Rachel Brasovan
Homebrewer
Interview Date: November 3, 2023
Q: Tell us about your first batch of homebrew. When did you start?
My first batch was an Irish Red Ale extract kit from Texas Brewing. My dad's friend that used to homebrew brewed it with me and gave me a lot of helpful tips which I really appreciated. I definitely owe it to him for teaching me good habits and how good it turned out! Yum!
Q: What's your favorite beer you've ever brewed?
My favorite beer was probably an IPA I brewed relatively recently. I used my favorite hops for the dry-hop (Cascade and Centennial) and then a few experimental hops for the boil. The flavor turned out perfect and just what I wanted in an IPA. Ended up scoring really well too.
Q: What about your biggest brew-fail?
Biggest brew failure happened recently. I've been getting into kegging and the second beer I kegged got badly infected. Then after the next one I kegged, a piece for the CO2 line into the keg BROKE and I never realized it so I lost all my CO2 and then I had to replace the piece. So it has been a process for sure.
Q: What's your go-to commercial beer?
Lagunitas IPA
Q: What's in your fermenter now?
A Freedom hops smash IPA!
Q: What's your favorite BJCP style to brew? To drink?
IPA (....can you see a theme?)
Q: Tell us about your brewery. What does your set-up look like?
My brewery is called Voltaic Brewery and the setup used to be all extract. Recently, I have gotten an older Anvil system that is working fantastic so far! I can only brew with it at a house though, since the cooling part I am unable to do from my apartment at the moment. Voltaic Brewery is also home to two brew cats which greatly help with brewing (they like the boxes.)
Q: Why do you homebrew?
I started homebrewing to pick up a hobby and quickly fell in love with the community. I owe that mostly to Chris at Brewhound for introducing me to you guys and now I will never leave!