Home » Homebrewking

Today we talk with Tiktok sensation @hombrewking or Larry McCallister. We talk about how he teaches home brewing using micro content on Tiktok.

You can find him here: https://www.tiktok.com/@homebrewking?

The website is now live! Check out more detailed show notes and images at https://homebrewingdiy.beer

Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/homebrewingdiy

Try BrewFather for free: https://brewfather.app/?via=homebrewingdiy

Scrubber Duckys: https://www.scrubberduckys.com/store/c1/WWW.SCRUBBERDUCKYS.COM

The Brew Bag: http://www.brewinabag.com/?aff=26

Social 

Follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram: @homebrewingdiy

Email feedback to podcast@homebrewingdiy.beer

Music:

Intro Music: SUNBIRDS by BOCrew (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/BOCrew/38854 Ft: THEDEEPR / THECORNER / feat : FORENSIC

Not enough Horsefeathers by Fireproof_Babies (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/Fireproof_Babies/13115 Ft: duckett, kulimu

Paper Planes – Durden ft. Airtone by DURDEN (c) copyright 2016 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/DURDEN/55041 Ft: Airtone

Brewfather ad Music:

Kalte Ohren by Alex (c) copyright 2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/AlexBeroza/59612 Ft: starfrosch & Jerry Spoon

Scrubber Duckys Ad Music:

Music:

Jeff II – Liquid Demons

Link to the song: https://youtu.be/UkRIKiBJ5Oc

Show Transcript:

AI created there will be tons of errors:

Colter Wilson: On this week’s show, we’re talking to the Tik TOK sensation, the Homebrew key. Or Larry McAllister, we’re going to talk to them about doing micro content and how he uses it to teach people how to Homebrew. It’s a really, really fascinating discussion. So stick around this week on homebrewing, DIY.

And welcome back to homebrewing DIY the podcast that takes on the do it yourself, aspect of home, brewing gadgets, contraptions, and parts. This show covers it all on this week’s show. We’re talking to Larry McAllister. Or also known as Homebrew King on Tik TOK. He’s become quite the Tik TOK phenomenon. And Larry has taught many, many people using that micro content about homebrewing.

Tasting on the BJ CB guidelines and he’s even taught people how to make meat. So really, really cool stuff we’re going to talk about. So stick around for the interview, but first I’d like to thank all of our patrons over at Patrion is because of you that this show can come to you week after week, head on over to patrion.com forward slash homebrewing DIY.

Another way to support the show is using coffee and that’s K O dash F i.com forward slash homebrewing DIY. And there you can give one-time support. I’d like to thank Kyle Smith for giving us some one-time support this week. Kyle also left us a really cool. Piece of feedback in a note today. And so I will read that during the feedback session, but first I want to thank Kyle for giving us some beers over at coffee.

So very, very cool. Another way to support the show is to write us a review. You can go over to pod chaser.com forward slash homebrewing DIY, or if you’re listening to us on. Apple podcast, just scroll the bottom of your app. Give us a five-star review. And if you write us a review, we’re going to read it on the air.

I got some new reviews to read this week as well. Another way to support the show is to head on over to our website, homebrewing, DIY dot ear, and use our sponsor banners. And you can buy a brew bag at Bruna bag. You can do your shopping at adventures and home brewing, or you can even buy some brewing software from brew father doing so is going to let them know that we sent you and they in turn support the show.

One thing you are going to notice about the website. This week is that it has changed. I completely did a redesign of the website. It’s definitely a lot lighter. Uh, and part of that is going to have to do with a lot of changes. We’re going to be making here. We are at home brewery DIY, so I’m very, very excited they to speak about them.

I’m going to post a blog post about this as well, but just to let you know, we are getting some more contributors here. So for example, Ryan pack Meyer. Who’s. Been on the show often is actually going to be an ongoing contributor. He’s a BJC P certified drug judge and just an avid brewer of big beers. So we’re going to hear a lot more about him.

He’s also a beer writer. He’s written for publications, such as Zimmer G beer and brewing. Also, we’re going to have a. Chino bruise, who did an episode with us recently, and he is going to also be a contributor on the show. He has tons of articles that he’s planning on writing. And you’ll hear from those two on the show more often.

So just keep an eye out for the big changes we have coming your way at homebrewing DIY. And I have to say that really, when you think about those changes, they couldn’t be possible without our patrons. So just to give them another shout out, your, your support really does make it so that we can make.

Decisions like this and have growth of the podcast. So it really is appreciated. And just note, we are at a point where I don’t make any money at this podcast, this isn’t, you know, I have a, I have a day job. This is nothing that I’m using. Any money that you give to me on this podcast is immediately turning around and being reinvested in the show.

And so these are the ways that we do, so is, uh, Yeah. Things like web hosting things like, uh, being able to have contributors and being able to really just grow the podcast the way I hope to one day. And we’ll just see where it goes. So thank you, you very much for all your support and all of our listeners as well.

Just really, really appreciate it. Well, I guess I’ll stop gushing over everybody. And, uh, let’s just jump into this week’s episode where we’re gonna talk to Larry McAllister or Homebrew King.

I’ve got Larry McAllister here on the show. Larry McAllister goes by the name Homebrew King over on Tik TOK. And he’s probably the predominant home brewer on the entire medium of tick-tock right now. And I have to admit, I I’m very fascinated with it. I watched this guy almost every day. I’m blown away by the amount of stuff he’s putting out and I’d like to welcome to homebrewing DIY.

Welcome, Larry. 

Larry McCallister: Thanks. I’m happy to be here. 

Colter Wilson: So let’s, let’s talk a bit about you and tick talk because. Uh, personally, I have a Tik TOK account. I put out a couple of videos on it. It’s definitely something that you’ve got to really stick with. And you’ve got to put a lot of this kind of micro video content out.

And I gotta admit, I think you’ve nailed it. You cover everything. Uh, you, you, you talk about homebrewing, you talk about technique, you talk about process, you talk about making me, but you could do it all in these like little 62nd videos and you do a great job. Just how did you get into it? How’d you get into it and how’d you kind of come up with that process.

Larry McCallister: That’s really hard to do something in 60 seconds. So it was almost a personal challenge actually. Uh, I, I have a background in education, so, uh, when I was going through some of my research and, and papers and things like that for my education degree, One of the things that I bumped into was you really need, um, a couple of things to get, uh, the attention of people.

And that’s a short timeframe. So if you can say something in a short timeframe, so. Um, 60 seconds is perfect. Don’t take talk. You can tell somebody something in a short timeframe and then give it to them when they need it. Those are the two key things for a lot of educational purposes. So I think I kind of naturally just gravitated to it.

