Howdy brewers.I want to share the story of my garage sale superscore.First,indulge me while we cover the human interest part.
I’ve wrestled with sharing this story or not for over a week.You see,my superscore is rooted in the passing of a fellow brewboarder,”Daper.”As such,I wasn’t sure it would be in good taste to share this story.I finally settled on it being ok following a conversation with swmbo.I told her of my dilemna and she asked how I’d feel if I passed and someone was to post the story about scoring my gear.I’d be thrilled if someone was to take my gear and ingredients after I was gone and use them to continue their pursuit of this great hobby.I can’t speak for Daper,but I know he was an impassioned brewer,and have a good idea he might feel the same way.So here goes…..
Mrs Daper posted in classifieds about a yard sale she was having to dispose of Dapers gear,ingredients,etc.It was about 45 mins from me….and I always need gear and ingredients,lol.So I drag my lovely wife along for a country ride.I really was hoping for a discount carboy or two,maybe some odds and ends gear.Well,we get there and I quickly see that Daper was into brewing micro batches,one or two gallons.Pretty much all his stuff was that size.All nice,and overbuilt but too small for my needs.
As we’re standing chatting up Mrs Daper she says “I also have his grains in the shed.”Ohhh yeah?Let’s take a look.
Inside were five 5 gallon buckets,all filled with base and specialty grains.I was thrilled to see that Daper was as anal about his storage system as the best of us,lol.Some were in garbage bags twisted and tied,others were in original packaging from Carlson,etc in 2 to 5 lb lots.
It ended up being a sack of Weyerman Pils and specialties including white,red wheat,aromatic,buscuit,honey malt,victory,munich,vienna,flaked this and that,asst black and roated malts.Almost 80 lbs all tolled.
So I’m looking interested and she says ” The hops are in the freezer inside.”
We step inside and she retrieves a bag from the freezer.A Walmart shopping bag so full of hops it could barely be tied at the top.All in one and two oz original packs from the lhbs.Almost all dated with the date of purchase. 
I gave a brief rifle through to see what was there and decided they had a new home.
I offered Mrs Daper $80 for the grain and hops and she accepted without hesitation.
We loaded everything up and headed home,me high on a Supercore,like a kid I can’t wait to get home,pour it all out on the livingroom floor and roll around on it.
There ended up being just over 5.5 lbs of hops in that bag.I kept a little over 3.Some were old,soft,opened etc.I pitched pretty much everything I couldn’t personally believe was from the 05 crop or newer and passed the scratch n sniff test.Most were newer……. and there were 22 varieties.Everything from Amarillo to Styrians.He was geared towards Belgians so theyre weighted to those hops.All in all a Superscore.
To top it all off,as I’m finishing a brew called Dapers Dubbel made from his ingredients yesterday,swmbo says “It’s weird too about the names.”I say “Huh?”She says “Didn’t you see his name on the magazines? …. it’s your last name.”
Indeed it was.Daper and I share the same last name.Funny how things work out,eh?
So maybe tonight have a passed brewer in your thoughts as you enjoy your brew.
Read the rest of this entry »
