American beer brewer crafts a legend one pint at a time

Editor's note:

Beer in Shanghai dates back to the 19th century, when the earliest brewery in the city was founded in 1896. Today, beer is no longer just a beverage as it also stands for a culture in the city. In this column, "Hopscotch," we share stories about beer while exploring the city of Shanghai.

Mike Sherretz, an American chemical engineer, grew up canning food, making sauerkraut, root beer and wine. He even butchered farm animals. These boyhood experiences seem to have paved the way for him to become a master brewer as an adult after making a life-altering decision.

Sherretz arrived in China in 1997 and moved to Shanghai in 2000. Back then Shanghai's beer scene was sparse with mass-market breweries and Paulaner’s Brewery and Restaurant.

“I wanted to brew by myself but found it hard to find ingredients then,” said Sherretz. “There were craft beer brewing trailblazers like Master Gao from Nanjing, Carl Seltzer of Great Leap Brewing from Beijing and myself at the start. We were quickly followed by Boxing Cat Brewery in Shanghai.”

They all had to import ingredients and often shared between them.

“Every one was looking for something different from the generic mass-produced pale light lager beers from the beginning," Sherretz said. "So, taste was our initial driver along with a DIY attitude."

Enough locals and expats were curious about brewing beer, so it was easy to find people willing to learn how.

Since ingredients and equipment were almost impossible to get in small quantities, Sherretz started the first homebrew store in China in 2008. It was called “My Homebrew Store.”

“Since then," he said. "I have taught over a thousand people to brew."

Sherretz started brewing in the 1980s in Canada when he was working near Toronto. Canada allowed facilities where people could visit, purchase ingredients and use equipment to make beer and wine. They were called Brew-Your-Own places.

He retired from the corporate world in 2008 after he struggled to get ingredients and equipment for brewing. That was when he decided to start My Homebrew Store after importing several containers of ingredients and equipment for brewers.

He made beer, taught classes for brewers and held "brew days" in his garage, where groups of people went to see how it's done, taste homemade beer and ask questions while meeting others with similar interests.

He was also encouraged to enter brewing competitions, which were just starting at that time in Shanghai.

“I ended up winning every event I had entered," Sherretz said. "This got to be embarrassing since many if not most of the competitors were my students. So I retired from competitions and just became the home brew guru and source provider. This was before Taobao had any brewing ingredients.”

Cultural aspect of beer

“Beer is a great way to share culture and history,” Sherretz noted.

In the United States, brewing beer at home was the precursor to craft beer breweries, and there were plenty of ups and downs.

“European settlers to the US made beer right from the start on their homesteads and farms. They brought the recipes from their home countries,” Sherretz said.

But during the Industrial Revolution many people left their farms for factory jobs.

With people living close to factories, this concentrated demand gave rise to large breweries since people found it was easier to buy than make. This also promoted the tavern culture where people stopped by the tavern on their way home from work.

“Then Prohibition started from 1920 until it ended in 1933. Many old family recipes were dusted off and brewing at home had a great resurgence, though secretly,” said Sherretz.

World War II led to another monumental change in the industry, greatly increasing the market share of mega breweries since economies of scale really mattered and cheaper beer was most important.

After the war, families became more comfortable and self-sufficient and these old recipes were once again dusted off. Though up until about 2008, brewing at home could be interpreted as illegal, although people were seldom charged, in the United States.

“People chose to brew initially for tradition and then as their skills improved, they chose to experiment with different styles," Sherretz said. "Then we started to have competitions and people were exposed to even more styles and methods with new equipment options soon following. Their competitions and brewing tips sharing parties led to craft breweries and microbreweries like we have today.”

The history of beer is just as fascinating.

“In Germany they have extremely large festivals and a close relationship with beer. Local regions have their own styles and strict regulations toward ingredients. In France, they have a farmland culture toward beer. Belgium is dominated with the religious monasteries’ beer styles,” Sherretz noted.

“And now, brewers are bringing recipes and brewing styles from around the world to China. This sharing is wonderful and should be an inspiration to Chinese brewers. And the exchange goes both ways. Chinese styles are popular in some areas outside China too,” he added.

The chemical engineer and brewer has always liked Shanghai and the conveniences of the big city, being a Shanghai and China supporter while still being patriotic to his home country.

His wife is from China and their two adult sons now have families of their own in the United States. Their youngest son was born in Shanghai and is now studying in a US university.

Sherretz has just finished his term as a Board of Trustees member at the Shanghai American School, where he tried to give back to the community. He is the general manager of their family company now and in his spare time he brews, plays golf, sails, and also mentors brewers.

“A successful brewer is someone who pays strict attention to details, has sanitary techniques and patience. Brewing is a combination of science and artistry,” Sherretz said.

If you would like to try beer brewing, here are some of Sherretz's tips:

#1 The process is to heat the fermentables (extract, sugars, grains, honey and about anything that contains sugars) mixed with water. Bring to a boil and add the hops as the recipe calls for. After about an hour, turn off the heat and chill the wort to a temperature that won’t kill the yeast. That is usually less than 25C. Then add the yeast. As soon as the yeast is added, it becomes beer. The more the yeast eats the sugars, the more alcohol is produced. Eventually, the alcohol concentration stops the yeast.

#2 Water is 90 percent of what’s in the glass or can, so, water quality is No. 1.

#3 Match your ingredients to your equipment. There are several different techniques, some simple and some very complicated. Understand that good beer can be made using many different techniques, so use what you have and don’t force it.

#4 Be patient. Mother nature has a mind of her own. So, use her schedule and don’t try to force your schedule onto her. Start with a proven recipe that matches your equipment and process capabilities and give mother nature the time to do what she wants.

#5 For more advanced brewing, temperature control is crucial. Being able to keep temperatures within 2 degrees Celsius of a target takes brewing to the next level and a heater able to boil 20+ liters quickly is a must.

#6 There are several ways to make beer. Some of the most common are (in order of complexity): Extract brewing, Brew-in-a-bag, Partial Mash and finally All Grain brewing.

#7 It all starts with great tasting water and a proven recipe that matches the equipment on hand. Everything must be clean and anything that is not boiled must be sanitary. That means a second stem beyond debris removal and rinsing to kill bacteria and germs. Things often overlooked at home are hoses, valves, gaskets and seals, o-rings and pumps. These all need to be sanitized.

#8 A heat source is needed to quickly boil 20+ liters. This is normally more than the hob in the apartment can handle, so extract brewing is a great choice where less water has to be boiled.

#9 Controlled temperature is needed during fermentation. 10C for lagers and 25C for ales.

#10 You need extra containers so the beer can be moved from one to another to remove the sediment before filling.

#11 Now it is time to fill the beer. If in bottles or cans, sugar is added to produce gas while being stored. If filled into kegs, the kegs are filled almost full and then CO2 gas is injected for a week or so to carbonate the beer.