So I was like, ah, this is micro-learning. I would love to do this. And then I had a personal challenge. I was like, well, I’ve been wanting to put out content on YouTube, but I’ve kind of been putting it off because it’s, it seems so long. And I. I’m a perfectionist. So I would want to set up a studio and all this stuff, but Tik TOK is more raw, you know, so people would just like to see raw things and I try to mix some answers to questions and raw footage in there, but also some really quick, uh, takes on, you know, Peer reviews and, and what I’m doing at the time, what I’m interested in the time.

Colter Wilson: Really? Yeah. But yes, it’s raw, but it’s still high quality, right? Like it doesn’t sound like crap. The video is usually pretty good. The video editor for tic talks pretty good, right? Yeah. 

Larry McCallister: Yeah. It’s it’s really good. I also use, um, splice, I think it’s called. Uh, yeah, to stitch some stuff together before I actually put it on Tik TOK so I could put it to whatever other media I want as well.

Colter Wilson: Yeah. And let’s talk a bit about some of the content that you do. So obviously you talk about homebrewing. I know you’ve done videos on the full home brewing process and you’ve, you’ve distilled it down to 60 seconds and it’s something where. And, and, and I get admit, you don’t even really take sho shortcuts.

You, you do hit all of the points that I’ve done, a beginner’s podcast. And my beginner’s podcast took up an entire hour. Right. And, and it can easily, it’s something where, when you look at this kind of micro content yeah. And one thing I love that you do is you don’t always go, Oh, and come back for part two, because that’s a thing on Tik TOK 

Larry McCallister: doing some, I have to like get away from it.

Colter Wilson: You don’t do it too much, but, uh, you also, don’t just, you don’t just talk about beer. You talk about making me to talk about making ciders and you make it really approachable for the beginner. And I think that for me personally, Uh, th these are the things beginners want is they want something that they can think of quickly.

So what, what would you say, like to a beginning homebrewer right now, if you were going to say, Hey, these are the things you need to get to get brewing, and don’t make such a big deal out of it. How, how, how do you kind of explain that to a brand new 

Larry McCallister: go to the grocery store? You have everything you need. I mean, really it’s, it’s not, it doesn’t have to be so complicated and what I love and.

Also hate about our community is, um, we have a lot of really smart people. Um, but, uh, sometimes that can be intimidating to somebody that’s brand new coming into home brewing. So, um, I try to be really approachable and try to say, you know, I I’ve, I’ve been got, t-shirts made the system. I, I won’t judge you.

Like, I just. Make something, you know, just make some Homebrew and bring it in. We can talk about, you know, if you want to know how to make it better, you can ask me, but, um, I’ll enjoy it with you. I don’t care. Uh, I want to taste the bad stuff too. So because it helps me taste off flavors really, but I am really interested in.

People being able to approach homebrewing as something that’s not, uh, following a recipe. And I think the, at the heart of what I’m trying to do is what I like to call it. Adaptive brewing. If you will, it’s, it’s more of a, let’s use cheap stuff to learn the fundamentals. And then after you get the fundamentals down, then you can start buying equipment and getting fancy if you’re still interested in it.

So, um, That’s pretty important to me. 

Colter Wilson: I think that’s actually a great approach, right? Uh, I, whatever people come to me and they’re like, Hey, I want to get started. I’m always like start with one gallon batches. They’re they’re so easy. They’re, they’re, they’re easy to find all of the parts in a grocery store.

You can find a Demi John of, of Apple juice, right. And start there. And. And for me, it’s something where one gallon batches also means that you’re not trying to cool down five gallons of liquid. You’re not having to go through a lot of the headaches that people put themselves in when they try to go big, early.

Larry McCallister: Right. Exactly. And then you’ll have buyer’s remorse. Right? So you’re not like I spent all this money on this and my beer sucks. It’s like, well, if you spent 10 bucks and it sucks. So what, right. So

Colter Wilson: it’s totally true. If you spend 10 bucks and you’re stoked that you made beer, you’re probably going to stick with the hobby, right? 

Larry McCallister: Absolutely. Yep. That’s right. 

Colter Wilson: And you’re, you’re also, you’re also a BJC P certified judge, right? Correct. Yes. And do you get obviously pre pandemic? You were probably doing, uh, beer competitions, right?

Larry McCallister: Yeah. Uh, two or three a 

Colter Wilson: year. Okay. And were you judging mainly, are you entering or are you doing both? 

Larry McCallister: Uh, both where I could and it made sense and, um, I actually was a steward for one and God bless all the stewards out there. There’s so much to go through when you’re setting up and doing a competition.

Uh, um, but yeah, if it’s possible, I will judge in the competition that I’m in, but, uh, I make sure I’m really clear up front. Hey, I’ve got entries in this. Keep me away from my own stuff. I’ll stay away from that table or whatever, but yeah. 

Colter Wilson: That’s awesome. And then, and then you have a segment, which is one of my favorite parts of your Tech-Talk is you do these beer reviews and you review very, very common beers that people don’t normally review.

And I’ll give you an example. You’ll do a 62nd beer review of like PBR, for example. And I. I love it because you actually look at as a judge, should you objectively look at it to the style and don’t poop who it, because it’s a PBL, 

Larry McCallister: right, right. Um, that comes from my college days. So in college I was, uh, I was, uh, I guess judging is just natural to me trying to be objective and neutral.

Um, I was a. Uh, intramural sports judging college. So, and I was one of the few judges that wasn’t associated with any social clubs or anything like that, fraternities, sororities. And so people would always look to me. And so I learned to. Value that in myself that I could look at things objectively. And then when I got into beer, it just kind of went from there and I was like, Oh, I need to compare this to the style and make sure that it’s meeting all the criteria and all that stuff.

But, uh, yeah, I, I love and value the fact that I can try to at least be as objective as possible and try to be as fair as possible. So some of the people don’t, I mean, they don’t agree with it. They’re like, How can that be? That’s that’s piss water. I get that a lot. It’s like, that’s just water. But to that style, it’s, it’s actually appropriate in it scores.

Fine. I like most commercial beers. Of course, they’re going to be very good beers. Otherwise they wouldn’t be still around or commercial. So that’s, but I, I also went with a commercial beers because nobody does that. But if I’m trying to convert people to get into craft beer, I need to speak their language.

And if somebody speaks commercial beer language, then I’ll tell them what I think it is. And then they’re not piqued their interest. And then they’re like, well, there’s a better beer than Budweiser you betcha buddy. There is . 

Colter Wilson: So, but, but when you take a Budweiser and you put it to the American light lager category, it falls right within that category and it’s going to probably score in the high thirties.

