Brewer Spotlight: Gráinne Walsh, Metalman Brewing Company

Welcome to an exciting special edition of NHC’s “Brewer Spotlight”. In addition to profiling a different NHC member every month, we will also be interviewing professional brewers and other industry figures from time to time.

Today it’s Metalman’s Gráinne Walsh in the spotlight. Gráinne and her partner Tim Barber are both former home brewers who made the giant leap into professional brewing in 2011, establishing Metalman Brewing Company in their home town of Waterford.

In a previous life, Gráinne worked various IT roles before giving up the rat race to make their flagship Metalman Pale Ale, along with an exciting range of seasonal beers like Alternator, Windjammer, Moonbeam and Chameleon. Here we chat to Gráinne about craft beer, her history as a home brewer, the establishment of Metalman and much more.

 

Gráinne, welcome to “Brewer Spotlight”. You’re the first pro brewer to take part in the feature. Just how honoured do you feel today?

Pretty damn honoured!

 

You were originally a home brewer. How did you get started with the hobby?

On moving back to Ireland in 2005 having been away for several years, both Tim and I were horrified that there was still nothing decent to drink in most bars. We dabbled a little in home brewing at that point, but left it to one side when we moved back to Dublin in early 2006. Places like The Porterhouse and the Bull & Castle had opened up which meant we could find great beer to drink within a few minutes of home. We didn’t really start again until early 2007, when we started attending Irish Craft Brewer meetings in the Bull & Castle. This gave us a huge support network of other people who were also making their own beer, and were able to answer all our questions as well as encouraging us to keep at it. The rest, as they say, is history!

 

Was there a particular commercial beer that inspired you to start brewing your own?

I was heavily influenced by fresh, hoppy, North American pale ales as a result of so many trips to Seattle with Amazon. But if I was forced to name one in particular, I would have to say that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was always a favourite. Draught more so than bottle, probably because it always tastes that bit fresher.

 

A question that will be on a lot of home brewers minds – as a professional brewer, do you still brew at home?

I would love to have the time, but unfortunately I don’t. On the occasions when I do get a day off, I try to spend it not thinking about beer. Unless I am drinking it! So no, I don’t home brew any more. But I still like to experiment – basically, Chameleon is my home-brewing now.

 

Tell us about your experiences as a judge in the NHC’s National Brewing Championship last March?

It was an exciting, exhausting, humbling experience. To be put in a situation where I have to decide “this beer goes through but this one doesn’t”, when I know that someone has put their heart and soul into their competition entry. I took the responsibility very seriously. There were some fantastic beers on the day, and I really hope I did them justice. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and would certainly do it again, but I feel I would benefit from training my own palate a bit more to ensure that people are getting the best service from my judging! With 48 beers to taste though, I have to admit that I was very relieved when we were finished, and I could settle down with a whole pint of a single type of beer!

 

It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it, right?! What are your thoughts on the current state of the Irish craft beer?

It’s a great time to be involved; there is so much enthusiasm, so much interest, and so much growth. As long as we all strive to do our best, make the best beer that we can possibly make for people, and put flavour first, then it can only go from strength to strength.

 

Describe your typical working day as general manager and head brewer of Metalman.

There’s really no such thing as a typical day. Depending on what’s happening in the brewery on a given day – brewing, packaging, transfers, maintenance, deliveries, etc – will determine how much time I spend in the brewery on a given day. There is always a mountain of paperwork to get through which means that I need to spend at least part of every day at my desk ensuring that bills/staff are paid, raw materials are ordered, customers are getting invoiced and (very important!) paying those invoices, etc. I should be doing all of those things right now instead of doing this of course, but crappy time management is the perogative of every boss!

 

When we chatted during the competition judging in March you remarked that professional brewing isn’t as glamorous as many home brewers think it is. How so?

