Keith Wright
Each month we feature one of our brewers. This month, our featured brewer is Keith Wright. Keith is one of Oklahoma's most accomplished brewers. He has more awards than we could count, much less fit in the picture, and more knowledge on brewing than most can fit in their brain. Here is a little more about Keith and his craft beverage journey.
Occupation: Retired Telecom Engineer
Home Brewery Name: Pete's Brewery
Years Brewing: Approx. 28 years. The first beer I brewed was in college in 1959, the second drinkable beer was brewed in 1994. The first beer was made with Blue Ribbon Malt and Fleischmann’s bread yeast in my mother’s pickle crock.
What are your favorite styles to brew? all styles of Lagers, Porters, and beers that My wife of 60 years likes to drink.
What got you into brewing? I Like beer and providing beer for camp outs for my PECKERWOOD FRIENDS and other social events (Grand Daughter’s Wedding Reception).
Current Brewing Rig: My brewing set up is mostly homemade. Natural gas-fired three-burner cooker. Creating the brewing equipment has been the most fun of the brewing hobby. Good temperature control is important for proper fermentations. Study the brewing process and use your creative skills to make the equipment to produce it.
What Brew Day Rules do you follow?
Take time to plan the day before, making sure you have everything you need on brew day. Don’t drink beer while you are brewing. I have some funny but disastrous stories about things that can happen if you do.
Most influential brewing tip you learned: Be fanatical about cleanness and sanitizing after the boil. An old peckerwood friend who made really good wine out of wild grapes that grow along the Red River was asked what his secret was to making good wine. Said that he was a stickler for cleanliness. He always was sure to blow the gnats out of the siphoning hose.
Your tip for new brewers just getting started: Start with simple extract brewing to learn the basics, then if you like the results, progress to all-grain brewing to perfect your beer. Try entering some beer competitions. The feedback will help improve your beer. Get a copy
of the BJCP Guidelines and a good beer computer software program. You can create some award-winning beers. The guidelines tell what to put in a particular beer style. I have had far more luck in beer contests using this method than using recipes from clone beer books.
What’s on tap at your brew house right now:
Munich Lager, English Porter, American Wheat, Scottish ale Export, American Lager