Homebrewing

Brewnosers is a group of Atlantic Canadian beer enthusiasts comprised of mostly homebrewers but general beer geeks as well.  I recently exchanged emails with one of the members, Chris McDonald, to learn more about the club.  Chris reached out to one of the original 4 members of the club, Jeff Pinhey, to help out with my questions related to the history of the club.  Here is the Q & A:

Atlantic Canada Beer Blogger (ACBB):  Tell me about the background of the club.

Chris McDonald (BN): The Brewnosers was started by four friends in 1986 in Halifax. Fed up with the lack of good beer available in NS, these friends would swap homebrew and good beer brought back from other provinces and countries. Those original members are still around, two are still very active in the club. The group grew through the addition of friends, co-workers, and beer-enthusiast strangers to the fold, and now numbers over 200 who self-identify as Brewnosers.
One of the reasons the group has been around so long is our lack of formal structure, rules, or fees. The only rule is that you can’t drink shitty beer (unless it’s the only beer on the menu, or it was given to you).
We have three policies that are self evident, in some ways.  We are not just beer drinkers, we are hell raisers – that is, we sometimes function as a beer advocacy group, and that includes responsible consumption. No one likes a hypocrite, and we ask people to know their limits and not drive when they shouldn’t.  We also ask members to take the opportunity, when presented, to advocate for better beer, be it homebrew, or commercial beer. “Don’t be shy” when the media call. And, most importantly, we all try to bring beer home to share with our clubmates when we are travelling.  There’s always another new beer out there.

ACBB: How long have you been involved with the club?

BN:  I’ve been involved with the club for about 5 years, since hearing about it through the Coast (our local weekly alt paper). I went to one meeting with some beer I’d brought back from the US, and was pleasantly surprised that there were others like me: thirsty beer lovers looking to share our knowledge and access to interesting beer.

ACBB:  Tell me about the club today.

BN:  Once a Brewnoser, always a Brewnoser, we say! On our forums and email list, we’ve got over 200 members. Not all of them are in the Halifax/HRM area so they’ve created their own “splinter” groups; there is a strong contingent in PEI (the Aleanders), the Sackville-Amherst corridor (Sackville-Amherst Area Zymurgists, SAAZ), as well as Newfoundland and BC, and parts in between. We also have some members in the US.

ACBB:  How many events does the club typically have in a year?

BN:  During our monthly meetings (second Tuesday of the month), we will typically have 10-15 members come out to share homebrew and special beers from here and away.  We also host a quarterly themed get-together, which will attract 30+ members and friends and family: we just recently had a Rye IPA tasting, with over 20 different homebrewed and commercial Rye IPAs, and will once again host a Hoptoberfest event in the Fall. There is also a good number of members who will partake in other groups events, like Big Strange Brew NB and March in Montreal.

ACBB:  Can you give me an overview of the website?

BN:  The focal point of our website is the forum. There we share homebrewing and cooking recipes, beer release information, BN events and brewpub visits, and general beer-related information. We also have Classifieds for people looking to buy or sell homebrewing or related equipment, and a spot for beer-centric vendors to post about specials they might be able to extend to BN members.

ACBB: How does someone join the club?

BN:  If you can abide by our one rule and policies, then joining the club is as simple as signing up on the forum and saying “Hi!”. Come out to one of the monthly meetings, or get-togethers at the Rockbottom, Hart & Thistle or Rogue’s Roost. Just look for the table of handsome guys and gals enjoying a well-made pint.

ACBB:  Are any professional brewers part of your group?  Have any members started within this group and gone on to brew professionally?

BN:  We do have some professional brewers in our midst, including local brewer Greg Nash (of Rockbottom and Hart & Thistle). We also have members who brew or work at other breweries in the Maritimes (Garrison, Big Tide, etc). The information they give the group is excellent and bring the quality of all our brews up considerably.
While I’m not sure if any of our members have recently opened their own breweries, there are quite a few people who are close, or are going to professional brewing school to make that a reality.

ACBB:  Are there any local homebrewing competitions?  Do any members attend any events in other parts of the country?

