If you like sour ales and are into homebrewing, chances are that you've come across The Mad Fermentationist. The blogger and brewer-in-chief of this fantastic resource is DC's own Mike Tonsmeire. Mike was kind enough to participate in an interview with yours truly. Mike has a real talent for brewing creative ales and he's a pretty darn good writer as well. I find myself checking out his blog several times a week and you should too.
Holz: Welcome Mike. How long ago did you start brewing and what
got you started?
Mike: I started brewing my senior
year of college at Carnegie Mellon, about seven years ago. I had gotten into
craft beer a year earlier, and brewing seemed like a natural next step since I
already loved cooking. I took a student taught course called Beer Brewing and
Appreciation, where our midterm was to brew a brown ale.
Holz: How did you become interested
in blogging about your adventures in beer as ‘The Mad
Fermentationist’?
Mike: The blog started as an easy way
to record recipes online so I could link to them on forum posts. I also started
putting up tasting notes on my beers because I was sick of seeing hundreds of
beer recipes online that had no indication of how good the results were. I
started right after moving down to Washington, DC to start a new job, so it was
a good outlet.
Holz: Much of your brewing explores
the realm of sour/wild ales. Was there a
particular commercial
beer or beers that originally piqued your interest in
brewing these types of ales?
Mike: Cantillon Kriek was the first
really sour beer I tried, but it was too acidic for me at the time. I
came to
sour beers over a year or two, but the one that really launched my obsession
was the first batch
of Russian River Beatification. Unlike subsequent
spontaneously fermented batches, this one was
Redemption (their Belgian single)
aged for 23 months in barrels that previously held New Belgium’s La
Folie. It
had a depth of flavor I had never experienced, lavender, lemon, vanilla, sour
cherry etc. all
from the microbes and wood.
Holz: What is it about sour/wild ales
that you love?
Mike: The variety of flavors from the
base beer as well the microbes, wood, and fruit, is hard to compete with.
Playing that guessing game of where a flavor came from. I also enjoy aging
beers and seeing how they change. I also really like hoppy beers, for example,
but they have a very short span when they are at their peak.
Holz: Have you brewed anything
recently that you are particularly excited about?
Mike: My first truly wild beer, that
is made with microbes I captured in my backyard, is just about ready to bottle.
As soon as the fruit on my mulberry tree is ripe I’ll be adding a few pounds of
it to half of the batch when I bottle the rest. I’m writing an article about
the process for Brew Your Own magazine which will be in the July issue.
Holz: So you are working on a
homebrewing book, correct? What is the book about and what inspired
you to
start writing?
Mike: Not a big surprise, but the
book is about sour beer. I’m especially focused on American brewers. Their
equipment and techniques seem much more applicable to homebrewers. After more
than 500 posts on the blog it seemed like it was time to distill out what I
have learned over the last six years into a more useful form. It also motivated
me to talk to brewers I admire. After
talking to more than 20 (not to mention the people who run yeast labs, and
award winning homebrewers), the biggest issue I have is too much content (I’m
over 125,000 words at the moment).
My goal is to write something
like John Palmer’s seminal How to Brew, but for sour beer. While I think Wild
Brews is a terrific book, it is more focused on the culture and science of
Belgian sour beers. I want to answer all of those practical questions that I
get emailed to me every week (Which microbes should I pitch? What sort of
airlock should I use? How do I prepare a barrel for filling? Etc.)
Holz: Have you found a publisher
yet? If so, do you have an idea of the
publication date?
Mike: I’m still waiting to hear the
final word from Brewers Publications, but the more I think about it the more I
am leaning towards self-publishing. As a blogger I like the idea of having
complete control over the end product. After a year of working on the first
draft I’d rather be able to just edit/format it and be done.
Whereas Brewers
Publications might take as long as three more years to get it out. Periodic
revisions to the book, especially the insights I gain helping Modern Times Beer
start their barrel program, would also be much simpler if I self-publish.
Holz: You’ve done quite a bit of
experimenting with barrel-aging. How do
you go about selecting a
barrel?
Mike: The character of the barrel
needs to suit the beer. For example a light pale sour beer would not be a good
match for the bold coconut and vanilla flavors of a new bourbon barrel. It is
also about accessibility, I’d rather get a barrel locally so I can get it and
fill it as quickly as possible after it is emptied. Leaving a barrel empty for
an extended period is asking for issues with leaks, mold, and Acetobacter.
Holz: On ‘The Mad Fermentationist’
you frequently discuss different yeast strains and bacteria that
you are
currently using in your brews. Where do
you usually get your yeast and bacteria?
And how
do you go about selecting them?
Mike: That is a big question. I get
my microbes from a huge number of places. Wyeast and White Labs make some
terrific strains, and that is the easiest place to start. The yeast sediment
(dregs) of unpasteurized sour beers are also a great place for microbes. I also
get microbes isolated by microbiologist friends (I just bottled a tripel that
had been aging on calvados soaked oak with a culture of Brett my friend Matt
isolated from Russian River Temptation). Re-pitching yeast from previous batch is
also good in a pinch.
Selecting the right microbes
takes experience. You can read descriptions, but without tasting the result it
difficult. It would be like reading descriptions of spices and trying to pick
several to combine in
something you are cooking. That is one of the reasons I
like bottle dregs, you can taste the beer that
those microbes helped produce.
However, your results will not be exactly the same unless you mimic
that
brewery’s production (pitching rate, aging time, wort production etc.), a nearly
impossible task.
Holz: You
just posted about an opportunity you have to do some brewery consulting. Is it ultimately
your goal to become a
professional brewer or are you happy to remain an (exceptional) amateur?
Mike: For the time being I’m happy to
get my feet wet helping get Modern Times off the ground. I worry about ruining
the hobby I love by turning it into a job. Depending on how consulting goes,
how much I enjoy it, and the success of Modern Times, I’ll certainly be
considering doing it full time. If I can turn the hobby I love into a job I
love, that really is the goal.
