Serving the campus of the University of Alabama since 1894

The Crimson White


Serving the campus of the University of Alabama since 1894

The Crimson White

Serving the campus of the University of Alabama since 1894

The Crimson White

    A Day In The Life of the Brews Brothers

    For brothers Jeremiah and Jeremy Donald, brewing beer is a way of life. They start their workday at Band of Brothers Brewery at 4 am.

    “We have three types of our mainly sold beer which is Voodoo Mild, Station One Saison, and Monk on the Radio. It first starts with the grain, which varies in color and flavor, from sweet to bready to robust,” said Jeremiah.

    The grains are shipped in in sacks that weigh approximately 30 pounds, that the brewers pour into the mixer with hot water.

    “It is kind of like how you dip a tea bag into hot water and the flavors seep into the water,” said his brother Jeremy.

    The mixer has a mechanism that spins and filtrates to keeps the mixture from causing it to dough up and build unwanted residue.

    “In this process, we are tricking the grain into thinking it is germinating to bring out its sugars into the water, and this mixture is called the wort,” said Jeremiah.

    They then transfer the wort into a boiler tank with water at 212 degrees to make the wort less thick and more beer like. During this process is when they start to accentuate their flavor by adding botanicals such as coriander, black peppercorn, or orange peels in at the last ten minutes of the boiling process, which distinguishes each batch of beer furthermore.

    “The batch is then added to the 20 barrel fermenter where the yeast eats the sugar in the mash and actually becomes alcohol. The type of yeast we use also goes into the flavor profile of each beer. We use Belgian yeast for the Voodoo Mild and English yeast for the others. Yeast is a living organism like you and me that digests sugar,” said Jeremiah

    “Leading up to the fermentation process it takes about 12-16 hours to get there. After that, fermentation can take up to two weeks. Once the yeast has eaten all the sugar it starts to settle. Think about a cow in a field of grass, when it has eaten all the grass what is it going to do? Nothing, that’s what it does, so in order to filter out the inactive yeast we cool down the temp and then the yeast all comes down to the bottom and out a spout on the bottom of the fermenter,” Jeremy said.

    They can reuse the filtrated yeast in later batches up to five times. Each strain of yeast has different characteristics, so others might take longer to filtrate out. After all the yeast is filtrated out the beer is kegged up and sent to The Green Beverage Company, who then circulates the beer to the local bars around town.

    Every Wednesday the brewery has a food pairing event with JoJo Food Trunk, in which the chefs at JoJo infuse Band of Brothers beer with different entrees as well as pair meals with the different their types of beer that complement the palate.

    “It ain’t like just burgers and beer like every where else, we got stuff like smoked duck nachos, our Voodoo Mild infused with bread pudding and spiced rum syrup, and a flank steak cooked with our Monk on the Radio. The chefs at JoJo get really creative and are flavor experts,” Jeremy said.

    Band of Brothers beer is brewed locally on 1605 23rd Avenue and be bought at numerous bars around town. They’ve expanded very quickly for only being in business for a year. Bottling and distribution is not far on the horizon for this Band of Brothers. Like them on Facebook to find out news and events.

    "We have three types of our mainly sold beer, which is 'Voodoo Mild,' 'Station One Saison,' and 'Monk on the Radio.' It first starts with the grain, which varies in color and flavor, from sweet to bready to robust," said Jeremiah.

    The grains are shipped in in sacks that weigh approximately 30 pounds that they pour into the mixer with hot water at about 148 degrees Fahrenheit.

    "It is kind of like how you dip a tea bag into hot water and the flavors seep into the water," said his brother Jeremy.

    The mixer has a mechanism that spins and filtrates to keeps the mixture from causing it to dough up and build unwanted residue.

    "In this process, we are tricking the grain into thinking it is germinating to bring out its sugars into the water, and this mixture is called the wort,” said Jeremiah.

    They then transfer the wort into a boiler tank with water at 212 degrees to make the wort less thick and more beer like. During this process is when they start to accentuate their flavor by adding botanicals such as coriander, black peppercorn, or orange peels in at the last ten minutes of the boiling process, which distinguishes each batch of beer furthermore.

    "The batch is then added to the 20 barrel fermenter where the yeast eats the sugar in the mash and actually becomes alcohol. The type of yeast we use also goes into the flavor profile of each beer. We use Belgian yeast for the Voodoo Mild and English yeast for the others. Yeast is a living organism like you and me that digests sugar." says Jeremiah

    "Leading up to the fermentation process it takes about 12-16 hours to get there. After that, fermentation can take up to two weeks. Once the yeast has eaten all the sugar it starts to settle. Think about a cow in a field of grass, when it has eaten all the grass what is it going to do? Nothing, that's what it does, so in order to filter out the inactive yeast we cool down the temp and then the yeast all comes down to the bottom and out a spout on the bottom of the fermenter,” said Jeremy.

    They can reuse the filtrated yeast in later batches up to five times. Each strain of yeast has different characteristics, so others might take longer to filtrate out. Jeremiah described the Belgian yeast as the "redheaded stepchild" and the English yeast as a "star student in school that all the teachers love and always does what you want him to do."

     After all the yeast is filtrated out the beer is kegged up and sent to The Green Beverage Company, who then circulates the beer to the local bars around town.

     Every Wednesday the brewery has a food pairing event with JoJo Food Trunk, in which the chefs at JoJo infuse Band of Brothers beer with different entrees as well as pair meals with the different their types of beer that complement the palate.

     "It ain't like just burgers and beer like every where else, we got stuff like smoked duck nachos, our Voodoo Mild infused with bread pudding and spiced rum syrup, and a flank steak cooked with our Monk on the Radio. The chefs at JoJo get really creative and are flavor experts," said Jeremy.

     Band of Brothers beer is brewed locally on 1605 23rd Avenue and be bought at numerous bars around town. They've expanded very quickly for only being in business for a year. Bottling and distribution is not far on the horizon for this Band of Brothers. Like them on Facebook to find out news and events.

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