Born to Hop

“Yeah, it’s an art—but you gotta learn the science first,” says longtime Baton Rouge homebrewer Tom Daigrepont. By day, Daigrepont is a computer consultant, but after hours, he is part of a jovial beer-making brotherhood, a widespread group that takes its craft seriously.

“You get the science down, and you can make some beer,” he says emphatically.

A couple of times a month, Daigrepont starts crafting a new brew, drawing from the raw materials—like 600 lbs. of grain—squirreled away in an extra bedroom in his house. He starts by boiling the grain with water, removing it, then adding malt extract and hops.

Watching both the temperature of the liquid and the ambient temperature carefully, he adds yeast to trigger the first round of fermentation. Tiny microorganisms will start to devour the liquid’s natural sugars and leave behind two important by-products: alcohol and carbon dioxide.

After a couple of weeks, a secondary fermentation and the addition of sugar, Daigrepont bottles his wares and stows them away for a few more weeks. Four refrigerators in his garage help with the first round of fermentation and store his rich supply of finished product: beer.

Start to finish, the process takes about six weeks, and success depends largely on the sanitation of the equipment and the temperature in which the beer is stored. A lot can go wrong, he says, but when it works, it’s both tasty and gratifying.

Baton Rouge has a long history of under-the-radar homebrewers, including a good-humored but serious beer club founded in 1986 and still going strong. Now, more enthusiasts are coming into the fold as craft beers gain strength and at-home interest in the culinary and beverage arts continues.

“The beer scene was completely different 30 years ago,” says Charlie Milan, longtime president of the Red Stick Brewmasters. “There was almost no selection. People know a lot more about beer now.”

Two years ago, former health care worker Jesse Rodrigue followed a personal beer-making passion and opened Red Stick Brewing, a Jones Creek Road supply house for local homebrewers. Rodrigue says that while plenty of customers come in for formulaic starter kits, many of his patrons are so called “all grain” brewers who work from their own recipes.

“A lot of them are pretty serious about it,” he says.

The Red Stick Brewmasters is the hub for more than three dozen local brewers, which Daigrepont and Milan suspect is a small percentage of the local home brewing community.

“There are probably at least 500 to 1,000 people brewing in town,” says Daigrepont.

The Brewmasters gather monthly at George’s Southside to plan events, enter regional beer competitions and taste and discuss different beer styles.

Each meeting begins when Milan, a veteran homebrewer with a coveted national beer judging certification, picks up a retired Tuborg Gold tap—now equipped with a loud bell—and gives it a good ring. The mostly male crowd turns away from their burgers and fries and looks to Milan. He opens with information about upcoming tastings and conventions, such as this month’s annual Dixie Cup homebrew competition in Houston. Last year, the Red Stick Brewmasters placed fifth overall and landed seven individual awards, an impressive showing at a conference dominated by larger Texas teams.

Then Milan turns to a discussion and tasting of this month’s chosen beer style, Saison, a pale ale traditionally made for Belgian farm workers. A few members have brought commercial Saisons to share, and others have brought their own interpretations. Milan is among the latter group, and his Saison stands out for its crispness and clarity.

For some of the members, the sipping is akin to analyzing wine. They sample, swirl and use consistent tasting terms to pinpoint the beer’s flavor profile, color and body.

After the meeting, some members bring their beer to Milan, Daigrepont and other experienced brewers for critiques.

Chris Allen began brewing more than six years ago. The 33-year-old joined the Brewmasters group when he moved to Baton Rouge from Georgia to take a job with the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration. He brews a couple of times a month at his Mid City house, usually following a seasonal pattern of hoppy ales in the warmer months, porters in the fall and black beers in the winter. Among his ingredients and equipment are 50-lb. sacks of grain, hops, a malt mill, a chest freezer and scads of empty bottles waiting to be filled.

Homebrewing is a funny thing, Allen says. Rooted in the careless pastime of beer-drinking, it’s got an unmistakable light-hearted side. But it’s also about precision, and too little attention paid to temperature and to protection against bacteria can befall even the best-intentioned brewers.

“I still don’t know why, but I had a spell where I lost a bunch of batches,” says Allen, who won tasting awards for several of his ales and other beers in the club’s last four annual Brew-Offs.

“It definitely requires patience.”