Eric Openshaw & Emily Warburton.

Who Are You: Emily Warburton & Eric Openshaw

Home Town (City, State): Salt Lake City (Sugarhouse)

Homebrew Club: Lauter Day Brewers

I’ve been a homebrewer since: Eric’s adventures in brewing began with a Mr. Beer brew around 6-7 years ago and has been more seriously brewing for about three years. Emily started tagging along almost two years ago.

Do you have a homebrewing disaster you’d like to share?: Our first full-boil BIAB. It wasn’t terrible, but a 49% efficiency was a little sad.

What is your favorite style(s) to brew?: Emily loves her wheat beers, while Eric can’t get enough of IPAs.

What style(s) will you never brew?: We’re open to anything.

What was the first beer you ever brewed? How did it turn out?: Eric’s first solo beer was a pale ale (which he really liked, but probably wasn’t all that great by his current standards), Emily’s first solo was an American-style Ale (which was okay.. Emily blames the sugar). Our first brew together was a blonde ale (which Emily now have a soft spot for).

Have you ever had a homebrew mistake that turned out great?: That blonde ale we did together. We threw all the good in on one addition at the start of the boil. Damn tasty.

What is your favorite beer recipe?: What we call E(squared)PA. An American style pale ale we crafted. We both like it a lot!

Are you a BJCP Judge? If so, what is your rank and how long have you been judging?: Neither of us are judges. Eric has started looking into becoming one, and has sat in on a couple BJCP Corners at the LDB meetings.

Do you have a good beer judging story you’d like to share with the rest of the homebrewing world?: Eric has done a couple tastings as part of a brew meeting BJCP corner. They’ve been his first experiences judging and he’s really enjoyed it so far.

Do you have a favorite homebrew trick or gadget that you’ve found to make your beer better/brewing easier, etc?: All of the basic equipment any homebrewer for a successful brew day. Nothing super fancy; no pumps, brew sculptures or kettle timers. Just straight-forward and simple brewing ingenuity. And yeast starters.

Describe your brew system.: We do varying systems, but our primary go-to is our ten-gallon, two-cooler fly sparge system (see photo below).

How frequently do you brew (times/month or /year)?: We prefer outdoor brewing, so brewing gets cut back quite a bit in the winter, maybe to once every four to six weeks. During the summer, we’ll knock a brew out every two to four weeks.

What is your favorite malt? Why?: Any Patagonia malts. So much more flavor!

What is your favorite hop? Why?: Eric LOVES citra. Like, a lot. Emily likes more earthy hops. Still trying to settle on which one I like best.

Do you have a favorite or house yeast? What qualities do you like about that yeast?: White Labs California ale. We’ve found it to be very versatile and haven’t had a bad beer with it.

Do you have a good homebrew club story you’d like to share?: The AHA Big Brew Day last May. It was Emily’s first LDB event/meeting and she shared the day with her first half marathon. This was also our first club brew. That day was one of the first times we were successful with batch sparging and were very happy with the overall result. Eric got hammered, Emily was exhausted, but we couldn’t have had a better day.

What haven’t we asked that you would really like to answer?: Nah. We just appreciate that the club thought of us for this!

If you could serve your homebrew to someone famous, who would it be and what would you give her/him?: We have a damn tasty saison (no clever name) that we’d like to serve to President Obama. Not involving politics here, it’s just a known fact that he’s a man who enjoys a good homebrewed beverage.

Can you send a picture or two of some labels you’ve created for your homebrew?: Labels are in process. We’ll share when we have them!

What’s the most unusual ingredient you’ve ever used in a brew?: Hmm. We haven’t branched out into strange ingredients yet. Experimental brews are on the horizon!
Think: Lavender Cream Ale

Do you have any pets or kids named after beer styles or ingredients?: No, but that’s a fantastic idea!

How many medals have you won from homebrew competitions?: None….yet!

Do you brew alone, with friends or with someone you live with?: Always together! We encourage friends and family to join. 🙂

Are you an indoor or outdoor brewer?: Outdoor primarily, mostly indoors in the winter.

List some of the names you’ve given your beers. Which is your favorite?: Our favorites include Mr. Brownell (brown ale, thank Siri for the name), Yowza (double IPA),and Stoutsational (self-explanatory).