Jacob Wickham: There's No Brewery Like Home
Jacob Wickham is the president of Beijing Homebrewing Society, who meet once a month to share beer-making tales and tips. Given our already well-documented and rather painful experience with brewing our own beer, we asked Wickham how to get on the right track.
On the appeal of homebrewing
“Learning how to brew, and utilizing the nearly unlimited list of ingredients out there to make the different styles, really enhances your beer literacy and appreciation for real beer. Brewing different beers at home gives you a sense of freedom, and at the same time gives you something great to share with others”
“The hobby came naturally to me because I'm a scientist, but it doesn't take a scientist to make great beer”
On Beijing Homebrewing Society
“In addition to our monthly gathering, where we sample a style of the month and have a presentation on a technical topic, we have a few events tentatively planned. These include ‘Beer Boats at the Summer Palace’ (bring your own keg and cruise around like an emperor), a Slow Boat Brewery tour and barbecue, and beginners’ homebrewing classes”
“You don’t need to take a test nor be able to drink a lot to join. We’re an educational organization, not a drinking club”
“Although the membership is dominated by expats, we do have a few Chinese in our ranks. Yin Hai was one of our founding members and is our official translator. He keeps a blog on Weibo to record our activities, and it’s developing a following. We’re optimistic more Chinese will join”
On beginners’ brewing
“The first thing I would do is shadow a homebrewer. After that, the old adage goes: ‘Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.’ And sanitize, sanitize, sanitize”
“All you need to get is some basic beginner equipment (brew kettle, fermentation/bottling bucket, a thermometer, and a siphon) and a beginning brew kit (malt extract, 0.5-1kg of specialty grains for steeping, hops, and yeast). Our homebrewing club is trying to source malt extracts to introduce beginners to the brewing process”
On sourcing materials in Beijing
“The only reliable option now is acquiring all-grain kits through Great Leap Brewing (see www.greatleapbrewing.com). The other option is DIY. I built my all-grain system in China for under USD 200 using some simple items found at a hardware store, and I’m experimenting with ingredients I bought on Taobao”
Beijing Homebrewing Society’s next meeting is on Apr 10 at Great Leap Brewing. For more, see BHS' Weibo page and Sina blog, or contact njonnston@greatleapbrewing.com.