Right. And so, and it’s kind of funny when I watched it. And you were like, yeah, sure. Get a PBR. You did the taste. If I think you actually gave it a 38. And I was like, yeah, that’s probably pretty solid. That’s probably right on for that. And yeah. It it, but it’s funny that I love that you get messages like that of like, Oh, why are you doing this to BR

Larry McCallister: yeah, my recent one was a Corona and that it blew up. And now I’m trying to figure out why it blew up, because I maybe it’s because the name Corona is a buzzword right now, but I was like, maybe I just lucked onto that. I don’t know why, but. Yeah, there were a 

Colter Wilson: lot of people you never 

Larry McCallister: know, you never know.

But, uh, there were a lot of people that it’s like, well, you know, it’s, it’s, uh, it’s supposed to be skunky, you know, I’m like, no, it’s not supposed to be skunky. It’s it’s in a clear bottle. So if light hits it, it’s light struck. I mean, that’s just plain and simple. So I try to. Educate on those pieces too.

And help people understand that if you really want skunky, then use skunky hops. I mean, that’s the best. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah. And it’s, it’s the right kind of skunky when you skunky wraps. Right. And light struck has a very unique flavor. I think of, for me, I think of the, my, my days as a kid and drinking and Mickey’s big mouth, cause they were always old and white truck 

Larry McCallister: and.

Colter Wilson: But, but the ideas. Yeah, but they cut down, they come in forties. It was better when they were the little bottles and they were, and they were always old and they were always it’s truck and it’s cocky as hell. But in those bottles you had a little snub nose bottles before, or remember. Little King’s cream ale that came in the little bottles too.

I’ll speak. I’m speaking to my age now. 

Larry McCallister: I’m right there with you buddy. 

Colter Wilson: But the, uh, uh, but, but yes, so back to, you know, talking about. Uh, the light struck beer. I think it was really cool because when you were talking about the Corona, you did specifically call out, you said, Hey, I have a Corona, it’s in a clear bottle.

Let’s hope this isn’t a light struck version because if it’s not, it’ll probably taste pretty good. And you didn’t have a light struck one. And it’s what people don’t understand is, is that, you know, marketing sometimes overpowers, sometimes what’s in that bottle and, you know,

Larry McCallister: I got the question of Walgreen 

Colter Wilson: bottle for how long? Yeah, 

Larry McCallister: yeah. Yeah. Well, in Heineken does the, uh, completely closed their bottles and boxes now, so that’s good. Um, and I had, that’s what actually got me onto the whole, how important is light in beer thing? It was like we went to Amsterdam, went to the Heineken experience, did the whole thing, got to pour my own beer, fresh, amazing beer, fresh at the brewery.

And it’s like, by the time we get here in the States, it’s like, it doesn’t taste as good. It just, there’s just something lost in that time. It takes to get here and you never know what a distributor is going to do to the beer, to, you know, slinging it on freighters and leaving it outside on a pallet or something until they can get a loaded, you know?

Um, but yeah, 

Colter Wilson: probably spend a month on a boat getting here. Non-refrigerated. Rocked around hot, cold, hot, cold. I mean there’s yeah. So, so much. And a lot of, you know, when, when people talk about, I always talk about this with cold site oxidation, right? A lot of the reasons why big breweries are so, so freaky about cold site oxidation is because they need to be able to package it and have the beer last for longer than you would.

If you were a home brewer. And so, yeah. And examples would be, I needed to get a quality product to somebody six months from now. And I have to, I have to think of processes I can do to maintain that freshness level though. It’s still not as good as if you got it right at the brewery fresh, 

Larry McCallister: right? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. 

Colter Wilson: What, what are, what are some. Things that you would say if I were trying to get into, you know, beer judging and that I’m personally not a BJC P certified judge, but if I wanted to be a beer judge, what, what would you say to, to a newer homebrewer that they maybe want to make that a goal? What would they.

What would you tell them to start doing? 

Larry McCallister: Yeah. Well, if you’re, well, if you’re not a homebrewer and you hate beer, you should be a beer judge.

And there’s a reason for that. You know, there are so many people out there. I don’t remember what the exact statistic is. Like 14 or 20% of the people are like super tasters. They have extra taste buds and, um, they have such potential to. Be a fantastic judge if they would just desensitize themselves to bitterness a little bit and get used to beer.

Um, and that’s actually my journey. I wasn’t a huge beer fan at first. I actually started on wine, so I must have bought up every. Marillo and in little rock that I could find those under 10 bucks, just to taste that we went on a cruise and there was this a gentleman that was just so into wine. And I was like, I was like, how do you do that?

And he was like, I just think about what I’m drinking and try to pick out flavors. And that, for me, that’s probably actually where I started in, in my, um, my beer judging journey is like, I actually just started thinking about. The flavors that I was tasting so much, so many times we just drink stuff and guzzle it down or choke it down and don’t even have a second thought about it.

But if you drink something, you actually think about it, think about all the flavors. Um, all of a sudden this whole new world opens up to you and you’re like, Oh, now I taste food differently. Now I make food differently. I might use extras, herbs and spices and things like that. So, um, If you’re interested in judging, that’s the potential for you.

You can go down a really good road and, and, and expand your palate so much. Um, if you want to get started though, um, the basics are, you know, get up off flavor kit or try a beer that you’ve never tried before. Um, one of the things that my, uh, for my childhood, that my. Dad talked to me about was I remember he handed, I was like, Oh, I want to try that beer.

And he was like, well, it was old Milwaukee’s best. And he was like, well, here, let, that’ll put some hair on your chest. You know? And so from then on, I was like, okay, well, so, you know, trying something new to me is, is, is, uh, taking that leap of faith and experimenting. And if, if you’re the kind of guy that’s like, I’m in home brewing and I want to do.

You know, uh, American light lagers. Cause that’s what I’m used to. What, let’s try something weird and different. Go try a sour, go try a Imperial stout, go try a Belgian beers, anything, do something different and constantly seek different. And, uh, that’ll set you up with a really good foundation for judging.

Um, and you’ll have a really good, just a really good beer journey. I I’m, I’m such a stickler with my club on a beer journey. Try new things, try weird things, try off flavors. Uh, the guys in my club are always like, Hey, I’m going to dump this beer. I’m like dumped up and bring it here. I want to taste it.

But you know, it’s like anything that you can do to be curious about flavor, um, that’s how you would. In my mind, start to be a good, a good beer judge. And I’m not, I don’t claim to be a perfect judge or anything like that, but that certainly, uh, exp enhanced my life. I’ll just say that. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah. And one thing that I love.

Obviously I’ve judged beer at like the co at the club level. Right. I’ve never actually done judging for like a BGP competition, but when it comes to like, we do club competitions and I have judged that way. And I think of just looking and tasting subjectively and, and really opening your mind to. The ways that flavors can taste, like things that you smell or.

