Name: Patrick Bohannan
Age: 29
Occupation: Auto damage adjuster
Years Brewing: 9
Brewing History: Started extract brewing in 2011, moved to basic all grain brewing in 2013, More advanced all grain brewing in 2015, Brew in a bag and writing and developing my own recipes in 2017
What got you interested in brewing to start: My roommate at the time ordered a kit and I actually made fun of him at first, but when I tried their beer and it was drinkable I decided to try it myself and I was hooked.
What kept you brewing: It’s something that you can continually improve like cooking. Also, even knowing the science behind the beer, it’s still amazing to me how you can take 4 basic ingredients and make an almost uncountable number of different beers! Always have good beer around doesn’t hurt either!
Current brewing rig: 15 gal mega pot with a brew bag. A 14 ft counterflow chiller that can chill a whole batch from boiling to 70-80 degrees in 3-5 minutes. A deep freeze with temp controller for a fermentation chamber. Finally a converted refrigerator that holds 5 kegs and currently has 4 taps.
Any rules you have for brew day: I always have to have some beer at hand, and some great music in the background. As far as the actual process, I’ve got a fairly rigid procedure I follow step by step (which I might be able to do in my sleep now) in order to make sure I don’t end up with a bad brew.
Best brewing advice you were given (by whom if you can remember): It would have to be all the times I’ve been told or read that paying attention to the little things will make a big difference. When we started, and for several years after (I’m ashamed now to admit) we used straight tap water out of the hose resulting in an obvious chlorine taste. We also didn’t pay attention to fermentation temp, we just let er rip, resulting in a lot of overflowing fermenters and one unfortunate geyser with a particularly active imperial stout that took hours to clean up. Once I started looking at these little things that can be easy to not think about the quality of our beer went up immensely.
Most influential brewing tip you learned: Brew in a bag. I was skeptical at first, but once I tried it it changed everything. Less equipment, less time, and I average 80-85% efficiency. I’m never going back!
Your tip for new brewers just getting started: You are going to mess up. Once you’ve done it long enough the mess ups are actually the best stories. Don’t let it discourage you if you have a batch get infected, your first recipe tastes terrible, or your beer mysteriously doesn’t hardly ferment at all (been there on all counts). Just learn from it and come at it again.
Go to beer style for consumption: IPA or saison
What’s on tap at your brew house right now: right now I’m getting ready to keg our habanero saison, blueberry wheat, ipa, and Butterbeer!
Favorite beer style to brew: Bocks for sure. The added complexity from the décoction and lagering result in fantastic beer!(or at least a great story about how you messed it up).
What’s your next brewing related project: After Little Rock we will be brewing for the national home brew competition!
