By Jared Curtis

It doesn’t matter if it flows from a tapper, a bottle, a keg or a can: People drink beer. Actually, they drink a lot of it.

According to beertown.org, 1,463 United States breweries were operating in 2007, not including home brewers. So it comes as no surprise that beer festivals have begun popping up all over the U.S. in recent years. These festivals not only provide taste testers with the American standards, Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser, Michelob and Busch varieties) and Pabst Brewing Company (Pabst Blue Ribbon, Old Milwaukee, Schlitz) among others, but also a chance to taste the hundreds of microbreweries and home brewers from all over the country.

Beer drinkers grow accustomed to a certain taste and flavor of beer and, like most people, are afraid of change, so they rarely dip their toe into the deep end of the world’s beer selection. Drinkers shouldn’t be afraid though; there is a whole world of different styles, flavors and tastes just waiting to be savored this weekend at Cityview’s second annual Brewfest.

“It’s enjoyable to watch people as they taste a good homebrew for the first time and are pleasantly flabbergasted by the flavor. Many folks ask ‘where can I buy one of these?’ or ‘can you sell this stuff to me on the side?’ It’s kind of like the ultimate compliment to the chef. Plus letting people try it, gets them interested in home brewing,” said Brian Sabus, a local home brewer from Johnston. “Additionally, if you are a true beer connoisseur, you can come up with all kinds of recipes that you enjoy and can make at home; no need to compromise at the supermarket. If you like super bitter or super malty, you can do it and model the beer to your own flavor preferences.”

Sabus said great beer can be produced relatively cheaply. “Plus it’s relaxing. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy a day of brewing. The smells are wonderful, the process is engaging and the enjoyment of a couple of home brewed pints while I’m at it make for a perfect day.”

Back in the day

Sabus began brewing his own beer back in the ’80s as a college student, but he didn’t immerse himself heavily until 1999. Once he got a taste for it, he hasn’t stopped brewing since.

“I did some extract and partial mash batches, then moved to all-grain batches with a system of coolers and pots,” Sabus said. “In 2003, I purchased parts and put together an all-grain, 15-gallon system and it resides in the third bay of my garage. I brew all my beer in this system now, and with its series of kettles, pumps, chillers and valves, I’m able to brew just about anything and everything I want in a reasonable amount of time.”

Sabus isn’t a brewing pioneer, just someone who wants an easier and more personal beer drinking experience. Just like a gardener proud of what grows in his garden, Sabus is proud of what comes out of his “still.”

“The main reason I homebrew is because I like beer and all the varieties it comes in so I thought, ‘Why not make it myself?’” he said. Sabus also trained in biological sciences and has been interested in the ancient processes of fermentation and the role it has played in world history.

Practice makes perfect

Would-be home brewers shouldn’t be scared off by the scientific aspect. Those involved claim home brewing is as simple as riding a bike and that it’s like everything in life — practice makes perfect.

“I really have no limitations on my creativity. I can brew anything I can come up with on a whim. Some beers I brew to style, some I don’t,” Sabus said. “I do all kinds of combinations and hybrids and once in a while I come up with something really good that you can’t buy anywhere. It is uniquely my own concoction, and there is a lot of personal satisfaction that comes from that.”

Sabus is bringing two of his own beers to Brewfest including his Kölsch beer and an American amber. The authentic Kölsch beers are only made in Cologne, Germany, so this will provide people a chance to try that regional beer, said Sabus. The true Kölsch designation refers to a beer style that can only be brewed within a 20-mile radius of metropolitan Cologne, in accordance with the Kölsch Convention, he said. This document, signed in 1985, protects the definition of Kölsch, designating where it can be produced, as well as specifying the shape of the glass in which it can be served.

“Another advantage of home brewing is I’m able to produce styles that are exceedingly difficult to get, especially with current beer laws in Iowa,” Sabus said. “The reason I chose the two I’m bringing is because they are both light to medium bodied beers, and they go good with summer weather.”