It really depends on your idea of glamour I suppose. If a pair of Puroforts, galoshes and thermal layers means glamour to you, then it’s a regular day on the catwalk! To be fair, it also depends on the size of the operation you are involved in too. Because we’re small, we don’t have dedicated brewers – someone who is purely involved with the production of beer, and not getting roped into anything else. As a result, we spend more time doing things other than brewing – delivering beer, washing kegs and casks, filtering, transferring, filling kegs and casks, paperwork, etc. On top of that, add in the constant logistical battling with cash flow, raw materials, environmental variables and mechanical breakdowns, and I confess that there are some days here that make me think “what on earth was I doing getting into this ridiculous industry?”. But for every one of those days, there are also days where everything runs smoothly, the beer tastes great, we get some lovely feedback from our customers, and people buy lots of our beer – and those are the days when you go home feeling good about yourself.

 

Without divulging any commercially sensitive information, can you describe the brewing process you use at Metalman?

The brewing process we use isn’t really all that different from the process a lot of home brewers follow to make their beer. I guess the big differences would be around volumes and process controls. Because the size of the plant is that much bigger than your homebrew scale, we are less susceptible to environmental variables like temperature, and they are easier to control – that said, we do have an expensive refrigeration system to help us! We double-brew in a day (much like we used to when we home-brewed, although that was always 2 different beers, rather than a double-batch of the same beer!) so we start at 6am, bringing the water up to strike temperature and making the acidification adjustments necessary to hit a pH of 5.3 in the mash. We have an infusion mash system, and we typically mash for 75-90 minutes, depending on the beer. We then start to gently sparge once the mash is ready, running off into the kettle and getting the best out of all that lovely malt! We get the first hop addition (pellets work better in our brewery than leaf) into the kettle as soon as we hit the boil so that we don’t have a boil-over (it has happened!) unless of course we are first-wort-hopping something experimental. In the meantime, we’re busy getting the fermenter ready for the new wort, preparing the yeast, and cleaning the heat exchanger to get it ready for use. We boil for 60-80 mins, again depending on the beer, and carry out a whirlpool rest before we start to transfer. It’s during this time that we will mash in the second brew, and then we’ll transfer the first batch and pitch the yeast before cleaning out the kettle in anticipation of the second sparging. We usually fit in a spot of lunch during the second sparge, and from then on it’s rinse-and-repeat.

 

Sounds like a long day! How long does it take to brew two monster batches of beer?

We typically wrap up between 5pm and 6pm, as long as there haven’t been too many “unexpected occurrences” along the way.

 

What temperature do you typically ferment and how long does the fermentation last?

Fermentation then takes from 4-10 days, depending on the beer, and we keep the temperature under 23°C at all times.

 

Do you filter or use finings? How do you prepare the beer for packaging?

Yes. Once we’ve reached our desired final gravity, we cool the beer and transfer it to a pressurised conditioner with some isinglass to mature for the required period – minimum 2 weeks, but again, it depends on the beer. When the beer is ready for packaging, we transfer it to the bright beer tank, through the filter if that’s appropriate for the beer in question. Then we carbonate it to the required level in the bright tank before pushing it into some freshly washed kegs and putting it straight into the back of the van for delivery.

 

When you first started the brewery, you had the beer contract-brewed by Cuilán Loughnane at White Gypsy in Templemore. Tell us about your experiences?

In general it was a great experience, although there is a lot to be said for being in control of your own production rather than at the mercy of someone else’s priorities. When I first contact Cuilán about brewing for us, he was extremely positive and helpful – there’s no doubt that he was laughing inwardly (and sometimes outwardly!) at this pair of jokers from the IT world who had it in their heads that they wanted to get into the brewing industry. But he never once discouraged us from following our crazy dream. When I first shared the recipe for our pale ale with him, he hesitated, then said “that’s a lot of hops!”. I almost faltered here to be honest. After all, here was a seasoned brewing professional who had a wealth of experience that we could only aspire to. So maybe we were wrong with the recipe? Maybe the hopping was just too much? Maybe the beer would be wildly off-balance? So I hesitated myself before I responded. “Yep! It is a lot of hops!” He was dubious, but then hoppy beers were not exactly his modus operandi at that point. Now however, he makes a very nice pale ale called Mustang made with American hops, so we like to think that at the same time we were learning from him, he was also learning from us! We’re obviously glad we stuck with our plan, as the pale ale came out pretty well even from the first batch.

