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Home-brewer mixes 'fun, science, art and cooking'

For award-winning Northglenn beermaker, the perfect pint is his passion

By Jay Dedrick, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 7, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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Home-brewer Dave Anderson mixes 'fun, science, art and cooking' for his award-winning ale and other beers. The Rocky was there as he brewed a batch of his cream ale.

Video Video: Home-brewer Dave Anderson mixes 'fun, science, art and cooking' for his award-winning ale and other beers. The Rocky was there as he brewed a batch of his cream ale. Watch »

Home-brewing supplies in David Anderson's backyard.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News

Home-brewing supplies in David Anderson's backyard.

Award-winning home-brewer David Anderson, left, and his friend Christopher Wilmott prepare a batch of Anderson's cream ale in Anderson's backyard in Northglenn.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News

Award-winning home-brewer David Anderson, left, and his friend Christopher Wilmott prepare a batch of Anderson's cream ale in Anderson's backyard in Northglenn.

Milled, malted barley is added to boiling water to make "mash". This is what gives the beer its sweet, malty character.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News

Milled, malted barley is added to boiling water to make "mash". This is what gives the beer its sweet, malty character.

Flowers buds from the hops plant add flavor and aroma to the finished product.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News

Flowers buds from the hops plant add flavor and aroma to the finished product.

Yeast is added to the wort in a glass fermenter. It takes about two weeks for fermentation to complete.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News

Yeast is added to the wort in a glass fermenter. It takes about two weeks for fermentation to complete.

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In the basement of David Anderson's Northglenn home, not far from the shelves full of board games and the weightlifting set, an oversized glass keg has been placed on a work bench, hidden from light by a dark plastic trash bag. It's filled with apple butter cyser, a beverage of fermented honey and apple cider, sitting on a bed of white raisins. Nearby, a similar glass vessel holds a brew inspired by Samichlaus, the world's strongest lager - 15 percent alcohol by volume.

Before too long, Anderson will be able to sip and savor the rarefied concoctions.

Yet not all that long ago, the insurance agent was most likely to celebrate a special occasion with a six-pack of Coors or Bud Light.

"I would pick up a Blue Moon or Fat Tire every once in a while," he says.

So what happened? He discovered home-brewing. Those unusual brews in his basement are batches of beer that he cooked up.

And in only four years, he's distinguished himself as a master of the hobby: Anderson was named this year's Homebrewer of the Year in the American Homebrewers Association's national contest. His cream ale won best of show, topping a slate of more than 5,700 beers.

If that sounds impressive, consider that the U.S. is home to about 750,000 home-brewers, according to the association. The Boulder-based trade group celebrates its 30th anniversary in November.

"There are a lot of engineers and scientists who love this hobby," says Anderson, 35, noting the chemistry-kit aspect of home-brewing. "I was just an average guy who enjoyed playing baseball, football, fishing."

In high school and college, baseball was this pitcher's passion. When his playing days ended, he tried to find a new pastime, dabbling in "guy" things like cigars and poker.

"I went years trying to find something I could be passionate about the way I was about baseball," he says. "I got the same kind of passion for home-brewing, and it hasn't gone away."

About four years ago, Anderson and his wife, Kari, were walking their dog in a park when they had a chance meeting with fellow dog owners who were picnicking. The other couple offered some of their home-brew creations, and Anderson was immediately intrigued.

"It was some of the most amazing beer I ever had," Anderson says. He was inspired to buy a basic start-up kit from a home-brew shop for about $100, and proceeded to brew four batches of beer in four weeks.

"I enjoy beer, but I also enjoy the idea of being able to brew beer that's craft quality or better," Anderson says. "It's fun, science, art and cooking - all wrapped up in one. Plus it has cool gadgets."

Anderson quickly upgraded from his beginner's kit. The basics for brewing a batch can be had for around $50 or so, with kits that rely on plastic buckets. At the high end, stainless steel systems that look like they'd be at home in a brewpub can run more than $3,000.

For the ingredients needed for a batch of his award-winning cream ale, Anderson spends less than $25, and he winds up with 52 beers (12-ounce servings). "If you do it right, you definitely save money (compared with store-bought beer)," he says. Like virtually all styles of beer, its foundation is four simple ingredients: water, grain (typically malted barley), hops and yeast. But the brewing isn't exactly simple.

It takes him about six hours to brew a batch, and that doesn't necessarily include all the time needed to sanitize gear and clean up his backyard porch laboratory. He finds recipes in books and on Web sites.

"There are enough of us crazy guys out there that you can find a recipe mimicking just about any style or brand of beer," he says. He tinkers with them, adding and subtracting ingredients - there's a little sugar in his cream ale - the way an expert baker strives for the perfect cake or cookie.

