2beerguys beer blog

Are you brewing on National Homebrew Day?

Just a quick reminder, don’t forget that Saturday (May 1st) is National Homebrew Day.

The AHA’s annual Big Brew event celebrating National Homebrew Day is coming up on May 1. This year’s recipes and site registration are available online. New for this year, professional craft brewers will be brewing the Big Brew wheat beer recipe to be served during American Craft Beer Week, May 17-23, 2010 (see story below for more details). The recipe, dubbed American Craft Beer Wheat, is adapted from the new release by Brewers Publications, Brewing with Wheat: The ‘Wit’ and ‘Weizen’ of World Wheat Beer Styles, by Stan Hieronymus.

Big Brew for National Homebrew Day – BigBrew 2010 Saturday, May 1, 2010

In 1988, May 7th was announced before Congress as National Homebrew Day. The American Homebrewers Association created Big Brew as an annual event to celebrate National Homebrew Day not only in the United States, but around the world. Big Brew is held each year on the first Saturday in May.

Homebrewing has been practiced in America since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. Today there are an estimated 750,000 homebrewers in the United States. Homebrewers are passionate about brewing beer and love to share that passion with others. That’s what Big Brew is all about: homebrewers getting together all over the world to share their love for the hobby.

Each year the AHA finds two or three recipes to highlight for Big Brew. Then hundreds of homebrewers register their Big Brew locations (see Site Registration) for a communal brew-in to celebrate National Homebrew Day. They invite family and friends, or hang posters and flyers around town to advertise their brewing site. Then on the first Saturday in May (May 1, 2010) everyone congregates at the brewing site early enough to join in a collective toast at noon Central time and get on with the brewing. If you would like to find a Big Brew site in your area, you can view the registered Sites. If there isn’t a site in your area, and you are a brewer, please consider signing up to host a site.

After the event, the Big Brew site directors return to report results (see Remit) for their Big Brew site. That way we can see how many participated and how many gallons of homebrew were made simultaneously around the world. It’s a blast!
Resources

• Get Schooled and learn to make beer
• Find a Club
• Check out Homebrewopedia, where you’ll find Big Brew Recipes from previous years among other great recipes provided by the AHA and the homebrewing community.

Big Brew Facts

2009: More than 5,000 people celebrated National Homebrew Day brewing over 13,000 gallons at 342 sites on six continents worldwide. Sites were registered in 47 states and Puerto Rico, as well as Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Israel, Kenya, The Netherlands, Russia, and Switzerland.

2008: More than 10,500 gallons were brewed by almost 4,000 participants at 242 sites on six continents worldwide. Sites were registered in 42 states in the US, as well as in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, Israel, Kenya, The Netherlands, Russia, and Uruguay.

2007: Over 9,000 gallons of homebrew brewed by more than 4,000 participants at 242 sites on four continents worldwide. There were sites in 42 states, as well as Israel, Australia, Argentina, and Russia.

2006: Over 7,000 gallons were brewed by more than 2,500 participants at 229 sites worldwide.

2005: 7,347 gallons of homebrew brewed worldwide at 210 Big Brew sites by 2,956 participants.

2004: 5,180 gallons of homebrew were produced at 160 Big Brew sites by 2,177 participants worldwide.

2003: 3,706 gallons of homebrew were produced at 157 Big Brew sites by 1,405 participants worldwide.

2002: 5,235 gallons of beer were produced at 196 Big Brew sites by 2,000 participants around the WORLD – spanning 5 continents.

2001: 5,185 gallons of beer were brewed at 182 brewing sites by 1,864 participants worldwide.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/events/national-homebrew-day