Siciliano's AHA Big Brew Update: How to Participate

By Steve Siciliano

On Saturday, May 4th, the Calder Plaza in downtown Grand Rapids will be the site of what is shaping up to be one of the largest American Homebrewers Association Big Brew events in the sixteen year history of the nationwide celebration. As the sponsor for this particular event, Siciliano’s Market will be donating and providing the following:

• The ingredients for forty-eight all-grain batches of “Beer City IPA”
• Bottled water for brewing
• A chilling station capable of simultaneously chilling six kettles of wort
• Platform hand carts for moving brewing equipment to and from vehicles and for transporting kettles of hot wort to the chilling station. 

We are now asking those who wish to participate in this event to complete a sign-up sheet at Siciliano's Market. If you cannot get to the store, we ask that you contact us (steve@sicilianosmkt.com) with the following information:

• Whether you would like to brew one of the forty-eight batches with your own equipment (mash/lauter tuns, propane burners, kettles, etc.) and thus be designated as the captain of a “brewing team”
• Whether you would like to brew but are unwilling or unable to transport your equipment to the event. In this case you will be assigned to a brewing team
• Whether you would like to participate as a member of a specific brewing team and if so indicate the name of the captain you would like to brew with
• Whether you would like to participate as a volunteer helper 

While we will do our best to accommodate everyone who would like to brew, it should be noted that the number of batches and the number of spots per team are limited. Please indicate if you are willing to participate as a volunteer helper if all the brewing spots have been filled.

We will be able to consume homebrew within the designated area of the venue. However, please note there will be no kegging systems allowed; bottles and growlers only. This event will be open to the public and we will be allowed to offer tastings to anyone wearing a wristband. (ID’s will be checked at the gate.) Siciliano’s will be providing the tasting cups as well as educational literature on homebrewing.

The Big Brew at the Calder will be a great way of showing the area, the state and the country what a vibrant homebrewing community there is in west Michigan. We feel that this highly visible event will generate a good deal of buzz as we will be inviting the mayor and the city commissioners and will be sending out press releases to the local media. The Great American Beer Trail will also be filming at the event.

We ask that you join us in making The Big Brew at the Calder a huge success.