Anderson brews about once a month; that's about all the free time that family life affords him. He and Kari, an educator in Adams County schools, have two daughters, Taylor, 2, and Avery, 17 months. (When it came time to choose a name for the youngest, it didn't hurt that Avery is the name of a Colorado craft brewery.)

"My friends love me even more since I started home-brewing," Anderson says with a smile. "For holidays and picnics, it's a lot of fun to share my passion with them."

Kari, meanwhile, might be worthy of an award of her own - say, for world's most patient wife. Turns out she can't stand the taste of beer. And the day her husband agreed to brew a batch so visitors could learn how he does it? Their eighth wedding anniversary.

That kind of understanding deserves a toast.

dedrickj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5484

Great American Beer Festival

* When: 5:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; also 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday

* Where: Colorado Convention Center

* Tickets: sold out

* Info: beertown.org/events /gabf or 303-447-0816

Homebrewing at the Great American Beer Festival

During the 27th annual Great American Beer Festival, sold out for its Thursday through Saturday stand at the Colorado Convention Center, about 46,000 beer lovers will get tastes of the country's best beers. Some of those brews are the creation of home-brewers.

For the third year, the festival presents a Pro-Am Competition, pairing professional brewers with amateurs to produce big batches of homebrew recipes. Each participating hobbyist's brew had to win a previous contest to get this far; this weekend, their scaled-up versions are pitted against one another. Judges will name a winner during the festival.

"Home-brewers are the driving force behind beer culture in this country," says Gary Glass, director of the Boulder-based American Homebrewers Association. "Almost all the brewers who work for craft breweries got their start as home-brewers."

David Anderson was too late to submit his award-winning cream ale for this year's competition, but he plans to team with a local brewer in time to enter next year.

How it's done

1. Boil water in a brew pot, a large kettle big enough for at least 5 gallons. You could do this on a stovetop; Anderson does it outside on his back porch, using propane-burner stoves. Heat water to about 156 degrees.

2. Add milled, malted barley. It will look like oatmeal, but what you've made is called mash (above). The hot water needs about an hour to extract the sugars from the grain, which will give the finished beer its sweet, malty character.

3. Add more hot water to the mash, then drain the water, separating it from the grain. The resulting liquid is called wort (pronounced wert).

4. After bringing the wort to a boil, add hops - the flower bud of the hop plant (above). Hops balance the sweetness of the wort, add flavor and aroma and act as a preservative. Boil for an hour; extra hops may be added along the way for more flavor and aroma, depending on the recipe.

5. Chill the wort, so that it may be poured into a glass container (carboy) or a newer bucket. Use a wort chiller (a copper snake of coils for circulating cold water, left) or place the kettle in a sink of ice water.

6. Once the wort is in the glass fermenter, add yeast, which is required for fermentation. Wait about two weeks, until fermentation is complete.

7. Either bottle the beer and wait two weeks for carbonation, or pour into kegs and wait only a few days. Anderson shows the result.

Learn more

What to do if you're interested in exploring home-brewing:

* Get reading. Zymurgy for Beginners is a 35-page guide to getting started with homebrewing. It includes detailed equipment lists, instructions and recipes. Find the free download from the American Homebrewers Association at beertown.org/homebrewing/beginning.html

* Visit a home-brew supply shop. There are several along the Front Range; for a directory, go to beertown.org/apps/ shops/index.aspx

* Clear your calendar on Nov. 1. It's the 10th annual Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day, sponsored by the American Homebrewers Association. From noon to 3 p.m., the group hosts a membership rally at Hops Grill and Brewery in Northglenn. Cost is $33 for new and renewing members, and includes a 1-year membership in the AHA. For details and listings of other events, go to beertown.org/events.

Comments

  • October 9, 2008

    6:57 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    sue27 writes:

    Intermediate kits are a lot easier. Instead of malting your own grains, you use a malt extract. You don't need as big of a cooking pot and it takes a lot less time and you don't need an expensive wort chiller. (You want to chill the wort as quick as possible to avoid contaminants.)

  • October 9, 2008

    2:04 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    eagleye writes:

    Not that I expect anyone would actually brew beer by following the steps listed above, but they left out one extremely important one: After chilling the wort, add yeast. It's not beer without yeast!

  • October 9, 2008

    2:06 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    eagleye writes:

    Never mind. I see someone edited it later to add steps 7 and 6 (in that order).

  • October 14, 2008

    4:39 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Jay Dedrick writes:

    Eagleye -- thanks for pointing out the goof. We managed to get steps 1 through 7 in order in the paper, but something funny happened on the story's way to the Web. Now fixed.