Learn the art of home-brewing at demonstration

The art of home-brewing beer may seem like something far too expensive or complex for most to attempt, but the organizers of Saturday's home-brew demonstration at Buckner Brewing Co. hope to prove that wrong.

The demonstration and workshop will be conducted by John Huber, owner of Home-brew Supply of Southeast Missouri, located in Jackson, along with Mike Mills, brewmaster at Buckner Brewing, and Mark Sprigg, the brewery's co-owner.

"We're going to be doing a parallel course of extract and all-grain brewing," Mills said. It will "give people a variety of information on how easy it is to do an extract brew and an all-grain brew."

Extract brewing uses syrup to create the beer, whereas the all-grain brewing, as the name suggests, uses grains.

"Extract brewing is as simple as mixing a thick, sweet syrup with hot water, bringing it to a boil, adding hops and then cooling it down and adding yeast," Mills said.

The process typically takes about two hours, and the beer is ready after about three weeks.

"All-grain brewing is a bit more expensive but less extensive," he said. "It takes a bit more time, but you've got a lot more creative freedom with what you are doing with the mixing of the grains and water."

Mills suggested beginners start with extract brewing to learn the process and then move on to all-grain brewing.

All-grain takes about three times as long as extract brewing, though the general process is the same, and there are a lot more variables to the process, such as what grains are used and temperature settings.

Huber and Mills will both be brewing a smoked porter Saturday. Huber will be performing the extract technique while Mills and Sprigg will use the all-grain process.

Mills has done demonstrations in the past, as well as teaching a six-week class through Southeast Missouri State University for a couple of years. Mills said Saturday's event will be a consolidated version of that course.

"I'll have plenty of information printed up, plenty of tips," he said. "I'm going to have as much information as I can as far as what the different grains do and hops offer. I'll have all the information readily available that I used for the SEMO classes."

Saturday's demonstration and workshop will show people how they can get into home-brewing without spending a bunch of money.

"We're going to teach how to do this with five-gallon buckets and a small kettle," Mills said.

"It's going to depend on whether you want to do extract or all-grain as far as the type of kettle, but it's a minimal investment. I would say a total investment of less than $100, easily."

Most home-brewers take it on as a hobby rather than something that can become a business.

"It's pretty simple, and it's a lot of fun," Mills said. "I use it for an excuse for my buddies and I to get together and do something that is productive, yet we can still sit around and drink beer."

In addition to learning the processes of extract and all-grain brewing, participants will sample beer and Buckner Brewing is providing some of its in-house pizza for lunch.

The cost for the event, which is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is $15. Call 334-4677 to register.

Pertinent address:

Buckner Brewing Co., 132 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, MO 63701