 

Was it a challenge to perfect your recipes on someone else’s system?

Entertainingly, we went up to Templemore to brew the second batch of pale ale before the first batch was ready, and that was a nerve-racking experience if ever there was one. We had to decide what recipe tweaks to make to our very first commercial beer based on tasting an unfinished beer at 6am on a brewday – quite an experience. The hardest thing initially about making the beer at Templemore was being removed from the ongoing process – sure, we could be there for brewdays, but we obviously weren’t there from day to day to taste the progress of the beer as it matured, so that could be a little frustrating, especially with seasonals like Windjammer and Alternator where we were taking a plunge with something unusual. If I remember correctly, when I called Cuilán to ask him how the Windjammer was tasting after fermentation, his response was “hmmm……those New Zealand hops, they’re very unusual, aren’t they?” So when you hear that over the phone about your experimental, Kiwi-inspired brew, you can only get nervous. But again, it was a hoppy beer, so perhaps not to his tastes. And while it went down a storm at festivals that summer, he was heard referring to it as “that pot-pourri beer”, so each to his own!

 

What challenges did you face when you finally got round to opening your own brewery in Waterford?

We had purchased second-hand kit from the “Biddy Early” brewery that had closed down, and we had some interesting times with it, to say the least. Overall it took us about 4-5 months to move into the new premises and commission the kit – about 2 months longer than I expected. Although it had already taken me about 4 months longer to secure premises than I was expecting as well, so we were well behind schedule. During that time, we were still contract brewing, which there is very little margin in, unless you are talking big volumes. But we were constrained by the capacity of the brewery in Templemore and its other commitments so pouring money into the brewery installation as well meant that things got very tight financially. But we got there, we got brewing, hired an extra pair of hands, and were able to expand into some new locations. We had a massive learning curve, but we were now in control of our own production and capacity which meant we could brew different things, experiment a bit more, try to extend our reach a little.

 

I’m sure there’s an abundant supply of Metalman beer in your house, you lucky duck – but which commercial beers do you still buy regularly?

Our fridge at home is too small for kegs, especially with all the bacon in there from the pig who used to eat our spent grain! So we keep our kegs in the corner of the kitchen with the cooler and taps. We don’t really buy any one particular beer all the time – we tend to go to the off-licence and splurge on a haul of things that we haven’t had before. There’s often a six-pack of Brooklyn something or other, some American pale ales and IPAs, maybe a naughty Scandinavian offering of some description. Whatever ends up in the box, it is inevitably something of a financial crime!

 

Waterford has some fantastically atmospheric pubs. Which do you visit regularly?

Embarrassingly, we seem to only ever go to pubs that serve our beer these days, so pretty much any of the stockists listed in the local area! I won’t go through them all, but if I had to pick three, then “Revolution” has long been a champion of craft beer and has given us a lot of support in the last two years, so we often stick our heads in there to catch up with the guys behind the bar and see what they have that’s new. “Geoff’s” is a nice spot to chill out in too, with great music, and “Phil Grimes” is a wonderful “hide away from the world” type of pub.

 

You’re a regular face at the various craft beer festivals that run throughout the country at various times of the year. Do you enjoy taking part and devising the special “festival” brews?

I love festivals because they allow us to speak to the people who drink our beer firsthand, instead of the people who buy our beer to sell to their customers. We don’t often get the chance to hear feedback directly, so we relish the opportunity when we get it. And, of course, any excuse to get creative with the brew sheet and make something new.

 

Metalman Pale Ale is such a superb beer. I know so many craft beer lovers that declare it their “go-to” beer when available. Was it originally a recipe from your home brewing days?

