The Brew Crew: Brew Dudes

Here we go again! Another edition of the Brew Crew this time with the Brew Dudes.
1) Who are the Brew Dudes? Is it 1 or 2 dudes?

There are two dudes that run this site (www.brew-dudes) -- John and Mike. Other than us, there are plenty of brew dudes around the world. Since there are two dudes involved in answering this questionnaire, there may be two separate answers at times.

2) When/Why did you start brewing?

Mike started brewing in 1998. John started brewing in 2005. We love craft beer, craft beer pubs and craft beer events. By becoming homebrewers, brewing beer has taught us a lot about what gives craft beer its diversity and character style-to-style. We enjoy the DIY aspect of homebrewing and tinkering with ingredients.

3) When/Why did you start blogging?

Our blog started up in August 2007 as a tool to learn and share information about homebrewing. We are passionate about the hobby and we wanted to be a part of the larger homebrewing community. This blog is our attempt at reaching out and being a part of it.

4) What/Why is your favorite recipe/style to brew?

John: I don't have a favorite yet. I am still trying to find it.

Mike: My favorite recipe is for Ordinary Bitter. The style is so unassuming, yet very fulfilling; fulfilling to drink and to brew.

5) What is your brewery set-up and how did you piece it together?

John: I have a propane burner along with a 9 gallon brew kettle with a spigot on it. For my mash tun, I have a unconverted cooler that I use a large steeping bag to remove the grains from the wort.

Mike: I have a converted keg for my primary kettle and a second 10 gallon stainless pot for heating water or boiling smaller batches. I brew on two propane burners in my garage. I use a converted igloo 50QT cube cooler with a stainless braid as a manifold. I am a batch sparger.

6) What is your favorite technique to use? *Could be all-grain, partial mash or extract*

John: I am partial to partial mash…since that is what I can do with my set up without any issues.

Mike: All-grain, however I have been experimenting with the occasional extract brew lately to explore yeast strains.

7) What brewing technique do you want to learn next? (mashing, hopback, kegging etc.,. maybe one you've created) *same as above*

John: Lagering

Mike: No, I am going to master Lagering. OK OK...cold fermentation.

8) Do you brew self-sustainably and/or organically? Explain?

John: I would like to grow my own hops. I don't think I will be growing and malting my own barley any time soon.

Mike: I try to brew with water savings in mind. I currently use an immersion chiller, but I constantly monitor the water flow to keep chilling rate at a maximum. I also capture the first 5 gallons of hot water and mix it with PBW to have for cleaning.

9) What is your favorite blog(s) to read? (Doesn't have to be beer related)

John: Liquorsnob.com is a good one.

Mike: What's a blog??? Oh Oh... I currently follow Keith Brainards site, and of course the Brookston Beer Bulletin .

10) Are you a member of a homebrewing club or American Homebrew Association?

John: I am not a member of AHA yet.

Mike: I have been a member of the AHA for the last three years. I also have the occasional group brew session with some local members of the Brewing Knowledge Base brewing forum. (Great guys over there)

11) What is your favorite local brewery(s) to patronize?

John: I like to go to Gritty's when we are in Portland, ME. The Boston Beer Works are ones I frequent often.

Mike: Gritty's in Portland ME and Watch City in Waltham MA.

12) Is it hard to find brewing ingredients in your area?

John: We don't seem to have a problem finding stuff.

Mike: There are three shops within 20 minute drive from my house. One is only 5 minutes from my office. Also after Al Gore invented the internet its been even easier to get stuff from online vendors.

13) Are you a White Labs Lad or Wyeast Wise Guy?

John: I would say that I have used White Labs more often than Wyeast….but that's not due to any conscious preference.

Mike: I started as a Wyeast guy because I though smack packs were cool.. Then I transitioned to WhiteLabs because....I thought it was cooler to use a starter from a vial.

The Brew Crew - Denimbrauhaus

In this week's Brew Crew edition we will be visiting with DenimGlen, marking our first international crew member. We cross the pond and hand the mash paddle to DenimGlen and his DenimBrauhaus in New Zealand. Cheers and welcome to the Brew Crew!

1) When/why did you start brewing? Where did the name Denimbrauhaus come from?

