Temple View HomeBrew
April 5th, 2010
Meet Jim Holinger -- master home brewer who shares his passion for beer with those who he worships with
by Rebecca Edwards
There's a lot more to Jim Hollinger-- and his garage -- than meets the eye. Nestled within a typical suburban house just below the Bountiful Temple, this former Mennonite from Pennsylvania and retired airplane mechanic concocts what he refers to as "Celestial Brew."
Jim, whom I met at church -- is a home brewer extraordinaire. Since we at Utah Stories are not shy about our love of beer, we decided to take a look at (and enjoy some sample tastes of) the now-legal world of home brewing.
Before we could start the interview, Jim's wife Ranee, who is not a beer drinker unless it's one of those "fruity, girlie beers," insisted on telling us about the first time he and his long-time partner in crime (who recently moved out of Utah) attempted to home brew.
"There are only three ingredients they needed to remember," she begins, emphasizing that they were only dealing with three ingredients. "So they get to drinking some beer, then they get to making beer. They get it all done, and they forgot to put the sugar in it," she said. "So there was no alcohol in the beer." We all burst into laughter at this story about the brewing master who was once a novice.
Since this fiasco happened in Utah, it made sense to me that they were just making beer in compliance with the wishes of most of the state government: sans alcohol. When asked how it tasted Jim answered, "Almost like beer."
It's now been 16 years since that first attempt, and Jim regularly keeps four (fully alcoholic) beers on tap in his garage/brewery that has been dubbed "The Temple View Brewery" due to its proximity to and great view of the Bountiful Temple. The garage, which is part workshop, part brew pub, and (amazingly) still has room for a truck and a car, is decked out with multiple kegerators, and a brewing operation that mimics what you'll find in many local brew pubs, complete with custom, logo merchandise.
Over the years the word has spread and Jim's beers have become wildly popular. "One day we had a knock on the garage door," Ranee said. "When we opened up there were strangers standing there who said that they had been at the bowling alley and someone told them that they just had to try Jim's beer. So we invited them in and they sat down for a couple hours and drank and visited."
Jim's beer is in high demand; however, he isn't interested in taking it to the next level and opening up a micro brewery -- at least not in Utah. The regulations, the alcohol limits for draft beer, the investment and the limited number of liquor licenses granted by the state each year are just not as fun as keeping it small and sharing the fruits of his labors with friends and acquaintances who appreciate it.
Jim's mechanical knowledge has come in handy with his passion for beer making. When he gave us a tour of his brewing process, it was amazing to see the inventions Jim has come up with. He claims that laziness is the father of invention, and if his innovative brewing set-up is any indication, I have to agree with him.
Since that first, non-alcoholic attempt Jim has logged every batch of beer he's brewed, including the recipes. "One of the neatest things about home brewing," Jim said, "is that you can make it as flavorful as you want. You can adjust the flavor, the hops, the alcohol, and make a beer that you really like." In fact, he has adjusted it so well, that he rarely drinks anything but his own brew these days. People tend to bring him beers from places they visit, and while he appreciates it, "it just doesn't occur to me to drink it. I might forget it's in the fridge for six months."
Jim's brewing process is a three-week cycle. He takes us through the entire process from grinding the grain and primary fermentation, to cleaning out and sterilizing his equipment with the ingenious in-sink spraying system he designed to not only minimize the work, but use the least amount of water in the process. "Making beer already uses enough water; we don't need to waste any in the cleaning process," he says with a twinkle in his eye -- implying that we're all better off saving water for the most important thing: creating awesome beer.
As the brewing tour/tutorial continues, I learn a whole new homebrewing vocabulary that includes words like mash (cracked grain soaked in hot water), wort (the liquid produced from the mash that can then be fermented to make beer) and sparge (the act of rinsing the spent grains of the wort, a sort of natural filtration process).
Through the years Jim has learned the exact temperatures he needs at each stage of the brewing process, and he's invented or modified every implement needed to make the process as efficient and precise as possible -- from a custom pilot light that always brings the water to exactly 180 degrees, to a float attached to a pump that maintains the proper liquid levels in the tank.
"I don't draw mechanical schematics, I troubleshoot them," Jim shares. "So it might take me three times of drawing out what I think will work, then I troubleshoot it, realize 'well that won't work', so I have to do it again. The third time, I usually get it right."
Brewing beer takes time. Once the mash is stabilized at the proper temperature (155 degrees), it needs to sit for at least an hour an a half. "This is the reason I usually brew on Sunday," Jim explains. "Because I can start my mash and then after church my mash'll be done. So I'm not sitting here waiting for it, I'm in church praying it'll turn out good."
After the mash sits in the tank for an hour and a half to two hours, Jim brings the temperature up to 170 degrees to get rid of some of the enzymes. "You don't want to go over 170 otherwise you get too many tannins in your beer, which is great for leather and wine but not beer," Jim said.
I was able to sample all four beers Jim had on tap, and after tasting a very good IPA and a smooth Irish oatmeal stout, I have no doubt that he knows exactly what he's talking about. Whether it's his inventions, his passion or those prayers in church -- Jim has definitely brought home brewing to a truly celestial level.
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