Yes and no. We decided early on that we were going to launch with an American-style pale ale, so we looked back at what we had brewed in that style, and looked at the recipe with a view to making it commercial. We honed the recipe a little and test-brewed two different versions of it, which I tested it on my colleagues at Amazon in my final weeks. A couple of them may have found their way to an “Irish Craft Brewer” meet in the “Bull & Castle” as well, I can’t quite remember. I think we settled on a third recipe that was somewhere in between the two test brews. And inevitably, the final product tasted absolutely nothing like either of them!

 

One of the most impressive things about Metalman Pale Ale to me is the fresh hop character that comes through. What advice would you give home brewers on how to preserve that hop flavour and aroma?

Use lots of ’em, and use ’em late!

 

There’s a horde of enthusiastic Metalman drinkers clamouring for the pale ale to be put into bottles. Any plans for a bottling line at some point?

Lots of plans, but nothing likely to come to fruition for the next few months I’m afraid. We’re simply too busy with draught for now.

 

What’s next for Chameleon, your ever-changing series of experimental beers?

I have no idea! I’ve made a few purchases of random ingredients, so I have a couple of options knocking around inside my head, but I won’t know what it’s going to be until I sit down with the brew sheet and plan it.

 

Which Metalman beer took the longest to perfect the recipe and process?

We’re constantly tweaking everything, none of them are perfect. Yet! I’d like to think we might be about 90% of the way there on some of them, but there is always room for improvement.

 

Do you have any favourite malts or hop varieties?

Hmmm, that’s a bit like asking me what my favourite musical instrument is – it depends what it’s playing! To be honest, not really – I love anything that smells great and adds character to beer. I know that’s a bit of a non-answer, but I think the merit of each ingredient must be considered as part of a recipe rather than on an individual basis. I love what amber malt can do, but it would be completely inappropriate for some beers, and a little dangerous above certain percentages!

I had a beer once that had too much amber malt in it, and all I could taste was tobacco. Similarly, I’m a big fan of the Green Bullet hop, but it doesn’t belong in everything. Sorachi Ace is also an interesting and unusual hop, but I haven’t found it especially easy to use. Too much of it turns your beer greasy, which is never a desirable characteristic in a beverage!

 

I understand you were one of the many craft brewers that got stung because of the worldwide shortage of Amarillo. Tell us about how you overcame this challenge?

Well, it started with some frantic phone calls to various other brewers to see if I could source some, which didn’t yield more than a few kilos. Then it turned into a conversation with the nice chap who grows it over in Washington about the current state of things, the forthcoming crop, and yield expectations. Alas, none of that was very promising. All he could offer me was some liquid hop extract that he had been experimenting with, which Russian River were using at the time for one of their beers. Therein followed a conversation with Vinnie Cilurzo in Russian River, but we quickly determined that it wouldn’t give us the character that we were looking for in our beer. At that stage, we had to face facts – with limited growth supply, a surge in popularity, and the miniscule nature of our operation, we were never going to have a reliable source of Amarillo. At that stage, we were still brewing at White Gypsy, and we knew a change in the profile of the beer would be coming when we moved operation to Waterford anyway, so we decided to take the hit straight away and stop using it at that point. I started brewing with Summit instead, and I have never looked back, I think it’s a lovely hop and I really like the character it gives to our pale ale.

 

Any advice or tips you’d like to give home brewers?

Nothing they don’t already know – keep brewing great beer, drinking great beer, and demanding great beer whenever you go to the bar or off-licence.

 

Staying true to your Waterford roots, have you ever paired a Metalman beer with a blaa? What fillings would you recommend??

Of course! Red lead. ‘Nuff said.

 

And finally, can you give me the recipe for Metalman Pale Ale please…..? Just kidding!!

Malt, water, hops, yeast!

 

Gráinne, thank you for being such a terrific sport and for the time you’ve taken to speak with us today. The NHC wishes you and Tim every success in the future.

Thanks for including us, we wouldn’t be where we are today without the legions of Irish home brewers out there!

 

Visit the Metalman website for more information.

Metalman Pale Ale, along with seasonal specials Alternator, Windjammer, Moonbeam and Chameleon are available in keg and cask from the following stockists.

 

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