The BrewDeck Podcast

If you’ve ever found yourself thinking about starting your own brewery, you’re not alone. But what all goes into planning a successful new brewhouse? Today’s guest, Aaron Justus, takes a deep dive into all of the work involved in starting a new company and brewhouse planning. Aaron started as a keg washer and worked his way up to brewmaster at Ballast Point. In September, he started a new venture by preparing to open a brewery with his co-worker and hiking buddy, Brandon Green, in downtown San Diego, called the East Village Brewing Company. With the current market and global challenges in brewery planning, Aaron shares his extensive checklist from funding to equipment, to software, storage, and more.

We are proud to partner with our friends at Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) to support and celebrate the Pink Boots Society (PBS) for their 5th Annual Pink Boots Hop Blend! With over 2,500 members worldwide, the PBS assists, inspires, and encourages women in the fermented beverage industry to advance their careers through education.  Today on the podcast, YCH (Kelly Lohrmeyer & Tiffany Pitra) and PBS (Ellen Sherrill & Sue Rigler) tell us all about the 5th Annual hop blend. This exclusive blend is selected by PBS members and changes every year so you’re not going to want to miss it. The 2021 Pink Boots Hop blend is available for pre-orders now through December 15th. Contact your Country Malt Group sales rep or CLICK HERE to reserve yours today! Have suggestions or questions for future episodes? Email us at thebrewdeck@countrymalt.com!

Today’s guests are Rodrigo Plancarte, Regional Sales Manager (Mexico and Central America) at Yakima Chief Hops, and Marko Guevara, Commercial Director at BeerMex. They share the current landscape of craft brewing, challenges and hurdles that brewers face, regional beer styles, and hot spots for craft beer in Mexico and Central America. Have suggestions or questions for future episodes? Email us at thebrewdeck@countrymalt.com! 

In this episode, The BrewDeck team celebrates the Halloween season with a series of spooky, scary, and strange short stories from their experiences in the brewing industry. Today’s guests are Country Malt Group sales reps Geoff Fischer, Tim Roberts, CJ Penzone, Zach Grossfeld, John Egan, and Grant Lawrence. Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thebrewdeck/message

Today’s guests, Kyran Flett and Don Moore from Canada Malting Company, talk about Canadian barley harvest 2021, North America’s crop update, elevator system benefits, and regional malts. Key Points From This Episode: Canadian Barley Harvest: How size and production compare to other countries. General Crop Update: Similar production challenges around the world due to weather. Production Quality: What it means for brewers and customers - what they should expect. Proactive Priorities: Malt kernel size, plumpness, and other factors are critical. European Malt: Improves brewhouse performance and consistency to manage protein. Malt or Feed? How barley is grown specifically for malt or feed varieties in Canada. Supply and Demand: Canadian barley is the best if you can find it throughout the year. Elevator System: Shields volatility, segregates, blends grain for barley brewers, distillers. Red Wheat, Oat Malt, Pale Ale: Regional specialty malt products - taste the difference.

Across the nation, the brewing industry is uniting to raise funds for critical pediatric cancer research. The National Pediatric Cancer Foundation’s signature beer, Rising Hope IPA, has become a seasonal favorite in nearly every state. Coupled alongside the bold Hope Roast Coffee, Rising Hope is the signature program for Brewing Funds the Cure. Currently, it is limited to one brewery per state. Country Malt Group and Yakima Chief Hops donate 100% of the ingredients needed to make our Rising Hope IPA. Today’s guests are Chris Geib, Chief Corporate Development Officer for the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation; Neil Callaghan, Brand Manager for Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, Fla.; Anthony Derby of Brew Bus Brewing in Tampa; Mike Hess, Proprietor/Chief Brewing Officer at Mike Hess Brewing in San Diego.

Beer is considered food and should be treated that way. Whether you are homebrewing or making thousands of barrels a year, it ends up in people’s bodies. So, parts of the production process, packing, holding, and transporting beer, are regulated. Today’s guests are Jan Landry, Food Safety Manager at Canada Malting Company, and Steve Harrah, Quality Services Manager at Country Malt Group. They talk about food safety related to ingredients and materials before arrival at breweries or distilleries and proper cleanliness and storage at facilities.

Today we're going to switch it up a bit and talk more about homebrews and recipe formulation. We celebrate our podcast birthday today, so it's time for some cake, beer, and good conversation.  Our guests have 50 plus years of combined knowledge working in the brewing industry and are plugged into the latest craft beer topics. Oh, and remember, next Friday is Hawaiian shirt day. So, you know, if you want to go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans as you join us for a more casual, less Lumberg episode of the Brew Deck.  We guarantee that all of today's guests have more than 15 pieces of flair. 

