Reported by: Ted Keller
(Springfield, MO) -- With Ozarks Beer Fest coming up Saturday, we decided to talk more about beer in Springfield!
Beer is made commercially more and more, and demand seems to be increasing. Any beer made that's not for mass distribution is called "craft" beer, or micro-brew. We have several in town.
Long-established Springfield Brewing Company is located downtown.
"When we first opened our brewery, we wanted to focus on serving our customers," says Ashton Lewis. "And our customers at Mueller are breweries. And we really didn't want to be a competitor to our own customers. In fact, one of the larger customers when they learned that Mueller opened a brewery really weren't too happy with it."
"After we went through that experience one time, we decided that we'd focus on our restaurant operations and leave distribution business to others, using our computer control system, which is pretty nice," adds Lewis. "Most brew pubs don't have equipment like this, but because we built this to showcase our capability at Mueller, we have some features that the average brew pub really doesn't have."
(Watch the video to see where the beer is kept cold before it's sent to the taps)
"Each one of these bright beer tanks or serving tanks holds the equivalent of 30 kegs of beer and we have six serving tanks in here, so these six tanks hold the equivalent of 180 kegs of beer," says Lewis.
The key to making beer is fermentation: the conversion of simple sugars found in grains like barley and wheat in alcohol. An organism called yeast will eat the sugar and produce drinkable alcohol along with carbon dioxide gas as by-products. Breweries extract the sugar from the grains by soaking them in large vats of very warm water. After it's boiled and hop's added the wort, as it's called, is finally chilled to a temperature that yeast can tolerate and the fermentation can begin.
New kid on the block, Mother's Brewing Company, is really ramping it up. Their beer can now be found all over Springfield and the surrounding area.
"We're finding now that we're doing four to six brews per week and not being able to keep up with demand," says Brian Allen. "So the reception that we've gotten in Springfield, Joplin, and southwest Missouri has been just tremendous. So these are our four beers that we're selling right now. Three annual beers and one seasonal, which happens to be a coffee stout called Winter Grind."
Mother's has a tasting room open.
On October 14, 2978, President Jimmy Carter signed a bill that basically made it legal to make beer at home. So what's involved in making beer at home?
As a home brewer, Ted Keller says it's a fun hobby and a friend of his, Brett McGowne, has produced at least 1,000 gallons of beer since he started.
"Well, some guys like to waste their time and money fishing or playing golf and this is how I waste my time and money," says McGowne. "I was never very good at catching fish or playing golf, but I make a pretty good beer. About eight years I guess I've been brewing. I have made a lot of very good friends brewing beer. Nice, nice group of guys and gals that I brew with."While low-tech when compared to commercial breweries, and quality and variety of home brew is high-end, often matching or beating anything you can buy off the shelf. The beer of choice this session is a chocolate stout. Bret bought a beer kit at the Home Brewery in Ozark, Missouri.
"We are the Home Brewery," says Todd Frye. "We sell supplies, ingredients, and equipment to make your own beer, wine, and even cheese now at home."
"This is an ingredient kit," he says. "This is what's inside those boxes. This is malt extract, these are malted barley grains, we've got, with this one in particular is a chocolate stout so we have cocoa powder and brown sugar. We've got priming sugar, yeast, hops and irish moss, which is a natural clarifier."
"We are adding the malt to our wort," adds Frye during the process. "Basically this is processed malted grains. It's a little bit like making a cake from a box as opposed to making it from scratch. Somebody else processed this grain for me so I don't have to go through the time and trouble to do it.
"When you're brewing your own beer probably the one thing you can do to mess it up is to be lackadaisical with your cleaning and especially your sanitation. If you mess up the recipe, forget ingredients, you can do almost anything else to it and will still come out as a drinkable beer. But if you mess up you sanitation it's just junk and you gotta pour it on the ground.
"Cold water coming and a basically boiling water coming out for at least a little bit. And of course this is a very dark beer. For those people who don't think they like dark beers, this is going to taste like chocolate. So dark doesn't mean beer is bitter or tastes nasty or thick. This one is going to taste like a candy bar. So don't judge a beer by the color. Our goal here is to give the yeast the first chance at the sugar water. If any bacteria happens to be in there, the yeast will beat it and win."
WATCH: Ted's fermentation on Ozarks Local Live @ 4!
Beer Fest is Saturday at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door. You'll be able to taste more than 100 beers and enjoy food and live music while helping out Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks. It runs 2-5 p.m. Click here for more information.
VIDEO: Beer Business Part 1
Beer is made commercially more and more, and demand seems to be increasing. Any beer made that's not for mass distribution is called "craft" beer, or micro-brew. We have several in town.
Long-established Springfield Brewing Company is located downtown.
"When we first opened our brewery, we wanted to focus on serving our customers," says Ashton Lewis. "And our customers at Mueller are breweries. And we really didn't want to be a competitor to our own customers. In fact, one of the larger customers when they learned that Mueller opened a brewery really weren't too happy with it."
"After we went through that experience one time, we decided that we'd focus on our restaurant operations and leave distribution business to others, using our computer control system, which is pretty nice," adds Lewis. "Most brew pubs don't have equipment like this, but because we built this to showcase our capability at Mueller, we have some features that the average brew pub really doesn't have."
(Watch the video to see where the beer is kept cold before it's sent to the taps)
"Each one of these bright beer tanks or serving tanks holds the equivalent of 30 kegs of beer and we have six serving tanks in here, so these six tanks hold the equivalent of 180 kegs of beer," says Lewis.
The key to making beer is fermentation: the conversion of simple sugars found in grains like barley and wheat in alcohol. An organism called yeast will eat the sugar and produce drinkable alcohol along with carbon dioxide gas as by-products. Breweries extract the sugar from the grains by soaking them in large vats of very warm water. After it's boiled and hop's added the wort, as it's called, is finally chilled to a temperature that yeast can tolerate and the fermentation can begin.
New kid on the block, Mother's Brewing Company, is really ramping it up. Their beer can now be found all over Springfield and the surrounding area.
"We're finding now that we're doing four to six brews per week and not being able to keep up with demand," says Brian Allen. "So the reception that we've gotten in Springfield, Joplin, and southwest Missouri has been just tremendous. So these are our four beers that we're selling right now. Three annual beers and one seasonal, which happens to be a coffee stout called Winter Grind."
Mother's has a tasting room open.
On October 14, 2978, President Jimmy Carter signed a bill that basically made it legal to make beer at home. So what's involved in making beer at home?
As a home brewer, Ted Keller says it's a fun hobby and a friend of his, Brett McGowne, has produced at least 1,000 gallons of beer since he started.
"Well, some guys like to waste their time and money fishing or playing golf and this is how I waste my time and money," says McGowne. "I was never very good at catching fish or playing golf, but I make a pretty good beer. About eight years I guess I've been brewing. I have made a lot of very good friends brewing beer. Nice, nice group of guys and gals that I brew with."While low-tech when compared to commercial breweries, and quality and variety of home brew is high-end, often matching or beating anything you can buy off the shelf. The beer of choice this session is a chocolate stout. Bret bought a beer kit at the Home Brewery in Ozark, Missouri.
"We are the Home Brewery," says Todd Frye. "We sell supplies, ingredients, and equipment to make your own beer, wine, and even cheese now at home."
"This is an ingredient kit," he says. "This is what's inside those boxes. This is malt extract, these are malted barley grains, we've got, with this one in particular is a chocolate stout so we have cocoa powder and brown sugar. We've got priming sugar, yeast, hops and irish moss, which is a natural clarifier."
"We are adding the malt to our wort," adds Frye during the process. "Basically this is processed malted grains. It's a little bit like making a cake from a box as opposed to making it from scratch. Somebody else processed this grain for me so I don't have to go through the time and trouble to do it.
"When you're brewing your own beer probably the one thing you can do to mess it up is to be lackadaisical with your cleaning and especially your sanitation. If you mess up the recipe, forget ingredients, you can do almost anything else to it and will still come out as a drinkable beer. But if you mess up you sanitation it's just junk and you gotta pour it on the ground.
"Cold water coming and a basically boiling water coming out for at least a little bit. And of course this is a very dark beer. For those people who don't think they like dark beers, this is going to taste like chocolate. So dark doesn't mean beer is bitter or tastes nasty or thick. This one is going to taste like a candy bar. So don't judge a beer by the color. Our goal here is to give the yeast the first chance at the sugar water. If any bacteria happens to be in there, the yeast will beat it and win."
WATCH: Ted's fermentation on Ozarks Local Live @ 4!
Beer Fest is Saturday at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door. You'll be able to taste more than 100 beers and enjoy food and live music while helping out Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks. It runs 2-5 p.m. Click here for more information.
VIDEO: Beer Business Part 1
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