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Held at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado
See the bottom of this page for registration information.

IMPORTANT: Low-priced accommodation on campus is limited, so book early to assure your space!

Instructors:
Ray Daniels – Author “Designing Great Beers”
Chris Graham – Vice-President, Beer, Beer, & More Beer
Randy Mosher – Author & Leading Beer Styles Expert
Dr. Chris White – President, White Labs Pure Yeast & Fermentation

The Siebel Institute of Technology, America’s oldest & most respected brewing school, has drawn on over 130 years of experience in training professional brewers to create this program. Siebel Institute created the content of the Advanced Homebrewing Program by adapting our professional educational content for application in the small-scale environment of homebrewing and adding a significant amount of new material tailored to the needs and interests of homebrewers.

Course materials build a solid base of theoretical and practical knowledge with the intent of giving brewers the control they need to create the results they are looking for, no matter how complex the beer style or recipe.

The Advanced Homebrewing Program will take students past their basic homebrewing skills and allow them to brew with greater ease, flexibility, and accuracy. The course content for this program addresses every key area of small-scale brewing, from ingredients to recipe formulation to brewing, fermentation, and critical evaluation. The instructors are well-known authorities on various aspects of brewing.

The course is a mix of lectures and hands-on sessions. Students will participate in the brewing of two beers on an advanced stainless multi-vessel tower configuration provided by Beer, Beer, and More Beer, one of the industry’s leading suppliers of small brewing equipment. A number of evening field trips will provide ample opportunity to taste the excellent local brews and interact with the professional brewers, further rounding out the program.

Our Host Facility: Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado

Durango is one of Colorado’s most unique tourist destinations. With a population of only 16,000 people and 4 breweries, Durango has one of the highest ratios of breweries-to-residents in the world! It is also the home of Fort Lewis College, which is known as the “Campus In The Sky” to the students attending this beautiful location. Perched on a hill overlooking the town of Durango, Fort Lewis College is set amongst beautiful rolling hills that form the perfect frame for this postcard of a community.

The staff of Fort Lewis and the brewers from the surrounding community are joining forces to show the students of the Advanced Homebrewers Program all of the fun and hospitality of Durango. Post-school activities will include tours of area breweries, dining at some of the many brewpubs and beer-friendly restaurants, and meeting with local homebrewers and craft brewers for spirited conversations over handcrafted beer. On nights with no scheduled events, students can travel to any of the many area attractions (try mountain biking or ride the narrow gauge train) or just relax and take at one of Durango’s dozens of restaurant & bars.

Need More Information About The Course?

You can get more information about the content of the Advanced Homebrewing Program by contacting Keith Lemcke of the Siebel Institute of Technology at klemcke@siebelinstitute.com.

Fort Lewis College
Office of Continuing Education
(970) 247-7385
continuinged@fortlewis.edu
Website >>

Need More Information About The College And The Town? Want To Register For The Program?

School Address:
Fort Lewis College
Continuing Education
1000 Rim Drive
315 Reed Library
Durango, CO 81301

For registration, you can secure you space in the Advanced Homebrewing Program by Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, check or cash.

Sample Class Outline and Schedule (may change in order)

Class Outline and Schedule

Day 1, Morning

Class Description, Schedule & Introductions
1.1 Beer & Brewing History
1.2 An introduction to sensory
      Physiology and Psychology of Taste & Smell
      Techniques for Sensory Evaluation
      Sources of Flavor & Aroma
      Beer Aroma & the Flavor Wheel
      The Formal & Informal Tastings
      Settings & Methods
1.3 Brewing Overview

Day 1, Afternoon

1.4 Brewing Ingredients Theory and Lab
      1.4a Water
      1.4b Malting
      1.4c Base Malts
      1.4d Specialty Malts
      1.4e Hops and Hop Products
1.5 Recipe Formulation
      1.5a By the numbers
      1.5b The Art of Recipe Formulation
      1.5c Recipe Workshop

Day 2, Morning

Brewing Lab 1: Step Infusion Mash
2.1 Milling
2.2 Enzymes & Mashing
2.3 Lautering
2.4 Wort Boiling
2.5 Wort Cooling
2.6 Wort Clarification

Day 2, Afternoon

(Brewing Lab 1, continued)
2.7 Cleaning Materials & Procedures
2.8 Nature of Yeast & Yeast Selection
2.9 Fermentation Practices

Day 3, Morning

Brewing Lab 2: Adjunct & Decoction Mash
3.1 Beer Off-Flavor Spiking Workshop
3.2 Maturation & Aging
3.3 Clarification & Filtration
3.4 Carbonation
3.5 Conditioning

Day 3, Afternoon

(Brewing Lab 2, continued)
3.6 Home Draught Systems & Procedures
3.7 Cellaring Real Ale
3.8 Common Defects of Beer (including tasting of beers spiked with off-flavors)
      3.8a Raw materials
      3.8b Brewhouse
      3.8c Fermentation/maturation
      3.8d Packaging
      3.8e Mishandling
3.9 Beyond Saccharomyces
      3.9a Biology of “wild” brewing bugs
      3.9a Practical considerations and fermentation methods

Day 4, Morning

4.1 Equipment Lectures/Lab
      4.1 a Principles of Homebrewery Design
      4.1 b Introduction to Brewhouse Metals
      4.1 c Basic Keg Conversion
      4.1 d Fittings & Pumps
      4.1 e HERMS, RIMS and FART systems
      4.1 f A Tour of the Buckapound Brewery
      4.1 g Sources and Resources
4.2 Workshop: Critical Beer Evaluation & Judging Experience

Day 4, Afternoon

Yeast Lab
4.3 Fundamentals of Microbiology Lab Techniques
4.4 Storage and Starters
4.5 Growing up From Slants
4.6 Plating Out
4.7 Introduction to Microscopy

Day 5, Morning

5.1 The Big Picture on Beer Styles
      5.1a The Continent
      5.1b Britain
      5.1c Traditional America
      5.1d Belgium & France
      5.1e New American Brewers
5.2 Historical Beers: A guide to research
5.3 Historical Oddities, Outliers & Inspiration
5.4 Wood and Barrel-Aged Beers: Techniques & Tricks

Day 5, Afternoon (Ends at 3:00 pm)

5.5 Advanced Ingredient Workshop
      5.5a Adjunct Grains
      5.5b Specialty Sugars
      5.5c Herbs & Spices
      5.5d Fruits and Vegetables

Graduation/Celebration