Backyard Brewing In Washington State
How would you like your next brew to go like this: “I used to keep my fermenting beer in the second story closet of an apartment, and used a 1/4″ blowoff tube during initial fermentation. The tube got plugged with hop matter, and the resulting explosion sprayed about two gallons of sticky wort all over the ceiling, ran down the walls, soaked the carpet, and came out of the ceiling on the floor below.”
Fortunately that messy experience did not discourage Frank Schroer from continuing to brew beer. Frank, who lives in Bainbridge Island, Washington, first became interested in brewing during a summer break from college when a friend showed him his extract brewing setup. “He let me sample a hefeweizen that was so different from the mass-produced commercial brews I had been subjected to before; I knew I had to make my own.”
Although Frank is not part of a formal brew club he tells us, “There are four of us who brew together regularly. It’s a great way to bounce ideas off of each other, try new techniques, and I think it’s really improved our product.”
Their first time entering a brew competition was both instructive and surprising: “The first competition we entered was the Cascadia cup. We entered four styles, and at the time had no idea how style guidelines worked, so some of our beers did very poorly, because while most were very drinkable, they didn’t match any known style. Additionally, the stout we brewed had some harsh metallic overtones—it was so bad, I poured the rest of one keg down the sink. What we didn’t realize was that the beer was simply green, and once the competition happened, it had a chance to mature and ended up winning first place in its flight.”
Frank and his friends brew their beer using “a tiered setup, with modified Sankey kegs for the hot liquor tank, mash tun and boil kettle. After the boil, the wort goes through a counter-flow chiller and in-line oxygenator. A temperature gauge helps to keep the cooled wort at a reasonable pitching temperature. The wort is then transferred into a cylindroconical fermenter, which is kept in an old refrigerator to control temperature. We use an external temperature controller—one side is connected to the refrigerator and the other connected to a hair drier so that we can maintain a constant temperature.”
Frank recommends the books The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, An Analysis of Brewing Techinques, and Principles of Brewing Science and stresses that brewing is a process of incremental improvements. “For example, our beers tend to finish somewhat sweet, though the attenuation is right on target. So there are changes we need to make to ensure maximum yeast viability and consistent mash temperature…I’d like to
build something to stir the mash, in order to maintain a more consistent
mash temperature, and a pump-driven vorlauf.”
Those interesting in learning more about the adventures of Frank and his fellow brewers can check out their website at www.backyardbrewing.com.
