We Brew Beer

You never can tell what will get someone interested in homebrewing. An interest in design was the thing that led Jim Wagner of Kansas City, Missouri to an interest in beer styles. “I began buying different beer based just on package design. I was in school for graphic design at the time, so this was completely reasonable. Through the hits and misses, my beer knowledge and beer palate grew…I love design and art…the beer names, labels, marks and the like is almost as important to me as the beer itself.” Not surprisingly, Jim makes his living as a graphic designer.

In 2001 Jim asked for a start-up brew kit as a present for graduating from Truman State University. “My first batch was simply following the packaged instructions from the ingredients kit. The next four or five batches (over a year or two) were the same, just following the one-page instruction. This produced alcohol and a product fairly similar to what I was expecting, so I didn’t look to improve. As I kept expanding my knowledge of beer and beer styles, I wanted to try different ideas. I was encouraged by the owner of a local homebrew shop to experiment on my own, rather than relying on prepackaged kits. His suggestion and a couple of internet searches lead me to Designing Great Beer by Ray Daniels. It was the first great brewing book I owned. Even though two-thirds of the book is style recipe breakdowns, early chapters deal with calculations for color, hops profiles, and tips to help nail down target gravity. I hadn’t seen a brewing book break down the brewing process to mathematical formulas and equations before, and that whole approach fit my thinking much better that recipe lists and vague descriptions.”

Jim would rather explore and create various styles of beer than try to perfect one style. “My technique is continually changing, so I am not sure that it is improving. I aim for different mash temps and different rests using different methods depending on the style. If I were to repeat recipes more often, I would vastly improve my technique. Unfortunately, I could never get rid of all the beer I’d make if I brewed enough of the same beer to nail one down. Blasphemy, I know…The styles I brew are very dependent on the reason why I’m brewing and the time of the year. I very much try to stick to traditional seasonal beers. But, because I will never come close to consuming half of what I make, my beer also has to be appealing to my family and friends. Unfortunately, that prohibits me from brewing many of the odd historical styles (Kentucky Common has always fascinated me) and complex (Belgian) examples that I’d love to attempt.”

As for the way Jim’s own brewery is set up he tells us, “I’m completely all-grain in five-gallon batches. I very recently purchased a ten-gallon converted drink cooler mash tun. My brew kettle is nine-gallon, stainless steel with a spigot. I get it cooking with a propane turkey fryer burner. The yeast does its primary work in 6.5-gallon carboys (or occasionally in a plastic bucket if open fermentation is called for) and secondary in five-gallon glass carboys. I’ll secondary in a corny keg when lagering. A keg will fit in the freezer of the side-by-side in my garage. If the beer is for a party, I will keg it. Otherwise I still bottle. I give away probably two-thirds of what I brew, and bottles just make that easier. Currently I mash and sparge in my kitchen, boil on my back porch, and ferment in the basement. It’s a lot of in-and-out and up-and-down, and way too much carrying gallons of wort. My next big equipment leap will be the set-up that will allow me to do it all in my basement. I’ve worked out the design and am waiting on a couple of friends who weld to help me put it together.”

So has Jim ever thought of getting into the brewing business for himself? “I feel there is a niche in the microbrew market in Kansas City that is currently vacant, but as much as I’d love to fill it, I don’t think it’s for me…However, if any breweries or brewpubs need graphic design help (and I know many who do), I’d be happy to jump into that.”

Anyone interested in more information on Jim’s brewing, including his images of his alluring beer labels, can visit his website at http://www.wagbrew.com/beer.