7-25 Home Brewing School

Someone had suggested to us that a fun vacation can be going to school for a hobby that you enjoy.  The original thought was to go to beer brewing school in Germany, but when Caroline looked into it, there was a much more applicable school in Chicago with a German company called Siebel Institute of Technology. They put on a one week long Advanced Home Brewing school once a year.  Since Caroline has friends in Chicago and we knew there were lots of things for William to do and see, it seemed the natural choice.  So, we signed me up!  As we toured around the states prior to the class, I mentioned my upcoming school to a few brewers and they exclaimed, "Siebel!  That's like the 'Harvard' of brewing!  How did you get in? I've had friends that have tried to get in for years!"  OK, they are probably talking about their Master Brewers program which is months long, costs some $16,000 and is booked for two years out.  But it still made me excited to be going to such a reputable school on the matter.

OK, their Chicago offices aren't that impressive looking, but it's more about the instructors they hire and the quality of lecture rather than the facilities that make it so great.  Besides, for all the actual brewing exercises, we took field trips to actual breweries in the area.

As in many schools, there is plenty of lectures and book work.  We covered the history of beer, styles of beer, grains, hops, water, yeast, brewing equipment, brewing techniques, problems and solutions... We also did plenty of beer tasting.  One of the first things they do is to improve your ability to taste and rate beer, so you better know what is going on with your beer, why it tastes that way, and how to change it if necessary.  

One of the tasting days was with a light generic beer that was spiked with small amounts of the various off flavors that one finds in beer along with a discussion on how those tastes come about and how to avoid them.  

The next day of tasting (pictured above) was covering the different styles of beer.  We'd split each bottle between four people, but there was still a quite a bit of beer.  And, unlike wine tasting, you need to swallow beer to get the full taste and aroma profile of the beer.  (That's our story and we're sticking with it!) These lectures were fun, but got uncomfortable since everyone needed to go pee!  This was also the day they had us fill out the evaluation sheets.  They admitted that they did this on purpose.

The CEO of White Labs came to lecture on yeast and fermentation.  He also directed us through some lab procedures for yeast isolation, culturing, evaluation, and use.  Very interesting.  I learned that my lab techniques leave a lot to be desired.

Thursday was our brew day.  We went to Metropolitan Brewing where Siebel has a pretty sophisticated brew sculpture (home brew system all on one structure) that they share with the brewery.  The brewery uses it for experimenting with new recipes in small batches, and the school comes and uses it for these classes.  One of the founders of MoreBeer.com, who made the sculpture, came out to run the lecture and direct the brewing day.  We essentially stepped through the entire process of brewing beer talking about all the techniques and potential issues brewing beer.  The brewery also kept pitchers of beer available for us to sip off of through the day.

While the beer brewed, they provided a tour of the brewery.  Above is the micro brewery version of the beer sculpture.  The Mash/Lauter Tun is on the left and the brew kettle is on the right.

Inside the Mash/Lauter Tun.  Grains are steeped in here to convert the starch in the grains to sugars and then the sugars are flushed out through the screen on the bottom to be boiled in the kettle with hops.

Each day after class, we would usually meet up at a bar in town that either was a microbrewery or focused on serving microbrews.  This beer was at the Hop Leaf which specializes in Belgian beers.  This one is served in a unique glass that requires a holder.  Apparently this style of glass was for carriage drivers.  The glass would hang on a gimbaled fork and the ball on the bottom would ensure the glassed tipped in response to the movement of the carriage as to not spill the beer.  This way the driver could carry his beer along while he drove.  So, it is a purpose built drinking and driving glass!

The class was a lot of fun and I learned a great deal.  It was a wonderful way to spend a part of my vacation.

Some highlights of the week:

MT Misc.

 Driving through Montana, the big sky country, is a wonderful thing.

 Mainly because of this.  Even on 2-lane roads!  Which might explain the following picture of a 3-legged dog!

 You have to double-click on this picture to get the zen... it is of all the bugs on our windshield!

 Lots of funky, interesting bugs in Montana.

Even this little guy, who liked to bug us to eat foods he likes.  Taco Bell, and McDonald's.

MT 7-21 Libby & Kootenai Falls

I feel like singing:  If it has Libby Libby Libby on the label label label, you will like it like it like it on the table table table.  An old ad jingle from the 70s, it still is imbedded in my mind.

