This is going to be my first in a series of other awesome things to do with beer, besides drink it (don’t worry, that will still be happening!). Several of my friends have been home-brewing for years, and while I have been drinking their brews I have never been partaking in the making. However, I do know the basics from several brewery tours, websites, and many a good beer book.
Yes, I know I am far from the authority on home-brewing at this present time, so I asked some awesome friends about their experiences with making beer. Home-brewing use to be something everyone did, even after the advent of the Public House, but Prohibition put a stop to all the fun. It wasn’t until 1979 that Jimmy Carter took the ban off of home-brewing and thanks to him, these beer making stories were made possible.
George (yep, that would be the owner of Hell Gate Social) has been brewing for three years, using his mother’s basement which has a stove and space to store the beer at a proper temperature. His first creation was an IPA from a kit and it was a hoppy success with apricot undertones. He then ventured out on his own and tried adding Nutella to a stout, which sounds deliciously promising. Sadly, George didn’t take into account the fat content of the chocolate hazelnut spread and wound up having to skim oil off of his brew before bottling. The end result was only slightly chocolatey with a trace of hazelnut that was not enough. All of his supplies come from the Hydroponic Garden Centers, Inc www.growny.com.
Recently, I met a guy named Mark at Sparrow- he was looking for an actress to lipsync in a music video and I had a day off. We spent an afternoon shooting “A Little Bit In Love with Stephen Colbert” (yes, it is on youtube) and then went for a beer. Over our pints we started talking about home-brewing and he offered to bring me some of his last batch (yay!). Mark has been brewing for about five years and credits his start to an over abundance of time and creativity and his deep love of beer. He likes to come up with his own brews, using honey or agave in lieu of sugar. His favorite concoctions are his Maple Toasted Walnut Porter with dark honey, a Lime Ginger Pale Ale using agave, and a Sour Cherry Wheat using light honey. He gave me a large bottle of the Sour Cherry Wheat, which was a lot lighter and more effervescent than I was expecting. It had a good flavor and I could discern a hint of honey at the end. Over the years his only misstep has been attempting a Chili and Greek Mountain Tea blend, which turned out to be too spicy and undrinkable.
My best friend, Shelly, and her boyfriend, Jim, started brewing a few years ago after taking all of her dad’s old home-brewing equipment. They started out using kits and then began to develop their own recipes, which Jim now keeps track of on his “BrewPal” app on his iPhone (crazy, right?!). One of their friends actually brews to kegs and throws massive beer parties in MA. He even made a special batch with champagne yeast for a buddy’s wedding, but when he presented the couple with the gift the bottles exploded due to the addition of too much sugar. Jim and Shelly primarily make IPAs. They did one with added vanilla bean and one with an amber malt extract that wound up turning black and tasting more Belgian than American IPA. I really enjoyed that black IPA. It was rich and nutty with a little sweetness and bite. To check and see if the beer is carbonating, Jim crushes a Poland Spring water bottle and fills it half up with the beer, if it pops back to normal the beer is on the right track. They like to take kits from True Brew and Brewer’s Best and add additional hops and grains.
Ladies, I know these stories are guy-heavy. Most recognized brewers of our day are dudes but don’t let that lead you into thinking that your only spot in the kitchen is with a muffin tin (not that there is anything wrong with baking). Ancient cultures prized female brewers! Making beer was a chick thing from ancient Babylon to Peru and in England and Scotland lady brewers were called “brewsters” (Punky anyone?). In the 1300s guys decided to take over and make it hard for women to be certified brewers but today plenty of gals are hopping to it and making beer!
Interested in doing some good old brewing? To make beer, you need to get yourself a handy-dandy home-brew kit. You can find them online and soon at Good Brewing, a home-brewing store opening up on 24th Street! A home-brew kit will consist of a stainless steel brewpot for cooking the beer, a large bucket with a lid or a glass carboy for fermenting, fermentation airlocks and stopper to allow the CO2 to release during the fermenation, a floating thermometer, a straining bag to strain the mash, a wort chiller (wort is the liquid you have after straining the mash), a siphon cane and hose to get the beer into the secondary fermenter, a bottling bucket or some other way of getting the beer into your bottles and, lastly, bottles and caps! Also you will need sanitizer! Lots of sanitizer! Everything must be squeaky clean or else all of your hard work will just go down the drain, literally.
You will also need ingredients. You can buy kits for a specific kind of beer which will save you some time and also give you good practice for coming up with your own blend, or you can go it alone. You will need to procure grains, yeast, sugar (to feed your yeast), hops, malt/malt extract, any other spices or flavorings you desire, and water. It is easier to make ales at home, due to the yeast involved. Ales are made with a top fermenting yeast that allows them to be made at warmer temperatures. Lagers require a refrigerator as the bottom fermenting yeast only works when cold. “Lager” comes from the German to “rest” or “store”- this yeast also takes longer to make beer than ale yeast. But if you happen to have an extra fridge and can handle waiting to taste the brew of your labor, by all means go lager and let me know how it goes!
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