I started brewing about two and a half years ago. A friend of mine gave me a recipe to brew hard cider in a coke bottle with bread yeast. I made a few bottles and and was hooked on the process of fermentation. The stuff tasted pretty terrible - like bread soaked in apple juice. I ended up buying a brewing set-up from my LHBS with the intent to make cider but it came with a beer kit so I made that first. I wasn't a beer drinker at the time but ended up liking the batch and kept making beer and forgot about cider.

The name Denimbrauhaus came from a nickname I was given when I was younger. I loved my ripped pair of jeans and denim jacket and people kept referring to me as "Denimglen". The name stuck and I just threw it together as a name for my homebrewery.

I'm still really new to brewing and beer but I've go the bug and can't stop!

2) When/Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging about my brewery not too long ago; first post ever was 29/09/07.
I thought it would be interesting to document my progress on equipment and batches for myself more than anything. I didn't expect my blog to be to interesting to anyone else. I do find it handy to link to when someone asks about my equipment or hop plants etc.

3) What/Why is your favorite recipe/style to brew?
That's a hard one. As the ingredient selection here in New Zealand isn't as great as in the US/UK it's hard to piece together recipes for some styles.

I'm quite fond of US Pale/Ambers. Great flavorful beers that one can still drink a couple of without being overwhelmed with flavor or alcohol. Second to that it would be English style bitters.

4) How did you piece together your brewery set-up?
Too Slowly!
I did three extract with grain/hop recipes (after about 10 failed kit and kilo beers) and decided I needed to go all-grain.

I started off by getting a decent sized pot for heating liquor on an old two-ring burner we had around the house.

The common Rubbermaid beverage coolers are extremely overpriced here in NZ so I opted for the rectangular cooler instead, then converted it in the same way most HB'ers do to use an MLT. I originally had the stainless braid setup but changed to a copper manifold because of the deadspace I had with the braid and it always floated around in the mash. Luckily there was some 0.5" copper pipe lying around so all I needed to purchase were the copper joiners to assemble it.

My biggest problem for an AG brew set up was finding a suitable kettle. I originally was using a stainless steel distilling unit boiler with an immersed element of 1380w. One element took forever to boil so I added a 2400w to run with the smaller unit. This set-up was ok but it was very small capacity so boiling over 23L was a problem, so the kettle had to be watched very closely for a 20L batch. I then was told from another homebrewer about the stainless steel electric urns available that hold up 40L, and also come with a tap and sight glass installed all for a reasonable price about 200NZD (around 150USD). With another element installed and a copper pick up tube they make for a quite a good kettle.

The reason I went with electricity instead of gas is the cost of burners and pots here are quite high. The selection of burners is also not large, there is pretty much only one set of ring burners available and they're not very powerful. And being a big bulky item they're not cheap to import.

I've put together about three copper immersion chillers so far. The latest one fits around the fixed immersed elements in my kettle. The immersed elements were a problem as there was a lot of space around the elements that wouldn't be cooled and the chiller wasn't stable sitting on top of the elements.

I'm also in the process of putting together a single-tier rig at the moment. Nothing too fancy - single pump, direct fire MLT with converted kegs for all vessels.

5) How are your hop plants doing? What variety are they?
It's autumn here so I harvested late summer and cut down the vine afterwards. I had a reasonable first year harvest of about 100gm. After cutting down the vine I buried it in hopes of harvesting some rhizomes for next season. At the moment there are a few sprouts coming up from the original rhizomes and the buried vine.

The variety is a Cascade-unknown cross. I was given a rhizome from another brewer that had found a seed in with some cascade clones. It does smell very cascade-like but I have no idea what it's crossed with.

I've just used them in an APA recipe so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

I'm looking into getting another variety or two for the upcoming season. One's a Cluster cross called Smoothcone and the other is an unknown German variety. Apparently there are hops growing in the wild in some parts but I haven't been able to venture out for them yet.

6) What brewing technique do you want to learn next?
There's nothing that springs to mind. Currently, I'm working on acquiring parts for and assembling my single tier set-up. After that I will mainly just be focusing on refining my techniques.

7) Do you brew self-sustainably and/or organically?
Although NZ has a few varieties of organic hops grown here I've never made an all-grain organic brew - I don't believe ogranic malt is readily available here. I'd find it interesting to do a side-by-side batch with similar malts and hops to see how they compare.