That flavors can taste like things that they remind you of you and your childhood, and being able to explain that to somebody, all of a sudden, you start to really, I understand how flavor and balance work and in a certain harmony it’s hard to, and I don’t like to use the word balance all the time. Cause it’s not.

The right word all the time, but 

Larry McCallister: I mean, that’s, that’s what I look for a lot is balanced. Um, so it’s, it’s perfectly fine. It balanced to that particular style is, is really key. So if you were talking about, I’m going to make a, an Imperial stout and it was aged in a bourbon barrel. Well, I shouldn’t taste all bourbon when I drink your beer.

I should also taste the Imperial style. That just makes sense. Right. So yeah, those are things that are important. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah. And also things like it. I always think like, for example, Tasting off flavors is an eye opening experience for me in actually my own beer and not tasting off flavors in my own beer. But when I taste, for example, I’ll get the butter popcorn or something in a beer at like home brew club night.

Right. And I’ll be like, Oh man, that’s totally diastal. And I’m not super sensitive to it. Some people are, I I’m definitely not be a huge diagonal bomb for me to taste it, but it. It is something that when you get it, you get it and you know, that taste from then on, and then you start to actually see it in beers.

And so I would see things like you’re tasting a light lager, which it’s okay to have a little bit of diacetyl in some walkers. Right. And so you’ll, you’ll be tasting, you’ll be like, Oh, now I can get that little taste of that in there. And. And it is a much more subtle thing, but for me, it’s almost like it took the shock of having it on my palette in a gigantic amount to really get me the idea, because I never really had tasted it before.

Larry McCallister: Right, right. Yeah. That’s the whole point of those beer kits is to get above that threshold of parts per million, where you. It’s noticeable. I highly recommend, I highly recommend beer kids or the off, off flavor kits for that purpose. It’s it’s um, something that’s I don’t know how many I’ve gone through.

I COVID happens. I’m trying to get one with the club and the local brewery and the, in there they’re wanting to get, uh, Some of their staff into the session as well. It’s so key to understanding how beer should taste, but also, um, if you’re a Homer, I mean, you’re just getting started. Don’t take it too seriously either.

And it’s like, yeah, you just make whatever you want to make. And then learn from there. It’s a really good journey and iterative process. So, um, 

Colter Wilson: Uh, my favorite story to tell a brand new book, or is how bad my first beer sucked. It was all tasted like cardboard. It had two months oxygen, it was under carbonated.

It was an Amber ale and it was disgusting. And it took me six batches of beer to get to a beer where I was like, Hey, this beer actually tastes like something I would drink. Right. But every step of the journey there was. Was a bit better and got me closer to my goal and that’s how come. And that’s why I try to tell people to stick with it is like, Hey, you’re just starting out.

It’s not a big deal. If your first beer sucks, let’s just make another one. It’s not a big deal. 

Larry McCallister: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah. That’s you all? Go ahead. Go ahead. 

Larry McCallister: That’s the, that’s the best. Advice ever is, is just don’t quit. I mean, you were making alcohol at home. How awesome is that right? Yeah. If, if you live in the States, it’s, it’s, it’s a blessing too.

And we’re changing the law every day. I wish we would change the law a little bit to where we could ship beer. I have so many people that ask me like, Oh, can I, can I ship you some beer? And I’m like, No, that’s technically not legal, so don’t do that. Right. So it’s like, at least in the state that I’m in right then.

Yeah. Yeah. 

Colter Wilson: I’m in Colorado. People shouldn’t be beer all the time. It’s

like, I actually, I got it. I got it. I’ve gotten two boxes of beer shipped to me this week. 

Larry McCallister: Goodness. I wish I could add that right there. So I have to work on the laws in Arkansas, which is where I’m from. So, 

Colter Wilson: yeah. And see, that’s one of the things, man, that this is what the brewers association does is their, their job is to, to go into these States and try to loosen these, these laws that are draconian.

I mean, there are a big part of. I think it was just in the last 10 years that it was actually legal in all 50 States. So you have to think about that’s correct. You know, All the way until just recently, there were States that home brewing was illegal. I’m originally from Utah and homebrewing. Wasn’t legal until the mid two thousands.

And so it’s, it’s really, really important that we talk about those kinds of laws, 

Larry McCallister: right. And a lot of the, we actually changed the law and I think 2018 to allow homebrewing to be transported in Arkansas. And sometimes it’s just as simple as asking your government officials, Hey, can we do this? And a lot of times they’re like, Wait, why aren’t we already doing this?

Right. So sometimes exactly, it’s as simple as saying, can we transport beer or ship beer? That would be nice. And especially during COVID times, it would be really nice. I think there are some organizations that are working on it. Um, I applaud them for their efforts for sure. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. COVID has really opened the eyes of, of what limitations there were in our laws for no reason.

Right. And I’ll give you an example here, uh, because of COVID I can go to any bar, restaurant or brewery and have beer or wine or liquor delivered to my house as part of a takeout meal. Right. And you could never do that before. And, and, and I got to admit it’s, it’s kind of cool. The other day I ordered Mexican and we got a picture of margarita with it, and I was like, Why could we do this before?

It’s I’m at home. Yeah. About driving. This is actually from, yep. So 

Larry McCallister: I was actually there in August. Uh you’re in the Colorado Denver area. 

Colter Wilson: Is that, yeah, I’m just, I’m in Arvada, which is just 15 minutes from downtown. 

Larry McCallister: Okay. Yeah, I, I was just, uh, North of there. I think we did a whole trip because I, I turned 40 last year or so I’m showing my age, but we went on a seven state sort of burry run, where it was okay to.

Go in with a mask and all that. And I was like, I’m not gonna let it spoil my 40th. So we went to ended up in that actually, I can’t say enough about McClellan’s brewery brewing company in the, is it Fort Collins or the just North of y’all cascade ELLs, every single one of them. I was like, Every single one of these beers is amazing.

They’re at least above a 40, like, and how do you do this with cat scales? And you got beer engines and I was just so blown away. Um, y’all’s beer scene is awesome. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah, we, we really are spoiled here. So for, for me, uh, McClellan’s is up in Fort Collins, but just a 10 minute drive from my house is hogs had brewery and they also do cascades with, with beer engines and their beers are.

Amazing. They’re so good. And they’re, you know, the body’s right. The head’s right. The creaminess is right. The hoppy, the, the, the level of hops in the mall are so balanced correctly. I love beer engine beer, and it’s just something that. I didn’t get anywhere else until I moved to Denver. And I love her. 

Larry McCallister: The threshold for me for a great beer is if I want to go home and try to make it.

So 

Colter Wilson: I can’t make that I don’t have a beer. 

