As I said in my introductory post, I am an avid homebrewer. I have been brewing for almost four years, and in that time, I have developed some pretty delicious (not to mention, affordable beers). A lot of people start brewing so they can make cheap beer, but I was actually originally drawn to homebrewing for other reasons. Its historical value and the challenge of combining all my chemistry, biology, and botanical knowledge to create a near perfect (never perfect – any brewer who says he created the perfect beer is limiting himself…more on that below) beverage enticed me. I had plenty of help from John Palmer’s online book, How to Brew. It is available online, for free, and is, in my opinion, the best resource for anybody thinking about starting to brew, or hoping to improve their skills and efficiency.
I brew all grain recipes that I write myself. I always use my own recipes (except my very first one when I was learning). It does take some experience, and some trial and error, but the results are always worth the effort. Sometimes the beers don’t taste exactly as I hope but they are always delicious. Plus, you can always adjust your recipe and create successive batches to work towards the unattainable flavor of the beer you imagined. I say unattainable, not because brewing is hard, but because there are so many variables (eg. grain types used, proportions of grain types, mashing temperature, boil time, types of hops used, time hops are added etc.) that there is always some minor adjustment that can be made to make your beer better. There are technically infinite combinations of all the variables in brewing. For you math people out there, you can never reach the point of perfection, but you can come asymptotically close. Still, reaching a point that is acceptable for most people (and better than most commercial beers) is an attainable goal.
Brewing is unique in the sense that it is both an art and a science. I love this. As a young scientist, the importance of being methodical and precise has been drilled into my head. It is necessary for good science but it often requires that individual personalities and creativity must be put aside. Brewing is an outlet that allows me to operate in the empirical mindset that I am accustomed to, while still allowing me to be creative, fun, and dangerously spontaneous. Somebody who understands the artistic side of brewing might make delicious beer, but if they neglect the science behind the beer they probably aren’t efficiently using their resources. Similarly, a biochemistry genius could make beer with amazing efficiency but if they don’t have an artistic vision, it probably won’t be a beer worth talking about. Balancing the art and science of brewing has proven to be the most fun, and challenging aspect of brewing. There are plenty of good brewers out there, but to be a great brewer you must unite the science of brewing with the art of brewing. (For those of you who may not be as scientifically oriented, I’ll soon be posting brewing tutorials. So check back later.)
With all this creative, self-reliant kind of thinking, it would seem that homebrewing would be widely accepted and embraced by Americans. Unfortunately, that is not always true. For example, I have been looking for graduate programs and my search seems to be leading towards a school in Alabama. Unfortunately, if I do move to Alabama, I will have to leave my brewing equipment behind because it is ILLEGAL to homebrew in Alabama. According to the American Homebrewer’s Association, Mississippi and Alabama are the only states that have not yet legalized homebrewing. Even Utah legalized homebrewing in 2009. If I do move to Alabama, you can bet I’ll be contacting my legislator.
It seems that some people view homebrewing as a way for irresponsible people to make some cheap beer and get drunk. That is not necessarily true. While I’m sure some homebrewers drink irresponsibly, the goal the homebrewers I know is not to create a bunch of cheap pseudo-bud-light and get wasted. Besides, the highly mechanized processes, and cheap ingredients used to make your typical get-drunk-lager make it nearly impossible for homebrewers to produce an equivalent beer at a lower price. Most homebrewers don't care because we can make craft beers for much less than we would pay in a store. In fact, most homebrewers are trying to make delicious beer that can be appreciated for its flavor and complexity (much like wine connoisseurs approach wine). My beer is not something I guzzle down in one quick drink to be intoxicated. It requires far too much time and effort to be treated in such a way. As a result, I usually sit and enjoy a few glasses and serve as a good example on how to properly enjoy a drink.
Others think homebrewing should be illegal because they believe it is not safe. This is not true. Homebrewing is no more dangerous than cooking on a grill (I do use a propoane burner to power my brew kettle). The finished product is also very safe. The brewing process was formed by trial and error over centuries as a way to create safe, long-lasting drinks. First, the boiling process kills most organisms to begin with and the hops add natural antiseptics to the beer. Next, the fermentation process results in little sugar left over for spoiling bacteria to use, and alcohol which also helps to preserve the drinks. I guess people are worried about methanol poisoning too. Well that is not going to happen with homebrew. Methanol occurs in small concentrations in almost any product of fermentation. It is only when alcohol is distilled improperly that methanol reaches concentrations high enough to harm you. The good thing is, making beer does not require distilling so there is no risk of methanol poisoning, or explosions caused from pressurized flammable gas. (By the way distilling isn’t really all that dangerous either but that is a story for another day). I have often offered homebrew to guests who refused it because they thought it was unsafe. I was always disheartened by their complete ignorance of scientific facts, but in the end they always missed out on great beer and I always had more beer for another night.
Even in the states where homebrewing is legal, there can be archaic laws from the prohibition era that technically restrict what homebrewers can do. Such is the case with a Florida law that makes keeping used beer and wine bottles illegal if the intent is to fill them in the future. Apparently, reducing, reusing and recycling do not save the world; they just land you in prison for five years. This was a shock to me, and the guys in the linked article that I use to share homebrews with.
No comments:
Post a Comment