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Back when local resident Alan DeBenedetti was living in California, his buddy got him into brewing beer.
Now his friend is about to go commercial with his product, and DeBenedetti is working toward creating his own perfect brew. Of course, he said, there might not be such a thing.
"Once you think you've reached perfection on something, you're probably just giving up on making it better," he said.
DeBenedetti is just one of an emerging local contingent tinkering with beer and wine recipes at home, creating their own flavors. With resources readily available at The Green Door on Kirksville's square, interest in beer and wine making could be on the rise.
Junior Dave Linhares has found the process can be just as rewarding as the final product. And it can be surprisingly simple to get started.
"I expressed interest in making my own wine, and [a friend] gave me this little pamphlet," Linhares said. "I'm really not an expert by any means, I just kind of followed some simple directions."
It can take a while to perfect the process, and Linhares said his first batch turned out pretty sour and bitter.
Junior Amelia LaMair said she enjoys making wine. Even if it turns out to be less than great, she said it always tastes a little better when it's homemade.
"I like feeling like I can do something on my own," LaMair said.
Jerry Caldwell, owner of The Green Door, who sells the needed equipment and ingredients to make beer and wine, said more students are coming in to buy supplies for brewing. Customers do not need to be 21 to buy the kits.
He said the rising interest students have expressed in making beer is because it's simpler and takes less time than wine. Caldwell reasoned you would need at least a couple months, and possibly up to a year or more, to create a decent wine, whereas beer takes only 27 days.
Both LaMair and Linhares have created wine using a set of simple guidelines.
The wine-making process
LaMair said she made a gallon of wine with a recycled glass jug, a stopper, honey, wine yeast and any other ingredients she saw fit. She said the end result, a gallon of homemade wine, can be as cheap as $5 to $10.
LaMair used a combination of water and honey to create a wine called mead. She flavored it with blueberries and cinnamon, and said adding other ingredients to fit certain tastes is one of the attractions of making homemade wine.
Caldwell warned that to make a good-tasting wine, more expensive, higher-quality ingredients are required. A brewing guide also would be helpful, he said.
"To achieve a bottle of wine, it takes a lot of work," he said. "It's rewarding, but takes a lot of work."
Linhares said he starts by heating the yeast to jumpstart the process.
"Then you pretty much just pour the juice in, put the yeast on top of that and pretty much it just sits for like three weeks, or a little longer, depending on how alcoholic you want it," he said.
The cost and benefits of brewing beer
Brewing kits and ingredient mixes at The Green Door range from $40 to $80. Factor in the cost of bottles and cleaning equipment, and amateur brew-masters could be looking at about $150 to brew and bottle their first five gallons of beer, about 53 12-ounce bottles.
But the equipment kit, cleaning supplies and bottles can be bought once and reused for future brews.
The benefits can be great, Caldwell said. Experimenting with ingredients and creating a signature recipe can guarantee a good beer at a good price.
The secret, he said, is sticking to that recipe exactly.
"If you get a good recipe and it turns out and you like it, well, then that's what you want to do every time," he said.
Ted Frushour, a brewmaster and academic adviser at Truman, will help lead a free class on home brewing.
The class, sponsored by the Kirksville Permaculture Education Center, will begin at 9 a.m. Oct. 9 at 216 N. Ely. In the meantime, Frushour suggests doing some online research.
"There are a lot of really good home brew websites," he said. "Look on YouTube. A lot of people have posted videos on how to home brew."
DeBenedetti is looking to organize a club for local brewers to sample and trade their creations. If interested, e-mail him at alankd@gmail.com.
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