Peed's Page

	MCAB Brewer Profile


	John Peed	Tennessee Valley Homebrewers
	Homebrewery name	Peed's Wicket Alery
	e-mail	jpeed@elotouch.com
	MCAB XII Recipe download: This recipe is complete and accurate. The .brw file has complete water profile info.
	Susse Schwarze Sache ProMash .brw file .txt file html file

	First brew: 1976	All grain brewer, using Dennis Collin's HERMIT RIMS design
	Got serious: 2000

	If I had to pick just one thing ...	Filtering. Once I got the basics right, filtering has probably done more for my beers than anything else. Here's my procedure.

	Most important piece of equipment	ProMash software. It took a while to get the hang of it, but once I did, it just changed everything. And I'm still learning new things it can do. Here's a good introductory presentation

	Keys to success:	Figuring out what's important to sanitation and establishing procedures; yeast starters and yeast management; fermentation temperature control; stir plate for starters; pre-pitch oxygenation; getting enough calcium in the mash (and understanding just the basics of water chemistry); obsession with detail, not settling for just good
	History: I brewed off and on for years. It's hard for most brewers to imagine what brewing was like before computers, software or the Internet. It was dismal, I can tell you that. Ingredients and equipment were dismal too. I only dabbled with extract brewing for a year or two before giving it up - results were pretty bad and I had other things to do. About 10 years later I decided to try again, upgrading the equipment and trying all grain brewing. The results still weren't very stellar. I'd brew for 2 or 3 years, end up dissatisfied with the results, then quit again, only to come back a couple of years later and try it again with still more upgraded equipment. Then in 2000 I hit it again, with the benefit of the Internet and, at least as important, a club in the modern age of brewing. My new club mates eventually drug me, kicking and screaming, into a more structured approach. Before long I was set up with a recirculating, temperature-controlled mashing system and brew session software. I am particularly indebted to Tom Karnowski for enlightening me in techniques and brewing savvy and to Dennis Collins for sharing his enthusiasm for innovative equipment and software. And to the advanced homebrewers nationwide who have been so generous with their knowledge. Opinions: I don't think fancy equipment is required to be a really good brewer, but it sure makes things easier. And the more control you can exert on your processes, the better your results will tend to be. I'd spend effort and money on fermentation temperature control before I'd spend it on mash temperature control - mash temperature control isn't that hard; fermentation temperature control is much more difficult, and probably more critical. I'd also go for yeast management tools early on - a 5 liter flask or two, a simple oxygenation system using hardware store oxygen bottles, and a stir plate or two (make the stir plates, don't buy them - here's a good article). Can't afford the fancy equipment that will make things easier and help you control your processes? Bide your time. Plan. Budget. Build. Work toward the long-term goal. I acquired my equipment over a span of years, as have many brewers. I also measure pH of mash, wort and beer, and dissolved oxygen content of wort prior to pitching, but I don't feel these are critical. I like knowing the actual values, but if you manage the alkalinity of your water and try to ensure that you have around 50 to 100 ppm of calcium in the mash for most beer styles, I don't think pH measurements are necessary, particularly if you can get a fellow brewer who has the equipment to verify for a couple of typical brews that your mash pH is in the right ballpark. And if you oxygenate the wort while agitating for 20 to 30 seconds with a good stream of oxygen before pitching the yeast, you should have plenty of oxygen for fermentation. All these numbers are gross generalizations, but as such I think they'll do. Philosophy: We're prone to believing what we want to believe, regardless of the facts. That works fine for religion and politics, but it can play hell with trying to make great beer. Ask yourself if you're really doing things the right way, or if you're cutting corners and telling yourself that it'll be fine, just fine, in order to justify cutting corners. Be honest with your beer, because it'll be brutally honest with you. Favorite quote: "There's a very fine line between hobby and mental illness." --- Dave Barry Motto 1: Shut up and brew! Motto 2: A lesser amount of excellence is better than any amount of mediocrity. Motto 3: Just because you can don't mean you should.
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