Larry McCallister: It’s like I came home. I was like working and get a beer engine six is 

Colter Wilson: awesome. Oh, I, I have a guy in my Homebrew club that has one in his garage. It’s amazing. That’s awesome. Uh, so, so let’s talk a bit about just kind of your general kind of approach to content because you put out a lot, I would say you’re probably putting out content every day, two or three it’s it’s pretty often, right.

Larry McCallister: So the challenge to myself, when I started it was to put out something every day. And that’s tough when you’re like, it’s Christmas, it’s vacation. Yeah. It’s whatever. But I don’t know. I’m always trying to put something out either, even at the very least responding to a comment or something, but yeah, I’m strive to put out something every day.

So that’s, um, really tough too, when he got. A three-year-old old and a full-time job and, you know, family needs and all this other stuff going on. It’s just like, how do I get. Content end, but I just try to make something every week and I try to respond to comments. And I know I have a lot, I’ve got a ton of fans now, so I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to, one of the things I wanted to try to do was try to answer everybody and respond to everybody and talk to everybody.

And, um, it’s increasingly difficult when you have 50,000 followers or whatever it is I got now. So it’s like, I can’t. Handle the workload a lot of times. So, um, uh, some days I just take an hour to just go answer responses on some tech talks and just try to fit it in wherever I can. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah. And, and I will admit that you are.

Seriously. It is every day. And, and I tried for awhile. I mean, I tried for a couple of weeks to put stuff out like that. And I’m already doing a podcast, which is, you know, a lot more of a long form. Uh, the editing pro I will admit the editing process for this is, is a lot more intensive than people understand.

But, uh, but on the other side of it is, is that I I’m in the same boat as you I’m in my forties, I’ve got a wife, I’ve got two kids, I’ve got a four year old and a seven year old and, you know, Brewing beer on top of that, you know, finding five hours for a brew day and, uh, and trying to put out a show every week.

It is, it is hard to get the work-life balance that people, uh, think that you have. Right. And it’s just, yeah. And I mean, you are up to, like, you were in the tens of thousands of followers at this point. Uh, Uh, w what are you, what are you at right now? 

Larry McCallister: I think it’s like 51. The last time I checked and I was, I had every intent of doing like, um, Oh, I got 10,000 followers.

Thank you guys so much. And I got 20,000. Thank you. So, but I was like, I just want to make content that I think people will enjoy, and I’m, I’m more doing it for me because I have, uh, I have a really good job, but I don’t have that option for a creative outlet. And I used to teach. So I wanted, I have this need to get in front of people and just talk and whether they want to listen or not whatever, but I just, I had this need for a creative outlet.

And, um, I think tech talks just doing that for me. Um, uh, make fun of me all you want. I know there’s a lot of people that are like, Oh, it’s a kid’s app, blah, blah, blah. But. There’s a ton of, uh, millennials and gen X are getting on there that are actually enjoying it. So I, and I can see that through all of my responses.

So 

Colter Wilson: yeah, I think that people poo-pooing, because it is definitely more of the younger crew, but guess what? Facebook was there at one point, um, Facebook, Facebook wasn’t lame until your grandma was on it. Right. And then all of a sudden, cause cause when I was in my twenties and, and that was. That, that was a time, you know, I remember when Facebook was out for only college kids and then they released it and anybody could get it.

And it was, it, there was a whole process for that tic talks kind of in that same process. And I love it. I, I, I I’ll admit, I am kind of addicted to it. I find myself scrolling through it. Yeah. Almost every day. I there’s really great content on there. We’re now at a place where there’s really great homebrewing content on there.

There’s more and more people doing it. Uh, I would say you’re probably the top of those right now when it comes to the content that’s on there. But, uh, it, it is something where, you know, if, if you’re a home brewer. And you want to kind of make stake out a place for yourself. Take talks a place. You could do that right now.

Whereas if you make a podcast like me, or you’re going to hop onto Facebook or a live, or you’re going to do, you know, start a Facebook group or, or you want to do a YouTube, you’ve got a lot of competition there. And right now, tick talks kind of that place where if you want to gain a following and you’ve got something to say specifically about homebrewing, you can do it there and probably gain a pretty good following.

Larry McCallister: Yeah, absolutely. It’s um, A blessing. I mean, really? I just posted a video or, um, so the story that sort of launched me into, maybe I should just do this all the time. This is kind of fun is, um, we did a video on, uh, we make a cider, that’s a specialty cider and we, um, and if, if you are my follower, You don’t know, this is a cider.

So you have to listen to the spot test to know that it’s actually a cider. We do the specialty side or the, um, um, it’s, it’s based on, uh, the butterbeer concept from Harry Potter and my wife’s a huge Harry Potter fan. So, uh, I actually proposed to her at universal studios and all the vendors lawn shop and all this stuff.

So it’s yeah, it’s super close to our heart. So she was like, Oh God, So she saw me doing home brewing stuff. She’s like, I want to get into it. And I was like, well, what do you want to start off making? She was like, I want to make butterbeer. And so we spent weeks trying to perfect this recipe and trying to figure out the correct way to back sweeten and all this stuff.

And, uh, we are, we made a recipe that has a five time people’s choice, award winning recipe. That just kind of launched us. And I was like, Tom Felton got on there on Tik TOK and he was like, Hey, I, you know, do some Tom Felton challenges and somebody said something about butterbeer and it doesn’t actually taste like beer and then ended up shortly video may a porn of some butterbeer and said, yeah, we make an alcoholic version and people wouldn’t bonkers over it.

And I was like, that’s kinda when I realized that, Oh, Oh, tick-tock is an early social media platform. So. You could get a lot of craziness going on right now. So, but I think now it’s, it’s tougher because you got a lot more celebrities realizing that, and they’re jumping on here and all this stuff. But, um, but I mean, still it’s, if you’re interested in getting into home brewing and, or even tasting beer or whatever, uh there’s actually, um, Struggling with some of my 62nd beer review videos, because I know judging language and I don’t think the average person understands judging language.

Um, so, um, I’m trying to keep the language as simple as possible. There’s another, yeah, the lady that’s. Um, and I’m sorry, I forget her name right now, but, uh, she kind of she’s from New York, she kind of inspired me to, um, Start using my actual judging language and being better about it. Like better descriptors for bread, better descriptors for, you know, tophi or whatever it is, you know, I’m like, Oh, Oh, that’s cool.

And so, and there’s this community that’s that just kind of keeps pumping me up. It’s like a, you know, Sam makes me, he’s a meat guy in England. He’s. He’s probably, I would say he’s number two on, on Tik TOK for alcohol at home and home brewing, but he’s specialized in me, but he’s gotten really good as he’s about to open a meter in England.

I’m like, this is awesome. Like I just keep connecting with all these people that I wouldn’t have otherwise. So it’s really just a 

Colter Wilson: blessing. Yeah. I feel the same way with a podcast. It’s like, I, I, I remember I started this off and. You know, I had a hundred people listen to it now I have thousands every week.