8) What is your favorite blog(s) to read?
Not exactly a blog but I think the recently started Brewpoll.com is great. barleylegal.ca is also a good laugh and has a great name. I do find myself browsing brewing blogs from time to time but nothing in particular. I also lurk around Realbeernz.ning.com a sort of blog/social-network site for NZ brewers.

9) Are you a member of a homebrewing club or AHA?
Currently no. I am thinking to see if there are any homebrew clubs in my area and I may look into joining Society of Beer Advocates Soba.org.nz

10) What is your favorite brewery(s) or beers to patronize?
I'm happy to support any small brewery or even large breweries that put out a decent drop. For New Zealand brews I've really enjoyed the Limburg, Epic and Emersons breweries.

11) Is it hard to find brewing ingredients in New Zealand?
Kit and Kilos aren't to hard to find, most supermarkets carry them. Better quality K&K's can be found at homebrew stores who usually carry a large selection of cans.

Extract with added hops and all-grain doesn't seem to be very popular in New Zealand but there are a few staunch followers off these methods. Luckily, a great LHBS, Brwers Coop, is 5' from my house and carries a good selection of grain and hops. Unfortunately, because of supply and demand rules the selection of grain and hops isn't huge in NZ but one can usually make do with what's available for the most popular styles. Yeast is another thing that's hard to get. The common dry strains are easy to find but no stores carry liquid yeast, again because of supply demand.

12) How has the hop and barley shortage affected your brewing?
So far not too bad, I assume because the NZ stocks haven't needed to be resupplied yet. There has been a small price increase of both but nothing too bad so far. I love the process of brewing and fermentation and as long as it's affordable I'll still be brewing.

The Brew Crew - HomebrewandChemistry

What is the Brew Crew?
The Brew Crew is a celebration of the 1st and 21st Amendments of the United States. The right to "free speech" and to "homebrew". The Brew Crew is a legion of extract, partial mash and all-grain brewers who blog funny witty and serious posts on a daily basis and not so daily basis. I will be asking them questions and posting their answers on a weekly basis.

We now go to the upper midwest and visit with The Scientist Eric @ HomebrewandChemistry. He loves science, teaching and combining homebrew and chemistry and Cascades in his pale ale. Visit his site HomebrewandChemistry and learn to learn more about chemistry and brewing. A Cascade cheers to Eric and welcome to the Brew Crew!

1) When/Why did you start brewing?
I started when I was a graduate student in 1996. At this time I had developed a taste for good beer thanks to Summit Extra Pale Ale (from a Summit Brewing in St. Paul, MN). I wanted to make good beer. I wanted to make good beer. I took a hiatus from brewing for about 4 years during a second stint in grad school (time was too valuable since I was now married). I started again with renewed vigor in 2006.

2) When/Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging because, like many bloggers, I felt like the world needed to hear what I know and think. When this delusion faded, i decided to blog because it amuses me. My blog is a rather eclectic mix of beer brewing, chemistry education and brewing science. By doing this blog, i have forced myself to learn a lot more about the science of brewing and brewing in general. On the chemistry education side of things, since I teach in a very small department (2 total chem. Profs) my blog helps me expand my network of colleagues to the world. Oh, and I'm a nerd.

3) What/Why is your favorite recipe/style to brew?
I LOVE American Pale Ales. That is the first style of beer I ever fell in love with. My favorite recipe is called Metathesis Pale Ale. The name is derived from a class of Organic chemical reactions (see I'm a nerd). This is simple beer, but the excessive Cascade hops makes it great.

4) What is your favorite brewing technique to use?
I've recently adopted the Brew Your Own Magazine method for partial mashing. I've not tasted the results of this yet, but it seems to have worked.

5) Does your scientific background give you an advantage to brew better beer?
I don't think it gives me an advantage. Brewing techniques have been worked out for centuries. In general, there's not much a home brewer can improve on. However, I think i appreciate what is happening on a totally different level. One does not need to know what is happening chemically during the brewing process to make good beer, but for me as a chemist it makes it a lot more fun.

6) What brewing technique do you want to learn next? (mashing, hopback, kegging etc. maybe one you've created)
My next major technique is going to be kegging. I plan on building a wet bar in my basement this summer and I will be installing a tap. My only problem is deciding if I should install 2 or 3 taps.

7) Do you brew self-sustainably and/or organically? Explain?
I don't I don't feel compelling reason to brew organically. I do compost all of my spent grains and hops, and I minimize unnecessary water usage (i.e for chilling).

