How To Brew: or why my home is too micro to become a brewery: News

Check out the blog: here

I've been distracted by many other projects and filming has been slow for the doc. Still trying to lock down interview times with CbP. Natian Brewery had their official launch party which went off well.

I find myself getting so involved with the process of starting a brewery that i'm writing Natian's business plan and not focusing on filming...at all. Not good for creating documentaries about starting a brewery. I've been trying really hard NOT to include myself in any way in the film but it's coming down to needing to document the process. ARG!

My next goal is to get beer connoisseur legend....well, i'll leave it at that so i don't curse myself. Basically i'm looking to get some of Portland's beer veterans involved to give a little insight on the biz. A little field work for market research and beer enlightenment.

I'd like to see how far i could kick my external drive

My external hard drive has been reformatted and i may have to start the digitizing process over again. I either have to pick through the clips i managed to save and try to guess which parts are missing or start over. Starting over doesn't sound fun.

I think i'll move forward and continue digitizing new tapes on my newly formatted drive. I was hoping to have a new Natian teaser to drum up curiosity but nay!

Stay tuned if you care to catch a glimpse of the How To Brew documentary in progress.

My external hard drive containing most of my raw footage of the doc decided not to appear on my computer. The good news so far is that the data is intact, however, i cannot remove some of the larger capture files.

Pray, project, and wish me luck as i work to save weeks worth of work.

I just received confirmation that Dylan will participate in the documentary which is very exciting for the project. Check out their interesting history:

Captured by Porches: A Story of the Little Brewery that Could

Dylan Goldsmith discovered he had a passion for brewing beer while living in Portland, Oregon as a part-time worker and student. He discovered the joy of brewing through his love of cooking, baking, inventing new recipes and figuring things out. Brewing beer was just a natural step in the progression of learning for him.

The first beer that he brewed was an IPA. The second batch was good enough to encourage him to continue. As his pallet expanded, he tried out new styles: Amber, Porter, Stout. He continued reading and re-reading Charlie Papazian's New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, and soon progressed to all-grain mashes in order to brew styles impossible with extract: HefeWeizen, Oatmeal Stout, Roggenbier (Rye), Belgian Wit. Dylan's approach to brewing is a culmination of his fascination with chemistry, his enjoyment of cooking, and his OCD-like need to improve.

When he found pieces of large stainless equipment at garage sales or craigslist, he bought them and either used them for his homebrews or stored them for future use. Five gallon batches brewed alone evolved into fifteen and twenty gallon batches brewed with friends, and in the garage a 75 gallon stainless dishwashing machine shell and two 40 gallon kettles gathered dust and waited.

In early 2007, Dylan sent out a bulletin asking to rent someone's garage for homebrewing purposes. The most interesting response came from Clinton Street Brewing, who needed a brewer.

Dylan took out the larger, unused equipment from the garage and began merging it with the existing brewing setup at Clinton Street. Within a few months, he was producing at Clinton Street.

Dylan still had his dream of having his own brewing company. In mid-December of 2007, on a crazy whim, Dylan and Suzanne moved out of their home and into a gas station that they dreamed would become their own brewery. Sleeping in a short bus in the garage of the gas station, showering at the YMCA and doing their laundry at the local Laundromat, Dylan, Suzanne and family spent two months freezing their butts off in this space, all the while paying rent and fixing it up. Finally, two months later, they were able to afford to move into a small duplex in Scappoose, Oregon while continuing to pay rent on the future brewery space/revamped gas station.

After paying $800 a month on this space for 7 months (yikes!), it became clear to both Dylan and Suzanne that the City of Portland and ODOT were going to make the process of opening a brewery very difficult and very expensive. Unable and unwilling to meet all of these conditions, the couple decided to set their sights on St. Helens which was much closer to their home in Scappoose. In their search for a new brewery space, they found many interesting buildings with affordable leases in the area known as "Historic St. Helens".

To make a long story short, Dylan and Suzanne found their place in St. Helens – right next door to a pizza place (Plantation House Pizza) that plans to have them contract-brew their very own house beer. The warehouse that Captured by Porches will inhabit and is presently fixing up is about 2000+ square feet. Thanks to the support of friends and family, artists, designers, contractors and workers that have helped us along the way, Captured by Porches Brewing Company is finally set to become its very own brewery as of early January, 2009.

Courtesy of CbP

So much has happened since i last updated the website! I'm working hard to get a new trailer put together as i edit footage.

New brewers who i've involved in the documentary: Jeff Catlin, former Liberator Brewing owner and his ex-wife, Michelle McClellan. Trevor Thurston, a home brewer working to start his own brewpub, and i'm working on getting Dylan Goldsmith of Captured By Porches Brewing Company involved in the shoot.

Stay tuned as i finalize a new teaser and trailer for the documentary How To Brew: or why my home is too micro to become a brewery.

If you haven't see it yet, watch Oregon beer history short from Oregon Experience series from OPB, Beervana.

The website is here. In theaters for a special live event on April 16th.

A wonderful film about a group of guys exploring the microbreweries of America on "their 40 day, 38 brewery journey as they tour breweries and brewpubs".

Buy a copy of the DVD and watch the trailer for American Beer.

Lots of beer stuff; I have to sanitize some kegs so I can transfer the Pumpkin and Golden into kegs tonight so I can filter and carbonate before NEW YEARS!!!! I want to have all the beers ready to consume prior to tomorrow night. Which I should be able to get done just in time. I only have to work a half day tomorrow so if I transfer tonight, I should be able to filter and carbonate just enough for tomorrow night. The HR (Honey Red) is defentily off the seasonal line up and is making its way to the main course. I am thinking of the main line up of beers to be HR, Amber, GPA (Golden Pale Ale). My family and friends in NM who aren't craft beer drinkers really liked the HR. I think it transcends the domestic beer drinker's pallet requirements. With time to age my beers for just a few weeks, the flavors all improve. It isn't a big secret that aging a beer helps with the flavor profile. I love the amber, it is darker than most but I like it that way. I think the HR makes up the trio quite nicely. Of course, we need an IPA in there and I like the lighter color and mouth feel the GPA gives off. I really want to keep working on refining that recipe. Make it light and drinkable with a lot for flavor and aroma without an over powering bitterness. I am getting closer and closer each time.

Somehow i didn't get this on the site when i finished. Please enjoy and support your local no-kill animal shelter.

I don’t have any more Golden kegged. The next Golden won't be available until a few weeks from now. It is all bottled for the Christmas package deal. Chip in! Help donate to the local No Kill humane society.

-Brewmaster McGuinness

ON TAP:


Pale Ale
6.5% alcohol

Golden Ale
6.5% alcohol
IPA
6.5% alcohol

Porter
7.5% alcohol


DUE OUT Nov. 7th

Honey Red Ale
4.2% alcohol
AVAILABLE IN VARIOUS SIZES:

5 gal Kegs

1 gal Growlers

1/2 gal Growlers

22oz Bottles