Over a kerosene-fueled flame, Blohm and two friends, Dale Dean and Mike Conard, watched a mixture come to boil, their goal was to make home brewed beer. An Oktoberfest lager, to be exact. While the group kept tabs on temperature and time as the soon-to be beer gurgled, things were not exact. It's not rocket science. Blohm and friends are part of the burgeoning world of home brewing, where beers are lovingly handcrafted, and just as lovingly consumed.
Home brew has a wider range of tastes than commercial beers.
If a brewer uses more hops, the result is a beer with a more bitter taste, said Conard, the Rackers' secretary, who spends his nonbrewing hours working as an emergency physician's assistant. But while he likes the taste of a good beer, Conard's interest was first sparked by chemistry. While a student in the 1970s, he became interested in fermentation. That led him to brewing. There were barriers.