Why I Want to Be in the Craft Beer Industry

I remember back in high school when it was time to start applying to colleges. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I liked math and science, but I wasn't really aware of all the potential career paths I could choose. Narrowing my trajectory down to a major was hard enough.

My parents had always thought I'd be a good engineer. They like to tell this story about when I was in preschool. I had great spacial reasoning and my dad would discuss with my teacher which kind of engineer I would be. Not if I'd be an engineer, but what kind of engineer. So when it came to choosing a major in college, I went with some sort of engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering to be exact. The coursework was challenging (especially physics, ugh), but I struggled though. However, I wasn't enjoying myself, so I switched my major to Biochemistry junior year.

This was about the time that I really started getting into craft beer. My dad taught me how to homebrew when I was 19. He would invite our neighbor over, who was a former Master Brewer and Master Maltster for some of the biggest national companies around, to come talk beer with me. But I still never really thought that I could have a career in the brewing world.

It wasn't until after graduating that I finally realized I could have a viable career in the craft beer industry. I worked for my dad doing beer-related work and learned a lot about sensory evaluation, but I never pursued it full heartily until Walter and I made the move down to Miami.

In the past 6 months I've really tried to figure out what I want to do in the next five years. I know the industry I want to be in, but how do I fit in? Why do I want to work in the industry?

Why do I want to work in the craft beer industry?

Beer is one of those beverages that seems to always be around. When my extended family gets together, beer is the beverage of choice and always some version of an American Light Lager; Busch Light, Bud Light, "The Beast", and "Bud Heavy" if you're lucky. Regardless of the style, beer brings people together. Whether it's a family reunion or grabbing a beer with a friend, beer is the beverage we can enjoy slowly and drink merrily.

I really started to like craft beer when I began learning about the process. Anyone can make beer with the right equipment. A brewer has to understand the process to truly make a good beer and a brewer has to be an artist to make great beer. It's a balance of creativity and science. A brewery needs the science to use the ingredients and understand the process to produce a quality, consistent product. But there also needs to be an element of artistry to make people want to drink the beer.

I love the idea that brewers don't make beer, yeast makes beer. In order to get the desired outcome, the brewer must manipulate an organism! to do his/her bidding. The brewer needs the yeast (or as my dad would say, the yeasty boys) to grow the proper amount, produce that right kind of flavors, and be healthy enough to do it all over again in a new beer. It's a very science-driven craft, and that's what I love about it.

There's also so many different styles of beers. I smile when someone tells me they don't like beer. I always tell them, they just haven't tried the right beer yet. Most of the time when they say they don't like beer, they mean they don't like bitter beers or the typical beers found at their local watering hole. It seems like there are endless possibilities to creating a unique blend of water, malt, hops, and yeast. There are so many different flavor profiles that can adapt to peoples' unique palates.

Brewers are constantly pushing the boundaries of what craft beer is. People are introducing unusual flavors and brewing practices to make new and interesting beers. Brewers are using pediococcus, lactobacillus, and brettanomyces to brew sour beers and to add unique flavors to beers that don't traditionally use these organisms. And with these new brewing practices, it become even more important to have people that can keep these organisms under control.

It's this combination of science, innovation, and community that draw me into the brewing world.

How do I fit into the craft beer industry?

Having a science background is always a plus in the brewing community. I think there are plenty of people that don't realize the precision and know-how that goes into brewing a simple beer, especially on a large scale.

I want to work in a brewery lab. Brewers deal with all the fame and glory of brewing a great beer, but the people in the lab are just as important. They make sure that the yeast are able and willing to get the job done. They test for bacterial contaminants in the fermenting product. They test for brewery infections. They test the incoming raw materials to allow for a consistent end product. Everyone in a brewery needs to work together to make the beer the best and most consistent it can possibly be.

The lab is a place to prevent problems with a beer and as well as contain problems if and when they arise. The lab makes sure that the yeast is viable and healthy, which means anything from yeast harvesting to yeast counts. The lab runs micro analysis on the beer at all different stages to ensure the beer is developing properly and that there are no contaminants.

And that's my goal for the next five years, work in a brewery lab. Oddly enough, I was very close to this goal when we were still in Miami. I got a job offer to start up a lab program at a growing brewery. It was a dream job. Not only would I be working in a lab, I would be in charge of the lab. But alas, it didn't work out.

So I'm back to the question, How do I make my goal happen?

Miami Homebrewing - Idiot Sauvin

My second time brewing at Daddy Brews was a little dysfunctional. I had picked up a shift on Sunday, which I didn't usually work. Sundays were typically slow days for the shop, so this particular day, I decided to brew at work. Turns out, it was a lot busier than I had anticipated. This basically meant that I wasn't able to give the beer the attention it deserved, causing a few issues. 