 As we headed from Flathead Lake to Spokane, we found a gem of a museum.  Odd-shaped, but worth the visit!!!  It was curated and displayed very well.  Lots of old-time history.  A massive stuffed owl and animal exhibit.  And there was machinery, like the locomotive and farming equipment outside.

 When you hear the phrase 'bucket brigade,' this is what they meant.  I wonder if they had to have a special levy to afford this piece of equipment?  :)

 Farming equipment.

 Old school house.

 I remember stuff like this!  Well, not the phone.  But some water heater!  My dad used to joke that wood heat got you hot twice:  once, when you cut and stored the wood, and when you burned it.

 Laundry, anyone?  (And I complain about my laundry system here in Japan.)  Ha!

 Church.  I remember back in the day that the pulpit stage was also a stage!  (See the curtains in the back?)  Ah, they just don't make churches like they used to!

 Newspaper and printing press.

 Do you ride these chainsaws?

 Fun to see the rings to show how old this tree was.

 Paul Bunyan's griddle.

 Okay, so it's me, and the rock formations.  Just think they're classic.  We parked here, and then walked down to Kootenai Falls.

 I know, I know.  Enough with the rock formations already!

 Our destination was this hanging bridge.

 It only allows 2 people on at a time. 

 Even with the wood planks, it does tend to sway a bit.

And finally, the rock formations!  Fun little hike.  It gets you out of the car, and it's something different!

MT 7-19 Flathead Lake

 I love this shot of a sailing race across the lake with only the sailboats getting hit by the sun. 

 Our friends here in Japan, have a place on Flathead Lake.  Since we were going to be in Montana, anyway, we thought we'd get together.

 Okay, technically it's his parents who own the place...  :)

 Tim and Dwayne doing what they do best at the nearby brew pub.

 What's better than having a cabin on the lake, and a boat?  Having FRIENDS with a cabin on the lake and a boat...   :)  

 The dock was nice, but the water was darned cold!  We're at elevation, and the snow was still melting.

Which is why I'm still on the dock.  Reading.  Boat rides good.  Freezing bad.

 William is sporting the action cam.  Tim figured out a way to make it float if it flew off, and that was a good thing.  Tim said he'd edit some of the video together.  Kinda fun to watch.

 Tim is helping adjust the camera. 

 They're ready to go...

 Dwayne pulling them behind the jet ski.

 They both look darned cold.

 A different afternoon on the lake, this time the clouds are lit.  Beautiful.

 When done freezing for awhile, it was inside to play video games.

Their deck has a wonderful view.  The food was good.  The company was good.  Thank you, Strands for asking us to come and have some fun!

MT 7-18 Glacier National Park

 This was actually outside the park.  We stayed in East Glacier, then headed up 89.  BTW, I recommend the stuffed french toast.  Very big and filling!

 It was a bright morning, and I loved the scenery.

 That's not a spot on the camera, it's a moon!  Yes, there is NOBODY on this road, except for this U-Haul.  Bummer!

 The different rocks forming these mountains are inspiring.

 Saint Mary Lake.

 This is pointing away from that last shot.  I thought it was pretty, and interesting.  You can see the slab of rock.

 The road had only opened 5 days earlier, so they were still working on the roads.

 The run-off was still fast and furious.

 We're nearing a tunnel on the Going to the Sun Route.

 Logan's Pass was SNOW!  We'd hoped to see the stream that is affected by the continental divide.  No happening this year.

 William had fun running around in the snow.

 He even tried to ski.

 Woops!  It kind of worked.

 The we started down the west side of the park.

 This slant goes all the way down.  If you double-click on it, you realize that's a line of cars waiting on the road crew.

 Wide shot of the same thing.

 Mountain momma goat and baby on the road.

 It kinda feels like you're going to fall off the mountain.

 A self-portrait for fun.  No stopping!

 I not only used my window, but the sun roof to stick the camera out of and snap a picture!

 The infamous triple arches.

 Wider shot of same.

 This technically isn't the weeping wall, but it should be.  There are waterfalls all over the place!

 The views were so stunning.

 Another waterfall...

 There would be flowers perched in the cracks of these rock walls.

 Some rock walls were over-hangs.

 Tunnels feel safer than a steep mountain road.

 William at Lake McDonald.

The family portrait.  To the left, you can see the burned forest.  It looks grey because you only see the tree trunks.  The green is gone.  Still beautiful.  Give it 20 years, and it will look green again!