Michael Copado is many things. He’s a resident of a Detroit suburb called Fraser. He’s an audiovisual specialist in the field of medical education. And he’s an ordained minister.
Revvy, as he’s known online, is also an active member of online homebrew forums. And he’s one of the most vocal advocates for the resiliency of homebrew you’re likely to encounter. In thread after thread (he’s written more than 40,000 posts on HomeBrewTalk.com alone), you’ll find Michael encouraging new brewers to have patience with their beer, to slow down, to give the process the time it needs.
But as with many of life’s worthwhile pursuits, such an enlightened approach comes from years of experience—ten to be precise. And those ten years naturally featured a few mistakes. That’s why it’s Revvy’s mission to calm new brewers’ nerves and encourage peace of mind.
It Will Be Okay
“It sounds trite, and we say it all the time,” he says, “but _relax, _and don’t worry. I’ve probably made every mistake that beginner books and websites tell us not to do, and my beers have all turned out okay. Some may not have been spectacular (though some were), but they’ve all been drinkable.”
Among the blunders Revvy admits are
- Dropping “everything imaginable” into a fermentation bucket full of wort or beer.
- Plunging his unsanitized arm into a bucket of beer to fix a broken spigot.
- Accidentally transferring beer into a vessel that he forgot to sanitize.
- Allowing a fermentation to reach 88°F (31°C), about twenty degrees higher than it ought to have been. (Hot fermentations can produce terrible flaws such as bubble gum and banana flavors.)
- Transferring beer into a bucket with an open spigot and then walking away—thankfully, only half a gallon was lost.
While there’s not much to be done for beer that escapes through an open spigot and onto the floor, Michael preaches the virtues of patience when it comes to almost everything else.
“Many new brewers—actually all new brewers—tend to be hyper-vigilant, even neurotic, in the beginning. They hover over their first batch like it’s a newborn baby and worry that if they even look at it wrong, they might kill it, along with a few of their friends.”
But you have to realize that beer is more resilient than we think it is,” Michael continues reassuringly. “It takes a lot to ruin homebrew. And most of the basic, boneheaded mistakes we make really won’t destroy the beer. This isn’t surgery. We’re human, so we’re going to make mistakes.”
History’s Lessons
Revvy especially enjoys learning about the history of beer and frequently revives lost and forgotten styles. Using what little historical information is available, he has developed a recipe for Kentucky Common, which alongside California Common is one of the first beer styles North America can truly call its own. And in a podcast for Michigan’s Brew Bubbas, Michael discusses bochet, a burnt mead from the fifteenth century. This interest in history has engendered an appreciation for beer’s resilience in the face of adversity.
He asks new brewers to consider small mistakes in a broader historical context. In the past, beer was often safer to drink than water because it was boiled, acidic, and fortified with hops. Certain conditions might produce a contaminated beer, or even vinegar, from time to time, but suboptimal beer won’t make you sick or cause harm.
“Beer has been brewed for thousands of years, often in primitive conditions. It may not have been as clear or as clean-tasting as what we enjoy today, but it’s not human nature to continue eating or drinking things that are truly unpleasant. Long before
modern sanitizers, or even an understanding of germ theory, beer managed to remain culturally relevant,” Michael says.
He insists that if beer were as fragile as new brewers sometimes fear, our beloved barley beverage would never have survived to modern day. No matter how poor conditions may have been in the past, the results must have been sufficiently pleasant and enjoyable for societies to continue brewing it.
With today’s access to such technologies as sanitizer, closed fermentation vessels, pure yeast cultures, and temperature control, “we’re still light years ahead of the ancient Egyptian brewer who brewed over a fire pit,” says the relaxed reverend. “Just because you dropped something in your beer doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve ruined it.”
According to the Revvy Doctrine, the most egregious homebrew sin you can commit is dumping beer just because you think you’ve done something wrong. “I tell people all the time: pitch your yeast and walk away for a month, or two weeks if you’re racking to a secondary,” he says. “Don’t hover over it, and don’t try to gauge success from the bubbles that may or may not appear in the airlock. Pitch your yeast, and then let it do its thing. It’s in charge, not us. Give it enough time to work, and it won’t let you down.”
Michael especially recommends that initially disappointing beer be given more time and says that putting it away to mature for a few weeks, or even months, can improve flavor dramatically. “I’ve had beers that just sucked right after carbonation but turned out perfect later. So don’t write them off right away. Time often heals a multitude of wounds.”
Amen to that, brother.