8) What is your favorite blog(s) to read? (Doesn't have to be beer related)
This is tough to do without slighting someone. There are a lot of great blogs out there. I follow about 80 of them using an RSS reader. I regularly read about 20 of those. My top 5 are:
http://matthewjenks.blogpsot.com/
http://beercraftsite.com/
http://coronene.com/blog/
http://thechemblog.com/
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/

These cover everything from chemistry to beer to homeopathic medicine.

9) Are you a member of a homebrewing club or American Homebrew Association?
No, but I'd love to organize something, but family and work consume all of my time.

10) What is your favorite brewery(s) or beers to patronize?
Schell's brewery is #1. It's a local brewery (2nd oldest family owned brewery in the USA) and so I'm loyal to that. However, I also love almost anything from Rogue. Sadly, the cost of their beer has jumped to almost $5 for a 22oz bottle.

11) Do you find it hard to not reference brewing while teaching?
Yes, very. I've bemoaned this fact on my blog a number of times. I have to be sensitive to the fact that talking about beer and brewing will be unjustly interpreted by some as condoning something like binge drinking. Yet, I have discussed brewing in my classes when there is a legitimate and verifiable connection to what we are discussing in class.

12)In detail: What is your favorite reaction in brewing?
Easy. The isomerization of alpha acids in hops to iso-alpha acids (i.e. humulone to isohumulone) during the boil. This is one of the first reactions I came across that was related to brewing. It's been my favorite ever since.

http://homebrewandchemistry.blogspot.com/2007/02/hopchemistry.html

The Brew Crew - The Doghouse Brewery

What is the Brew Crew?
The Brew Crew is a celebration of the 1st and 21st Amendments of the United States. The right to "free speech" and to "homebrew". The Brew Crew is a legion of extract, partial mash and all-grain brewers who blog funny, witty and serious posts on a daily basis and not so daily basis. I will be asking these brewers a series of questions and posting their answers on a weekly basis.

This week we go to the upper northwest into the frigid tundra of Alaska. We visit with multi talented Christopher and his Dogyard Brewery. Christopher has a very informational website and do-it-yourself sections for many hobbies.


1) When/why did you start brewing and why is it called Dogyard Brewery?
I started brewing in 1990 while a student at UC Davis. My rommate and I struggled to brew beer in our 90 degree apartment, chilling the wort overnight in the bathtub. Since then, equipment and ingredients have come a long way. My wife is a sprint musher and we've currently got five sled dogs and one house dog, so Doghouse Brewery seemed like a good name.

2) When/Why did you start your website/blogging?
My first website was built in 1998, and I started blogging in 2005. I don't tend to write much about brewing in the blog, but I probably should put more in there. Most of my brewing information (recipes, equipment, etc.) is in a subdirectory of my main site.
(http://www.swingleydev.com/brewing/).

3) What is your favorite recipe and/or style to brew?
My favorite is Piper's Irish American Red Ale, which is based on a recipe by Jeff Renner on HBD. I prefer ales, but haven't ever brewed a lager, so that will be a new homebrewing challenge for me in the future.

4) What is your favorite brewing technique to use?
I really like the convenience of batch sparging in an insulated cooler. It really makes mashing and sparging simple and easy to control even if there is a slight loss in efficiency.

5) What is your favorite piece of brewing equipment to use?
That's a hard one. My plate chiller is probably the most entertaining; it's amazing to watch boiling hot wort enter one end and come out the other end at 60-68 degrees. But I wouldn't want to do without my yeast stirplate, batch sparging set-up, or temperature controlled fermentation temperature. I think pitching a large amount of healthy yeast, and closely controlling fermentation temperature are really important for getting a beer without defects.

6) Of, all your hobbies which one is your favorite (homebrewing, coffee roasting etc.)
I enjoy variety in my hobbies more than preferring one over the other. Right now, brewing and woodworking are on the upswing, but I'm glad to have bookbinding, bread baking, and other hobbies as options when I tire on a focus on beer and furniture.

7) Do you brew self-sustainably and/or organically? Explain?
For awhile I was culturing my own yeast, and I could theoretically run my boil on our wood-burning cook-stove, but at the moment I'm not really brewing in the manner that could be described as self-sustainable. I do grind organic grains for baking bread, and I've been tempted to try malting my own wheat to see what sort of beer I could produce, but thus far I haven't tried. I am encouraged by the availability of organic grains, but as far as I know, my favorite base malt (Maris Otter) doesn't come this way. Maybe I'll have to try a sack of Breiss organic 2-row next time I'm ordering in bulk.

8) What is your favorite blog(s) to read?
Another hard question. I'm subscribed to several dozen blogs through Google Reader, and I enjoy the variety. I haven't done much beer blog reading, so I'm eager to start reading some of the blogs on your site.

9) Are you a member of a homebrewing club or American Homebrew Association?
I've been a member of the AHA for quite some time. I haven't participated in our local homebrew club.

10) What is your favorite brewery(s) to patronize?
Silver Gulch brewery in Fox has a great restaurant, and I've enjoyed their pilsner since they started their operation. When I lived in Portland, the Blue Moon Tavern and the Mission Theater were favorites of mine, even if they didn't brew on premises. Really, any and all brewpubs are worth a visit, and I try to hit any I can find when I am traveling.

11) It is difficult brewing in Alaskan weather (too cold, getting ingredients etc.)?
Fairbanks gets quite cold in the winter (we got to -53F at our house this winter), and so it can be difficult to brew when it's really cold. I once lost a quarter of my wort when the heat from my burner melted a hole in the snow it was resting on and the burner almost tipped over. I usually try to watch the forecast and only brew when it's above zero, but there have been times when I've brewed at -10 or colder. Recently, I've had trouble getting my chilled wort *warm* enough because the water running through the plate chiller is so close to freezing that it cools the wort too much even with the water pump on the lowest setting. I added a half a gallon of warm water to my latest batch after chilling, and I think that might be an effective technique to offset any inaccuracies in chilling.

12) Is there a style of homebrew or another hobby that you would like to learn next?
Lagering is certainly on my things to try. We've got an old fridge that was there when we moved into our house, so I might adopt that for a batch to see if I like it. Last weekend, I brewed my 76th beer, and not one has been a lager. Probably time to give it a whirl!

The Brew Crew - Dr. Dougs Homebrew

What is the Brew Crew?
The Brew Crew is a celebration of the 1st & 21st amendments of the United States. The right to "free speech" and "to homebrew". The Brew Crew is a legion of extract, partial mash, and all-grain brewers who blog funny, witty and serious posts on a daily and not so daily basis. I will be asking these brewers a series of questions and postinig their answers on a weekly basis.

This week we go to the west coast and visit "oldschool" Dr. Doug in California. He seems to be a proud brewer preserving old styles and has high hopes for his hop garden. Although, he answered his questions quickly I am not sure that he is posting anymore.

Cheers and Welcome to the Brew Crew Dr. Doug!
We hope to hear more of your large hop garden.

1) When/Why did you start homebrewing?
Spring of 07', because I like good beer

2) When/Why did you start blogging?
17 October, to share my experiences

3) What is your favorite recipe/style to brew?
Irish Red Ale

4) What is your favorite brewing technique to use?
Brewing all-grain

5) What is your favorite brewing equipment to use?
My homemade Mash/Lauder tun with sparge arm

6) What brewing technique do you want to learn next?
Not sure what else there is

7) Do you brew self sustainable or organically?
I am planting 23 Organic Hop rhizomes this year

8) What is your favorite blog to read?
I have not found many

9) Are you a member of a brewing club or American HomeBrewing Association?
Not yet

10) What is your favorite brewery(s)?
St. James Gate, Dublin Ireland; Dr. Dougs homebrew

11) Do you want to turn pro or have you worked in a brewery?
I have thought about a brewpub.

The Brew Crew - Beer Bits 2

What is the Brew Crew?
The Brew Crew is a celebration of 1st and 21st Amendments of the United States. The right to "free speech" and to "homebrew". The Brew Crew is a legion of extract, partial mash, and all-grain brewers who blog funny, witty and serious posts on a daily and not so daily basis. I will be asking these brewers a series of questions and posting their answers on a weekly basis.

Next, Beer Bits 2 has the mash paddle and he is from PA. BB2 has a wicked site full with slide shows, music, sweet pics and helpful information. You can visit him at beerbits2.blogspot.com.

Cheers and Welcome to The Brew Crew!

1) When/Why did you start brewing?
In, 1994. Here is a link to a post I wrote about this at my first blog The Brew Lounge.

