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Have you been to HomeBrewTalk? Then you know who Yooper is. There are few names in the brewing world that need little to no introduction, and although you may not know her real name (It's Lorena) you know her username and the trade mark dominatrix avatar that punctuates her post (Most of the Time). One of the more influential members and brewers, it was my pleasure to sit down with this Queen of Brewing for our Brew and A, Legends in Brewing.
Real Name: Lorena Evans
Joe's Ancient Orange Mead
Dogfish Head 60 Minute Clone
Da Yooper's House Pale Ale
Banana Wine
A Brewing Water Chemistry Primer
Stone Ruination Clone
And her very first post here to HomeBrewTalk
Brand new brewer questions
TxBrew: How did you start brewing?
Lorena: I had been making wine for quite a while, and I enjoyed that but beer seemed way too "hard". Perhaps it was the boil (wine doesn't generally get heated), or the various ingredients like hops that were unfamiliar to me but my perception was that beer making was for pros. My teammate broke my leg during a hockey game by skating into me, and I was laid up for nearly 18 months during recovery. By day three, I was bored out of my mind. I had tried the "Beer Machine 2000" back in, well, 2000, and the beer out of that was terrible. But since I had the winemaking gear, and a lot of time, I gave it another try. I bought a Brewer's Best pre-packaged kit, and brewed on my stovetop while on crutches. It was easy enough, and the beer was actually pretty good- and I was hooked.
Some of last fall's wine:
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TxBrew: What's your favorite wine? What do you brew more of beer or wine?
Lorena: That's a hard question! My favorite wine style is cabernet franc, but I don't really have a favorite vintner. I do love the cab francs of Michigan's Mission Peninsula, but a few years ago I was introduced to the ones in New York's Finger Lakes area (by the_bird and PaultheNurse) and those are great as well. Gallon wise, I may make more wine than beer but I haven't really tried to figure that out. It may be close!
TxBrew: What's your favorite beer?
Lorena: I don't have a particular favorite, by my favorite styles are always hoppy styles. I'd say that American IPA is probably my favorite style when I walk into a brewpub and I'm most likely to order that.
TxBrew: Who makes your favorite American IPA? What's your favorite IPA recipe?
Lorena: My favorite commercial IPA varies- a good local one is by Tribute Brewing Company in Eagle River, Wisconsin, but I love Lakefront's (Milwaukee) and I'd put Surly Furious at the top as well. I have two favorite recipes, totally different from each other. One is homegrown hops, with a little victory malt, and one is a traditional simcoe/amarillo hopped IPA like my DFH 60 minute clone recipe.
TxBrew: What's one piece if your brew setup you can't live without?
Lorena: A pump, I think! As I get older, I appreciate not doing the heavy lifting as much any more and it makes my brewdays more tolerable. Still, I've been putting my setup together for years and I really have tweaked it to get exactly what I want when I need it so it would be difficult to give up any part of it.
TxBrew: What's the worst product you've ever used?
Lorena: Cooper's kits. No question. Maybe the second worst was John Bull prehopped canned extract.
TxBrew: What did you hate about the Cooper's Kit?
Lorena: The thing I found frustrating was that even by exactly following the package directions you can't make a very good product. It never occurred to me that I shouldn't actually follow the directions, and to google it. Maybe if I had found this forum first, I could have made a drinkable product but it wasn't likely from the instructions.
TxBrew: Why do you homebrew?
Lorena: Partly I brew at home because of where I live. In no-man's-beer-land, it's difficult to even find a selection of good craft beer. There are wonderful Michigan breweries, but many don't distribute "above the bridge". There are wonderful Wisconsin breweries, where our distributors are from as a rule, but many don't distribute out of Wisconsin. So I find myself unable to get even "local"ish craft beer. That, and I like being sort of a "hippie" type- growing my own food, hunting, making my own soap to avoid chemicals, etc, and there is great satisfaction in walking up and pouring yourself a homemade beer, from homegrown hops, out of a homemade kegerator!
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Bob with some of our homegrown cascade hops (and some in the background) last fall.
TxBrew: Your varying crafts are impressive. What started you down this path? Is it all part of the Yooper spirit? How do you find time to get everything accomplished?
Lorena: I'm not sure why I became interested in homemade crafts. It wasn't in my nature as a young person. But once I started by hunting and fishing, then growing my own food, it stirred something in me. I buy little from the grocery store, and enjoy a real freedom by doing things for myself. I guess that is what ignited my passion for brewing and winemaking, and then soapmaking and other hobbies came about naturally. Luckily, I'm semi-(mostly) retired and have time to do things that I did not have time for when I was younger.
TxBrew: What's your homebrewing style - extract, partial mash, all-grain, biab, or ?
Lorena: All electric 10 gallon single tier HERMS, indoors.
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My friend Leon (lschiavo on this forum) did most of the work on this- the control panel, the HLT, the bottom draining MLT, etc, gradually as I changed it from what I had. I did put the stickers on all by myself.
TxBrew: You need more stickers. Do you have a brew room, or does your rig live in your bedroom with you and Bob, as a member of the family?
Lorena: Ha! My rig is growing up nicely, and has gone from a baby to a toddler, and now to an adolescent. I don't know if it will ever be 'done'. He lives in my first floor laundry room, because he's been known to make a mess.
TxBrew: Tell us about one of your most memorable homebrewing experiences
Lorena: At my first National Homebrewers Conference, Ray Daniels stood next to me, drinking my IPA and telling me that he loved it and asked for some more. That really sticks out in my mind!
TxBrew: That is impressive. I'm sure people feel that way when they are sitting next to you drinking a beer though. You went to the NHC this year. Did you have a good time? Anything you can share from the conference?
Lorena: I always learn new things at the NHC! Either I am a slow learner, or there is always more to learn in this hobby. I always have a great time. Part of it is being introduced to the beer scene in a new city, and part of it is the fellowship of other homebrewers and the camaraderie. I think that is what I would like to tell others- even if you attend by yourself, very shortly you will have new friends and be filled with new ideas!
TxBrew: Describe the perfect beer - style, aroma, flavor, etc.
Lorena: I appreciate a lot of variety in beers, but as a BJCP judge, I tend to deconstruct the beer according to style guidelines. I'm not a beer Nazi, necessarily , but for me "the perfect beer" would be one that is the perfect example of a certain style. I don't think I've ever had "the perfect beer", but an example to me is Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald- it's "the" robust porter and I really enjoy that beer.
TxBrew: Have you ever had a beer in a competition that made you want the recipe (Blew your mind? I'm not coming up with a great way of wording that right now, but you get what I'm getting at.)?
Lorena: Yes! I have judged a few competitions where I tasted such a great example of the style that I did want the recipe. One was a sweet stout, and it was quite memorable. Months later, I was at a NHC and I 'recognized' that beer, believe it or not. It was by a brewer near Marshfield, Wisconsin, and I found him at the NHC and told him that I remembered his beer from a competition I judged and enjoyed it again. It was a pleasure meeting him in person!
TxBrew: What's your dream brew rig, and how would you assemble it?
Lorena: I don't really have a vision of a dream brew rig, but I have a vision of an ideal fermentation area. Glycol heating and cooling conical fermenters so that I never have to lift another carboy in my entire life would be a dream!
TxBrew: What is the one piece of advice you wish someone would've giving you when you first started?
Lorena: RDWHAHB.
Oh, I know that I probably did get that. I read "The Joy of Homebrewing". But I obsessed about so many things anyway. Now, I am still quite a stickler for detail but far more relaxed about most things concerning beer. After all, it's only beer. You can make more!
I very much appreciate Lorena taking the time to answer my question. There's a lot more to her and her story so if you have any questions of your own I highly suggest posting them into the comments section.
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Great interview! Thanks for taking the time, both of you!
 
