Things my brewing brain have been pondering lately...

My backyard hops are a'growin'!

OK, so I’ve decided to segregate my writing. Most of you probably realize by now that I’m the host of a local radio show in Springfield Missouri called Beer Buzz, brought to you by Springfield Brewing Company. Of course, you should go listen to all of the podcasts and tell me how much you like them.


In addition, I’ve been taking an active role in building Springfield, Missouri’s first fully organized not-for-profit Homebrew Club known as the Zymurgists of The Ozarks (aka the Homebrew Zoo). We’ve been around for years, but are actively seeking members to promote craft beer and our hobby to the masses. If you’re interested, you can find us at our web page (just join the forums and start talking) or on Facebook.

I’ve decided that StAngeBrewing.com will be dedicated only to discussions about the homebrewing part of my world, and I’ll leave all the other craft beer stuff on Tagsgf.com, where my beer column lives. I may occasionally talk about a craft beer on here, but the express focus of this blog will be homebrewing.

I have several topics in homebrewing I’ve recently gained an interest in. There will be some posts in the very near future about each of these, so I thought I would give you a primer on them so you know what you’ll see from me soon.

The first experiment I’d like to try is to try to capture and cultivate a local yeast strain. It would only be a single step on the road to my ultimate goal, which would be to brew with all-local ingredients. Of course, that will be tough to source. I’ll have to use my own hops and find a local source for grain, if not malted grain. First, though, I want to try and catch a yeast which will make a nice beer and then match my recipe to what I find.

It won’t be easy, I think. Reading the Yeast book by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff, I believe it could be done at home and with relative success, but only if you’re not remotely hoping to catch a single strain. I think it will take a bit of experimentation and possibly a few generations of yeast. Of course, their rapid regeneration makes them ideal for cultivating to a particular task, but you do have to be careful for contamination and try and keep your desired yeast healthy while keeping the other buggies down.  It seems  alot liks starting your own sourdough starter.  Catch your local yeast and give it the best environment it can hope for and let it edge everyone else out.


More hops. Looking good, huh?



Once that yeast is caught and I’m getting decent results from it, I’ll move on to trying to source local grain.

Another thing I’d like to accomplish is building a brew stand which would make my brew day easier (less lifting, etc.). It’s difficult to justify the funds on this, though, as I can already make great beer with my current setup and I have enough to go on doing that. Still, my dream system is the Electric Brewery set up from electricbrewery.com. It would be an amazing thing to be able to brew a batch of beer without having to worry about propane or the exhaust from the burners, and to be able to set my mash tun to a temperature and not have to worry about it while it steeps. Of course, there are other systems which do this, but there something really cool about it being an all-electric setup. Anyone wants to give me the coolest Christmas present ever, the Electric Brewery would qualify.

Anyway, I’m growing hops in my backyard for the first year this year, and they are really coming along, even though it hasn’t rained in months (or so it seems). I have some big, healthy plants. I’ll probably have to build an Oast soon to dry them, though they may be dry enough if this heat wave keeps up. Stay posted for more pictures later.