Devan Trammel-Fisher is a first-year student in the College of Osteopathic Medicine. He said that before medical school his hobbies included reading, music, movies and all kinds of exercise. Now that he has less time, he brews beer and exercises. His favorite quote is “He was a wise man who invented beer,” by Plato.
My beer-making hobby began in the likely setting of a bar. At the time, I received a deferred acceptance from NSU and decided to spend my interim year making money as a waiter. While enjoying a post-shift ale, a co-worker and I discussed our likes and dislikes about different beers. Out of the blue, the novel idea of making my own beer popped into my head. The next day, I pursued the idea further with a friend of mine whom I knew was already involved with the hobby. He referred me to “How to Brew” by John Palmer. This book has the basic details down to the nitty-gritty.
Like many hobbies, this idea took me by storm, and I got hooked quickly. Thirstily, I read everything I could about home beer-making and purchased my first kit: a 5.5 gallon bucket, a syphon and some vinyl tubes. Before I knew it, my beer-brewing equipment multiplied, and I began crafting my own recipes just like I imagined that first night.
After a year of waiting tables while waiting for medical school to start, I wondered if I would be able to maintain my new hobby while in school. A good friend of mine, whom I convinced to start brewing, made my mind up for me. He bought me a smaller, more time-efficient setup, so I would be able to manage my studies and still make some beer in my free moments. So here I am, struggling to find stolen time to make beer while not neglecting my rigorous class load.
Luckily, one of my roommates also shares my passion and was overjoyed to hear that I had brought everything we needed to make our own beer. Having someone to help make beer with you is a luxury no matter what, but nearly essential when time is in such short supply.
So, once or twice a month, we make 5-gallon batches in our (off-campus) apartment. It’s a great way to make friends and is a hobby that has some very relaxing and delicious benefits.
Frequently, our classmates ask us when the next batch will be ready, and if they can get a bottle or two. Overall, as a hobby, making beer is incredibly satisfying for this medical student. It provides a great outlet for my creativity while satiating the science nerd inside me.
So here is a brief overview of the process: Yeast eats sugar and makes CO2 and alcohol. First step of beer production is simply making a “sugar soup” for the yeast to eat. Extracting sugar at specific temperatures from grain and boiling the sugar and water mixture is the next step. Adding hops during the boil gives beer a wide range of smells and flavors. Then the wort, or sugar water, is cooled and the yeasts are added. Then, the yeast does all the hard work.
They take about a week to fully morph the sugar water into the beer that we all know and love. After that, a small amount of sugar is reintroduced to add carbonation to the beer right before it is bottled. Then about a week later — tada. Give or take a few, you have 50 beers to give as gifts and enjoy. While not all homebrews taste amazing, the process of making it all on your own gives it an ineffable boost in character that everyone seems to enjoy.
