Home brewing: Heiderer balances beer production, corporate counsel work

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Brewing beer leads to drinking beer.

It’s a rule all home-brewers follow, said Steve Heiderer, an in-house attorney for Guardian Credit Union.

“It’s motivational because we’re always drinking the last of the last batch we made,” he said. “We always like to keep a few bottles of home-brew in the refrigerator. When we start running low, we know it’s time to brew again.”

Heiderer took up the home-brewing hobby three years ago with his college friend, Matthew Rystrom. The decision to get into brewing, Heiderer said, stems from where he lives.

“Being born and raised in Milwaukee, it’s just a huge part of our history and our culture,” he said. “After going on so many brewery tours, it just struck me one day how many of them began as home-brewers. The wheels started turning.”

The first batch Heiderer and Rystrom made turned out “incredibly well, which I think was surprising to everybody,” Heiderer said.

“It was a cream ale, a lighter variety, kind of a summer ale,” he said. “It was very slow going. We didn’t understand how long the process would take. But we were encouraged. We decided that if we could get it right the first time, it could only get better from there.”

The main cooking process takes about three hours for just about every variety, Heiderer said. Then the waiting begins.

Different varieties require different fermentation times. About the shortest is four weeks. However, their most recent batch, brewed in mid-October, was a “Winter Warmer,” a dark beer that should be ready just in time for the holidays.

“One of my favorites was a cherry stout,” Heiderer said. “Imagine Guinness with a little cherry flavor to it.”

The fruit beers are a little more prone to explode inside the bottles while fermenting, and, he said, there are other potential mishaps, such as when he dropped a thermometer into a full batch. The thermometer broke, contaminating the beer with mercury.

“Five gallons lost,” Heiderer said. “That was tough.”

It’s a variation of what any attorney might say about a case that was lost because of a simple mistake. A case, much like a batch of beer, requires constant attention to details, Heiderer said.

“Steps have to be done in a certain order,” he said. “It’s fun, but you can’t just skip parts.

“You have to be prepared, too. Everything you’re using has to be sterilized, and I have a reminder on my calendar that’s going to go off at 3:30 this afternoon that I have to activate the yeast packet. Just like law, you have to be very meticulous and do everything at the right time to get the process right.”

The social aspect of home-brewing, Heiderer said, is the best part. Brewing necessitates regular get-togethers, and even total strangers seem to enjoying discussing his hobby.

“I enjoy talking about it, and the conversation usually ends with them asking me for a beer,” he said. “It’s a hobby that should be enjoyed responsibly. It’s a lot of fun, but just because you brew five gallons of beer doesn’t mean you need to drink five gallons of beer.”