Category: Brewing Practicum

Yeast is key to fermentation, and the reason why everyone doesn’t sit around drinking malted barley water or grape juice during times of leisure.

Yeast is a eukaryotic, single cell fungi. It is very much alive and reproduces asexually through the process of budding. A bulge is formed on the membrane of a cell, then the cell divides mitotically, detaching and creating an exact replica of the original cell. A yeast cell is around 5 to 10 microns thick, which is about 5 times the size of average bacteria.

Continue reading Understanding Yeast

Since the last batch of beer (and first ever) that I brewed I have had significant time to research and determine what I want out of the finished product, and how to achieve that. The first beer I made was a simple recipe using malt extract. It was a mixture of malt extract syrup (6lbs Pilsen), dried malt extract (1lb pilsen), and about a pound of crushed barley to steep for flavor and color. Also this first recipe used only 3 ounces of hops, all the same variety (Chinook). It was an easy recipe and a good baseline for comprehending the fermenting process. At the start of the first brew I did not fully understand hop characteristics, or the importance of a proper grain bill. As I learned the intricacies of brewing I realized my mistakes from the first batch, and gained a great deal of knowledge for success in the next brew.

Continue reading Batch #2, All Grain IPA, My own Recipe

Water is the most plenteous ingredient in brewing beer, and can change the overall flavor of the finished product depending on what minerals are present in it. Beer styles have developed diversely around the world because of the differences in local water where it is produced. It can be compared to how bagels and pizza are generally better around New York than other places. Or take the motto for Olympia beer: “It’s The Water.” (Im sure they made a decent beer at some point, years ago… maybe)

Continue reading Water Chemistry and the Terroir of Water

Attending the Cascadia Grains Conference was an amazing experience. Prior to the conference I was not fully convinced that twelve hours of lectures and panels specifically on grain would be enjoyable; I was wrong. The content of these lectures left me yearning for more knowledge, and the connections made will be lifelong resources in my research.

Before attending any specific session I decided to make a round of the booths set up in the main hall. The first booth that I stopped at was one showing how different large-scale grain farms were implementing no-till systems. This was intriguing on a large scale; these farms were planting directly into previous years straw, similar to my learning on smaller farms. The most interesting booth was one run by the city of Tumwater to revitalize the old Olympia brewery, and turn it into an education and history center. John Doan, city administrator of Tumwater, and Ann Cook, communications manager were working this station. They offered information on the project and asked for support through an internship. (I might soon take them up on this offer) The project to redevelop this landmark will begin with reaching their 6 million dollar goal for funding. The Tumwater Craft Brewing and Distilling Center will offer an incubation space for new brewers and distillers to begin crafting an amazing product. In addition, there will be tasting rooms, a restaurant, museum, laboratory, teaching kitchen, entertainment area, farmers market and more! Through this project they intend to create 662 jobs and provide a community hub for PNW local commerce.

Continue reading Cascadia Grains Conference