I have a PhD in biochemistry and work in microbiology, so I am most interested in yeast and fermentation, though I enjoy all aspects of brewing.  Currently I'm using a 10 gallon cooler system, but I'm slowly gathering the pieces to put together a single tier, 3 burner system.  I have a converted upright freezer with a BrewBit for temperature control that I use for my fermentation chamber.  It's awesome!

I'm looking forward to participating in the BrewUnited challenge.  I'll be brewing my first of three for the competition tomorrow--an American Amber.  Can't wait to try roasting my own grains for a couple of the other brews. 

Cheers,

Tracy

 

What got you started in brewing? 

Do you belong to a HB club out there? 

Does your background in microbiology result in you storing yeast cultures and having a little yeast lab at home?

I don't belong to a HB club, but there are some good LHBS here.  One shop has regularly held home brew club meetings and monthly events with guest speakers.  Recently they had to cease all of these activities because they were being scrutinized by law enforcement--who seem to be very narrowly interpreting the rules of homebrew legality (They served homebrew at events and offered samples of their homebrew in the shop.) 

 Another good reason to belong to the AHA--helping keep homebrewing legal.

With regard to yeast-- yes!  I have started a strain collection and I'm slowly expanding my home "lab".  I'm kind of thinking of brewing as kind of training for a next phase of my career, perhaps being a yeast provider in some manner.  Hard to compete with the big guys though, and equipment is expensive.   I've also noticed that many sour beer brewers (pro and amateur) don't really know what's going on in their fermentations with regard to the populations of yeast and bacteria over time.  If someone would magically give me a research grant I have a million ideas for cool experiments to explore that area.  

As for 3 burner system, I'd really like to have the flexibility to do 5 or 10 gallon batches, but haven't figured out the best way to do that in terms of kettle sizes.  Plus, our current keezer only holds 3 corny kegs.  Soon it seems the house will be full of converted fridges and freezers....

Your experience is awesome, a lot of the chemical aspects of brewing are beyond me.

You should totally look into providing yeast! Have you heard of The Yeast Bay? It was started by a guy on Reddit, /u/biobrewer, and does pretty much this. You'd be surprised how far good customer service and artisinal yeast can get you. You should reach out to him if you are curious, super cool guy. 

But yeah, again, welcome!