BN:  The only BJCP-sanctioned event in the Maritimes right now is the Garrison Brew-off, which wrapped up last month. There is always a strong Brewnoser presence in the finals. We do have informal competitions for members, and will be launching some more shortly (think “Iron Chef”, but for beer). Our members have entered and done very well in competitions across the country and North America, with very strong showings in the Toronto Beer Week competition (look for Tim Gregory’s Dubbel to be released by Beau’s Brewing in the summer).
Newfoundland Member Tony Legge is one of our most prolific competition brewers, putting our name on the map at competitions across the country!
In the past, we were quite active and won the Best Club in Canada in 1996, awarded by the Canadian Amateur Brewers Association (CABA). And as I write, one of our members (and co-founder) Jeff Pinhey is in Montreal at “March in Montreal”, an annual CABA event. He also is one of the invited judges at the Canadian Brewing Awards.

ACBB:   Have any members received or scheduled to receive formal training / certification?

BN: Several of our members are BJCP-sanctioned judges, including a National-level judge. Our members have attended the American Brewers Guild, the Siebel Institute, and will be attending the Niagara College Brewmaster Program. We have a Beer Judge Certification Program exam scheduled for Halifax in early 2013, and plan on ramping up the competition side once we have some more local judged.

ACBB:   What tips do you have for anyone looking to get into homebrewing for the first time?

BN:  If someone is interested in getting into homebrewing beer, my best piece of advice is “Just Brew It!”. Pick a style you like, and try to make that beer. All of the reading of books and forums, or listening to podcasts is immaterial if you haven’t yet made a batch of beer. You can start simple with a canned kit from the grocery store or a Festa Brew from your local homebrew store. After you brew it, share it with friends and family, maybe the homebrew shop where you purchased the kit. Ask, What did you do right? What did you do wrong? After that, you might want to get into adjusting their recipes to your tastes, so a partial mash (steeping grains with added malt) is the way to go.
After you’ve conquered that technique, it might be time to graduate to all-grain brewing, where you have supreme control over the entire process of the beer.
We have members at all stages of the process, and we’d love to help new brewers with any questions they might have.
Besides the Brewnosers forum, John Palmer’s excellent book “How to Brew” is online for free, and has excellent information for new and veteran brewers alike. “Brewing Classic Styles” from Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer has great extract/all-grain recipes for most every style of beer, along with great general information.

Here’s an overview of Atlantic Canadian beer news and reading from this past week:

Excellent article from Craig Pinhey:  Libations: Brewtopian dining

Brewnoser BPA is available on tap at Rockbottom Brewpub starting today.  So is Blackness, which is a “West Coast-style Robust Porter”, at Hart & Thistle.

Here’s what’s currently available at the Picaroons Brewtique.  Don’t forget about their Easter Keg Hunt and to send them a picture of your cat.

Sample some Propeller Bitter, IPA and Porter as part of this week’s Three Course Thursday at the Foggy Goggle.

The PEI Beer Guy has recently sampled Alchemist Heady Topper and Saint Bernardus’ Grottenbier Bruin.

The guys from Darkside Brewing have tasting notes for the winner of Garrison’s 2011 Ultimate Brew Off, Garrison Schwarz.

Here are tasting notes from Old Brown Shoe from Meek Brewing.

Darkside Brewing is another in a growing number of Atlantic Canadian beer related blogs.  The blog covers off homebrewing and the Halifax beer scene and with references to Guns N’ Roses and House of Pain mixed in.   Here’s the Q & A with the guys behind the blog, Earl and Drew.

Atlantic Canada Beer Blogger (ACBB):  Describe your blog.

Earl: Darkside Brewing is place for us to share our experiences with homebrewing and beer in general, with the latter focusing on, but not limited to, the Halifax area. Local beer reviews have become a big part of what we do, and seem to gain the most traction with the community. The blog also serves as kind of a creative vehicle for us, leading to some pretty random stuff (i.e. an apology letter to a beer we misjudged after destroying our palates with potent IPAs and spicy nachos) and a distinct pop-culture tilt to most of our material (i.e. the development cycle of our Rye IPA, ‘Rye Hard,’ was presented in posts following the arc of the Die Hard films). I think that one thing that’s really important for the blog is accessibility – there are a lot of really great books and blogs out there, and a lot of people whose beer and brewing knowledge dwarfs ours, but we try to present things in a way that (we hope) is interesting to both experts and more casual beer drinkers or brewers. Another key point is humility – we aren’t experts, and don’t pretend to be; we’re really learning as we go.

ACBB: Tell me about your background in homebrewing.