Brewing is defined as the production of alcoholic beverages and alcohol fuel through fermentation. According to beertown.org, all beers are brewed based on a simple formula. It involves mixing malted grain, which depends traditionally on where you live and what is at your disposal (usually barley, wheat or rye). After allowing the grain to germinate, it turns to malt and can be either dried in a kiln or roasted. This is where the beer receives its color. The more roasting allowed, the more the malt would take on a darker color and flavor. The malt is crushed into a substance called “grist” and mixed with heated water in a vat, which is called mashing. This is when the starch turns to sugar, which is a vital part of the fermentation process. After time, the liquid is drained from the grain and the mash rests at three different temperature levels, which plays a part in the beer’s proteins, releasing sugars for fermentation and turning the starches in the malt to sugar. After mashing is complete, the liquid is strained from the grains and called “wort.” The “wort” is moved to a large tank where it is boiled with hops, herbs and sugars. After cooling down, the “wort” is moved to a fermentation vessel where the yeast is added, converting the sugars from the malt into alcohol. After a period of one to three weeks, the beer is moved into conditioning tanks. After conditioning for as little as a week or as long as several months, the beer filters out remaining particles. Finally, the beer is bottled.

“The time it takes to create a batch really depends heavily on the style I’m brewing and what kind of mash schedule is needed to produce the beers. An average beer, like an American brown or a German wheat, takes about four to five hours from beginning the brewing process to clean-up,” Sabus said. “However, that doesn’t include the time to ferment the beer, condition the beer and carbonate the beer. This process can take anywhere from two weeks to literally months for the bigger, stronger beers.” Sabus adds that the better a brewer’s system gets over the years, including equipment, procedures, etc., the less time it takes to brew a batch.

Home brewers normally start out on a small scale, trying to hone their craft and decide what type of beer they like to drink. Matt Braafhart, who has been brewing beer from home for 10 years, was curious about the craft and started brewing his own beer after receiving a gift.

“I started brewing when my brother purchased a ‘Mr. Beer’ set for me,” Braafhart said. “After making a couple beers with ‘Mr. Beer,’ I decided to get more serious and went to the local homebrew store and purchased more equipment and some books. Then things got really interesting.”

Normally a home-brewed beer is packaged into a bottle for consumption, but Braafhart switched to a faster and easier process.

“I started out bottling until I learned of kegging and quickly switched over,” Braafhart said. “The process is much less time consuming, and the beer can be ready to drink quicker. If I want to take beer with me, I just fill up growlers.”

Home brewers can spend a wide range of money depending on the size of their operation. “Mr. Beer” kits start at $39.95, and more professional equipment can run more than $1,000, said Braafart.

“I started off trying to replicate beers that I enjoyed at the time — Blue Moon Belgian White and Boulevard Wheat. Of course that was 10 years ago and things have evolved quite a bit with micro brews easily available today. As my hobby evolved, so did my tastes and a craving — or maybe you could say addiction — for hops started to develop. I found myself adding more hops to every beer and eventually the Indian Pale Ale (IPA) and American Pale Ale (APA) emerged as my favorites,” said Braafhart, who created an APA and a raspberry flavored beer for Brewfest.

“I’ve made a few attempts at fruit beers and have been pretty pleased with the results, so I am bringing a Raspberry Cream Ale, which I have not done before but wanted to try. Raspberries are a little different than other fruits because of the excessive tartness. We’ll see how this one turns out.”

Not just for the boys

Home brewing is not just for the boys. Lauri Glasgow has been brewing beer for more than six years.

“You don't need a ‘Y’ chromosome to brew beer. It’s easier than you think, and it doesn’t cost a lot to get started,” Glasgow said. “You can be as technical as you want or as crazy and inventive as needed.”

Glasgow enjoys beer but also appreciates the camaraderie of the local home brewing scene. She is bringing her obsidian oatmeal coffee stout, “the perfect Sunday morning beer,” as well as a peaches and cream ale and a hard cider with Tahitian vanilla beans and Turbinado sugar to Brewfest.

