S ER VIN G TH E S AN D IEGO C RAF T B EE R C OM MU N ITY


TABLE OF CONTENTS Letter from the Editor Into the Brew


Brews in the News


3 4 5


New Column: Plates & Pints 6 All-Grain Techniques


7


Pro-Am Beers, Resources, Advice


Beer and Now


Doggie Beer Bones SD Beer Book


The Nameless Beermaid June Beer Events New Directory


8-9 10 11 12 13 14 15


A brew day with local homebrew club Foam on the Brain


Join the Club A glance at the numerous homebrew clubs in SD


By Stan Sisson S


o, you are enjoying one of your favorite craft beers, and it occurs to you. “Hey, I’ll bet I could make beer like this at home, how hard could it be?” So, you google around a bit, and sure enough, the Mr. Beer kit comes to the res- cue. But, as you gaze at what they are of- fering, you are thinking, “Well, I thought it would be harder than this.” Luckily for you, you decide to do a little more research before taking the plunge into the homebrewing hobby. This is where you discover that there are many more like-


Take the Leap Brewing all-grain beer


By Ryan Reschan A


fraid to make the leap to all-grain brewing? Don’t be. It’s not that difficult, but it’s certainly not for


every homebrewer. Making the switch does require more of an investment and leads to a longer brewing day, but the end result can be absolutely worth it. Not only will all-grain brewing potentially make better beer, but you have more control over the brewing process. All that and it’s cheaper than brewing with extract. Don’t get me wrong, you can brew some fantas- tic extract brews, but all-grain does give you more options. Most homebrewers are brewing up five gallon batches of beers so I’ll use that as my reference. First off, you’re probably going to need a bigger boil kettle. Depending on the length of the boil and how aggressively you boil, you’re going to need a kettle that can easily handle 6.5 gallons of liquid. With all-grain brewing you’re not going to be adding water to your fermenter, you’re going to be collecting wort (the pre-fer- mentation liquid) from the mash tun (more on this in a bit) and then boiling it down to the desired amount. Large pots in the 32 to 60 quart range can get expensive, so what to look for will depend on your budget.


minded individuals here in San Diego, and yikes, they have even formed clubs. Homebrewing is growing in San Diego.


Visit a local homebrew club meeting and you may have trouble finding a seat because the hobby is steadily gaining popularity. Joining a homebrew club is probably the best way to learn more about brewing, and the camaraderie and social benefits far outweigh the modest dues. Did I mention that free beer is served at the meetings?


Each homebrew club has its own unique


personality, and some brewers belong to more than one club. The Barley Literates (barleyliterate.com) are a fun-loving group that especially like to camp. They meet the 3rd Wednesday of the month at Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido. CHUG (chugsd.com) is a newer club that embraces the smaller and less formal aspect of homebrew clubs, almost an anti-club club. Foam on the Brain (foamies.net) is the “drinking club with a social problem,” and they meet the 3rd Saturday of the month at San Diego Brewing Company. The North County Homebrewers Association (meetup.com/northcounty- homebrewers) is a group whose meet- ings move around to different locations, and generally involve plenty of food and homebrew. The Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity (quaff.org) is a large group of diverse members. They meet the 4th Tuesday of the month at Randy Jones All American Sports Grill in Mission Valley. Finally, the Society of Barley Engineers (societyofbarley- engineers.org) have ties to Stone, and meet at Stone the 1st Wednesday of the month.


Each club has social events through- out the year, and there are some events where multiple clubs gather together to share the spirit of homebrewing. The biggest of these is the Southern Cali- fornia Home Brew Festival, which just occurred on April 30th and May 1st, up at Lake Casitas in Ojai, CA. Another event, the fall Octoberfest picnic, was turned into a multi-club affair. Then there’s Spring Fling, a club campout


Continued on Page 3


On the high end you have Blichmann with their stainless steel kettles with valves, thermometers and sight gauges, while Po- lar Ware keeps it simpler with just valves and thermometers. For budget brew- ers, look to the used market for the best bargains. Kegs that have been converted into boil kettles might be on the large side but there are some deals out there for them. A simple stock pot could even be used and you can find those at restaurant supply stores. You’ll often find some very large aluminum pots that can be used for boiling at very cheap prices (well under $100) compared to the more expensive


stainless pots. But don’t get rid of your current brew kettle, you can still use that in all-grain brewing for strike and sparge water.


In extract brewing, the converting of the starches from the grain into fermentable sugars is already done for you in liquid or dry malt extract. For all-grain brewing you are going to need to do this process yourself. The process of mashing (combining water and grain) is done in a mash tun. Mash tuns can come in all kinds of configurations. Water coolers and ice


Continued on Page 7


A recent all-grain brewing class at Home Brews & Gardens in North Park

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