The Deer Island homebrewery has been a work in progress since I first took up “brewing my own”. From the garage and carport, to the conversion of our barn, the brewery has grown in size and equipment. Take a look around the site for photos of our little brewery, projects, hop growing and other information pertaining to the homebrew hobby and craft beer in general.
There's always something brewing here at Deer Island. I guess I began home brewing in a big way. I first bought a basic kit with a bucket, carboy and all the other basic equipment, to brew and bottle a five-gallon batch of beer. Coopers Amber Ale was the beer, and it consisted of two cans of malt extract and a no boil recipe. I just seem to go all out on a project or hobby sometimes, so before that batch had finished fermenting, I bought a C02 keg system, got an old refrigerator and upgraded my equipment with an immersion chiller, S.S. boil kettle, burner and a six gallon glass carboy for the primary fermenter, instead of my bottling bucket. Armed with a little beer making knowledge, from the book "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian, I jumped right into the world of home brewing, creating my own recipes, growing Hops and getting hooked on all grain brewing within a year.
Today the equipment that I've acquired has grown into a fair collection that was taking up a lot of space in the house, garage and utility room. My wife and I converted most of our barn into the new brewery so now we have plenty of room to brew. Equipped with running water, a small hot water heater and a concrete floor, it is just what we've needed...I just wish we would have started the project earlier!
I design all of my own recipes now, and brew a number of different styles of beer, although I tend to brew the American styles, that are typically hopped at a larger rate than European style ale. My wife and I love our IPA, (India Pale Ale), the best. It is very well hopped, and seems to disappear in a hurry around here. My wife has become my brewing partner, as we both enjoy the time we spend together as we brew up a batch of beer. She is also a great judge of the finished beer, giving me insight into whether I've created a beer worth brewing again, or letting me know that “I'll be drinking that one myself”. We are always looking for the "perfect" IPA in our visits to brew pubs and breweries. We enjoy attending any brew fests or events that happen close to home here in Oregon, and just talking about "Craft Beer" in general. I started the "Deer Island Brewers" Homebrew club in 2001 to meet the need of homebrewers In Columbia County.
Today the Brewery here is large enough to accommodate the two big AHA club events we have here, Big Brew day in May and Teach a friend to Brew day in November.
Alan & Paula
Deer Island, Oregon.
Video taken for John Deere Magazine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SymQqADn8M
Video courtesy of the late Jack Chessen and Homestead Magazine, by John Deere. Interview and written article was done by Steve Werblow.
click on the image to join us, as we make a 10 gallon batch of IPA.
Hop Growing at Deer Island /
Brewery Photos /
Projects /
News & Events
/Favorite Brew Pubs
Email? Here is my email address: (due to tons of spam, you will have to figure and type this address manually to send a message) it is: "brewery" plus the "at" key, and then "deerislandbrewery.com" Put it all together and you have an address!
LAST UPDATE: 12-2013
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