When planning a camping trip, most people remember to bring the tent, the sun block, and the sleeping bags. But many folks forget that special addition that can make the trip all the more enjoyable after a long hike: the home brew! Most camping trips can benefit from some home brewed refreshment, whether a small hike or a full-blown lake fishing trip! With the advances in home brew serving technology these days, it can be simple for friends, families, or couples to brew up a fine camping trip!
If you are going to the lake, or on another kind of car or R.V. camping trip, bringing a larger home brew setup is a great way to enhance the trip. If you have room in your vehicle and a generator, you can bring along your home kegerator, but most people opt for the draft beer cooler for such trips. A draft beer cooler is basically a plastic cooler that has either a copper or stainless steel cooling coil placed inside (with lots of ice). The beer from the kegs flows through this cooling system and out of draft spigots mounted on the front of the beer cooler, producing a cool and refreshing draft beer with a very lightweight and easy to set-up apparatus.
Either draft beer coolers or beer cooler conversion kits can be ordered online, making it even easier for you to focus on your brewing for the camping trip. Considering the cost of keeping a generator on and kegerator plugged our whole camping trip, the draft beer cooler is a much more economical option for your camping trip. Make sure you have extra supplies of ice for your draft beer cooler. If the keg beer flowing through your beer lines is warm, it will melt the ice inside quickly, and it will need to be replaced. It is a good idea to keep the kegs insulated in thick blankets to keep it cool.
For smaller camping trips, such as one to three day hikes, or walk-in camping, a smaller beer cooler with a few bottle conditioned brews can be perfect. For colder weather hiking, a nutritious stout, porter, or malty scotch ale is recommended. These ales will keep you warm under the crisp, cold glare of starlight in the mountains, and help you rest. No cooler is really necessary for these trips, as an icy mountain stream will cool your bottles off rather easily. For warmer weather trips, coolers are advised, although it may not be necessary if cold-water streams are along your path. But for warmer weather hikes, a lighter ale is recommended, at darkest an amber.
One fun aspect of the biggest camping days of the year, namely, Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Fourth of July, is making the extra preparations necessary to build a bar for your camp out! If you already have a home bar, you will be able to take some of your sturdier decorations out to the campground. The main issue will be having plenty of seating available for your patrons, be they friends, family, or fellow campers. Turning your campsite into a party zone can make you some exceptional friends! To avoid any unpleasant interactions with authorities, it is advisable to disguise your mobile draft beer system. You may want to read my articles Entrepreneurship and Home Brewing and Disguising a Mobile Beer Draft System if you are planning on setting up a campsite bar during such major party weekends.
Whether you are brewing up a fine camping trip for a small group, or for a large assembly, the mixture of draft keg beer and the wilderness is a pleasant surprise for all. The association of home brew and the great outdoors is an apt one; brewing one’s own beer is healthier than accepting the bland corporate beers offered in most of the nation, and is especially refreshing after a constitutional in the great outdoors!
