January 2006

By Kathy Thompson

To go from homebrewer to professional brewer is an awesome feat. This is the feat that Jeff Griffith has accomplished. Jeff started brewing in 1994. It all started in St. Louis when Rebecca, Jeff’s wife, had the good sense (and taste in beer) to purchase Jeff his first homebrew kit. This is where Jeff went from Bud Light to beer with a little more substance. Jeff’s first homebrew was a Brown Ale from a box kit. He later purchased a 10 gallon tiered-system at the GABF.

These days though…..Jeff is brewing in the big league. He’s been at Golden City for about a year now. While I was there I had the pleasure of sampling some of his brews as I helped him brew his featured Baltic Porter, a 5th in his series. In addition to the Baltic porter, Jeff brewed a Smoked Porter, a Berry Porter, a Tangerine Porter and a Robust Porter. Brewing professionally isn’t as easy as it seems. There’s a lot to juggle at one time. While Jeff was brewing his 10 gallon Baltic Porter, he was also dry hopping an IPA, and changing kegs for the brewery. If you stop in at Golden City you will always find five regular beers on tap, the Legendary Red, Clear Creek Pale Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Mad Molly’s Brown and Golden City’s IPA. The sixth tap or brewer’s choice is where Jeff can get a little creative. Most of his creative ideas come from "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels.

This is the 10 gallon system Jeff purchased at the GABF. He uses this to freely brew his  brewer’s choice beers on a smaller scale.

Jeff sets the temperature control on his system. This regulates the temperature of the mash by turning on and off the burner as needed.