Visiting a home brewery: outside the house

... skimming the foam ... 

I am living in orchard country.

Apples, apricots, pear trees.

I have a long row of raspberry bushes in my own yard.

... the boiling and stirring the foam is strictly timed ...

I have often looked at the grape vines as I drive along.

I wonder when I will take the tours that are offered by some of the wineries.

 I got a chance to visit a home brewery last week end.

 ... catching the brewing aroma ...

Glen came by my house.

 I asked a question of him and he said, “I can’t stay long. I have to get back to my cooking. I am using the same ingredients you use for bread: yeast and grains. But the product I will be getting is beer, and it is going to boil over if I don’t get back in time."

 ... add with a slow, steady stream ...

When you live in B.C. it is good to be green.

 Grow your own fruit.

 Harvest your own vegetables. Glen is the greenest of all.  – "I make my own beer,” he says.

Then he laughs.

“Well, I am grabbing my camera and coming with you. I want to see what it is that is making you rush home.”

Now the lesson was interesting.  There was so much detail that even with my note taking skills I couldn't catch all of the details.

 We ran, not walked, back to his house.   Timing is all.

home grown hops = green beer

“Beer making is an art, and if I don’t catch my brew just as it comes to the boil, I am going to miss adding my hops at the critical point."

He went on.

I am going to have a big mess with the boil over.

I could have bought a larger pot to take care of that, but the difference between this pot and the next size up was $300.

 A bit pricey for me.

 I decided to just watch my brew so it didn't boil over  he said as we were on the downhill stretch to his garage.

gotta make a correction for Pacific Standard Time on my recipe

I get my hops from Harry Drinkle’s in Malakwa.

 He has a beautiful machine -- $50,000 worth of equipment.

 Of course, I would just like to grind my own hops in his machine, but that wouldn't be good business for him.

4 bikes by the wall plus brewmaster's important equipment

So I buy his hops.

 Look, I have an official certificate from him.”

As he rushed to the pot I heard a groan and then some swear words. “Those aren’t the pieces of profanity that I usually hear from you,” I said.

... yeast from my friend, the regional beer master ...

“Oh, I didn’t even know what I was saying. I think I got that string from my father and it just came out naturally”, he said.

You know, this is just like making jam, I said, as he scooped the foam off of the top of the boil and put it into an ice-cream bucket.

Then we used to save the foam and serve it on top of hot bread.

The foam would only be good for a day – but it usually got used up that way. Nope. My foam is going back in the brew. Adds to the deep flavour I am aiming for. Now I am going to boil this down – distill it – get some of the water out of it,” he said while checking his temperature gauge and the heat below his pot. This foam is what gives it the lacing. Have you never seen the lacing as you drink
beer?

Whiteboard on wall ... timing is everything

“You forget. I have never had a drink of beer,” I say.

“It is daylight savings time. This is how I am using that extra hour I get today. I am using it by getting up early and making beer.”

“I know,” I replied. “You and I both get up early. Up by 5 am. Either one of us could walk down to the other’s house and find a light on and work started. I used my extra hour this morning to make fig and fennel bread."

“Just as I said,” he went on, “both of us up using the same products, but to different ends.”

Barry Drinkle's Certificate of Analysis of Hops

I hovered over the pot, smelling the steam that was coming off.

 “That smell could make you want to drink beer,” he said, “though that doesn’t work for Dave Wood. When Dave smells it, he feels nauseated. He doesn’t like the smell at all.”

“Just smells like wet grain boiling to me,” I said.

... carefully add the hops to the brew ...

By this time Bonnie had arrived at the Pillings.

 It was Saturday morning and we do a weigh-in with Laynie, Graham, Janet and Glen via Skype.

 After that painful (or joyful) moment was over we went back outside to see how the beer was coming along.

... equipment for temperature control ...

We chatted about the clean garage.

 Yes, someone wrote me to tell me that they could tell a lot about a person by what their garage looked like.

 I sent him a picture of something in the garage and he must have looked at the total picture.

 There is no doubt – right now I am interested in maintaining the bikes for our trail riding – five hanging from the ceiling and two down low that I am fixing right now. And I think he saw my beer making gear as well.

OK.

Time to add the hops.

I have three kinds: one for bitter; one for flavour; one for aroma he said as he  adds what is in the bucket.


(Lesson to be continued ...)