“It’s a great bunch of people to know and hang out with. Believe it or not, there are hundreds of home brewers in the Des Moines area alone,” Glasgow said. “I probably know over a thousand home brewers from around the country.”

There are two main families of beer — lagers and ales. The type is determined by the variety of yeast used in the brewing process. Four types of beer fall under the lager category: American style pale lager, pilsner, light lager and dark lager. The main three ales include brown ale, porter and stout. Although these are not the only types of beers produced, they are some of the more popular varieties with homebrewers like Sabus, Glasgow and Braafhart.

“People should be interested in brewing their own beer. It gives you full control over the style that you want and the ability to craft a beer that is specific to your tastes. There are endless possibilities in home brewing, and the results are very rewarding,” Braafhart said. “For me there are few things in life as rewarding as sitting in my back yard on a hot summer day drinking my favorite beer and thinking to myself, ‘I made this.’” CV

Brewfest returns for another round

Ready for another round? The Second Annual Cityview Brewfest will be held Saturday from 3 to 8 p.m. in downtown Des Moines. The event will feature more than 250 beers, and admission includes unlimited beer samples. Local bands Brother Trucker and Mooseknuckle will perform, and food will be available. Tickets are $25 in advance at el Bait Shop and $28 at the door. Designated drivers pay $10. A Father’s Day Beer & I-Cubs Baseball combo that includes two I-Cub tickets and admission to Brewfest, costs $30. The event will be held in the parking lot of the former Des Moines Brewing Co., 322 Third St., just south of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and across from the Science Center of Iowa. For more information, visit http://www.dmcityview.com/brewfest.

Bottom’s up: Microbrewing industry not tapped out

By Matt Miller

When all 292 samples of beer flow at this year’s Brewfest, you can be sure novice beer drinkers and beer connoisseurs are enjoying each taste to the last drop. Each sample is poured, tested and in the end, hopefully savored. But do you really know the history of microbreweries and how that beer either left your mouth watering for more or gave you that dreaded “bitter-beer face?”

According to www.microbrewforum.com, the definition of a microbrewery is, “any brewery that produces fewer than half a million gallons, or 15,000 gallons of beer per year” and dates back to the early 1600s when immigrants arrived in North America and brewed their own beer from corn they grew.

As the times changed, so did the beer itself. Popularity for brewing continued to increase during the late 1970s, but by the end of the decade, major industries were taking a hit. America’s taste buds were changing, and people began making their own beer as the idea of microbrewing was beginning to take shape in America.

Brewing popularity became evident during the 1990s. According to www.beertown.com, the annual volume growth increased from 35 percent in 1991 to 51 percent in 1995. By 2002, there were 369 microbreweries.

“Microbrewing is really a popular hobby these days,” said Jeff Bruning, co-owner of Full Court Press. “Anyone can make it and some of the beers that are created taste great.”

Besides having more than 100 beers on tap at el Bait Shop, another popular attraction to the downtown bar is “Jimmy Carter Happy Hour.” The event, which happens every Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m., is named after Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States. President Carter legalized homebrewing when he signed the congressionally approved bill into law in February 1979. This approval strengthened the interest Americans had for beer and the number of microbrewers around the country continued to increase.

Brian Lenderts, a homebrewer from Johnston, recently shared his German Pilsner and American Pale Ale brews with those looking to enjoy a “cold one” at the Happy Hour.

“I enjoy ‘Jimmy Carter Happy Hour’ because it allows brewers to showcase the beers they have made,” said Lenderts. “It’s interesting to get people’s opinions on how the beer tastes.”

“Brewfest will be a great time,” said Bruning. “Besides sampling the beers, there will be live music. Brewfest is fun for the expert and exciting for the novice. The idea I get from it is like an adult in the candy store. You can’t go wrong.” CV

Comment on this story | Return to top