Brew-Monkey's Brewer Interview

of

Alan Pugsley

from

Shipyard Brewing Company LLC

Shipyard Brewing Company LLC 86 Newbury St. Portland, ME December 22, 2005

Jumping back to Portland, well not the same Portland - this one is on the East Coast - Maine to be exact, where a more English style of beer seems to be the way to go. Today we drop in on Alan Puglsey of Shipyard Brewing Company. Ready. Set. Here we go...

How long does it take to settle on a recipe for commercial production?
Generally deciding on a new recipe for commercial production involves marketing/sales meetings along with production to decide on new style/flavour. After that the execution of a new recipe is fairly straightforward and generally takes no more than 30 minutes. These days we might test brew a 5 barrel batch of the recipe at our brewpub in Kennebunk (Federal Jacks) and if it needs tweaking do it from there .Then we are ready to brew in the 100 barrel system. Since the recipe is almost always ready to go from the initial outset if we have to skip the 5 barrel batch we are not too worried.

How much trial and error went into the recipe?
None

How did you decide on the beer styles you make?
For new beers see the answer above. We are a traditional English ale brewery and hence everything we produce is ales. We have a combination portfolio of English Style Ales, Anglo/American style ales and more avant-garde flavoured beers. Our flagship beer-Shipyard Export Ale-is a Canadian Style Golden Ale and was first produced at Kennebunkport Brewing Company (birthplace of Shipyard Ales) to appeal to the many Canadian tourists visiting that area back in the early 1990's. That beer has gone on to appeal to a large audience of beer drinkers.

How far removed from the initial idea is the final product we all now commonly drink?
The initial idea and the final products are dead on.

What settings do you use for crushing grain?
We just break open our grain and hence have the mill set at the coarsest possible setting whilst cracking all the kernels.

For cracking the grains - why the coarsest possible setting? Is there some advantage to this? From what I've heard homebrewers especially, like a fine setting.
Since we use a single infusion mash system we need the grain bed to float. The only way to effectively do this is to just crack open the grain so that the husks can act as floats. Also by damaging the husks by fine milling you introduce many undesirable tannins and polyphenols present in the husks into the wort. These in turn can lead to harsh undesirable flavours and add to haze problems and filter problems further down the line. There is no advantage to crushing the malt finely. All you need to do is expose the insides of the grain to your hot water in order to steep out the starches and enzymes for starch conversion.

Do you perform the legendary "20 minute" mashes? If not, how long do you mash?
Our mash time at Kennebunkport Brewing (7 barrel brewlength) is approximately 15 minutes for a 5% alcohol beer whilst at Shipyard (100 barrel brewlength) it would be about 50 minutes.

What kind of efficiency do you normally get? How much fluctuation do you get from batch to batch?
We are yielding with about 87-90% efficiency and unless there is a dramatic change in malt quality we are very consistent.

How long does a typical brew session take? What is a typical brew day like?
A typical brew day is 9 hours at Shipyard. A typical brew day involves everything required to get from grain to declared wort in fermenting vessel. The exact detail of such would require many pages!!

How often do you brew? What days do you brew?
How many times we brew is governed by sales. However from May through October in 2005 we brewed between 16 and 17 times per week. 3 brews per day Monday-Friday and 1-2 brews on Saturday.

At what temperature do you do your mashes?
The mash temperature is recipe dependent and we range from 145 F - 154 F. Our most common aimed for temperature is 148F.

What type of mashes do you do?
Single infusion

How long does your boil commonly last?
1 hour

Do you adjust the water (use water modifiers) for the different styles or just go with the local water source?
The water we use comes from Sebago lake and it is beautifully clean water. We build the water up with a variety of salts which is recipe dependent.

What type of yeast do you use and how do you maintain your culture?
Ringwood Yeast - open top fermenting. Each batch produces a brand new generation and in effect a new culture.

How many times do you reuse your yeast from batch to batch?
At the time of writing (12/22/05) we are on brew number 5500 and yeast generation 1125!

1125 generations!?! So you have only purchased 1 quantity of yeast and just kept going from there? That saves money for sure. Is there any worry of contamination or mutation?
Ringwood Yeast is a privately held yeast strain in fact only accessible from true starter culture to Ringwood Brewery and myself. The self generating growth of healthy east certainly beats buying yeast from labs or installing a yeast propagation plant. There is no added sanitation risk with open top fermenters in a properly controlled environment. Our fermentation room is separated from the rest of the brewery and is kept extremely clean, has a constant 60F temperature and an air filtration system.

Using open top fermentation - how do you keep wild yeast and other nasties out?
Providing you keep the parameters of fermentation the same e.g. temperature, pH etc then there is no more mutation than with any other system. We have experienced no dramatic changes in 11 years at Shipyard.

What about hops... do you use whole or pellet hops? Why?
We use pelletised hops for the boil since they are easier to store and easier to clean out from the whirlpool tank. We use whole leaf hops in our 2 hop percolators where they are steeped in 180F water to create a hop tea locking in subtle aromas and hop tastes.

Do you use a Whirlpool or Filter method? If neither, which do you use?
A Whirlpool tank is utilized after the kettle boil to separate out the trub.

What finings or clarifiers do you use if any?
We use kettle finings to help remove precipitated proteins and then gelatin finings to help settle out the yeast after fermentation and prior to filtration.

What temps are most ales fermented at on this level?
Our fermentations are 68-70 F.

Do you pasteurize or add preservatives?
No.

Which award are you most proud of and why?
We don't get too worked up about beer competitions like some folks! We did enjoy Old Thumper being named "Best Beer of Show" at the L.A. County Fair in 2004 however.

Do you have any techniques or processes that are unique to your brewing/brewery?
Our hop percolator system is unique to the Pugsley/Peter Austin System.

