Hawaii is the perfect place to hang loose with a homebrew. And the members of HOPS, the homebrew club on the island of Oahu, know how to do it right.

Its full name evokes images of swaying palms, hula skirts, red sunsets and a warm ocean breeze: Homebrewers on Pacific Shores.

Cindy Goldstein, who has been a brewer for seven years, maintains HOPS’ mailing list and activity schedule. Though only a year and half old, the mailing list is 220 strong.

HOPS has some amazing venues for outdoor parties. “Alcohol is not allowed in public parks in Hawaii, but that rule does not apply to military bases. We depend on some of our military members to get us locations for events. Most are stellar ocean locations,” Goldstein says.

A group of HOPS members recently gathered at Kaneohe Marine Base for a porter taste-off to accompany a humpback whale count. The whale count is a local event, similar to the Audubon Society’s big annual bird count. The HOPS brewers enjoyed their porter while counting 27 humpback whales frolicking in the surf.

“One of our spots, Waimanalo beach at Bellows Air Force Base, is frequented by green sea turtles. It’s always fun to go looking for them on the beach during a club get together,” Goldstein says.

As you might expect, HOPS has its share of surfers, body surfers, and boogie boarders. HOPS member Steve Wilson is a long-time Hawaii resident who is world renowned as a surfboard shaper. Steve likes to brew double- and triple-decoction German styles while he’s shaping surfboards in his home shop. “Steve is probably our best brewer. I know this because at club meetings everyone wants to sit next to him. People just migrate to him, asking ‘What did Steve bring today?’ He’s a big fan of bock and also dabbles in Belgian dubbels and trippels,” she says.

The mild weather makes most Hawaii brewers ale people. And local ingredients also find their way into HOPS members’ beer. Lilikoi, known commonly as passion fruit; pineapples; mangoes; macadamias; and coffee are some of the favorites.

Wilson is fond of passion fruit. Mario Serracin’s specialty is coffee stout.

Serracin is a native Panamanian whose family owns a coffee plantation in Panama. “I love brewing coffee stout. I usually use Panama coffee, but I have also made it with Kona coffee,” Serracin says.

“Living in Hawaii is like living in paradise. The people are warm, honest, and relaxed. The diversity of plants, the melting cultures, and the beauty of marine life are just breathtaking.

“The biggest advantage of brewing in Hawaii is that we can control the quality of our beer at a very low price. Most specialty beers are very expensive (here) because of shipping costs.

“Hiking is the only activity that conflicts with my brewpot. I am an avid hiker and spend a lot of time in the old Hawaiian trails, looking at native plants and exotic waterfalls,” Serracin says.

R.J. Manson has tamed local ingredients since his pioneer days. “When I first moved to Hawaii, I unpacked my brewing gear and was all set for some experimentation. I decided a coconut porter would be a good start. I brewed a fairly standard porter, adding some freshly grated coconut at the end of the boil,” he recalls.

“Sounds great, but it was terrible. Apparently the oils in the coconut reacted badly with the yeast, and I ended up fertilizing my papaya trees rather than enjoying an island brew,” he says.

Manson says things are better now. His Millennium Mead is made with local Kiawe honey and flavored with lilikoi. “It is still in the
secondary, but the hydrometer samplings taste great!” he says.

Goldstein is a plant physiologist and geneticist by profession. Brewing is the perfect hobby for her, and her yeast knowledge and laboratory skills benefit other club members, too. “I’ve got an autoclave, flame loops, petri dishes, and a laminar flow hood at my disposal. We culture our own yeast, sometimes from bottles, and we keep a yeast bank going at the lab,” she says.

She describes the end of a perfect day. “There’s this little beach spot near Waikiki where I like to go to watch the sunset and share a homebrew with friends. It’s just a spectacular place. Lots of locals and tourists gather there to watch sunsets amid people doing their tai chi, playing flute, or swimming. When the atmospheric conditions are just right, we can see the green flash. I’ve seen it probably around 25 times there,” she says.

The “green flash” describes a sunset phenomenon that occurs when the last glimpse of the sun is tinged green or blue-green. “It’s not really a flash but rather a short-lived burst of green color, the last color you see before the sun dips below the horizon,” Goldstein explains.

Over in Hawaii, they’ve brought relaxing with a homebrew to fine art.

Kona Coffee Stout Cervesa
From HOPS members Mario Serracin, Scot Nelson, Wayne Borth, and Cindy Goldstein

Ingredients:

• 10 lbs. two-row Klages pale malt
• 1 lb. roasted barley
• 1 lb. flaked barley
• 0.5 lb. crystal malt, 120° Lovibond
• 0.25 lb. black patent malt
• 1.8 oz. whole Cascade hops (6% alpha acid) for 50 min.
• 0.5 oz. Kent Golding pellet hops (5% alpha acid) at end of boil
• Wyeast 1084 (Irish ale)
• 50 g. pure Arabica coffee (Kona works well)
• 2/3 cup corn sugar for priming

Step by Step:
Bring 3.5 gal. water to 170° F. Mash in grain. Add flaked barley. Hold at 150° to 155° F for 75 min. or until conversion is complete. Sparge with about 3 gal. water at 170° F. Collect 5.5 gal. wort.

Bring to a boil and add whole Cascade hops. Boil for 50 min. Add Kent Goldings pellets for aroma at end of boil. Chill to 70° F. Brew coffee (very finely ground) into 1 cup of water. Add the coffee to the wort after chilling. Pitch the yeast.

Ferment at 64° F until complete. Keg or bottle.
    OG = 1.058
    FG = 1.021

Millennium Mead
Put a Little Passion in Your Life -contributed by R.J. Manson

Ingredients:

• 13 lbs. Kiawe Honey
• 1 Tbsp. gypsum
• 3 tsp. citric acid
• 3 tsp. yeast nutrient
• 1/4 tsp. Irish moss
• 12 oz. lilikoi (passion fruit) concentrate
• 15 g. (3 packets) champagne yeast
• 2/3 cup corn sugar for priming (optional)

Step by Step:
Add honey, gypsum, citric acid, yeast nutrient, and Irish moss to 2.5 gal. water and bring to boil, then simmer for 15 min. Skim
coagulated foam from the surface.

Turn off heat. Add lilikoi concentrate when temperature reaches 170° F and allow it to sit for 20 to 30 min.

Transfer to fermenter and top off to 5 gal. with pre-boiled, chilled water. Pitch yeast between 70° and 80° F and continue to ferment at that temperature.

Transfer to secondary after seven days or when specific gravity falls below 1.020, whichever comes first. Bottle when mead has cleared. That could take several months. Be patient. Prime with corn sugar for carbonation, or omit if you prefer still mead.

    OG = 1.087
    FG = 1.009