Becky Rochester, Brewer. At least for a day.

On Monday, November 12, 2012 I dusted off my old work boots and headed to Deschutes Brewery where I was going to be a Brewer for the day. My interdepartmental started in the Huppmann Brewhouse with Brewer Brent. Seven batches of Mirror Pond Pale Ale was on the whiteboard. “No sweat,” he said. We brewed batch after batch adding things like hops and gypsum and moss as prompted on the computer. He gave me a tour of the Huppmann Brewhouse including downstairs. We transferred some wort from one of the batches into the yeast propagation tanks to feed the yeast and keep them happy. We also changed out a water filter.

Where the magic happens

Brewer Brent showed me the ropes on the computers and as the morning progressed I was able to dump some hops in the boil kettle. Brewing in the Huppmann seemed like a piece of cake compared to some of the wineries I have worked in. I was dry and clean and happy.

Huppmann Brewhouse Computer System

Getting setup in the Huppmann Brewhouse

Later in the day I got to spend some time in the cellar with Ryan. This is where the action is! We transferred some Jubelale through the centrifuge and monitored the carbon dioxide levels with a Gehaltemeter, and we re-carbonated the Jubelale up to spec. We also signed off on some nitro stouts in two tanks by timing the pouring and settling in the glass. I volunteered to be the taste tester. We used the clean in place system and got some caustic for cleaning. By the end of the day, I was finally dirty. Now I felt like a true Brewer. There is nothing like a hard day of work.

I learned a lot during my time as a Brewer for the day experience. For one, there are many similarities between winemaking and brewing. I realized that I still enjoy manual labor. Brewing has a lot more leeway when it comes to creativity and styles. While Deschutes Brewery is the most computerized place I have worked in, it still takes a lot of hard work to make damn tasty beer.

Cheers,

Becky Rochester, Brewer. At least for a day.

Practice is the best of all instructors

Today I attended my first session of sensory training at work. We lined up ten samples of a pale ale spiked with various sensory elements that can be found in beer (both good and bad aromas and flavors) along with a reference sample (#11).

Here are the ten sensory elements I learned today:

1. Isovaleric Acid: aroma, stinky cheese, can be caused from improper storage of hops or by bacterial infection.
2. Diacetyl: aroma/flavor, buttery and butterscotch, can be caused from yeast or from dirty draft lines.
3. Chlorophenol: aroma, Band-Aid or disinfectant, can be caused from water.
4. Geraniol: aroma, rose-like and fruity.
5. Earthy: aroma/flavor, damp soil, freshly dug soil, can be caused from water.
6. Almond: aroma/flavor, bitter almonds and Marizpan, can be caused by aging of beer.
7. Phenolic: aroma/flavor, spicy, herbal, clove.
8. Catty: aroma/ flavor, tom cat urine, can be caused from certain hop varieties.
9. Isoamyl Acetate: aroma, Laffy Taffy Banana, fruity.
10. Onion: aroma, garlic and onion, can be caused from hops.

Beer sensory analysis is similar to winetasting sensory analysis. Eight years of working in the wine industry with many tastings and classes may have helped me today. There are some differences in descriptors ie: earthy in beer is damp soil and earthy in wine is more like tobacco, leather and barnyard. Unlike winetasting where you spit out the sample after swirling it in your mouth, in beer tasting you have to swallow the sample in order for it to register on your flavor receptors at the back of your mouth.

At the end of the session, there was a blind tasting test where we had to identify the ten samples and what was wrong with them. I scored 10/10. Not too bad for my first time, eh? I have never smelled or tasted beer quite like this before.

Hopefully, I will continue to expand my beer tasting skills and knowledge of craft beer. That takes time and commitment. As Pubililius Syrus (Roman author, 1st Century B.C.) once said, "Practice is the best of all instructors."