Josh Brewer, Mother Earth Brewing

Josh Brewer is Head Brewer at the recently opened Mother Earth Brewing in Kinston, NC. The production brewery had its official Grand Opening on October 24, 2009.

KYB: In reading your Mother Earth bio page, I know you got your start as a homebrewer. What prompted you to start brewing your own beer?

Josh: I first homebrewed with a friend, and he was going to throw away his equipment after the first brew, so I gladly took it from him. We dumped the first batch, which was ok, but I decided I wanted to try it again.

Homebrewing is where I started and it will always be a part of my brewing career. Even now, I don’t do much homebrewing, but I still love getting together with homebrewers, sampling beers and trying to help them better their brew.

Mother Earth Brewing in Kinston, NC

KYB: Is that why you have a monthly homebrew club meeting at Mother Earth?

Josh: The other reason is we have such a beautiful place for meetings. This month we will discuss and show off some logo designs for our club, called “The Blue Marble Homebrew Club.”

KYB: Having tried your beers, I’m glad you stuck with it.

Your brewery bio also talks about your start in professional brewing. Were there any key experiences, either as a head brewer or brewery owner, that you feel continue to shape your brewing today?

Josh: Being in the right place at the right time was a bonus for me. That landed me my first head brewer job at Hilton Head Brewing. I also had some good teachers along the way.

Being the owner of “Brewers” [a brewpub Josh and his wife owned in Beaufort, SC] made me realize as a brewer that I loved brewing beer more than I did drinking it. Don’t get me wrong – I love drinking  beer. But the process, the flow and the smell of brew day just warm my heart.

KYB: Given the work involved in starting a brewery and the day-to-day grind, I guess you better love the process. Can you describe your brewing system, and the basics of a typical brew day for you and the guys at Mother Earth?

Josh: Our setup is a twenty barrel (bbl) brewhouse with four 40bbl unitanks and two 40bbl brite tanks. So, almost every beer we brew we double-batch in one day. We have a separate whirlpool vessel, so it takes about 10.5 to 11 hours to brew 40bbls.

Josh (in orange) on the first brew day for the Munich Dunkel ~ Sept. 16, 2009.

The day is filled with multi tasking – from mashing in one batch, to sparging and then cleaning out the mash for the second batch. Watching all the pump speeds and levels gets tricky sometimes. My head is now past the understanding of a brew day and has now moved on to how I can improve it and make a better beer.

KYB: Speaking of the beers, Mother Earth has launched with four beers: Endless River Kolsch, Weeping Willow Wit, Dark Cloud Munich Dunkel, and Sisters of the Moon IPA. Can you talk about what went into the decision-making to lead with these four beers?

Josh: Trent, Stephen [Mother Earth's founders] and I sat down and really talked about the beers we enjoy, along with beers that are not out in our market much. Like Munich Dunkel – you would be hard pressed to find a brewery [locally] that brews this beer.

For the most part, the thought of the style comes first, then the name, then the art.

KYB: Where do you find inspiration for that first thought of a style?

Josh: One of us will be out at another brewery, or just at a beer bar, and have a beer that we have never had that inspires us to try and brew it. Or, sometimes we try a new spin on a style, like a small 5 gallon batch of wit we made – we fermented it with Belgian tripel yeast and added peppercorns and cardamom.

These small batches sometimes start with what would have been dumped down the drain from a large batch of beer, but we take the time to collect the wort out of a tank before it gets cleaned.

KYB: Does the name “Mother Earth” and the aesthetic that it implies as far as green techniques or organic ingredients play a part in your brewing or ingredient selection?

Josh: Our plan was to have Sisters of the Moon be an organic IPA.  Actually, the first 2 batches were, but the ingredients at the time were just too costly. We could still do it, but we feel the consumer might not want to pay that price for a 6-pack.

All of our renovations were green: tankless water heater, blue-jean insulation, soy-based spray foam, and we have 40 solar panels that will completely run the taproom.

KYB: You mentioned earlier that you have been playing with tripel yeast, and I know from the beer dinner that you are working on a tripel. Can you talk about that?

Josh: Our tripel all started off with a taste of Tripel Karmeliet. We decided at first sip we needed to brew this beer, and our twist is letting it age in whiskey barrels for a few months. We love the hidden alcohol in this 9% beer, but it definitely has a spicy whiskey quality as well. We also filled a few non-oaked barrels and a firkin with black peppercorns for an exclusive tapping in our tap room, which opens in March.

Josh samples the aging tripel

KYB: You obviously spend a lot of  time thinking about, and brewing, beer. What do you do when you are not at the brewery?

Josh: My wife and I have a 2 ½ year old daughter. That keeps me busy when I’m not brewing. I also enjoy road biking; I bike to work every day. And I have been roasting my own coffee for about three years now. Plus, I spend a lot of time running the local homebrew club.

KYB: What else, if anything, do you want to let people know about you, or about what’s in store for Mother Earth?

Josh: The tap room will be open in March, and we will also start tours then.

We have a pro 1bbl pilot system that we will be brewing on for exclusive tappings at the tap room. I had one whiskey barrel that I did not fill with tripel, so my first brew on the pilot system was a imperial stout. I made two batches, one with coffee and one without, and they will both be blended into the barrel.

We also have a hand pump for cask-conditioned beers, which I plan to feature every other Friday. I filled one firkin of tripel with hops and black peppercorns.

I can’t wait.

Come back for more from Josh on Thursday, when we’ll find out what his favorite beer to brew (and drink!) is, and discover a new recipe for the beer-lover’s kitchen.