Food
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, May 4, 1989
11
BOTTLES of BEER BREWED at H
Story by Steven Wolcott
Photos
at HOME
Photos by Steve Traynor
Dwight Burnham moved about his cellar like an ancient alchemist attempting to turn lead
"Cooking porridge!" he said, vigorously stirring the sauce which strange and small smells were rising.
The raw mixture must be kept above 150 degrees so that the flavor is not soured by too much or too little heat.
Although you won't find Goldlocks hanging around trying to steal a bowl, you might run into the Hamm's bear because Burnham wasn't trying to make gold, but golden luger.
Cuck Mageril, brewmaster at the Free State Brewing Company. 636 Massachusetts St., called Burnham the dean of Lawrence's home brewers.
Burnham, 1601 Wellington Road, taught drawing and sculpture. The diversity of his work included being born prior to printing.
According to Howard Hillman's book, "The Catfish was invented about 250.00 B.A."
Burnham, however, has been brewing his own only since about 1936.
"Some of that first stuff I made was pretty God, it was bad stuff." Burnham said. "I wish it had been better."
Popularity rising
Burnham said he learned how to brew mostly by word of mouth because back then there wasn't much information available.
"Today, all over the country people are doing this," Burnham said. "I met a guy from Texas who started home brewing. Now he's got his own micro-brewery."
Bacchus and Barleycorn Ltd, is a mail order and retail supplier of home brewing and wine products.
Don Seifert, manager of Bacchus and Barleycorn Ltd., 8725 Johnson Drive in Merrigan, Kan., agreed that home brewing was on the increase.
"Most people who home brew are tired of American beers because they basically all taste alike." Seifert said. "It's now possible to brew better beer at home than you can buy."
Burnham said he liked to brew all types of beer and didn't have a preference for a particular style.
He said a home brewer could legallybrew up to 200 gallons a year in Kansas for personal use.
the said oeer is divided into two major types, ale and lager, with numerous variations in flavor.
The store sells a basic brewing kit for $46 that will brew any type of beer in five gallon increments.
"I prefer the most recent batch, or the ones that come out the best," he said. "You try for that exceptional batch but it doesn't happen very often."
Wammo Lager
It's typical of a U.S. beer because it is lightly flavored, has a dry, clean finish and is highly carbonated.
4 ltr. can Alexander Pale Malt Extract 1 tsp. Irish Moss
11 oz. spray dried light malt extract 2 pkgs. Doric Yeast
1 oz. Chocolate Malt To be added later:
3/4 oz. Cluster Hops - boiling time 45 min. 3/4 cup corn sugar
1/2 oz. Teffnang Hops - boiling time 5 min. 1/2 tsp. Gelatin Finings
1. Fill a stainless steel or enamel vessel with water, keeping in mind the 4 lbs. of malt to be added later.
2. Add 1 oz. Chocolate Malt and 11 oz. of spray dried malt.
2. Bring to boil. Remove from heat source and steep for 5 minutes. Remove grain and add malt extract. Stir until dissolved. Return to heat. Avoid burning, as this will give the beer a caramelized color and flavor. Watch the wort as it begins to boil, as it is prone to boil over until correct heat setting is reached.
3. After boiling 5 minutes, add 3/4 oz. Glazer Hops. Boil for 25 minutes. Add 1 tsp. Irish Moss and boil 15 minutes. Add 1/2 oz. Tettnang Hops and boil 5 minutes.
**Moss**
4. Remove wort from heat and cool as quickly as possible. Remove and discard the hops.
When the wort is 85 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, siphon or pour it into the fermenter.
5. Bring the volume of wort to 5 1/4 gallons by adding cool water, if necessary. When wort reaches 70 to 80 degrees, add the Doric yeast and attach a blow-by tube or air lock half filled with water.
6. When fermentation slows appreciably (about 5 days) add the Gelatin Finings according to directions on package. If using a blow-by tube, replace it with an air lock half filled with water.
7. When beer has been fermenting 10 to 15 days, it may be bottled or transferred to a sterile fermentor for lagering. When ready to bottle, siphon beer into a sterile primary. Make a syrup by boiling 3/4 cups of corn sugar in a small amount of beer. Gently stir mixture into rest of beer.
8. Siphon beer into sterilized returnable beer bottles, then cap. Allow 3 weeks for effervescence. Although the beer can be consumed at this time, it will continue to improve for several months.
Burnham said he would define exceptional as tasting something like a good German beer.
"I brew about once a month. Whenever the spirit moves me," Burnham said. "I do it more when it's cooler out because beer ferments better at cooler temperatures."
He said home brewing wasn't any cheaper than buying store beer.
"The cost varies on what type of beer you're making." Burnham said. "But it's about $25 for a five-gallon batch, so it's still more than $1 a quart."
The home brewing process starts by grinding in a coffee grinder, the airties, can be done in a coffee grinder.
The ground barley malt is then mixed with hot water in a stainless steel pot and cooked at about 150 degrees Fahrenheit for 1½ to 2 hours. This step is called mashing.
"Mashing is converting the starches in the grain into fermentable sugars," he said. "When the mash is cooking it smells just like hot cereal."
Sparging the mash
The next step is to sparge the mash with hot water.
Sparging is pouring hot water through the mush allusion times to extract the sugar-rich sap.
"The wort is the sweet liquid that is fermented into beer." Burnham said. "The process is done to get as much sediment as possible out of the wort before boiling."
The wort is boiled for about two hours, with hops added at various times.
"You get this nice smell of sweet malt throughout the house." Burnham said. "Without hops, beer would be sickenently sweet. You try to get a good balance between the two."
Hops are the bittering agent added when brewing to balance the sweetness of the malted barley.
There are two types of hops, flavoring and aromatic. Burnham said the flavoring hops were added near the beginning of the boiling water in the aromatic hops were added near the end
The wort is then run through a machine that
heats it, and next into a five gallon
glass bottle to cool.
The next stage is to add the yeast and let it ferment.
Burnham said fermentation took two to three days
"It's not beer until it has stopped fermenting," he said. "Then you bottle it and let it age."
He said most styles of beer should age in the bottle at least a month before being served.
"I usually get anxious and try some in about twelve days," Burnham said.
Retired KU professor of art Dwight Burnham checks one of his home-brewed beers for color and texture. Burnham has been brewing his own beer since 1936.