Craft Beer & Brewing Course
Constructing Artful Mixed-Culture Beers with Firestone Walker Barrelworks
With detailed advice from Jim Crooks, master blender at Firestone Walker’s Barrelworks, you can brew complex but balanced mixed-culture beers meant for patient wood-aging and blending.
5 chapters · 25 lessons · 1h 35m
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Your instructor
Jim Crooks
Master Blender, Firestone Walker Barrelworks
Jim Crooks' long career at Firestone Walker began in the laboratory, helping to ensure that products were clean and free of bugs. Now, his deep knowledge of how those wild yeast and bacteria behave is critical to producing heralded beers such as Feral One and countless other award-winning beers. Prior to Firestone Walker, Crooks attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and received a Bachelor's of Science, Food Science degree.
Course contents
5 chapters, 25 lessons, 1h 35m of video
Chapter 1
Introduction
- Welcome + Background on Firestone Walker Barrelworks12:30
Chapter 2
Recipe Development of Beers Meant for Mixed Cultures & Wood
- Planning & Tinkering with Variables7:42
- Homebrewing Sour Beers 101: The Art of Tart, Simplified
- Pro Tips: Finding Success with Sours
Chapter 3
Elements of a Wood-Aged Sour Beer
- Mash and Grist Built for Aging with Mixed Cultures5:38
- Selecting Yeast and Bacteria for Mixed Cultures and Balance8:30
- More Perspectives: Managing Mixed Culture Fermentations
- More Perspectives: Floodland’s Adam Paysse on Rearing Mixed Cultures
- Hops and Suppressing Acidity5:28
- Managing Acidity: Balancing Acetic and Lactic8:43
- Quantify Your Funk: A Primer on pH and Titratable Acidity
- Understanding pH and Titratable Acidity in Sour Beer: Tools for Brewers and Enthusiasts Alike
Chapter 4
Aging & Blending
- Vessels: Selection, Cleaning, and Long Maturation17:58
- Prepping Used Barrels for Aging Beer
- A Barrel Master on Knowing the Ways of the Wine Barrel
- Blending Approach & Technique10:33
- Winemaking Tools for Wild-Ale Wizardry
- Fruiting Approach & Technique13:11
- Style + Fruit: Let’s Play Matchmaker
- Packaging & Bottle Conditioning2:40
Chapter 5
Wrap Up
- Thank You1:48
- More Perspectives: Trevor Rogers of De Garde on Patience and Sense of Place
- Sensory: Randy Mosher on the Elements of Funk
- Recipe: Schneeeule Marlene Berliner Weisse
- Recipe: Turbid Lambic-Like Base Beer