Home brewers push envelope on flavors

Houston Chronicle ^ | Nov. 10, 2009 | JOHN FOYSTON

[Willie Green]

PORTLAND, Ore. - Learning to brew your own beer in Portland, a.k.a. Beervana, would seem to be pointlessness personified. Yet 80 homebrewers and brewers-to-be spent a rainy Saturday morning doing just that in a stark warehouse warmed only by two boiling kettles.

"It's not pointless at all," said Michel Brown, a well-known Portland homebrewer who began making his own beer 38 years ago at the age of 17. He was teaching the advanced class in the back room at F.H. Steinbart, the 91-year-old brewers supply store. Steinbart regularly offers free classes such as the one Saturday.

"By brewing your own, you can make just the beer you want," Brown said. "When was the last time you saw an ordinary bitter on tap in a pub? When did you last see a 60-shilling Scottish ale or a peanut butter porter?"

He knows odd brews because he's made beers with ingredients such as ham and cheese; Bac-O-Bits; peanut butter and chocolate; and Nutella. His CXI Pumpernickel Ale is the 11th anniversary Widmer/ Oregon Brew Crew Collaborator beer, and yes, pumpernickel bread is an ingredient.

[knews_hound]

It is starting to finish now. I have been bumping the temp up one degree a day and it is 70 now. I will cold crash everything in my fermentation chamber tomorrow night ( I have 26 gallons fermenting at the moment ) and keg on Wed or so.

I love brewing weather !

Cheers,

knewshound

[castlebrew]

Got the batch mashed & batch-sparged this morning, then on hold til after dinner tonight.

“A watched pot never boils”? Well, an unwatched pot always boils over...missed it by about 2 minutes. So not too much to clean up, any way.

Back under control, now.

It’s always brewing weather here. If not on the covered patio, then in the adjacent bike shed (about a 1-car garage). It was snowin’ and blowin’ today, too!