Cincinnati Craft Beer Interview: Frank Coyne Home Brewer

In this second interviews involving Cincinnati craft beer folks, I got a hold of Frank Coyne. Frank is a new home brewer (7months!) and has been a pretty good resource of information for me when I started brewing myself.

Name: Frank Coyne
Neighborhood: Anderson Twp
Number of home brews you've made/attempted: 4
How long have you been brewing: 7 months
Favorite beer to brew: Too soon to tell
Favorite craft beer: Too soon to tell, there are so many I haven’t tried yet. :-)
Untappd Handle/Name: Frank Coyne/fcoy2

What got you interested in home brewing?

Always seemed like fun, but ultimately it was because my wife was having a hard time coming up with a Christmas gift, so I suggested a gift certificate to the local home brew shop, Paradise Brewing

What was the first beer you tried to brew? Was it a pre-packaged kit? Or did you experiment?

First was a kit of Flat tire Ale, a clone of Fat Tire out of Colorado

How did it taste?

Very good, pleasantly surprised for my first batch

What are the resources you use for beer/brewing?

Paradise Brewing – the guys are very helpful there, and they have all the supplies and information you need. They also do live demonstrations on Saturday mornings of the brewing process, which are very helpful as well. Listermann Brewing Supplies – wider variety of supplies and kits Books
 - The Complete Joy of Home Brewing (3rd Edition) by Charlie Papazian
 - Homebrewing for Dummies Podcasts
 - Beersmith Home Brewing
 - Basic Brewing Radio

Have you experimented with any new flavors/hops/malts etc.?

Not yet. My plan was to do the first 3-4 batches through kits, then move on to clone recipes and modifications of recipes

Any funny brewing stories?

My one real mistake came during a brown ale recipe brewing. I had all the supplies laid out on the dining room table, and was doing the brewing in the garage. I had just added the malt extract and was getting ready to add the hops when I heard on of our digs start getting sick in the house. I ran in to get him off the carpet and outside (only made it to the kitchen before, well, you know). After cleaning up the mess and resuming brewing, didn’t realize until the next ingredient addition that I had forgotten to ad the hops. I tried to put them in and extend the brewing time a little to try to get some of the flavor in. The beer came out “OK” but not as good as my other batches. I actually found myself wondering later if it was worth some dog puke on the carpet to get the beer right if it ever happened again.

I’m still trying to find other “high hop” beers to mix this batch with when I drink it, but I refuse to throw it out. It’s not that bad.

Do you think you will continue to brew?

Yep, there is a great satisfaction from making your own.

Any tips for first time home brewers?

Be VERY patient, especially with fermenting. This is not a hobby for the impatient.

Here's is Frank's setup.

Obviously the burner is pretty standard fare. For a workspace, I used a metal and pressboard shelving unit, and used countertop laminate on the top shelf to give it some moisture protection. I attached two steel slotted angles to the back side, then a piece of pegboard and a shelf to the board. Pegboard hooks give me storage for utensils, and the small top shelf is ideal for cleaning materials. The workbench gives me plenty of room for storage underneath, working space up top, and is high enough to use when siphoning beer from one container to another.

I also added velcro around the workbench, to help keep light out when fermenting. It also helps to keep heat in (provided by a small lightbulb) during winter batches, when the basement gets too cool to maintain the proper temperature. I did my first batch in the winter, and had to try several different things before I found the best way to regulate heat

Thank you Frank and good luck with your brewing.

Happy Drinking!