Armed with a Dr. Feelgood beer, brewed on site at Bitter & Estes, and a manual, instructor and co-founder, John LaPolla gave us step-by-step instruction on homebrewing. Bitter & Esters offers the following classes: Brewshop 101, Brew Like a Pro, Brew on premises and Advanced classes. Tonight I would partake in Brewshop 101 – Home Brewing Essentials.
John gave the last a detailed list of making the perfect batch of beer. We learned the necessities of general preparation such as sanitizing EVERYTHING, bottling, equipment needed, and avoiding common home brewing mistakes. We learned about the various types of Grains (did you know darker grains contribute to the color of the brewed beer?), different types of Malts (Base Malts, Kilned Malts, Caramel Malts and Roasted Malts), the facts that Hops come in three forms – Whole Leaf, Hop Plugs and Pellets (two of the three are pictured below) and measuring the bitterness of hops in beer (btw, this is called an IBU – International Bittering Unit).
To get a more detailed view and knowledge of the class, I invite you to partake in the two-hour class offered via Vimbly – Brewshop 101: Home Beer Brewing Essentials – the class is really fun and interactive and John is quite hilarious . And don’t worry if you are a beer novice, you will walk out with a vast knowledge of proper home brewing. Check out a few more pictures from the class below:
