Homebrewing pays off with boundless variety

If you’ve ever considered brewmeistering, award-winning home brewer Mark Taylor is geared up to get you started. Eight years ago, Taylor was fascinated by a demonstration at Seven Bridges Cooperative, the organic home brewing supply house on River Street.

“I was just curious,” he says. “I was struck by how interesting it was, and how you can make beer for yourself in any style you want. It’s unlimited.”

Taylor is offering two courses though Cabrillo College Extension. On Saturday Sept. 20, he will lead Beer Tasting and Appreciation ($60), delving into history, techniques, and taste characteristics of nine noteworthy styles.

In Beer Brewing at Home ($198), meeting five Sundays beginning Sept. 28, Mark will demonstrate the simplicity of turning grain into liquid sunshine.

Taylor estimates that a pint of beer from his ten-gallon recipe costs just 35 cents. Compared to $4.50 at the pub plus gratuity, savings on a single batch almost cover tuition and a basic fermentation kit.

The class commences with a common recipe using dry malt extract, or DME, in lieu of grain. Following fermentation in plastic buckets, corn sugar is added before bottling, which the beer’s residual yeast transforms into natural carbonation.

“The first class in brewing is going to be basically a lesson on how to make five gallons of beer on your stovetop,” Mark says, “without all the science involved.”

For the second beer, likely a stout, Mark will combine DME and malted (germinated and roasted) grains.

“So you can’t really make beer out of just barley,” Taylor says. “It has to be malted first. Then when you mash it, you basically crack the grain, and if it’s in 150-degree water, there’s an enzyme that will break down that starch into more fermentable sugars.”

Taylor will introduce important scientific principles as the course progresses. For instance, sugar concentration in the wort (rhymes with skirt) is measured with a hydrometer, a simple buoyancy device. Yeast turns some of this sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, and the proper amount of bittering hops balances the rest.

Ales are a good starting point for beginning brewers, fermenting at typical garage temperatures for just seven to ten days.

“With lagers, you really have to ferment the beer in 50 degree temperatures,” Taylor says. “Most people don’t have the refrigeration to do that. With an ale, you can ferment at 65 degrees.”

Taylor is active in the American Homebrewers Association as well as the Central Coast Zymurgeeks, who meet monthly for mutual education, and staff the County Fair’s homebrewing exhibit.

Zymurgy, the science of brewing named for that enzyme identified by Eduoard Buchner, is the final word in the dictionary. So finally, I contemplate potential rewards this new hobby could command. Perhaps potluck invitations, or points on the home front for a newly organized garage.

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