This brew is for them -- The craft of homebrewing is personal for some members of local association

By: AARON CLAVERIE - Staff Writer | Saturday, February 23, 2008 11:46 PM PST ∞

TEMECULA ---- Jim Fritz doesn't give away bottles of his beer anymore.

He'll happily offer someone a glass, but it comes with a warning.

"If you like Budweiser, you won't like my beer," said the Wildomar resident, a member of the Temecula Valley Homebrewers Association.

Mike Billups, association president, has heard some horror stories.

One of the tales involves a homebrewer who selected two or three bottles of his best beer and gave them to a friend as a gift. The friend had assured the brewer that he liked beer, Billups explained.

When the brewer inquired later to find out how the recipient enjoyed the beer, he was told that the bottles ---- including a "good India Pale Ale" ---- had been poured down the drain.

Fritz and fellow association member Jim McMahon, both sitting nearby at a table in the corner of Temecula's Barley and Hops Olde World Tavern, nodded their heads in morose recognition.

"Everyone has the same stories," Billups said.

And it's the shared experience of those stories, the men said, that helped spur a group of local brewers to start the association, one of hundreds across the country, in the early 1990s.

A fellow homebrewer knows that it takes weeks to make a batch of beer. A brewer knows how different hops add different flavors or aroma depending on when the hops are added to a boiling kettle. If someone is tasting a porter, they know why it's a porter and how a porter differs from a lager.

Members aren't quick to grimace after tasting another member's creation. It's a patient and supportive group of people who know how tough homebrewing can be.

"Everyone makes the same mistakes," McMahon said.

Talking through those mistakes with fellow homebrewers helps the members get better at their craft-slash-hobby.

"We learn different tricks. We learn from others," he said.

Fritz, sitting behind empty glasses of Black Butte Porter from Oregon, said, "If it wasn't for the club, I'd have dropped out of brewing."

Since Fritz helped revive the group in 2006, membership in the association has grown to 35. About 20 brewers attend monthly meetings to swap recipes, discuss new brewing techniques and homebrewing gear and plan for upcoming brew fests, large gatherings of brewers.

Membership costs less than $40 per year, with the dues going to help defray the cost of reserving booth space and camping spots at the annual brew fests.

While he has sipped some bad homebrewed beers before ---- ask him about a chipotle porter that was "vile" ---- Billups said most of the people who snub home brews or give up on the hobby after a few funky batches just aren't accustomed to the taste.

They are used to beer that is one-dimensional or mass-produced, said Billups, a French Valley resident.

When a beer is mass-produced, even a craft or microbrew, the brewer strives to make sure that each bottle of beer tastes the same as every other bottle. If you're buying a six-pack of Firestone Double Barrel Ale, it's supposed to taste like the six-pack you bought last week.

With homebrewing, one batch, even if the same ingredients are used, rarely tastes the same as another batch. For brewers, that's part of the hobby's charm.

Fritz said he used to give away bottles of his beer when he started brewing about eight years ago but, after hearing too many complaints, he started making batches for himself. In his many years of brewing, he's only had to throw out one batch that was actually "bad."

"My wife doesn't even drink my beer. She might have a taste and, say, 'This is good,' but that's it," he said.

A common misconception among non-homebrewers is that most homebrewers want to start a moneymaking microbrewery, Billups said.

While it has happened ---- the founder of Samuel Adams was a homebrewer ---- it's more common for someone to start brewing because they love beer.

That was the hook for Fritz, who decided, on a whim, to buy a $100 starter kit and start making his own. After some missteps along the way, he has developed a signature beer. It's an Irish red he named "Wild Omar's Irish Red," a nod to the community of Wildomar, which will become a city this summer.

Billups' interest was stoked when he was a kid by a family friend. After years of thinking about it, his wife, a fellow beer fan, recommended grabbing a kit during a shopping trip and he hasn't stopped brewing since. The kits usually include some instruments, a kettle and some of the ingredients.

Novice brewers who want to upgrade can find plenty of gear on the Internet or brewing shops in the San Diego area, which, Billups said, is an underrated hotbed of home- and microbrewing.

While most of the members have a refrigerator they use to chill their beer and a kitchen counter's worth of equipment, there are some members who can fill at least half a garage with their gear.

McMahon, who makes a mean pale ale, took up the hobby after trying bread-making.

"I just use the yeast a different way," he said with a smile.

Contact Aaron Claverie at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or aclaverie@californian.com.

-- For more information on the association, e-mail Jim Fritz at jim889@ca.rr.com or visit the group's Web site:

http://tvhbajoomla.temeculahomebrewers.com

Basic Homebrewing

Here is the basic process for homebrewing beer, as explained by members of the Temecula Homebrewers Association

Heat some water in a large multi-gallon kettle.

While the water is heating up, add some specialty grains. After about a half-hour, remove the grains.

Bring water to boil and add wort, a malted barley mixture that can be bought in syrup or powder form. (Ratcheting up the difficulty, some homebrewers make their own wort.)

As the water and wort mixture boils, add hops. Add three measured servings of hops at three separate times in the process to add bitterness, flavor and aroma.

Pull mixture from heat and chill immediately, the faster the better.

Once it is below 80 degrees, shake or stir the mixture to introduce oxygen.

Add yeast.

Put mixture into a carboy, which is a large water bottle.

Add yeast.

Cap with a special seal that allows carbon dioxide to escape.

During this part of the process the yeast will "eat" the sugars in the mixture, causing the mixture to chemically churn. (This is one of the coolest parts of homebrewing, association members said.)

Leave mixture in carboy for a week.

Transfer to another container a week later.

Pour into bottles and cap. Leave in bottles for two weeks.

Refrigerate and serve, avoiding sediment at bottom of bottles.

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