December Member Spotlight
What sort of people homebrew? Well we're glad you asked! We are so proud of our Members and would like to introduce to you a veteran brewer and newly minted Treasurer (see what I did there), Henry Vollmer.
What’s your day job? Call Center Supervisor at Sarasota Memorial Hospital
When did you start homebrewing? Early 2015.
When did you join HAMS? Around May 2016
What got you into brewing? After assisting Tommy and Chris at JDubs with some batches of UpTop and Poolside I decided I wanted to try this for myself. My lovely girlfriend Linda wanted a Black IPA, which in 2015 really didn’t exist. So for my second batch I brewed a Black IPA with Vanilla Bean that turned out really well.
Where do you like to brew? I brew at my apartment, on the front porch. It isn’t so bad in the Winter but in the summer it gets quite hot.
Where do you ferment? I have a chest freezer with an InkBird temperature
controller.
What size batches do you like to brew? Five gallon b
atches, I only have room to ferment two at a time.
What kind of equipment do you use? Love it? Hate it? I built brew stand out of pressure treated 2x4s and decking, a 12 gal cooler as my mash tun and a 10 gallon pot from SSBrewtech. I have my process pretty nailed down now, so I would say I love it, especially the brew pot.
Do you have a “pet name” for your brew setup? Nope
Favorite styles to brew? Why? I have only brewed ales, I try to rotate through styles as I go so I have different styles on tap. In Secondary right now is a black saison, then on deck is a Session IPA (for JDubs 4th), imperial cream ale and the 3rd version of Linda’s birthday beer (Black IPA with tropical hops and Siesta Key Coconut Rum infused Oak Spirals – oh dang that sounds good just typing it)
Tell me about your best batch ever. The Award Winning Dunkel Rye (*note: Henry won Crowd Favorite at this years Annual HAMS Oktoberfest).
How about your worst? Dumped 2 batches, one do to an issue with the water, and another because I couldn’t get the wort to boil. Neither ever made it to the point to taste.
Advise to other/new Homebrewers? Home brewing can be as easy as making boxed mac and cheese or as complex as rocket science. Start simple, get the process down and then add a new process. Also sanitize, sanitize, sanitize.