The recipe was pretty simple. I wanted to use mostly Nelson Sauvin hops towards the end of the boil to let it shine and really show off its unique flavor. I also added a small amount of white wheat malt to help with head retention. I wanted to keep the malt backbone fairly heavy since the hopping was pretty aggressive for an American Pale Ale, so both the gravity and IBUs are on the upper end of the spectrum for the style.

Idiot Sauvin

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Batch Size (fermenter): 3.50 gal   

Estimated OG: 1.057 SG

Estimated Color: 7.4 SRM

Estimated IBU: 43.7 IBUs

Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain:

------------    

68.2 % - 7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)      

13.6% - 1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)       

13.6% - 1 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)    

4.5% - 8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)

Hops:

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0.25 oz Magnum [Pellet, 13.50 %] @ 60.0 min (11.0 IBUs)    

0.75 oz Nelson Sauvin [Pellet, 11.40 %] @ 20.0 min (16.9 IBUs)     

0.75 oz Nelson Sauvin [Pellet, 11.40 %] @ 10.0 min (10.1 IBUs)  

0.75 oz Nelson Sauvin [Pellet, 11.40 %] @ 5.0 min (5.6 IBUs)      

0.75 oz Nelson Sauvin [Pellet, 11.40 %] @ 0.0 min (0.0 IBUs)      

Yeast:

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California 

Like the previous brew, mashing in the 5 gallon cooler didn't go as planned. The cooler absorb more heat from the water than I had anticipated, and once again, we were under our mash temperature target. We were sitting at 142F and added enough water to bring the temperature to 147F. We ended up leaving it there, because I kept getting distracted with helping customers. This of course led to us having terrible efficiency. (See stressed-out me, during the mash, below.)

After our problematic brew day, we finally ended with about 3.5 gal. into the fermentor. The OG came out to be 1.055.

The worst part about this whole beer, was that I didn't even get to try the finished product. I brewed this when I put in my two weeks at work. I got to try it after a week in primary fermentation. We took a gravity reading and it ended up being about 1.017. It was still a little sweet so we ended up transferring it to a secondary fermentor with the intent to cold crash it later in the week, due to all the hop particulate still in the beer. My last day of work occurred before the beer was finished and the beer ended up going to a beer festival (I'm not sure which one). It was gone before I had the opportunity to try it.

I'm hoping I get the opportunity to brew this beer again. I had high hopes for the beer but between the hectic brew day, and not even trying the finished product, I feel like I can't even count this as a completed brew.

Miami Homebrewing - Marrón Picante

Unfortunately when we moved down to Miami, we were unable to bring our brew system with us. It didn't really make sense to haul a huge, space-consuming system to a place where we didn't even have a balcony to brew on. However, I was fortunate enough to get a job at Daddy Brews, a local homebrew supply shop, and my boss let me brew there whenever I wanted.

The owner of Daddy Brews had an electric brewery, about the size of the one I left at home (15 gal). The major difference is that this one can be completely automated! (except for the hop additions) However, since I had never seen the mash tun of this system running (and was nervous to use it without my boss), so we didn't use the mash tun and just did a single infusion mash using a cooler. The boil kettle brought 6 gallons of sweet wort up to a boil in about 10 minutes! This got Walter and I excited about the idea of building our own electric brewery. But more on that later...

The beer lines at the bar were already running with IPAs and Stouts, so I decided to go a different route, and brew a Brown Ale. To make it interesting, I added guajillo chiles to the secondary. The day before the big brew day, I made a starter with WLP013 London Ale yeast, from White Labs. I placed it on a stir plate (handmade by one of the customers) and left it over night until we pitched the next day. Here is the recipe I put together:

Marrón Picante (Spicy Brown)
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Batch Size: 5.0 gal 
Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Estimated Color: 26.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 32.6 IBUs
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Grain:
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75.0% - 9.0 lbs. Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)   
12.5% - 1.5 lbs. Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)   
4.2% - 0.5 lbs. Cara-Pils (2.0 SRM)   
4.2% - 0.5 lbs. Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)   
4.2% - 0.5 lbs. Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)        
Hops:
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1.00 oz Willamette [Pellet, 6.50 %] @ 60.0 min
0.50 oz Fuggles [Pellet, 5.50 %] @ 30.0 min
0.50 oz Willamette [Pellet, 6.50 %] @15.0 min
0.50 oz Fuggles [Pellet, 5.50 %] @ 0.0 min
Yeast:
------------
White Labs WLP013 London Ale
Misc. Ingredients:
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6 dried guajillo chiles - Secondary Fermentor

Walter and I brewed on a rainy Sunday. Everything went pretty smoothly except for the mashing. The cooler didn't hold the temperature nearly as well as I had anticipated. The initial temperature was 136°F. Coincidently, this is in the temperature range for a protein rest, so I wasn't too worried. We remedied the situation by adding more boiling water to raise the temperature, though the temperature was still on the low end for saccharification, about 149°F.

