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&amp;quot;Adeptus&amp;quot;:txcdtrjw wrote: Yeah, they were in stock on Friday, so we're safe <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->[/quote:txcdtrjw]

They were doing a steady trade of it on Saturday too.
I, of course, did my bit.

It's looking like there may be 26 people in total, with 4-5 ICB Wheat/Wit and IPAs being brought by members.

3 litres of beer (your 4x750ml bottles Séan) would give a taster of 115ml per person, so lets say a minimum of 3 litres of each beer, pushing to 4 or more if people can carry them.

I think I'll start bringing ours (Wit and Cascade-based IPA) in during the week to lighten the load <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

&amp;quot;Adeptus&amp;quot;:3qapdaqk wrote: I've been a bit quiet on this due to trying to arrange another big party coming up for me in August, but it's getting close to the day now, so better get my finger out! <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

Just a quick question first. When would people like to eat?

We aim to kick off about 7pm, starting with tasting of the ICB Wheat/Wit beers followed by the commercial examples. We could eat immediately after this while people finish their commercial beers and have a chat, or would people prefer to eat earlier to help line the stomach so to speak? <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->[/quote:3qapdaqk]

I vote for half-time food, as depending on how work goes I won't get there til at least 7:30, and likely later. I'm on evening duty, in a wonderful example of brilliant timing. If it's quiet I can head off after 7, if it's busy I may not get off before 9pm, if at all <!-- s:( --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!-- s:( -->

I know this is really, really cheeky to ask, but is there any chance that a sample of each of the ICB beers could be kept for me to taste since I'll be arriving later? It'd literally only need to be a couple of fingers worth, as I don't have a big capacity for alcohol at all and would end up hammered. I'd really appreciate it, as spending more time on this forum has made me far more interested and conscientious about different beer tastes other than "I like" and "I don't like" and I really would love to be able to compare and learn.

Thanks <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

We'll try to to a loaves and fishes on it for you microgirl <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) --> I'm sure there'll be some left, but they may be a bit flat depending on the bottles they're in etc.

Well, she has already tasted my Wit beer and will be exposed to my Wheat when she pops over to my place tomorrow, so that will take some of the pressure off.

For the non-brewers: I'll have about 2.5 litres of IPA on Thursday.

If you're still reading here's a bit of a product review:
I decided to fill a few bottles of IPA from my cornie last weekend. I use a gadget called a 'beergun' [url:91upygh4]http://www.homebrewing.org/Blichmann-Beer-Gun_p_0-778.html[/url:91upygh4]. It works very well for lowly carbonated beers like English ales but for anything with a bit of fizz it's hit and miss. The bottle tends to foam over by the time it's a quarter full of beer and of course you have to keep filling as nobody really wants a quarter-filled bottle. I ended up with about 4 500ml bottles and one 650 ml bottle so that's all I'll be bringing. They've all got about twice the normal headspace due to my fiddling. On top of that, as the level of CO2 in the keg decreases with filling the bottle become less carbonated as you go along. I'm not sure if these drawbacks are a flaw in the gadget itself or whether I just need to get used to it.

The upside is I was holding a 2 litre jug underneath the bottles while filling so I had a nice pitcher of IPA by the time the foam settled.

Just to go a little (more) off-topic, I'll probably bottle a few from pimary on my next batch and I'm going to try carbonation drops to see how they work.