Commercial Brewer from Arkansas still Homebrewing

[Fedora]

Hey everybody. I'll try to make a very long story short. I started homebrewing in 2005. Did a bunch of extract brews, and wasn't long till I went all grain. Built a keggle based 3 teir system. Enjoyed it for several years. Set up a three keg keezer in my bedroom. Then life changed... Went out on the road with a job. Sold all my equipment. Got married in the process.

Fast forward two years, I'm back in the Ozarks. Sitting in my local brew pub drinking beer . I ask for a tour of the brewery and end up walking out with a job. Head Brewer.... I was the best they could get.... Lol...

I'm having a great time brewing on the weekends. Hold down my full time

 

[Fedora]

As a welder during the week. I'm brewing on a 15.5 gal Sabco system at the brewery. At home I prefer to keep it simple. Brewing extract beers and a new draft system in the works. Glad to be part of the board and cheers to everybody....

 

[aStoutObserver]

Very cool story. What's the brewery name? Have any good recipes to share?

 

[Fedora]

Hey Stout Observer. The brewery is in an eatery/ brewpub called Brick Oven Pizza Co.. It's located in Harrison, Ar. I'll be sure and write up a couple recipes and share in the recipes forum when I get some time. Brewing a Porter tomorrow. It'll be the first Porter I've brewed on this system and a new recipe so we'll see how it turns out.

 

[aStoutObserver]

I hope it turns out well. Welcome to the community.

 

[unionrdr]

Glad to see you've come full circle. This is definitely the place to be!

 

[ncbrewer]

Welcome to HBT. Don't burn yourself out on brewing!

 

[Fedora]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. Seems like a great place. Very busy! Ha never even considered burning out on brewing. Guess it's a possibility. I'll be careful....

I snapped some pictures during the brew today and would like to post them up but I'm unsure about the picture protocol here. Will they auto resize? Im not sure about resizing on my phone. Don't wanna blow up the site with huge pictures.... If someone could give me the scoop or point me to some relevant information I would owe said person a beer sometime in the future...

 

[aStoutObserver]

I've only posted a few times from my mobile phone and it was just real simple. I'd just post one here and see in this thread ha.

 

[Fedora]

You got it ASO! I guess that qualifies for a free beer ( if it works haha). You'll have to come to Ar to get it though... So here we go. A picture of my brew rig. Sabco Brewmagic.....

 

[hawgwild81]

Is that Brick Oven any relation to the one here in Cabot owned by Scott Stevens? I know a few people that work for him, just curious. Congrats on your brewing gig!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Fedora]

Thanks Hawg, I believe they are sister stores owned by the same person. Scott Stevens apparently. I've been there 9 months but have not met the owner. There is also a store in Paragould that the owners are remodeling to accommodate a two barrel brewery. They will be selling in house as well as bottling for sale in stores. Word is if all goes well my store is next.

Well the last pic worked so I owe ASO a beer. Come on and get it. Hell I'll buy you three. I'll post one more here of my porter at a rolling boil. Meant to get a shot of my pint of oatmeal stout and the fermentation room but, well, I forgot.

 

[Paps]

congratz by somebody over in the Bentonille/Centerton/Gravette area.

 

[Fedora]

Thanks Paps. Hit me up via PM if your coming over this way and wanna see the brewery. I'll buy you a beer too. Same goes for any other home brewers in the area. I love buying beers if it means I get to drink one too. Hehe

 

[QuercusMax]

So how different are the systems you're brewing on between home and work? It sounds like they're both keggle-based systems, so I'm curious about the differences between your two brewing experiences.

 

[BransonBrewer]

I live just north of you in Branson. Do you just Breton the weekends? I would love to come down some weekend and watch you brew a batch.

Thanks Paps. Hit me up via PM if your coming over this way and wanna see the brewery. I'll buy you a beer too. Same goes for any other home brewers in the area. I love buying beers if it means I get to drink one too. Hehe

 

[Fedora]

@ Branson Brewer. Yes I usually only brew on the weekends and yes you are more than welcome to come down and sit in on brew day. Hell I could use a hand if your gonna be there anyway... I'll pm you with details.

 

[Fedora]

@ Q Max. Its been a few years since I ran my home keggle system. I just brew extracts at home to keep me and the old lady in beer. I get my all grain fix at work. Nothing wrong with a good extract beer.

To answer your question, well I dont have a really good answer to your question. On my home system I had a cooler as a mash tun and batch sparged. All gravity fed. It worked well and brewed great beer. I would put those beers up against the beers I brew on the commercial set up any day.

Of course the commercial set up is just a glorified home brew rig anyway. It's a computer controlled RIMS system and it works well. But I'm an old fashioned kind of guy and I would trade the CPU for a watch and a good thermometer in a heartbeat...

 

[BransonBrewer]

That sounds great. Me and my brother-in law do all grain and I would love to see it on a larger scale.

@ Branson Brewer. Yes I usually only brew on the weekends and yes you are more than welcome to come down and sit in on brew day. Hell I could use a hand if your gonna be there anyway... I'll pm you with details.