Drew: My experience with homebrewing goes back quite a ways – I used to help my father with wine and beer kits as a teenager. My first solo effort came as more of an experiment. After learning that wine was fermented grape juice, I figured I should try something else, and unfortunately went with oranges. It really was terrible, and I’m surprised it didn’t drive me away from homebrewing altogether. Although we did end up drinking all of it. More recently I got back into making wine, and then when Earl started talking about trying beer, I was all for it.

Earl: My development has been a bit more rapid. After Drew’s failed orange wine experiment, it’s amazing that I even considered taking up brewing… and also that I still have my vision. That stuff was pretty nuts. I had helped Drew with a couple of wine batches over the past couple of years, but wasn’t overly impressed, as I seemed to just end up stirring stuff.

Drew:  He was a very belligerent stirrer.

Earl: I have a background in science, and spent a lot of my university years in labs – stirring wasn’t doing it for me. I needed more control, to be able to really get involved with the process and understand what was going on. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the seeds for getting into all-grain homebrewing had been sown.

Drew:  It didn’t take long for those seeds to germinate. After one beer kit, we dove right into all-grain. We’ve completed 10 batches so far, with the first three being total failures. It was our fifth batch, an oatmeal stout, which was the first beer we made that was genuinely good.

Earl: That one kit we made was pretty disgusting. Well, Drew drank it all, anyway. But he used to drink a lot of Coors Light, so his credibility is suspect at times.

Drew:  The kit wasn’t that bad, but with my history, I guess it’s evident that I’m less selective than others.

ACBB: Why did you decide to get into both homebrewing and blogging?

Drew:  We both really started getting into beer about a year and a half ago, maturing from a somewhat standard practice of drinking a case of Coors Light while playing Rock Band on Friday nights.

Earl: I feel I need to interject that I was never super keen on Coors Light. Granted, it was highly conducive to mass consumption over extended periods of plastic instrument fueled debauchery, but I was more into English/European stuff at the time – Newcastle Brown, Heineken, Carlsberg, etc. We both have a strange fascination with Alpine in camouflage cans, though. I don’t know why, but their marketing department is to be applauded.

Drew: We’re both into focusing on local stuff, so we were naturally drawn to Garrison and Propeller. That really opened the door to enjoying beer because it was good, and not just because drinking it was something to do. This new fascination with beer eventually morphed into wanting to try to make our own, so we jumped right in.

Earl: Really getting into local beer, and craft beer in general, was a huge part of us getting started. I think another big part was finding something that we could do that involved hanging out and (often) drinking that was a bit more productive. I mean, you can only play so much Rock Band. We also wanted more control over what we produced, especially as we really like hoppy and more complex beers.

Drew: There is also something very satisfying about making a good beer and being able to share it with others. I’ll admit, our first drinkable batch only seemed good compared to how awful the previous ones had been, but friends and family choked it down and provided support regardless. They actually ask for seconds now, which is a good sign that it isn’t just us who thinks our beer is improving.

Earl: As for the blog, it came about for a few different reasons. First, we weren’t great at taking notes early on, so a blog would provide a nice archive of our brews and experiences. Second, as I touched on above, it would also provide a creative outlet for us. We have often discussed wanting to write something together, and even started a novel at one point, but a blog fit better into our lives and schedules.

Drew:  I still think our book about were-squirrels was an excellent idea!

Earl: It was were-gerbils! We were going for vampire fiction satire. Anyway, back to the genesis of the blog – another key factor was that we thought if anything ever came from our brewing and we got involved with the industry in some capacity, it would be neat if our development to that point was all tracked on the blog, and people had followed along with us and been part of that development. We both have a connection to a webcomic called Penny Arcade, which is something two guys started because they enjoyed doing it, and has now become a huge commercial success. A big part of our connection with this site and these guys is that we were able to follow them from early on; it just seems like we understand them and can relate to them, and we hope that people who read Darkside Brewing can build a similar connection.

Drew: Agreed on all fronts. Both brewing and blogging are excellent creative outlets, and with a day job that can drive me nuts sometimes that’s important. Also, it’s great to do both as a team. My grammar and spelling definitely benefit from Earl reviewing what I right (Earl note: I didn’t correct ‘right’ to ‘write’ so that you can see what he’s talking about, but it’s not normally that bad), and I help keep him slightly grounded when it comes to recipe development. I don’t think the world is ready for a beer with five different base malts and over 200 IBUs.