Its nice to put a face to the beers I brew from your posts. So far my favorite beer has been your electric APA. Awesome. Thank you.
 
Good to see you. Now you are a real person! You have more going on on that table than I get to in a year, or even 2.
You've given great advice to all the HBT members over the years. And maybe I'll give hop growing another try next year. My last attempt completely fizzled.
 
TIC - that's how I likes my womens: barefoot and mash paddle in hand!! Yooper is an awesome person and brewer and I am so happy to have met her acquaintance at NHC Philly last year! Wish I could have made it this year, but definitely planning to get there next year as it is a fabulous brewer experience! Hope to see ya there Lorena! Oh, leave your hip check in MI please!! PLEASE!!! Grin!!
 
Great interview! Thank you, Yooper, for all the great advice and info you've posted here. I've learned a lot from you, and I LOVE your Oatmeal Stout recipe! I have a question about that picture of Bob with your hops. The hops behind him don't appear to be growing up a string like most hops bines I've seen. They appear to be growing more like a bush. Can you please explain how you grow your hops? Thanks!!
 
Thank you everyone for the kind words. Stonebrewer, that wasn't a hip check, it was a body check. That's why you flew so far when I nailed you. sorry about that.
Craigger, I have so many hops plants that I just sort of let them grow on this arbor and don't do much to them at all. It probably isn't the most productive way, but it's pretty next to our deck and we got about 3 pounds of (dried) hops off of it so it's plenty enough. We have other varieties too, like the chinook ones, that grow even bigger and better up a chainlink fence by our garden. It's pretty, plus we do get a ton of hops out of them, even without the 'traditional' way.
 
Thanks, Yooper. I've been putting off growing my own hops because I'm reluctant to build something for them to climb. If I can find an arbor that will work I just might give it a try next year.
 
That's an impressive brew rig you have there! It was great to sample some of your bers in that swap. It was good to apply a beer to the face that brewed them. (not literally!).
 
Very nice article.
Your hop growth is amazing... I must be doing something wrong, mine are no where near that amount of an output.
Thanks to you both.
 
@Walzenbrew- I keep saying I'm going to do another 'brewcast' live, so people can see it working and ask questions.
It's really a very simple system, with the HERMS coil made out of an old immersion chiller. My friend made the control panel, and I love it.
 
Anyone who's been on homebrewtalk for a while has likely picked up many good tips from Yooper. I know her help has improved my techniques greatly! (Even though I started brewing in the early 80's). Thanks, Lorena! And thanks TxBrew for featuring her.
 
@ChocolateMaltyBalls- there is one in the recipe database, posted a long time ago by Ohiobrewtus, and it's as close a clone as I've seen. It's good!
 
AH! I was beginning to think I was the only Cab Franc person out there.
That Island of Wines looks positively delicious. I can't wait 'til I'm good enough to make fruit wines in those quantities.
 
My wife and I practically live at Tribute Brewing when ever we're in Northern Wisconsin (which is about once a month). Great beers and great people. Maybe we'll run into you there sometime Yooper. :)
 
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