Great. That’s awesome. Yeah, it is. But crazy part is, is that the, the first time I’m sitting down, I’m having an interview with large Ghazal talking about farmhouse sales in Norway. I was like, wow, this is really happening. Right. Right. And, and, but, but the point is, is the reason it’s happening is because I’m passionate about this.

Subject, uh, passionate enough that I I’ve dedicated to making content around it and you are too. And, and that’s, that’s the thing I get from you and, and why I love your videos so much, is that it doesn’t feel like it’s a job to you. It feels like your, your, your. Be you’re having a good time doing it. And I’m sorry, your demeanor’s great.

It’s so cold.

That’s good. No, I’ve always, yeah. This guy is so mellow. He’d be so fun to drink with. 

Larry McCallister: So the next time we’ll come to Colorado picks you up 

Colter Wilson: deal, man. Cause it’ll be post pandemic. We will sit down and have some beers and I will take you on a brewery tour of Colorado. Like you’ve never had, 

Larry McCallister: I’m sure you will.

I, I I’m super inspired by, um, just helping people and, and, and doing what I can to promote, um, home brewing and craft beer and, and, and any of that stuff. So, um, I really want it to be approachable for everyone, but w what we think is what the average American thinks is. Awesome. Beer is, does not awesome beer.

And I want to kind of expand that to everyone, but I can’t do that by. Um, being somebody leave this gatekeeper that says, this is the right way you do things, or this is the best beer. No, that everything has its place. And if you like PBR, there’s a reason you like PBR. It’s a very good beer. If you like Budweiser, there’s a reason you’re like Budweiser it’s, uh, it, it has its place.

Uh, but there’s a whole world out there that people need to experience. And, and that’s why I’m here. And my actual mission is. What I would love in my lifetime is to, before I die is to have every neighborhood community in America have that guy. That’s the Homer that everybody goes to, that their house is the pub.

You know what I mean? Like, like that I would just die a happy person if I could just inspire. You know, a thousand people to start homebrewing and all of a sudden they’re making great beer in their neighborhood and you can only get it in their, in their neighborhood. That would be awesome to me. 

Colter Wilson: Well, it’s funny as I feel like we’re in a place where.

We’re just going back to the way things used to be. Right. And the reason I say that is I’m in the process. I have another podcast that, uh, nobody on the show probably listens to, but it’s, it’s like kind of my side project and I get like, 40 listens and I’m totally okay with it. It’s more of my work, call it my, I call it my art podcast.

Right. But I’m doing it. I’m actually doing research right now on a show of my hometown, which is a small town in Southeastern Utah. And it is I’m going through the history of finding out the, and this was an early 20 20th century. Coal mining town that started from the early 19 hundreds and kind of, they all turned into ghost towns around the 1970s area.

And these were all places I played as a kid and these old goats towns. And it was fascinating to me. So I’m doing a whole podcast on it, but one of the things that I found out was that the. Society back then was that somebody’s house was like the bar because there were no right, exactly. A hundred percent camps and they, and, and my, my grandmother would go pull my, my great-grandmother would have cold pull my great grandfather out of, uh, out of, out of Rosie’s house.

Cause that’s where she would hang out because she had the bar. Right. And so it’s kind of that’s how things were. A hundred years ago before the prohibition and prohibition kind of is the reason we had the industrial beer from, you know, pro post-prohibition until, you know, craft beer really got its standing again.

But I think with homebrewing now, it’s coming back to that. I live in a neighborhood where there’s a lot of people that Homebrew and in my neighborhood alone, it’s like I’m home brew. Bye Aaron, who was on my show for my Homebrew hack show. He lives straight across the street. He’s got, you know, a six tap system in his basement.

He lives right across the street. And then there’s three other guys on my block that all Homebrew and, and pre pandemic, we were all going to each other’s house, drinking beers. And it’s something where I can’t wait to get back to that. It’s I’m excited about it. 

Larry McCallister: Yeah, that’ll be amazing at all of the, another thing that comes to my mind when you’re talking about that as is, is politics and all the politics on Tik, Tik TOK.

I’m like, Ugh. So, you know, there’s, there’s a lot of people that try to go to me into like getting into the political side of things, but I’m like, you know, if you really know. Want to know who my favorite president is. It’s Jimmy Carter and you probably know

last. So, and that’s the reality of things like it. And they’re like, what do you think about this? I’m like, I don’t care. As long as they don’t mess with sombering, I’m fine. Like, this is my area. This is what I love. So don’t mess with it and you’ll be okay. 

Colter Wilson: I completely agree. And I think that that’s a thing on Tik TOK, where in social media in general, and just to go onto a social media channel and have it be about beer and only about beer is nice and refreshing place to be on the internet today.

Yeah, 

Larry McCallister: absolutely. Yeah. I try to refrain from any. Crap that’s, uh, revolving around politics. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah. I, it specifically with the, this podcast, I make it a big point to stay away from politics as well, just because, you know, uh, I have people that are definitely on the other side of the political spectrum than me that are listeners of the show.

And to me, it’s like, you know, it shouldn’t be about that. It should be about the beer. And we talk about the beer and, and I. We’ll give you as much advice. I don’t care who you think should be president. It doesn’t matter to me. Right, 

Larry McCallister: right, right. That’s what I love about Homebrew clubs. It’s like we get together all the time.

But it’s about beer and brewing and, you know, Covitz thrown some new trends, challenges to us because we it’s like we can’t meet. We did our first official meeting actually last night. And thank you by the way, so much for being able to flex the podcast time for that. But we actually, as soon as you were like, Hey, go.

Have a good time with your homework club and, and enjoy. Um, we got some messages that were, we’re like, Hey, we can actually go to a brewery. And one of our local breweries, natural state brewing up here in Northwest Arkansas, they were like, Hey, if you guys want to come, as long as you don’t have too many people.

Come join us and we’ll spread out and we’ll have a good time. And it was a very, very good night last night. So thank you so much for flexing your timeframe around that. But that’s what also, I love about Homburg clubs and stuff. You just get out and go explore your local breweries and, and a lot of the people that, uh, like, uh, um, uh, natural state, uh, Mark’s Mark Smith.

He. Started all that he started in the club grew up to a, uh, a brewery we’re super proud of him. So that’s a love being able to go out and do that. COVID has hit the nix on that, but, um, this last week we we’re like, we’re going to try it and, uh, we’ll, we’ll see where we end up from there, but, uh, 

Colter Wilson: it’s really good.