Earl: I’m sure those beers exist! We’re probably not quite ready for them, though. One thing I find really interesting is how the blog has evolved to include local beer reviews. Our first review, of the Propeller/Hart and Thistle Imperial ESB Collaboration Ale, just kind of happened because we were really blown away by that particular beer and wanted to share our thoughts and excitement. The response to that review was really positive, and helped us to build a bit more of a following. This prompted our next review, of Garrison’s Spruce Beer, which is still the most viewed post on our blog. With these reviews, it seemed like we were able to tap into the collective excitement in the community surrounding these releases. A lot of people would comment on new beers via Twitter or Facebook, but no one seemed to be putting out detailed tasting notes (at least locally), so we kind of filled that vacuum. Not to say that our reviews are any kind of authority, of course, but we try to provide an element of perspective to help people decide if these new brews may or may not be something they enjoy.

ACBB:  Are you members of any homebrewing clubs?

Drew:  We regularly lurk around the Brewnosers forum, but we haven’t made it to any meetings yet. They seem like a really great group though, so we do hope to get more involved.

Earl: Definitely. They really know their stuff, and even though we’re kind of fringe members, they’ve always provided really great input and advice for any questions we’ve posed.

ACBB: What are the best resources you have access to for homebrewing knowledge?

Drew: John Palmer, both through his book and website, was our primary source of knowledge in the beginning, and he proved to be a great resource for beginners. I’d also like to give a shoutout to Ron at Noble Grape in Burnside; he’s been a great sounding-board for our recipe ideas and his knowledge of all-grain homebrewing has really helped us.

Earl: The Brewnosers forums have also been a great resource. We’ve asked about a few things directly, but have also learned a lot just from reading the various posts. In terms of recipe creation, Beersmith software is pretty great. There are some nuances we still don’t really get, but it provides a really nice guideline for whichever style you’re looking to make. Beyond the software itself, I like the Beersmith blog posts a lot. They give general overviews of different styles, so essentially the framework for a given recipe, but still leave some latitude for you to tweak it to your particular taste. Of course, other beer blogs are a great resource, as well. Meek Brewing Co. and Hoptomology are two that I like to check out pretty regularly.

ACBB:  Describe your homebrewing setup.

Drew: All of our brewing takes place in the kitchen of my condo using equipment we’ve bought or pieced together ourselves. We made the mash tun out of a round cooler with a false bottom and a ball valve to regulate flow, but it’s still a work in progress, as we’re not always getting the efficiency we’d like out of it.  Our brew kettle is a 30 litre aluminum pot I picked up from Big Eric’s in Halifax, which is a great place for getting such things. Unfortunately we have to use my stove as our heat source, so that can make for really long boil times. Conversely, we picked up a really sweet copper chiller from Noble Grape that cools the wort in no time.

Earl: And a kegerator! Spurned by failed attempts at bottle carbonation early on, Drew invested in a kegerator for his condo, which is basically a small fridge with a single tap. It can hold two 19 L kegs, which is handy. There are those who prefer natural carbonation over forced carbonation, and I get the appeal, but at this point in time, I really enjoy the consistency that comes from the latter. Also, I think it’s important to acknowledge Drew’s self control in not drinking all of our beer, which is conveniently on tap in his laundry room.

Drew: I’d like to thank Earl and the rest of the guys for getting me the kegging equipment for my birthday last year. It really made the whole kegerator thing work!  Another batch lost due to lack of carbonation would have probably ended the entire endeavor.

ACBB:  What are your favourite types of posts?

Drew:  I really liked Earl’s post on beer travel, but unfortunately we don’t get to travel to awesome places (like the Czech Republic) to drink beer all that often. I like writing about our homebrewing, as it’s always a learning experience and it’s nice to document what we’ve done, both for ourselves and for others.

Earl: I’ve come to really enjoy the local beer reviews. We follow closely the releases from the local breweries, so there’s an element of anticipation to try these as soon as they become available. Sitting down with a new brew, comparing tasting notes, and then putting together a review is something we both really enjoy. This is magnified by the excitement about these releases in the local community, as I touched on above. I also like the home brewing notes and random posts like the apology letter and Deadliest Brew, that don’t get the same response as the reviews, but I think allow us to express our personalities a bit more.

ACBB:  What beer related festivals are you planning on attending this year?

Drew: Well, we have two festivals currently on the radar: the Saint John Beerfest in mid-April and the (Halifax) Seaport Beerfest in August. We’ve attended the latter regularly over the past few years, but this will be our first trip to Saint John. We’re really looking forward to it, both for the beer and for the opportunity to meet some of the people up that way. We will definitely be blogging about it in the near future.