270: Sapwood Cellars Puts Research Into Creative Practice With Hoppy and Wild Beers

What do you get when Michael Tonsmiere, aka The Mad Fermentationist, and author of the book American Sour Beers joins forces with Scott Janish, author of The New IPA, to start a brewery in a Maryland suburb somewhere between Baltimore and Washington DC? Pretty much what you’d expect—a brewery that tends to focus on creative expressions in the pale ale and IPA space, as well as progressive approaches to wood-aged wild, funky, and sour beers. But Sapwood Cellars (https://sapwoodcellars.com) has done much more than just meet expectations over their first four years of existence—they’ve also honed approaches to both of these focuses, while creatively blending the two with smart mash-ups in the liminal space between them. In this episode, the founders of Sapwood discuss: the evolutionary “royal rumble” process behind their wild and sour beer program building intensity of flavor and points of difference for more broad experiences controlling acidity through processes like co-pitching sacch when adding fruit, dry-hopping finished sour beer multi-step fermentations with wine yeasts employing more potent hops to hold flavor at lower pH levels avoiding oxidized hop flavors in sour beer through careful barrel preparation aggressive rousing despite cold dry hop temperatures in hoppy beers using hops with high survivables on the hot side maximizing thiols with new yeasts finding synergies in hops that produce more than just “generic” tropical flavors the problem with Galaxy hops And more. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): For nearly 30 years, G&D Chillers has set the mark for quality equipment you can rely on. Contact the total glycol system design experts today at gdchillers.com (https://gdchillers.com) Probrew (https://www.probrew.com) ProBrew has the equipment, systems and technology to take your brewery to the next level. Check out www.probrew.com (https://www.probrew.com) for info on patented ProCarb inline carbonation technology, ProFill rotary filling & seaming can fillers, the Alchemator inline alcohol separation system, 7 – 50bbl Brewhouses and more! Old Orchard (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer): Think outside the purée box and let your brand stand out with Old Orchard's craft concentrate blends. To join the core of Old Orchard's brewing community, learn more at oldorchard.com/brewer (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer) American Canning (https://americancanning.com): American Canning provides packaging supplies at competitive prices in order quantities catered to craft. For a smooth packaging experience, also consider their ultra-compact, single operator canning machines. Learn more about their ecosystem of solutions at americancanning.com (https://americancanning.com). ABS Commercial (https://abs-commercial.com): ABS Commercial is a full-service brewery outfitter, proud to offer brewhouses, tanks, and small parts to brewers across the country. Contact one of their brewery consultants today at sales@abs-commercial.com to discuss your brewery project. Perfect Puree (https://perfectpuree.com/beer): Craft the perfect pour with superior fruit from The Perfect Purée. But don’t just take our word for it, experience flavor first-hand by curating your own complimentary sample box at perfectpuree.com/beer (https://perfectpuree.com/beer). Samples are complimentary for brewing professionals only.