I would kill to go to a Homebrew club meeting right now. Uh, we’re still, we’re still doing ours online, but this month we finally, at least did like, Hey, let’s have a Dropbox and swap beers back and forth so we can at least taste other beer. And that was, that was a huge game changer for us because otherwise we were just doing a, Hey let’s have a happy hour once a month and drink our own beer on a video call.

And it just, it wasn’t the same. 

Larry McCallister: Yeah, I heard you talking about you leaving a cooler outside and somebody would swap out one for one. And that we were taught. We were tossing that idea around as well. So that, that might be a. Really good for some of our hopefuls that are, have to be super cautious because of COVID.

That would be awesome. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. It worked out really well. And what you do is I will give you the lowdown because I’ve now got to figure it out. You got to get a couple of guys to commit to like dropping off and then coming back the next day and getting WhatsApps because you kind of have to get a base of what’s there for people to take in and drop off and take.

Right. But, uh, yeah. But it did, it did work out and it was great to sit down and actually have beers with the club and taste other people’s beers that I haven’t had in 10 months. And it was, it was a wonderful thing. I, I, I don’t know. My Homebrew club is such a big place in my heart. Obviously it is in yours.

And if you’re listening to the podcast, guys, join a Homebrew club or start one. If you can’t it’s it’s so worth it. 

Larry McCallister: Yeah, the best advice I can give anyone getting into homebrewing is. Find somebody else that that’s doing it too. Uh, if you don’t have a local Homebrew club, make one, it’s not that difficult.

Just look it up, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s really simple to do, but bouncing your methods and ideas off of somebody else and then trying each other’s beers as such, uh, that’s what harm room is all about. Our community is awesome. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah. And it, it makes you a better brewer because it just does talking about.

Beer with your friends. And you will realize that very, very quickly that other people do things very differently than you and they still make great beer. And it’s like th th that’s, uh, that’s what it’s all about. At least for me. 

Larry McCallister: Well, I, on your previous podcast too, you were like, Talking about open fermentation.

I was like Malton. Now I’ve got to try it,

Colter Wilson: but I want to, I was very clear. I was like, Chino is doing very open fermentation. This is just like, you know, take a car boy and put tinfoil over it. This is like, this is like, Open to the air, but not like he was, he’s making clean beer too. And, uh, he did email me an update that the, uh, new England IPA made turn out and wasn’t oxygenated and he did it in a full, open up fermentation.

And I’m just like, that’s awesome. Like, yeah. You know, 

Larry McCallister: it’s awesome. I’ve got a great story about open fermentation. I was so we, we like to travel a lot and whenever we travel, we’d like to try the beer that’s there. And actually I attribute that to why I love Belgian beer so much. And I think Belgian beer is probably.

Um, American craft beer before it was before it was a thing. Uh, but, uh, going to, uh, Belgium, uh, experience with some of the stuff there loved it. Uh, right before we went to Belgium though, we have a guy on our homework club. Uh, Stefan he’s awesome. He’s from the Netherlands. And I went to, um, Uh, a place I brewery.

And I was like, I think this is open fermentation. And that got the best beer ever. And, um, he was like, well, I sent some pictures out and he was like, well, actually I think it was a, what was the restaurant? The fishers tube in, uh, Basel Switzerland is where we went. So, and they have amazing. What I love about Europe is sometimes they don’t, I don’t do anything special about names or anything like we do in America.

It’s just like, you want a light beer or a dark beer, and this place was awesome. It’s like here’s open fermentation library, dark beer, and, uh, had the best light and dark beers I’ve ever had open fermentation. And I sent some pictures out and posted to the Facebook course and he’s like, Oh yeah, that’s a.

That’s a, that’s a beer, uh, carbonation machine opposite. What? So I’m on the internet, like looking up every kind of beer sort of ad like foam machine is what he called it is it’s like a add helps add extra foam and head retention to it. And so I was like, what is this thing? Because this, the head retention on this thing is so awesome.

I want to know what this is. And so I’m looking it up and I’m like, I can’t find anything. He was like, dude. I was messing with you. Like that’s open fermentation. Of course. That’s all, it’s not a big, it’s not a bigger fermentation thing at all. He was like, I was just, it’s awesome, man. I love homebrewing so much.

Colter Wilson: He totally pulled them on candid spatula on yet. Yeah. 

Larry McCallister: He slapped me across the face with it. 

Colter Wilson: Yeah. That’s awesome. So awesome. Well, well, Larry, uh, I want to thank you for coming on the show. This was a really great conversation and I loved having you and I, I, if you ever want to come back, I’d love to have you back on the show.

And if you have just a specific topic, you can come back. But even then, uh, if you want to find Larry. Head on over to tick-tock it’s at Homebrew King, all one word. You’ll find him easy. I mean, you could Google it and you’ll come right up to the top of Google, but I will put a link in the show notes, uh, go check him out and check out his stuff.

And if you found him on homebrewing, DIY, let him know that you heard him on the podcast and thank you for coming on the show. Cause I, I really appreciate it.

All right. And we’re back and. It’s time for feedback. And, uh, should I just stop calling it feedback and maybe just start calling it the mail bag. Let’s call it the mail back. Let’s just open the mail bag. Well, I, I have my first piece of a mail I got here from, from Micah and Micah says this, first of all.

Thanks for the podcast. Only one minor complaint. The recent October Fest episode, while the podcast entertains a great, useful niche of DIY aspects of home brewing. The entire episode is on advertising a book and discussing a specific beer style. And it’s not called for, in my opinion, especially as the.

It as the exactly same things were already stated on, uh, a couple of days earlier in the beer Smith podcast, nothing DIY about it. And for which the majority of us are listening to you anyways, keep on casting. So Micah, I w I want to thank you for the feedback and, uh, well, I totally agree with you. I do agree with you that the episode about Oktoberfest did have nothing to do with DIY.

Actually, I had no idea that he was on the beer Smith podcast. I gotta be honest. Uh, I don’t actually listen to the beer Smith podcast at all. Eh, I, I did years ago, it’s just not a show that’s in my rotation. And so I had no idea that he was actually on that show. So I do want to let you know that that’s something I was unaware of.

Second of all, I do want to say that, uh, you know, I, I do agree. I think that I am in a place where. I, I have to put out a podcast every week and I have to find a guest for the show every week. And obviously when people reach out to me and they’re like, Hey, I want to be on your show. I automatically go, let’s figure out a way, because you know, it’s easy for me to get some show out every week, but that being said, I do need to focus a bit more on some more DIY stuff.

And obviously with the changes coming, we’re going to talk more about some DIY projects. So I think you’re going to be excited to see some of the things that are coming soon. So it’s great feedback, and I totally agree with you. And so just, you know, keep, keep an ear out and listen, because we’re going to have some more and actually, um, The author, uh, from last week, uh, uh, Stephen Miller, uh, I I’ve, you know, asked him to even write some articles for home brewing DIY that are specific to some DIY projects.

