After lunch, the real treat began. We saw a guy making his way through the dining room wearing black rubber boots and a white jumpsuit. Someone suggested it might be the Orkin man spraying for bugs, but it turned out to be Brew-master, Tom Anderson. After some brief introductions, we presented him with a vintage ECHO 2007 Oak-aged Russian Imperial Stout and it was clear we’d made a new friend. For an amazing two full hours, we got schooled in professional brewing.
Tom walked us through the entire 7 barrel system that was incredibly close-quartered in a space about 10 ft by 15 ft with a tiny desk and bookshelf crammed with 3-ring binders of recipes. We sampled a variety of finished beers and beers in progress while Tom educated our noses, as well as out palates. Then we got REALLY serious as he brought out the good stuff from the back of the cellar. We sampled a funky, Begian Dubble flavored with aseptic blueberries. It had a spicy characteristic that Tom attributed to the yeast and a pronounced warming from the 10% alcohol. At two years old, it was a beer with legs. Tom broke out a Barleywine with a silky smooth balance that immediately proved why it took a Gold Medal in last year’s Best Florida Beer Competition in Tampa.
It was pretty clear that Tom enjoyed having such an appreciative audience and his hospitality was far more than we ever dreamed. Home brewers would pay big money for a couple hours of tutoring from such a professional. Tom presented us with a gift of 1.6 lbs of Breiss Cherry wood smoked malt and a Liter of McGuire’s proprietary yeast slurry to experiment with at our next club brew. The yeast is known as “angry yeast” because it is so volatile. Tom said it should take no more than 3 days for a 5 gallon batch. Let’s get a discussion going in the forum and formulate something special.
Tom also surprised us by inviting us to come brew with him. He prefers no more than 2 volunteer helpers at a time. They brew three times per week, so call ahead to confirm the schedule. Show up at the side door of the brewery by 9 am with rubber boots to protect your feet from chemicals. He’ll put you to work from dough-in to rake out. It’s a great opportunity to spend a day as a wannabe pro brewer and really get a feel for brewing on an awesome 7 barrel system.
So, what did we learn from Tom? Here were the tips that stuck in my mind the most. There might have been more, but the Barleywine sampling may have clouded my memory. :)
1. Keep it simple. Grain bills should not be complicated and recipes should be easy to duplicate.
2. Yeast is hardier than you think. Conventional wisdom is the yeast will mutate beyond five generations. Not so, according to Tom who repitches the same yeast indefinitely. He also uses the SAME yeast for ALL his regular served beers whether it is a light beer or a stout. The only time he uses different yeast is for the occasional seasonal beer like Hefes that require it. And even then, he disposes it afterwards.
3. Keep it fresh! There are very few beers that age well. It’s always better to keep the stock moving and keep it fresh.
To view all of the photos from the field trip, check out the web album:
