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No Expert


The entrance to one of the local Cantina's near our house

I'm no expert on brewing. I don't know all the aspects of the chemistry involved in brewing that say, a commercial brewer probably needs to know. I couldn't even guess about some of the technical aspects of moving liquid in a large brewery while at the same time preventing contamination and the introduction of oxygen. I haven't had the hands-on exposure to that kind of beer making. What I do have is about 8 years of personal experiential knowledge of making small batches (10 gals.) of the type of beer I enjoy drinking. I have the kind of experience you get from trial and error. I have retained a little information from books I've read on brewing and the history of fermented drinks. I've also picked up a few pointers from fellow homebrewers like the ones from the homebrewing club in Santa Cruz, Ca. http://zymurgeeks.org/ or from the question and answers on the http://hbd.org/ internet discussion board. But, for the most part I just brew, over and over again. I modify my ingredients, techniques, practices and/or yeast until I have , like an alchemist, turned malt into gold or at least a gold alloy. I can't stop trying to perfect my pale ale (the Holy Grail of brewing in my world).

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Anonymous said…
I can attest personally that Mark's "Succubus Maximus" Pale Ale is among the finest brews made in Langley, WA. Each batch sampled showed signs of growth and I do believe that he is nearing perfection, although that holy grail may never be achieved.
January 20, 2008 at 11:38 AM
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