Home Brewing Classes at Maryland Homebrew

If I am not making beer there is one thing I like to do just as much, and that is to teach Home brewing to people that think this hobby is as cool as I do. I am Teaching two All-grain and a Beginner Extract brewing Class (All Sold Out!)in the next 3 weeks.
So what makes me the authority to teach home brewing? I have been brewing for 7 years (my oldest daughter is 7 also...coincidence?) I have assisted in brewing one off batches of beer as well as some experimental pilot batches for DuClaw Brewing with my fishing compadre, Brewmaster Jim Wagner. I started brewing way back with a friend that now brews professionally for Clipper City Brewing-Heavy Seas or whatever they are called this week. I have won ribbons of all colors as well as a best in show in local and out of state Home brew Comps. Most importantly: I have made every mistake that you could ever make home brewing.
I share the process with folks that are looking to learn the hobby or advance with what they already know. Now I also keep some of the beer I make and I share the rest with the class once fermented. Once in a great while I will run into someone at a beer festivals and they will come up to me and let me know I had taught them at MDHB and I always react the same way. "Cool, hows it going? I hope you have not made the same mistakes I have."


Above is me and Grover scooping grains out of a cooler Mash Tun fixing a stuck mash

Trying new things is always setting yourself up for mistakes. My goal of the folks I teach is to cut their mistake curve in half. Home brewing can be as high or low tech as you want to make it. You can spend thousands of dollars or you can rig cooler to do teh same thing for a fraction of the cost. Have fun and make beer that si what I do. The origianl slogan Kurt and I had from the first batch we ever made and second guessed ourselves somewhere along the way: "The worst thing that can happen is we drink it."
Saturday is the first of two All Grain Classes and we are making a beer I call:

Slæmur Rass (Ode to Magnús Ver Magnússon)
which roughly translates to Bad Ass in Icelandic.

All Grain Recipe - CFJ-90 IPA ::: 1.064/1.012 (5.5 Gal)
Grain Bill (75% Efficiency assumed)

10 lbs. - English 2 Row Pale Malt
1.5 lb. - Vienna Malt
1.5 lb. - Caramel/Crystal Malt (20L)
1 lb. - CaraPils

Hop Schedule (53 IBU)

1 oz. - Centennial (60 min.)
1 oz. - Centennial (15 min.)
1 oz. - Centennial (flameout)
1 oz. - Centennial (Dry Hop)


Clipper City House Yeast(chico)*867-5309 (Jenny)

Single Infusuion Mash at 153° for 60 min.

"We brewers don’t make beer, we just get all the ingredients together and the beer makes itself." - Fritz Maytag, Anchor Brewing