Discovering Downtown

I mentioned briefly in my last post about my time spent living on campus. After two years I'd had enough. I was lucky enough to know a few fella's that were to be vacating a nice, exposed brick, loft off the beaten path. My two buddies and I jumped right on it and we've been there ever since.

For awhile the new downtown pad operated much like an extension of campus. The dorms had forced me to move back home with my parents during the summers. I had no Knoxville identity other than UT.

My 21st birthday coaxed me out of the house and instilled a new fervor for patronizing a few downtown hotspots. The Downtown Grill & Brewery quickly became my favorite because of its proximity,  friendly service and affordable, locally brewed beer. And by locally I mean right there on the restaurant floor.

Through my "consistent patronage", home-brewing experience and a little luck I landed myself an opportunity to take part in a one-time, hands on brew with the brewers. This eventually led to the part-time job I hold there today as an unpaid apprentice.

You may enjoy a seasonal pumpkin beer but the old timers over in Europe would laugh at you. According to ACTUAL German law (Reinheitsgebot) Beer is made up of only four ingredients: water, grain, yeast, and hops.

So, downstairs just under the restaurant we begin the beer making process at 5:30 am by milling the grains. The grains are then sent back upstairs to the main brewing equipment and steeped in hot water, 155 degrees to be exact.

Once the hot beer tea, as I call it, is made and brought to a boil, the appropriate hops are added. Hops are added for their taste (most intensely shown by IPA's) and their preservative value (the oldtimer's mentioned before  were especially concerned with this).

Finally the wort, as it's known in this stage, is cooled and sent downstairs to ferment and become beer.

The only byproduct of this process, besides the beer, is a whole bunch of "spent grain" that has been steeped. At this point most of the nutrients have been taken from them. So we have a local farmer, Mr. James, that comes by a few days a week and takes the grain to feed his cattle. In turn we get occasional hamburger meat and a whole lot less trash to haul off.


The only job left to do now, is a little Quality Control!

Next time your thirsty, meander on over to the Brewery and have a taste of what Knoxville's got to offer.