The Brewing Experience: Inspiration

Basically my father and grandfather made beer and wine and I wanted to follow in their footsteps. In the end it has brought me closer to my father :-)

2) When/Why did you start blogging?
August 2005 Here's a link to my first posts at The Brew Lounge in its early days...
The Brew Lounge Archives Aug 2005

Why? I wanted to share with people. Early in my career I was a computer programmer. That coupled with my interest in writing, teaching and home brewing provided me with the right skills and impetus. I truly believe that everybody should try to make their own beer and I would help them do it.

Also, when I get burned out on brewing I turn to developing the website for a while.

3) What is your favorite recipe/style to brew?
I brew ales for the most part. There are only a few recipes (literally) that I have brewed more than once. I'm always experimenting with new variations of recipes. Sometimes I stick with a particular yeast for several generations. Other times I just see what ingredients I have and see what styles I can brew with those ingredients. The most rewarding beer that I brew is a session beer for Thanksgiving. Part barley malt, part wheat malt with various yeasts. I empty a five gallon keg every year at our family's Thanksgiving party.

4) What is your favorite brewing technique to use?
Extract brewing is what I've landed on for now. The time commitments of all grain would take too much time away from family life.

5) What is your favorite piece of brewing equipment to use?
My soda kegs. I probably wouldn't brew if I couldn't keg.

6) What brewing technique do you want to learn next?
Mini mash would probably make the most sense. Either that or sour beers using brett and/or lacto. They take a very long time and lotsa patience to make.

7) Do you brew self-sustainable and/or organically?
I don't consciously make that choice yet. I do understand the value of organic foods and sustainable agriculture. I have considered buying organic malt extract from Norther Brewer. Perhaps my next purchase?

Bryan (from The Brew Lounge) and I have planted hops in our backyards without the use of pesticides :-) Again, not because it was organic though. This is an area I could explore more.

8) What is your favorite blog to read?
Another tough call ;-)
Homebrew - Ted's Homebrew Journal - Ted always has something interesting going on.
Beer - The Brew Lounge - Bryan does a great job of covering the Beer Scene locally and beyond (good friend too ;-)
Technology - Read Write Web - Richard MacManus writes about innovations and emerging technology

9) Are you a member of a brewing club or American Homebrew Association?
Yep since 2005 I think. All homebrewers should use their resources more.

10) What is your favorite brewery(s)?
World - Uerige Obergärige Hausbrauerei GmbH / Zum Uerige Germany
US - hard to choose...probably Victory or Three Floyds
BrewPub - US - Selins Grove in Selins Grove, PA

11) Do you want to turn pro or have you worked in a brewery? If so, which one(s).
I would love to, but, I don't think I could make enough money. Maybe someday :-) A hobby does not necessarily make a good profession.

12) In a perfect world which brewery would you like to be the brewmaster?
New Belgium, Dogfish Head, New Glarus and Ommegang....ok, ok...Ommegang. I love the location and they make good beer.

The Brew Crew - Monday Night Brewery

What is the Brew Crew?

The Brew Crew is a celebration of the 1st and 21st Amendments of the United States. The right to "free speech" and to "Homebrew". The Brew Crew is a legion of extract, partial mash, and all -grain brewers who blog funny, witty and serious posts on a daily and not so daily basis. I will be asking these brewers a series of questions and posting their answers on a weekly basis.

This time on St. Patrick's Day we befittingly pass the mash paddle to Atlanta, Georgia where a group of southern dudes are on an arduous quest to start up their own brewery. They always invite all their friends over and brew on monday night. They call themselves Monday Night Brewery. Recently, they just had their 1st brew haha. You can read more about it at www.mondaynightbrewery.com

1) Why did you start brewing?
I was in a bible study with a bunch of guys. We wanted a way to get to know each other and connect outside of bible study, and we all liked beer, so it was a no-brainer. We obviously had to BREW beer... From There, three of us really started to enjoy it and it got way more serious than just hanging out.

2) When did you start blogging?
January 2007

3) What is your favorite recipe/style to brew?
Our Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale. It's a great beer and I love how challenging it is to get right. It's very sensitive to temperature and attenuation, but once that peaty, smoky flavor comes through it's all worth it.

