brewing knowledge, especially with hands on experience.
All in all, a very wonderful brew day and definitely worth the drive up from Spokane. I look forward to brewing with both Mickey and Fred in the future, but I have learned that the opportunities will be finite; I returned home on Friday to a letter from UC Davis informing me that I had been moved from the 2012 Master Program to the 2011 program, which starts in January. Great news indeed, but I now feel a little bit frazzled when faced with the logistics of what the life change entails. Anxiously awaiting the opportunity, but there is a lot of work to do still to get me to Davis in time. Stayed tuned for the ever developing chronicles of becoming a professional brewer.
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