As he fired up the gas cooker, Tim Vandergrift was explaining how easy beer making is.
“Home brewing, basically, people have been doing it for 10,000 years,” Vandergrift expounded.
“You can make beer in your kitchen with a home pot, a bucket and your own stove.”
He was getting ready for a demonstration in the art of brewing Saturday at the Avalon Gardens Independent Living residence in Murrayville.
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The equipment Vandergrift and fellow amateur beer makers Nathaniel Senff and Kalina Link were using were a little more advanced than ordinary kitchen equipment, provided by Mariner Brewing in Coquitlam, which included large metal tubs and gas cooker, set up in the parking lot of the building, under the shade of a portable awning.
The trio had volunteered to put on a demonstration at the first outdoor beer making event at Avalon, beginning with grinding the grains used to make the beer, and continuing all the way to the final, drinkable, product.
Most attendees were curious about the process, but not sure they would be trying it on their own.
“I like beer, but I don’t like to make it,” Brigitte MacWhirter commented.
By the end of the day, the demonstration had produced two kegs of freshly made beer, a light lager and a pale ale.
“We used a heat exchanger to chill it down,” Vandergrift told the Langley Advance Times.
“I know I appreciated one after being out in the heat.”
There are tentative plans to hold another demonstration, later in the year.
Activities coordinator Lauren Ang, who arranged the event, thought it would be great if someone of the residents tested Vandergrifts claim and tried their hand at making beer, in their home kitchen.
“I hope so,” said Ang, who put together an introduction to cider making for residents last year.
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Have a story tip? Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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