In Yakima Valley, born and raised Trellises are where they spend most of their days Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all year  With a beautiful view of Mt. Ranier When a couple of guys grabbed their harvesting gear Started making all the bines disappear Getting instantly frozen, YCH cheered, "You're being frozen, shipped, and used in fresh hop beers." Fresh hops; once reserved for those breweries within 1-2 days of transit. Thanks to Instant Quick Freeze (IQF), fresh hops are now available to brewers worldwide!  In today's episode, JT Wattenberg from Yakima Chief Hops discusses how using the IQF process preserves those sought-after, "right off the bine" flavors and aromas, how much fresh hops to use per barrel, and much more.  We also had the pleasure of speaking about fresh hops with Ben Edmonds of Breakside Brewery in Portland, Oregon. We cover how long they've been brewing beer with fresh hops, where they get them, and what "shattered hops" are.

What do millet, buckwheat, sunflower seeds, and hemp have in common? They are all non-cereal grains malted at Colorado Malting Company in Alamosa, Colorado. The obscure malts can be added to a traditional grain bill or singularly to produce gluten-free beer and spirits.  Today's guests, brothers Josh and Jason Cody, take farm-to-tap to a new level as the only brewery in the world where every ingredient in its beers comes from the family farm.  Josh and Jason's grandfather started the family-run Colorado Malting Company and then passed it onto their father. Located in San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado, Alamosa, this farm-to-glass operation is positioned in a unique climate with crazy heat/UV indexes, making it exceptional for growing small grains and bringing those to harvest high-quality status.

In this episode of The BrewDeck, we speak with experts from three exceptional malt companies discussing the science behind Munich Malt as well as the high-quality Munich Malt options available from each maltster. First up is Teri Fahrendorf, Malt Innovation Center Manager at Great Western Malting, followed by Betsy Roberts, Quality Manager from Briess Malt & Ingredients and Jessica Görick, Technical Support representing BestMalz out of Germany. This episode is packed to the top of the malt bag with some great info and technical insight - you don't want to miss it!

Barley is not an easy crop to grow and creates a lot of stress about color, weather, and premium over feed. Today’s episode is all about Barley and features a Barley crop update from Ryan Dodd, Director of Grain at Canada Malting;  Dustin Camphouse, Grain Field Representative at Great Western Malting; and John Egan, Territory Manager for Country Malt Group.

Smoothie Sours are an emerging infamous beer style.  They’ve been around for a few years and have grown in popularity among craft beer consumers. The style consists of a soured beer with the addition of lactose (milk sugar) and different fruit purees combined to make a malt beverage big on fruit flavor and aroma with an added sour kick to enhance the flavors. The resulting beer tastes a lot like a typical fruit smoothie.  While it may be a polarizing beer style, it is becoming an industry standard, even though it’s been criticized, perhaps unfairly, by many in the beer world for not being a beer. Why? Smoothie Sours tend to gush and slush out of the package. Yet, new Smoothie Sour releases continue to be some of the most sought-after and traded craft beer styles. Today’s guests are Dan Russo of Oakshire Brewing and John Galante of Alvarado Street Brewery, experts who share their different experiences as well as tips and tricks to brewing Smoothie Sours successfully.      

Cold IPA is a newer term for a style of beer that aims for a crisper IPA coined by Kevin Davey, Brewmaster at Wayfinder. Today Kevin joins us on The BrewDeck to help us learn more about what sets this IPA style apart. We kick off the discussion, hearing a little more about Kevin’s background, and then dive right into how he came up with the idea to mix his favorite parts of an IPA and put them all into one thing. Kevin gets into the distinct flavor profile of the Cold IPA and how this feeds into his decision to name it as such, and then we take a deep dive into the types of hops, barley, and adjuncts that go into it. Here we explore Kevin’s decision to move from rice to corn, the barley growing industry in the US and its effect on cost, and the choice to use adjuncts instead of a malt-only recipe. Toward the end of the discussion, Kevin weighs in on a few top tips for anybody interested in brewing a Cold IPA of their own, making sure to cover water profile, base malts, mash temperature, and his unique technique of developing in the middle of the hop creep. Kevin wraps up with a final description of the Cold IPA as an antithesis to a Hazy: it’s more carbonated, drier, more clear, more bitter, more everything! So for all this and more about Relapse cold IPA from Wayfinder Beer, tune in today!

Our guests weigh in on the essential attribute of pilsner malt, their favorite pilsner malt, hop, and, in their opinion, a pilsner malt all brewers out there should try! Each of our guests dives deep into these questions, giving advice on many different malts and hops on their radars, some of which are household favorites, and others a little more niched! They also sign off with some of the most exciting beers coming out of their breweries, so for all this and more today, be sure to tune in!