4) What is your favorite technique to use?
One thing we like to do is to start to heat up the wort as we're sparging so that towards the end of the sparge we're already over 200 degrees. It makes it so much easier to get the boil going quickly.

5) What technique do you want to learn next?
More temperature control stuff during fermentation.

6) Do you brew self-sustainable?
Not yet, but we bought a bunch of organic ingredients and we've been growing our own hops for two years now.

7) What is your favorite blog to read?
Travis over at CNYbrew.com I just love how ignorant he is about everything and how he tries to totally slam us, but it always blows up in his face.

8) Are you a member of a brewing club?
Nope...Hmm...

9) What is your favorite brewery?
Dogfish Head Brewery

10) Do you want to turn pro?
Oh, most definitely. And we're planning on it.

The Brew Crew - CNYBrew

What is the Brew Crew?
The Brew Crew is a celebration of 1st and 21st Amendments of the United States. The right to "free speech" and to "homebrew". The Brew Crew is a legion of extract, partial mash, and all-grain brewers who blog funny, witty and serious posts on a daily and not so daily basis. I will be asking these brewers a series of questions and posting their answers on a weekly basis.Next, we will pass the mash paddle to the east coast in New York and visit Travis's an innovative brewer and blogger at CNYBrew.com. And, funny man!

1) When/Why did you start brewing?
About 4 years ago is the when, the why is a pretty funny story-I was in college visiting alumni from my fraternity in Rochester. One of the guys was named Spike. While I was over at Spikes place enjoying life after 10 Ugly Men (a local festival of good beer) and he took us into the basement where he had a poll table and a keg fridge with two taps. I was totally impressed. But then when he told me it was his beer on both taps, I realized this man had the world by the balls. From that point on I not only wanted to homebrew, but have my beer on tap.

2) When/Why did you start blogging?
I am in software and was doing a lot of reading about this new "blogging" phenomenon. Since I was pretty bad about keeping my beer log, I decided this might be a good medium to utilize for logging my beers and stats. So I started Beer Logging. The idea is that people can observe and comment on your brewing. I think it's working out pretty well. It's about the same 8-10 people that make comments, but it's developed into a community.

3) What is your favorite recipe/style to brew?
Doppelbock, I love to decoct. It's work but its so much fun and it's really rewarding when you get that roasty malt flavor out. I have also begun to love lagers a lot more. It requires patients and space in your fridge, but the results are well worth it.

4) What is your favorite brewing technique to use?
Whatever works, I guess single infusion because it's what we do most of the time, but like I said, I like recipes with decocts.

5) What is your favorite piece of brewing equipment to use?
Usually whatever is the newest in my arsenal. For example, I was in Home Depot yesterday and I saw this thing that's like an auger that you use like a long drill bit. It's meant for stirring and mixing paint, but it's going to be used for properly stirring mash. I have not been able to stop thinking about how damn cool it's going to be if it works like I want it to (even though it won't and it'll quickly lose favor with me, alas, the law of diminishing returns works its magic).

6) What brewing technique do you want to learn next?
Not sure, I usually get inspired every time BYO comes and there is something in there I have not tried. I guess doughing in has been on mind as of late. I have never done a 3 or 4 step mash with a long dough in. It we do a big beer, I might employ something like that.

7) Do you brew self-sustainable and/or organically?
Self-sustainable is a really cool idea and I am all about it where ever possible. I liken myself a bit of an enviro-geek so I like the idea. With that said, I haven't had luck so far with growing my own hops and roasting my own malt is a little over the top for me. Plus, I like to support Ed and EJ Wren, my LHBS. I want to give organic malt a try, but because I am not going to build new equipment for the sake of being truly organic, I will likely just mix it with some non-organic ingredients.

8) What is your favorite blog to read?
I have to five credit where credit is due, Ted writes a heck of a blog. He is a lot more thorough than I am and I like that. My least favorite to read is Monday Night Brewery, it angers the blood. That Bryan Adams, I just hate him so much.

9) Are you a member of a brewing club or American Homebrew Association?
I am a member of the Salt City Brew Club here in Syracuse. It's a great club with a really strong and knowledgeable membership. Any given meeting you'll have two or three master brewers and high ranking judges. I am not a member of the AHA, but I should join.

10) What is your favorite brewery(s)?
Locally it's Saranac. They don't get enough respect for what they do. Great beer at a great price. Also, Landmark brewing company is an up and coming local brewery with some good beers. Nationally, it's New Belgium. I was SO impressed with their brewery and their company vibe, it's really a thing to behold.

