I plan to devote these pages to brewing & winemaking.
I first started brewing back in the late fifties, while in college at the University of Florida. Gainesville and the university were in a "damp" (not quite dry) county at that time, the strongest thing sold was 3.2 beer. The brewing went quite well (although brews were, of course, a bit cidery) until my dormmates dump the dregs from a fifty five gallon batch out the second story window. Sigh. As it took a couple of weeks for the odors to dissipate, it seemed like a good idea to stop brewing for a while.
In the mid sixties I started brewing here in Alaska. I was still using a lot of cane sugar at that time, giving the beers a cidery flavor. Also most of my batches were open fermentation until I got some vinegar beasties in the house and inadvertently made five gallons of malt vinegar. I did a little more brewing in carboys with air locks but moved away from brewing for about twenty years.
However I've started brewing again. I bottle condition and store
my beers on this set of shelves in my attached garage. I usually have some
White Nights Stout (parenthetical aside; White Nights refers to our 24
hours of daylight during part of the summer.), some Arctic Sunrise
Amber Ale and some Arctic Sunset Cream Ale on the shelf.
In 1998 my daughter gave me a Mr. Beer for Christmas. I started
making extract brews on the kitchen stove. I soon moved to a 170,000 BTU
burner and a six gallon stainless steel pot. From there is was a
small step to a 120 quart cooler modified as a mash/lauder tun and all
grain brewing.
Then, with my daughter's help, I lucked out and was able to
purchase a 40 quart 220 V steam pot that proved ideal for brewing. I'll
put 3-4 gallons water in the pot, set the temperature control a little
above my desired mash temperature, dough in my grain and setting the temperature
control to hold my desired mash temperature for 60 to 90 minutes. I tip
the pot and pour the mash in to a lauder tun, sparge it and return the wort
to the steam pot. I set the temperature controller to get a good rolling
boil, toss in my hops and, while relaxing and having a home brew, am
well on my way to a fermenter full of beer to be.
{addendum: My son, in LA, after viewing this page said: "... steam
pot looks impressive, nice kudos to the daughter, don't bother to mention
that if you brewed 15 gallons a week for 22 years you still wouldn't be
able to gross as much as your son has drunk. No respect...."}, he,
by the way, like myself, believes one should never let the truth get in
the way of a good story.
I planted hops this spring (2000). Hops like to grow at a latitude something less than 55 degrees north, these guys are, here in the center of Alaska, at almost 65 degrees north. Subsequently it isn't likely that I will ever get them to flower but they did grow over eighteen feet tall this summer. Here it is, almost New Years, 2003 and I'm still trying to grow hops. This year (2002) however, I planted them in large pots and brought them inside for the winter.
This young moose showed a lot of curiosity about the hop plants all
summer.
So as I got older I need more help. Here are two of my assistant brewers;
Tomoko and Mariko
Here is Tomolo doing some of the hard work, milling the grain for a batch
of stout
and here is Mariko taking over for Tomoko
The Mr. Beer that my daughter gave me is still in use, by the way. Usually
today though it has two or three gallons of wine working away in it.
White Nights Stout
It just doesn't get any better than this!
Comments:? Jim O'Neil