Ed McDowell Ed McDowell, owner of the Hop Shop in Gray. (Photo Don Perkins)

"If you can boil water, you can make beer," says Ed McDowell, owner of the Hop Shop in Gray. According to McDowell, a batch of beer takes anywhere from three to five weeks to produce. The Hop Shop sells beer and wine making equipment on Route 100 where it's been for the past 14 years. Some customers come all the way from New Hampshire. McDowell said part of the reason for the popularity of home brewing is the craft's creativity. For example, it's maple syrup season. Some home brewers actually make a maple beer this time of year. McDowell sells other flavorings such as, apricot, blackberry, cranberry, peach, strawberry, ginger and licorice, among others. "There are infinite varieties of beers you can make," said McDowell. "I never make the same beer twice."

Of course, any homebrewer will tell you their product is superior to store-bought swill. McDowell said homebrew keeps longer in the bottle. "It improves with age," said McDowell. "Whereas commercial beers that have been filtered, once they're packaged, they go downhill," he said, explaining the popularity of the "born on dates" on some major commercial beers. "Homebrew is quite the opposite," McDowell said. "As long as the yeast is still in the bottle, it's not fermenting, but it's still improving the flavor. It's still a living product."

	Bottle (Photo Don Perkins)

To make beer you need barley (or some other grain), hops, water and yeast. Then it's a five-step process of mashing, sparging, boiling, fermenting and packaging. Mashing converts the natural grain starches into fermentable sugars. Water and the grain mixture are raised to a certain temperature and left for a time. At this point, enzymes work to extract sugars from the grain.

Sparging now extracts the sweet fermentable liquid, called wort, from the mash and the leftover mash is discarded. Boiling the liquid now sterilizes the wort and concentrates sugars. Hops are added for flavoring and bitterness during the boiling, much like adding spices when cooking.

Fermenting turns the boiled wort into beer. Yeast feeds on the sugars to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. Packaging, or bottling, completes the process.

The Hop Shop sells everything from books to bottle caps on beer and wine making. Some books include Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers and The Alaskan Bootleggers Bible. If you have a green thumb and want to grow your own hops, the Hop Shop can lend a hand. In the mild months, McDowell grows hops around the sign out front at 59 Portland Rd. Root cuttings are available for those who want to propagate their own. There's no one set group of folks making beer. McDowell said it runs the gamut. All ages, including doctors and lawyers are customers. "Everybody knows somebody who brews," said McDowell.

Got a question on home brewing? You can visit the Hop Shop online and ask the brewmaster at www.thehopshop.com.