6
T
wo years ago, MikeDekarske’s (IT) oldest sonBrian convinced his father to try
homebrewing after his experience at the University of Michigan. Mike studied
the art online and throughbooks.Nowhe is deep into thehobby, and father and
sonbrew together!
They use a turkey fryer as a heat source, andwhen the weather cooperates, they brew
on their back patiowith ingredients purchased from either BrewMasters in Sheboygan
Falls orNorthernBrewer inMilwaukee.
“We usually don’tmake the same brew twice, except forKolsch (aGermanbeerwith a
moderate bitterness, but fairly prominent hop flavor and a rounded, stylish character derived from lagering, that is, cold
aging),”Mike told
PlastiScope21
.
Mike admitted that “something goes wrong on every batch, brewing, fermenting or bottling.”The results are unique
and not repeatable. “You can never tell how a batch will turn out until you drink it for the second or third time,”
Mike said.
Despite the “experimental” nature of homebrewing, ormaybe because of it,
Mike says testing of eachnewbrewmakes family gatherings a great time.
MikeDekarske’sSonBringsHomebrewing
Home fromUniversityofMichigan
J
eff Mohr
(Law) useshome-grownhops, dry lager yeast
and malt extract in his home brew, in which he has
engaged for 20 years, on and off, after reading a few
books and following directions.
Set up inhiskitchen, Jeff boils1.5gallonsof water, hops,
andmalt in a stainless steel pot on the kitchen stove, puts
the boilingwort into a food-grade plastic fermenter in the
kitchen sink, and adds up to five gallons of cold water.
Next he pitches in the yeast, moves the fermenter to the
basement, and after the product ferments and settles for a
week to ten days, siphons the beer into a “Cornelius” five
gallonkeg, appliesCO2, and stores thekeg in thebasement
refrigerator.
Jeff usuallyhas twokegs going simultaneously;whenone
is empty, it’s time for him to start a new batch. His
ingredients are purchased online fromMidwest suppliers
includingMidwest Supplies andNorthernBrewer, both in
Minnesota.HiswifeKathyhelpedwithbottling thebrew in
the past. “Shewas a great partner in the bottling process,”
Jeff said.
He suggested that people interested in learning about
homebrewing should ask to help a homebrewer with the
process “and see how it goes a time or two.” Jeff said it
was “pretty easy toproduce a decent quality product.”
Home-GrownHopsMake
theDifference In JeffMohr’s
HomeBrew
JeffMohr
MikeDekarske
..