The brew day went very smoothly following the mash. We did lose more water due to evaporation during the boil than we had anticipated, so we had to top off halfway through the boil with another half gallon of water. The measured original gravity was 1.060.

We ended up with 5 gallons in the fermentor. Primary fermentation lasted one week. After that, I transferred it into a secondary fermentor and added the guajillo chiles. To prepare the chiles, I boiled them for 10 minutes in 1 pint of water. I pitched both the chiles and the water into the fermentor after they had cooled.

I had brewed this beer with the intent of taking it to the South Florida Brew Fest. Unfortunately, this meant that the timeline for the beer had to be rushed. The beer sat in secondary fermentation with the chiles for only 4 days. I then transferred it to a keg in order to carbonate it in time for the beer fest (patience is required for carbing a beer).

The final beer ended up being pretty good. The sweetness from the crystal malt paired really nicely with the chiles. The body was a bit on the thin side, which was expecting due to the low mash temperature. The chile flavor also wasn't as pronounced as I had wanted. There was a slight spicy smell and you could taste the chiles a bit, but there was no heat what-so-ever, which was a little disappointing for me. I think most people at the beer fest enjoyed the lack of spice.

Overall it was a hit. I think the next time I brew this, I will raise the mash temperature to increase mouthfeel. I will also leave the chiles in the fermentor for at least a week. I think I could add a few more chiles, but to start, just increasing the time will be a good experiment. 

Boxelder Craft Beer Market

On Tuesday, Miami's first craft beer market opened! Since I had the afternoon off, I convinced Walter to play hooky with me to try out the new market. With 20 different taps to offer, it was an easy sell. 

The term "craft beer market" seems like a marketing ploy to get around calling the place a bar. This is a bar disguising itself as a "market". But perhaps I'm mostly just confused because places like this don't exist in my hometown. We had bars, we had taprooms, and we had bottles shops, but never some weird mix of all three. I'm a fan of the market. Before buying a growler of a new beer, I can try the beer on tap right there. Want a bottle too? They've got those as well! It's a place for craft beer enthusiasts to come together to enjoy new and interesting beers.

The atmosphere of the bar is laid back and minimalist in style. The owners were welcoming and knowledgable, but most of all, very passionate about beer. I decided to go with a Crossing Streams, an IPA collaboration from MIA Brewing Co. and Coppertail Brewing Co. Though I've had this beer countless times while at work, it's a totally different experience drinking a full pint of the beer outside of the taproom. The Crossing Streams is a solid IPA. The finish is a bit lackluster, which is more noticeable the deeper you get into the glass, but overall, it's a good, easy drinking IPA. 

Walter got Sixpoint Brewery's Sweet Action, a deliciously balanced Cream Ale. From the little sip he was willing to give me, this beer is more complex than it originally appears. The hops play nicely with the sweetness of the beer, which makes it all the more refreshing. This beer is definitely something I'll be coming back for. 

After Walter left (he apparently can't just hang out with me all day and has to do work), I had a Resin from Sixpoint. This Double IPA has become one of my new favorite beers since moving to Florida. Sixpoint is known for playing loosely with style guidelines and this beer falls into that category. At only 9.5 SRM, Resin still manages to be super balanced even with over 100 IBUs. The subtle malt backbone let's the "resin-y", piney hops shine through; it's an ode to hops in a glass. 

The quiet beer hall was a prime location to sip on my beer and enjoy a book. I'm currently reading Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures, which I actually started to read when Walter and I first started dating. It's a great book from one of my favorite authors, it has just been one of those books that I seem to pick up to read at the wrong time, like at a bar where I get distracted by the cool beers and interesting people. 

A few people wandered into the bar, curious to discover new beer. I, of course, encouraged the person next to me to try MIA's Kilty Pleasure, which he did with great success. And that's what this place is all about; discovering new breweries, styles, and beers, and sharing our mutual love of beer. Boxelder brings the taproom experience to you. It's an excellent addition to the Miami craft beer scene. 

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog! This blog is dedicated to beer experiences and homebrew adventures. This is my space to track my love of all things beer related!

Growing up in Fort Collins, there was always an abundance of craft beer. The first beer I ever finished by myself was New Belgium's winter seasonal, 2° Below Winter Ale. I can't say that I particularly enjoyed it back then. I remember it being bitter, so bitter I struggled to drink it. But when you're in high school trying to get drunk with friends, any beer will do. Instead of PBR 30 racks or Natty Ice, the only beer we could find was New Belgium 2° Below. That was my first adventure into the world of craft beer, and little did I know, that acrid beverage would turn out to be my calling. I still can't say that I enjoy that beer but for a very different reason: it's not bitter enough!

This blog is where I will explore new beers, revisit old beers, and document homebrew recipes and methods!