So, uh, hopefully he takes me up on that as well. So, you know, to me, the DIY aspect of home brewing is definitely a reason why we’re here and I completely agree with you. So thank you so much for the feedback. All right. Another piece of feedback we have here from Kyle Smith and Kyle rote. I want to say. A big, thank you for the time and effort that you put into the podcast.

I’ve been a home brewer for a couple of years now, and your podcast is helping take my home brewing to the next level. Your guests are always interesting and engaging, and I enjoy your topics and discussion each week. I am from Denver Metro and. I have to hear, I love hearing about the local breweries and guests, as well as the national and international guests that you bring on.

And thanks for your podcast. My new focus on is on a fermentation temperature control, the ice spindle and possibly the ferment track in an effort to better my beer. So please keep doing what you’re doing. And just realize that your podcast is great. Great Kyle Smith. So Kyle, thank you so much for the feedback.

I, I, once again, totally appreciate it. And Hey Kyle, since you’re in the Denver area, you know, let’s get through this pandemic. When we are on the other side of this, I would be, I had to sit down and have a beer with you and, uh, You know, uh, I’m always down to, you know, enjoy the company of, of somebody who enjoys the show and is a listener.

So, you know, reach out to me when things get a little bit better and, and the world is back to normal, or maybe I’ll reach out to you, but either way, uh, either way or when we maybe get to some normal Homebrew club meetings, you can come down and hang out with us at the match peddlers. It’s always a good time to bring some beer for us to taste just.

Love it, when we have people drop in and have us taste their beer, it’s always a good time. So, uh, thank you very much for the feedback, Kyle. And then our next piece of feedback is from ed Mauer. And ed has written this feedback before, uh, Ed is always such, just a, uh, a great person to get feedback from because he he’s written me many, many emails, and I just love them.

And, uh, once again, this one’s a great one. So thank you ed, for writing me this email and let’s dive into it. He says I was listening to your, uh, beer packaging podcast while bottling yesterday. I am committed to the bottle kind of guy for many reasons. And I guess that I filled about 1500 bottles in the past five years, ed.

That is a ton of bottles. Uh, I got to admit, I bottled one time, hated it so much. I went and bought a kegging system. So I’m completely the opposite of you, but that is okay. I I’m totally down. I, I love this email because you talk about so much stuff. So we’re going to dive into it. You asked for feedback on how we package.

So I thought I would just send this along. Uh, you as usual home in homebrewing, there are many opinions on how to do things, but this is what I’ve come up with so far. So one attach the bottling one directly to the bucket spout with a two inch piece of tubing. This allows for two handed a one-handed.

Battlefield. And I completely agree with this. If you’ve got the bottling buckets sitting there, you’ve got the spout down, just put a little short piece of tube on the end of it, and then attach the bottling one, bring the bottle up to the wand. Instead of the one down to the bottle, you’re going to find that you have a much easier process also.

Do it over the dishwasher. That’s a great way to keep things clean, but yes, I, I completely agree. Keep, uh, a dedicated bucket bucket for bottling use only for bottling this prevents scratches and other damage to minimize infection risk. Bottling buckets are plastic and totally makes sense. Plastic is something that can get scratched.

I was the type of person that when I used to ferment in buckets, the second I got a scratch in it that became like a fermentor bucket or a cleaning bucket of some sort. I, I completely agree with you on that as well. Transferring beer to the bottling bucket before adding sugar allows more accurate calculation of the amount of priming sugar needed since, you know, the volume of beer that is being packaged, careful stirring with the w we’ll distribute the sugar in this solution without excessive oxygen.

Oxidization man, that’s such a hard word for me to say right now, number four, reducing Headspace. Tilt the bottle and press the bottle wand, tip to the bottleneck to allow it to feel just a little more beer to the bottle, to reduce the Headspace to half inch or three, four, seven inch may mean less potential oxygen exposure.

You know, it is something that I will admit that if I were judging or when I give beers to judges, they always talk about the fill level and. W right or wrong, whether it makes a difference or not, it makes a difference in their eyes. And if it’s competition beer, you want it to have very little head space.

So I, I completely agree with you specifically there. Number five, using a bench top capper is more secure than the one wing style cappers with less risk of broken bottles asked me how I know this. I found. That mine isn’t. I found mine at an antique shop, uh, for 20 bucks. And it’s much more robust than the ones you typically get today in brewing supply stores.

So he’s got an antique top bottle capper. That’s actually kind of cool. Number six bottle cap labels. Can only allow quick identification for your beers, especially when they’re in six pack carriers or in the refrigerator. I use an Avery three, four inch round label, and then did create the label using avery.com.

He uses their template website, and then I include the beer name logo. And pitcher and lot number for my labels after making it a few times, it only takes about five minutes to design. He actually sent me a picture of this in the email and he’s right. He, and, and he does even have a lot numbering here with the label that he sticks to the cap.

So I agree that that is an easy way when you’re, especially if you’ve got like a mixed pack, then you, you’re not like pulling the bottle out, looking at the label, just look at it on the cap. Makes sense. And then, uh, here’s number seven, oxidants antioxidants, probably not for the beginner, but it seems that there may be an advantage to adding set sodium Mehta, sulfide, or even.

Assa, uh, sorbic acid to reduce oxygen.  when packaging, I, for some reason cannot say that today. So the brew laughs firs have talked about this in their podcasts and I’ve been using the Metta sulfite in my last several batches and bottled a Kolsch with it. And with, and without it, haven’t seen a downside and the Cultch.

Is with the, uh, N a M. So the potassium Metta sulfites seems to retain its fresh flavor more than the one without. So that’s awesome that you’ve kind of been able to test it between the two and, and I agree. There has, I mean, these products exist for a reason. And I think that the reason is is that there, you know, no matter how careful you are, when it comes to bottling there, just as a certain level of oxygen oxygenation, that’s going to happen when you bottle beer.

And, and I just have to say that, like, you know, it’s great that we have chemicals like potassium medical fight that would allow it to just be reduced. So I completely agree. We’ll add, I have to agree. Thank you so much for all of your feedback and as always, it’s, it’s just great to hear from you and, and I’m glad that you love and listen to the podcast.

So thank you. Thank you. And once again, thank you very much. Let’s wrap this show up.

I’d like to think Larry for taking the time to come on this week’s show, I feel like hi. A kind of fanboyed out a little bit because I do watch Larry’s videos constantly and it was awesome. Check him out Homebrew King on Tik TOK. And while you’re there, you might as well follow homebrewing, DIY. Yeah. On Tik TOK.

And we’re on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We’re on all the socials at home tea way. Well, that’s it for this week. We’ll talk to you next week on Homebrew. Yeah, .

Related Posts