Jerry Wayne Odom Jr

My two most recent home brew beers were outstanding. The flavor, smell and feel of the beers were just far and beyond what I’ve done in the past. For me it was a sign that refinements I’ve made in my brewing process really mattered. Here’s what I did differently:

• Infusion Mash – bar far the biggest improvement in the arena of brewing. I used a simple 3 step mash popular with brewers of German lagers and the quality of malt taste in the beers was shocking.
• Hop Balls – Also known as a herb ball these little tools allow you to keep the hops in the wort while keeping them out of the final product. What’s that mean? Well typically when I add hops I have an issue with the boil pushing them on the sides of the kettle and leaving them out of the boil. You can’t get bitterness that way. The second part of that is that once you’re done boiling you want the hop trub out of your beer. Well the hop balls keep the mess all together so you get that too.
• Purchased New Deep Freezer – I use a deep freezer for my lagering tank. I had an old beat up freezer which had inconsistent temperatures and was hard to control. Appropriate temperature control is key to preventing off flavors and aids in the lagering process where your beer really smoothes out. On my Pocket Brewer Recipes Page you’ll see I have a Baton Rouge black beer. After secondary fermentation it was so harsh I thought it would be terrible but after 6 weeks lagering it’s incredibly smooth.

I got many compliments on my beer before I made these improvements and now I get wow when people try my beer.    Most already had tried some home brewed beer before and knew that usually it’s just average beer.    However with refinements you can make excellent beer unlike anything people can get elsewhere.    It’s rewarding and worth the extra effort.