11) Do you want to turn pro or have you worked in a brewery? If so, which one(s).
No and no. This is a hobby and that's how I want it to stay. When I was young I was a really good snowboarder and started to pursue sponsorship. It sucked. I couldn't do what I wanted anymore, because I had to get footage and spend all day trying to make a video. I think the same thing with brewing. I brew what I want, how I want and that's the way I like it.

12) In a perfect world which brewery would you like to be the brewmaster?
It is a perfect world. I am the co-brewmaster at Look Kinney Cir Brewing. Honestly, I couldn't ask for more.

The Brew Crew - Bearded Brewer

What is the Brew Crew?
The Brew Crew is a celebration of the 1st and 21st Amendment of the United States. The right to "Free Speech" and to "Homebrew". The Brew Crew is a legion of extract, partial mash and all grain brewers who blog funny, witty and serious posts on a daily and not so daily basis. I will be asking these brewers a series of questions and posting their answers on a weekly basis.

Let's begin by passing the mash paddle to the Bearded Brewer in Minnesota. His website is a great read, entertaining and has a creative line of brews and logos. Visit him at www.beardedbrewing.org and I recommend you link his blog to yours!Cheers to the Bearded Brewer and welcome to the Brew Crew!

1) Why did you start brewing?
I started brewing after buying my dad a kit for Christmas about 6 years ago. I watched him make a lot of good beers, and once I moved into a space that I could do it in, I started brewing.

2) When did you start blogging?
Last year after my first Bearded Brewfest, my friends were interested in buying my beer and knowing what I had coming up. So with a lot of help from my friend Jeff, a computer guy, we started a website. I bought the domain beardedbrewing.com and that worked for awhile. This past summer there was a software problem and we couldn't update the site. So I played around with blogger.com to see how it worked and decided to just make the switch. I could do everything I wanted as the website and then I found this world of other people doing the same thing as me, and it kind of took off from there. Its been so cool to find other people who are just as big of dorks as me about beer! My friends didn't really get into it the way that people in the beer "blogosphere" do.

3) What is your favorite recipe/style to brew?
I really like brewing a lot of styles of beer, but I'd have to say white beers. I think they are really accessible to alot of people, yet you can really play around with the flavors. My two most popular beers amongst my friends are the Bangy Tangy and my Inky's White Ale. Both are white ales, but very different from one another. I brewed a porter this year that I thought was really good and a lot of people that don't like dark beers liked it. I'm excited to brew more porters, because I think its another style you can play with a lot.

4) What is your favorite technique to use?
Right now, I'm doing a partial mashing. I really like what I can do (or not need to do) with that technique. I've never tried all-grain.

5) What technique do you want to learn next?
Probably all-grain. Also, I'm interested in learning more about decoction mashes.

6) Do you brew self-sustainable?
I try to. I currently am collecting the water from my wort chiller during cool down and reusing it for cleaning and other things. I collect it in 2 7-gallon picnic water jugs. I'm also going to continue to attempt to grow hops. Last summer didn't turn out the I expected, but I'm hoping they come back. I'm really good about reusing my bottles and have trained my friends well to keep the empties. I'm slowly moving into kegging. I also use tap-a-drafts, which limits the amount of bottles.

7) What is your favorite blog to read?
There's a lot of great ones out there. I like reading Monday Night Brewery, Ted's Homebrew Blog, Bob Woodshed aka BW Beer Blog, Final Gravity. I'm always finding new ones.

8) Are you a member of a brewing club?
I'm not. No reason really, I'd like to start a sort of cyber-homebrew club where a bunch of us send each other beers when we can, and supporting each other's efforts. Especially, if some choose to go pro (like Monday Night Brewery), then there's a built in consumer base to support each other.

9) What is your favorite brewery?
There's so many I like, mostly mid western since they're the one I have the easiest access to. I'd say, New Glarus, Rogue, Summit, Bells, New Belgium. There's so much good craft beer out there. The couple of beers I've had from Stone Brewing Company have been excellent.

10) Do you want to turn pro?
I think every home brewer thinks about it at some point. Of'course there are times that I think it would be really awesome, but the truth is that I'm not really at the point that I would want to make that leap. Nor do I think I am anywhere near capable of making that leap.