Life is a Brew Day

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Zakk brewing on Saturday Brew Day - pouring grain
Brewing with our son

Brewing while living and traveling in an RV is just enough of a difference to make it worth mentioning. The process itself is about the same: the mash, the boil, hop additions, etc. Yes, you have to rig shit up a bit because of the smaller space, but any homebrewer knows this is a fact, even if you do have more space than an RV.  If you’re curious about homebrewing for the first time, check out our video to learn how it’s done. 

But the difference here that I’m talking about is the feeling. When we first started homebrewing about six or so years ago, we were still in our sticks and bricks, our youngest was 15, our oldest 23, so life was about a teen, a young adult, and building careers. A good life but dominated by alarm clocks, traffic, and  waiting for the weekends where we might see our kids for a brief moment and breathe a sigh of relief because it was finally Friday.

Saturday Brew Days Are Good Days.

Saturday morning came around and that relaxing cup of coffee was welcoming. Languishing in that moment, though, was short lived.  It was Brew Day. Gathering all the materials and ingredients and setting up takes time. But Brew Day also meant day drinking, and often times friends would join in on the fun. And after brewing and cleaning, a BBQ or backyard fire or evening swim was in order.  

Aurora stirring grain in the 10 gallon brew system on a Saturday Brew Day
Brewing with our sister

Brewing up Feelings on the Road

Enter Brew Days in an RV while traveling.  Yes, these are few and far between because we don’t stay in one spot very long; there’s just too much to see. But when we do, and we’ve planned far enough ahead of time to gather all the necessary materials and ingredients, it’s a special moment. We are missing our Brew Day friends, and lately we have been brewing on chilly rainy days, so cozy blankets, hot soup, and a movie round out these days instead of evening summertime swims.

Kenny brewing on a "Saturday" Brew Day in the RV - getting ready to put the grains in for steeping
Kenny brewing in the RV

But what is truly different is that I am no longer focused on the alarm clock that will be ringing again in less than two days. I am no longer focused on how quickly the brilliant morning sun on Saturday Brew Day dissipates into the night, making me hyperaware that tomorrow is Sunday, and the day after that is Monday, where it all starts again: the alarm clock, the traffic, the exhaustion, the waiting for Friday and that next glorious Brew Day.

Brew Days Keep You in the Moment

Vibrant colors of adjuncts

I am, instead, focused on the smells wafting through the RV, that yeasty, malty, fresh baked bread smell that comes naturally with brewing beer. I am, instead, focused on the colors of the knife, the bowl, and the peppers that Kenny is so meticulously cutting up to add to the boil. I am, instead, focused on the music that is playing in the background while we hypothesize about what our newly crafted beer will taste like. 

Not until late into the evening while sipping on a Dark Hearted Stout, which we crafted on a previous Brew Day, do I realize that I never once thought about tomorrow let alone two days from now. Being that Brew Day can now be whatever day we want it to be, if I want to think about two days from now, I’d have to first figure out what day today is.  Oh yeah, it’s Tuesday. And waking to an alarm? Today, it is the ocean waves that greet me when I wake up on my own time. Tomorrow, it may be the wind whistling through some evergreens, or a far off call of wolf in the wild. I don’t know. I’m not there yet. I’m here, and it is today.

coffee and breakfast in Baja on the beach at Fidel's
Lingering around my morning cup of coffee is now an everyday experience.
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