Can you tell us more about the hop percolator system? How does it work? Where is it located in the brewing process? Where did the idea come from?
The Hop Percolator steeps whole aromatic leaf hops at 180F for up to 4 hours. During this time the volatile oils responsible for aroma and hop taste versus bitterness are steeped into solution creating a hop tea. This is then introduced at 68F into the fermenting vessel just prior to the boiled wort.

The reason for doing this is that hops added for the aroma at the end of the boil (done by many people)will lose many of their volatile aroma oils up the flue due to their volatility. Depending on the external atmosphere the rate of evaporation and hence oil boil off can vary hence leading to inconsistency in this area. The hop percolator system introduces the same extraction rate for each brew. Peter Austin and I developed this at Ringwood in 1984 searching to find better ways to make great consistent beer.

What do you see in the future for you and your company?
2005 should see a final barrelage of about 56,000 barrels which will be double digit growth for the 5th year running. We hope to maintain this type of growth and slowly expand our distribution.

Brewery info: Shipyard Brewing Company LLC

Location: Portland, Maine

How long has the brewery been around: Since 1994

What is the yearly production? 56,000 barrels in 2005

How many different beers are made and how many are bottled? Where do the rest go?
Shipyard currently has 13 different flavours including seasonals. Our sister brand SeaDog has 9 flavours. We also contract produce several beers. 70% of our beers are bottled, 30% are draft.

What is the current distribution?
35 States including New England as the primary distribution area followed by Florida. Then we have many other states such as CA, SC, NC, NJ, OH growing very nicely.

What are your thoughts on the "hop revolution" - the ever increasing number of hoppy beers and the quantity of hops used?
In my opinion beers should be made to their styles and hence hopping rates should roughly follow the guidelines. However with so many varieties of hops individual character can easily be assumed without aggressive overhopping. In reality overhopping and underhopping beer styles are equally as bad. A beer needs to have a nice balance between the malt and hops whether it be an IPA or a brown ale!

I understand that Peter Austin, who was your "teacher", and you set up breweries. Can you tell us what is involved in that or how that process works?
To answer this question would take a book! However a full knowledge and expertise as a Brewer is required along with a knowledge of Engineering and general process control. A brewery built by Engineers without a brewing background can be a disaster and vice versa. We always designed a brewery starting with the actual beers that the customer wanted to produce and work backwards.

You have a number of projects going - Pugsley Brewing, Seadog, Kennebunkport Brewing, Federal Jack's and others in addition to Shipyard. How do you manage all this?
We have developed a great team of people over the years all of whom have their separate expertise and all of whom share a common goal of producing "world class beers" and providing a "world class experience" for people.

How big is your brewing staff?
We currently have myself as Master Brewer then we have 5 other management positions : Plant Manager, Safety Manager, Purchasing Manager, Brewhouse Manager and Packaging Hall Manager. We have 6 hourly Brewers, 2 hourly bottling line operators, 3 hourly kegging line operators and 1 shipping/receiving person.

What words of advice do you have for those who want to get into brewing professionally?
Get a good physical hands-on apprenticeship, do not be afraid of physical, hard, wet, work. Be proud of producing something in any given day - approach brewing as a "Way of Life." Be open minded. This business will not make you rich!!!! However it will give you immense satisfaction and create a lot of friendships for you.

A biochemistry degree or similar is very helpful but not vital if you are willing to learn and work hard.

Brewer Profile:


Name: Alan Pugsley

Date of Birth: 05/23/59

Current Brewery: Shipyard Brewing Company LLC

What kind of education do you have? Biochemistry Degree from University of Manchester, England.

Did you attend a Brewing School? No

How long have you been brewing? 24 years on 4th January 2006!!!

How long have you been at your current job?
I have been owner/partner with Fred Forsley (President) since 1994.

What did you do previous to this job?
Designed and installed breweries as Pugsley Brewing Projects International.

Every brewer has high and low points... what are yours?
There are numerous high points, however hitting 50,000 barrels at Shipyard in 2004 was quite a landmark.

Not much in the low point column!

What is your favorite beer style and why?
Obviously I am an English Ale man however saying that I like a well brewed European lager. Generally my favourite beer "is the beer that is in my hand at the time". It is all a mood thing!

I like a beer that is well balanced in its style and is not over blown in any which direction. I am not a fan of beers with over 7% alcohol by volume.

Which beer do you enjoy brewing the most? Why?
I enjoy brewing all types of beer and you cannot beat working with our Ringwood yeast.

Is there something or some style you want to brew but haven't yet?
I cannot honestly say there is a definitive beer that I "Must" make before I'm done!!

Do you still brew at home? What do you like to brew if you do?
I have never brewed at home and have never been interested in doing so. I have been a career Brewer for 24 years and my whole working life has been geared around the brewing business - it is truly a way of life.

Having never brewed at home - how did you get into it initially? How did you know that is what you wanted to do?
The combination of having a Biochemistry degree and my love of English pubs when combined directed me towards brewing. I was lucky enough to get a job at Ringwood Brewery in Hampshire with Peter Austin who taught me all the practical sides of brewing and then taught me with regards to designing and installing systems...a fantastic introduction into the business. I was there 4 1/2 years before coming to the USA to help design and build a brewery for D.L. Gerary Brewing in Portland, MA.

Personal notes/outside interests:
Supporting Manchester United Football Club, playing squash, and learning to play saxophone.

I owe much to my great wife Lesley and children Erica and Samantha along with my family in England and Peter Austin.

Whew... is it time for a beer now? Yes, Alan it certainly is. Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions and teach us a few things about how you do things. I learned a few things and there is some great information in here - so Alan, thank you again. Let's have that beer shall we? Cheers.