Brewing in Eola

In all the years I have been traveling to the Eola School Restaurant and Brewery, I have never glimpsed Mark Cannon's brewing system. Sometimes, you don't want to look into the sausage factory, if you know what I mean.

But Mark had contacted Satan about brewing a witbier, and so I went to Eola to assist.

When I arrived on Sunday morning, Mark's usual brewing day because he's only open a few hours, Mark and Satan had a couple of cut kegs set up on propane burners, and they had already put in some malted wheat, unmalted wheat and some barley. I had been told to bring five pounds of oats, so one 42 ounce package of the Quaker Oats went into each keg. The fire was turned on and my job was to stir.

Did you know that stainless steel is an excellent conductor of heat? We didn't. Both kettles scorched. We tried to get the black bits out of the cereal mash, and were largely successful.

Mark's plan was to split the wort into two fermenters, and in one, throw in some Bavarian wheat yeast. In the second half, he wanted to toss in the spices before transferring to the fermenter and pitching some wit yeast.

Mark's biggest handicap is his market. It's Coors Light country and he can't sell beer that is too much outside that range. If he brews a dark beer, he has to drink it himself. So the witbier has just a kiss of spices.

Mark had also invited Carol to join us. Carol wants to learn to brew. Mark thought she would learn a lot watching us. Satan and I gave her some advice, and tried to assure her that once she understood the process, making beer is not difficult. I pointed her to this site, and the link to the Good Eats Beer Show. I also taught her the mantra "Relax. Don't Worry. Have a Homebrew."

It was a good time, even though Mark spent a lot of time busting my ass.