To My Father, Dad This Brews for You

Dad, This Brews For You
Clarence "Butch" Leverentz ran a neighborhood grocery store back before the invention of the supermarket. His little store was the center of the community. When I was only five years old, his wife, my grandmother, first introduced me to the magic of the beer bottle and chemistry. No, she did not give me the full ones, although I do remember those occasional sips at the bottom of the bottle which were handed out very sparingly.

Grandma knew that when you mixed an acid with a base, they created a violent reaction. I think she learned this by making the absolute best molasses cookies on the planet. Her recipe required that the dough sit and bubble all on it's own while the ingredients reacted with each other. She showed me how to make a cork rocket with vinegar, baking soda, a piece of tissue, a cork, and of course, an empty beer bottle. You pour an inch of vinegar into the bottle, then push the tissue into the neck to block it up. A tablespoon of baking soda is placed on top of the tissue. The cork gets pushed into the bottle tightly. The rocket engine is now ready. To launch the cork you simply turn the bottle upside down until the tissue soaks and the baking soda drops into the vinegar. Turn the bottle right side up and run. I spent two or three summers shooting corks from beer bottles in the yard behind the store.

In those days people stayed close to home. There was no local tavern for the neighborhood to gather and catch up on the local news. Butch filled this community void in the little storeroom behind the meat cutting block where he made his living. The neighborhood would stop by, pick up staples or dinner, and have a cold beer over the events of the day. I remember sitting on the cases of returnable empties and listening to the stories. It seemed like the perfect world. It was years latter that I learned just what hard work it was to run a small business.

My father and his sisters worked regular jobs all day and then helped out at the store each night. Stocking shelves, delivering groceries, cleaning up. It was all hard work. The advent of the supermarket was on them and eventually it did them in. There are still people in the neighborhood who say that you have not been able to get a decent cut of meat in Niagara Falls since Butch closed the store.

Through it all my grandfather and his son truly appreciated a quiet beer at the end of a long day. They were both very smart men. They would watch TV, do the crossword puzzle, and beat me at chess all at the same time. It was said that my grandfather could sit with someone for an hour, never say a word, and carry on complete conversation. My Dad worked shift work in a paper mill. A week of days, a week of afternoons, then a week of midnight's. He had no days, no nights, no set weekends. He worked hard and long taking as much overtime as came his way. To this day it is beyond my comprehension how he did it for so many years. I have to go to bed at the same time every night or I can’t function. When he was not working he was with this family. In forty plus years, I cannot remember a single time that he wasn’t there when I needed him.

When Dad was on the afternoon shift, I would lay in bed waiting for him to get home at eleven-thirty PM. I’d hear the car, then the key in the door. He’d walk up the stairs and peek into rooms where I and my brothers were in bed. Sometimes I’d say Hi, but most of the time I’d pretend to be asleep. He would make his way back down the stairs and then the sound and smell of popcorn popping in a metal pan would come back up the hallway.

STARTER KITS

INGREDIENTS

EQUIPMENT

BOTTLE SUPPLIES

KEGS & DRAFT BEER

INFORMATION

Dad would stop on the way home from work to pick up a quart of beer. Almost never the same kind two days in a row. Dad always told me "there are no bad beers, some are just better than others.". My Dad loved his beer cold and poured into a glass. I can’t remember him ever drinking from the package. He and my mother would relax after the long day with hot buttered popcorn and a cold beer as I fell asleep.
Although my Dad never made his own beer, it was he that first introduced me to homebrewing. He and my mother spent a lot of time with our relatives in Canada right across Lake Erie. My Uncle and his buddies were into homebrew back in the early eighties. Dad would tell me about their brewing adventures when we’d get together over a cold one on the front porch. We would sit and chat while Kimberly, the beer drinking black lab, would chase sticks and anxiously wait for one of us to spill a drop or two.
Robert 'Bob' Leverentz passed away a few years ago. There is not a day that I do not think of him. My Dad never got to try my homebrew, but I know he’d like it. After all, there are no bad beers, some are just better than others.
Keeping Light Beer Light One of the most difficult things to do in homebrewing is to keep your light color beers light. Here’s some tips that will help. Start with ingredient selection. I have had good results using extra light malt extracts. Munton’s makes extra light syrup and dry extra light at 3L. Laaglander dry extra light at 40L is also available. Steeping grains can and should be used in light colored beers. Carapils 10L, Dextrin 2L and Munich 10L will all add body, character and texture without adding color.
Control of the brew pot is the best insurance against darkening the brew. Steep grains at no higher than 150F. Remove the grain and bring the brew pot to a hard boil prior to adding the malt extracts. This will help dissolve the extract malts into the wort quickly. Remove the brew pot from the heat source before adding extracts. Add malts to the pot slowly and with a lot of stirring. Take some extra time to mix in the extracts prior to starting the boil. It only takes a minute for the heavy extract to scorch on the bottom of the pot and darken the beer. If you are using an electric stove or a brew pot without a heavy plated bottom, it is a good idea to raise the pot above the burner for more even heat distribution. Stir the brew pot often to keep the heat even throughout the wort. Reduce your total boiling time to 45 minutes. The longer the boil, the darker the beer.


copyright 2004 J.R.Leverentz