Mar 6, 2018 By Mike Jones 7 min read

Whether someone’s an amateur at home brewing or a flourishing professional, the process of making beer from scratch can be as easy or as complicated as they want it to be.

“If you can boil water, you can brew beer,” Greg Prentice says.

When the Claysville resident began home brewing 27 years ago, he had to purchase ingredients and supplies from a distributor in Missouri. The company sent the grains and syrupy extract in tin cans. The ingredients often were stale, he says, which made for stale beer.

By the mid-1990s, he found a local supplier called South Hills Brewing near Green Tree. There, he found better ingredients and a place where he could share brewing tips and ideas.

“I thought it gave it a better flavor,” Prentice says of the supplies. “It didn’t sit around and get stale.”

That’s what Tony Rowsick Jr., a part-owner and vice president of South Hills Brewing, is hoping for when he meets new customers. He’s been brewing for two decades, starting when his father bought him a kit. He now works with countless customers on how to craft different styles and flavors, all the while getting some ideas from them as well.

“That’s one thing I think we can still offer – people can buy these the supplies on the megastores online – but we have experienced brewers here all the time,” he says. “We’ve seen everything.”

All of his workers enjoy home brewing, so they can guide new customers through those initial batches.

“I like to think what we have here has value,” Rowsick says. “Everyone here has experience brewing. I would rather hire the right employee who can teach (brewing to a customer).”

And that process can get complicated.

There’s a serious science behind brewing that is making it an increasingly popular hobby.

Pat Brletic, professor of chemistry at Washington & Jefferson College, says variables in the beer-making process rival a science experiment. It also gives people an opportunity to be adventurous. Different barley malts, hops, yeast strains and even the pH in water can make wildly diverse flavors. And now brewers are experimenting even more, she says.

“It’s endless,” Brletic says. “I think now, if you look at how the microbrews have exploded onto the market and then go beyond that and look at the unique, wild ingredients people are adding to beer – fruits, herbs and hot peppers – you can really do a lot of different things.”

A dozen or so W&J chemistry majors gathered on campus on a recent Saturday to brew several batches of beer to learn the scientific process. They also were using the finished product to raise money to send Caelin Celani, a chemistry major, on an annual “ChemFest” trip in March to New Orleans.

Chase McKevitt, a senior chemistry and English major, showed his team of underclassmen the art of brewing a wheat beer.

“It’s all grounded in chemistry. We do a lot of things in the lab, but don’t always get to see the result … or taste it,” McKevitt says. “It’s more fun than going to the beer store.”

Fun being the key word to many home brewers. When Prentice started, he kept a notebook full of recipes and directions. Now, he says, there are computer programs that can predict color, style and taste.

“If it’s not perfect, make a few simple modifications to your recipe and make it your own,” Prentice says.

Prentice is now in a home brewing club in Washington. The group of about a dozen members meet monthly to swap stories, share recipes and, of course, sample beer.

“People who home brew are a friendly bunch who don’t mind to share,” Prentice says. “It’s a lot of camaraderie.”

One of those members, John Burgess, purchased A&M Wine & Beer Supplies in Washington in the early 2000s. The success of that store and his interest in brewing helped him to expand last year into a microbrewery and restaurant called The Washington Brewing Company.

He worked in the Navy as a mechanic and then studied chemical engineering at Clemson, so it was a natural step for Burgess when he began brewing in 1997 after his brother bought him a kit.

“There was a little bit of fear because there was no one to talk to,” Burgess says.

Those smaller batches are helpful for experimentation, but when he scaled up, he had to be more precise. If you lose a batch at home, it will cost you about five gallons of beer. If he makes a mistake now, that’s 460 gallons down the drain.

“If it’s bad, what are you going to do?” Burgess says about a bad batch made at home. “If you make a bad batch here,” he says next to his enormous brewing tanks, “you’re going to have to dump it all.”

He says the average home brewer lasts for about two years, but there is a core group of about 80 customers he regularly sees in his store. Burgess also notes that while online distributors are a big competitor, his customers prefer to buy locally since the ingredients are fresher.

That’s what Rowsic professes at South Hills Brewing. The importance of local supply stores that offer fresh ingredients and diverse products, along with experts who can help novices brew the perfect beer.

“You can get it super cheap (online), but it’s stale. Ingredients do matter,” Rowsic says. “Do you want to brew the best beer you can?”

Fun being the key word to many home brewers. When Prentice started, he kept a notebook full of recipes and directions. Now, he says, there are computer programs that can predict color, style and taste.

“If it’s not perfect, make a few simple modifications to your recipe and make it your own,” Prentice says.

Prentice is now in a home brewing club in Washington. The group of about a dozen members meets monthly to swap stories, share recipes and, of course, sample beer.

“People who home brew are a friendly bunch who don’t mind to share,” Prentice says. “It’s a lot of camaraderie.”

One of those members, John Burgess, purchased A&M Wine & Beer Supplies in Washington in the early 2000s. The success of that store and his interest in brewing helped him to expand last year into a microbrewery and restaurant called The Washington Brewing Company.

He worked in the Navy as a mechanic and then studied chemical engineering at Clemson, so it was a natural step for Burgess when he began brewing in 1997 after his brother bought him a kit.

“There was a little bit of fear because there was no one to talk to,” Burgess says.

Those smaller batches are helpful for experimentation, but when he scaled up, he had to be more precise. If you lose a batch at home, it will cost you about five gallons of beer. If he makes a mistake now, that’s 460 gallons down the drain.

“If it’s bad, what are you going to do?” Burgess says about a bad batch made at home. “If you make a bad batch here,” he says next to his enormous brewing tanks, “you’re going to have to dump it all.”

He says the average home brewer lasts for about two years, but there is a core group of about 80 customers he regularly sees in his store. Burgess also notes that while online distributors are a big competitor, his customers prefer to buy locally since the ingredients are fresher.

That’s what Rowsic professes at South Hills Brewing: The importance of local supply stores that offer fresh ingredients and diverse products, along with experts who can help novices brew the perfect beer.

“You can get it super cheap (online), but it’s stale. Ingredients do matter,” Rowsic says. “Do you want to brew the best beer you can?”