Adventures in Brewing

Sometime in 2012, my lovely wife, Pam and I moved to the Redwood Coast of Northern California to help out my daughter and spend time with the grandkids. We made some wonderful memories there and became familiar with a few artisanal cultures. (If you ever want to visit a community full of artists and craftspersons, check out Arcata, California and its neighboring communities, Eureka and McKinleyvillle.)

One of the crafts I took an interest in was home brewing, i.e. the making of hard cider, beer and wine. Let me start by clearing up a couple of common misconceptions: It is legal in all 50 of the United States of America to brew your own fermented alcoholic beverages AND to share it with friends, though it is illegal to sell it. Each state has specific regulations on quantity, ABV (Alcohol by Volume) and other concerns, so do your research if you decide to try it. There is also a Federal law against distilling in the home, so making moonshine will definitely get you into hot water.

The second misconception is that homebrewers are heavy drinkers. The satisfaction comes from the creation of a quality beverage in your own home, with your own hands, using fresh, natural ingredients. It also offers the challenge of creating your own recipes and sharing them. The vast majority of homebrewers are also strong advocates of drinking responsibly.

Alright, with that out of the way, I'll come right out and say that I dove in headfirst. (Not literally; that would definitely be irresponsible.) We had 2 apple trees and a pear tree in our yard, so naturally, I went down the hard road right away: cider with natural fermentation. In other words, I used the fruit from the trees and the wild yeasts present on them for fermentation. What I learned from that was there's a reason they're called “wild” yeasts.

To understand that, it'll help to know what happens during the fermentation process. In very simple terms, yeast is a fungus that consumes sugar. In an oxygen-rich environment, the yeast will multiply as it eats, and the process will continue until the sugar is gone. Most natural sugars are fermentable, meaning yeast will consume them.

Brewing is a controlled fermentation process. It usually starts with a very sugary solution known as “wort” for beer or “must” for cider or wine. The liquid is placed in a sanitized container, a measured amount of specialty brewing yeast is added and the mixture is oxygenated (shaken or stirred). It's then sealed from any contact with oxygen, and conditions such as temperature are kept under strict control.

In this anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment, the yeast will feed on the sugar and multiply until the oxygen in the liquid is used up. At that point, it starts to convert the sugar to carbon dioxide and alcohol. That will continue until the sugar is gone. So, in this basic example, the amount of alcohol produced depends on the amount of fermentable sugar available in the solution. It's a bit more complex than that, but this is only a basic description of how your beer, wine or cider is born.

Brewing is most often done in three stages: primary, secondary and tertiary and those may be followed by one or more flavoring, clarifying, fining and conditioning stages as well as aging. Between stages, the solution is carefully transferred to another clean, sanitized container, making sure anything that touches the vessels, including you, is thoroughly sanitized. It's also important to handle the transfer in a way that minimizes the introduction of oxygen. This process, called “racking,” is often accomplished with a simple siphon pump and plastic tubing, both of which of course, must also be sanitized.

After the brewing and refining stages are complete, the finished (and taste-tested) product is bottled in any of several types of sanitized containers, where it's usually left to bottle-age for a period of time. In the case of a wine, this aging process may last a year or a few decades, to mellow the flavor.

You may also carbonate the product at this stage, by introducing a very small amount of sugar, which will produce more CO2 that's forced into the liquid as pressure builds in the bottle. Here's where you'll learn another important term: bottle bombs. It's important to be sure the initial fermentation is complete and stopped and to avoid adding enough sugar to over-pressurize the bottles.

Fermentation times vary greatly, depending on may factors. A simple hard apple cider may take about a month. Beers and wines often take much longer. On the other hand, a simple cider without a lot of added sugar can be ready after a week and refrigerated in an open jug or pitchers, which will slow the fermentation and let you sample the goods earlier if you're in a hurry. Personally, I prefer a more mature, flavorful product.

There's much more you can do with this basic idea, of course, such as splitting batches and adding various flavors. Experimentation and keeping good records can help you create really special products, like seasonal ales or ciders.

Finally, let me be very clear about the rabbit hole! You don't have to invest much at all to dabble in brewing. Gallon batches are fun and don't require a lot of transfer equipment, etc. The most common fermentation vessels are food-grade 6-gallon buckets with resealable lids, equipped with simple airlocks and pouring spigots. A couple of those won't be a huge investment and 2 is enough to alternate for the whole process.

However, if you find you really enjoy the craft, as Pam and I do (She's my partner in this as well as everything else I do.) you're going to accumulate a lot of equipment over time. Aside from the basics needed to sample and test your solution during the processes, there's sanitizing solution, bottles, caps, corks (and a corker) and a whole range of cleaning equipment. Imagine cleaning, rinsing, drying and sanitizing enough 12-ounce bottles and caps to hold a 6-gallon batch of cider, just as one example.

You'll also need a place to put everything, including those full buckets that you don't want disturbed during fermentation. There there are the empty bottles to be stored and you'll need a place to leave the filled ones undisturbed while aging and/or carbonating. If you want to have multiple batches going, you'll need a bit more space. Then you have to have room for filling, capping and so on. Oh, and sunlight isn't good for most brews, so the fewer windows, the better.

Pam and I dedicated a portion of the house to this, with a folding table we set up on bottling day. We affectionately dubbed this area “Brew Corner” which rhymes with “Pooh Corner” only by coincidence.

Brew Corner has been inactive for several months now, as we've been focused on moving back to Wyoming. Once we've settled in up there, we'll designate and christen a new space to play. Fortunately, I keep meticulous records on spreadsheets, so we'll be able to get one of our favorites going in no time.

-o-

I hope you've enjoyed this little (or not so little) glimpse in to one of our hobbies. To those dedicated to an alcohol-free lifestyle, please know that I respect and support you in that.

I'm very interested in any and all feedback on this article. If there's any interest, I'd be happy to post a series of instructional pieces on brewing, as well as sharing a few of my favorite recipes. (We have one VERY popular cider flavor combination and one unique fruit wine flavor that I may or may not reveal at a later date.) That's what this community is for, no?

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This article was inspired in an odd way by a piece written by Mike Singleton-Mikey Dred, which I recommend reading, here:

In short, Mike's article caused me to go community browsing. While doing so, I noticed another possible indication that not enough attention is being paid to some communities. Now, I didn't go through the 1,900+ stories listed in the Proof community, but I did notice that in the Latest Stories list, there are currently two (2) that actually belong in the community, at least judging by the titles.

In any case, I realized I might have something to contribute to the community, and here's the first attempt. Thanks for reading!