Schedule

2016 Austin Fermentation Festival Workshops 

New this year to the festival are hands-on and interactive workshops. All festival attendees are welcome at these workshops, though the hands-on and interactive portion require additional ticket purchase to participate.

All-day Workshop 10am-4pm: Mead Making
By Eric Lowe of Meridian Hive Meadery
Eric Lowe will be running an all day mead making and beer brewing demonstration outside. At the Meridian Hive tent attendees will be able to watch beer brewing and mead making in progress and ask questions about the process.

Music: Mayeux and Broussard 10-11am

That poetically bulls***-free approach to life permeates Mayeux and Broussard’s new album ‘High Times and Good Rhymes,’ on which Tate Mayeux and his counterpart Brian Broussard trade songwriting and vocal duties, each with a distinct style and their own set of stories to tell. There’s Mayeux, born in Monroe, Louisiana, and raised in the Texas hill country. And there’s Broussard, who hails from the Gulf Coast refinery town of Port Arthur, TX.

 

Music: The Muttonbusters 1-2pm
The Mutton Busters is an Austin based roots band featuring Jenn Miori of the Carper Family and Silas Lowe. Tight harmonies, mandolin and guitar!

 

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10:30am – 11:15am

Workshop 1: An Evolution of Milk (Interactive)
By Joaquin Avellan of Dos Lunas Cheese
Humans discovered cheese around 9,000 years ago by pure accident, when raw milk – which is a living substance – evolved due to a time-thermal-enzymatic circumstance. Civilization then harnessed this process and has thrived because of this lacto-nutritional evolution. As a contemporary cheese-maker, Joaquin happily shares the culinary journey he calls “An Evolution of Milk”.  He will explain how time, temperature, live enzymes and salt transform milk into different forms, flavors and experiences for the palate.

Interactive participants (ticketed separately) will sample all the stages that milk goes through to evolve into cheese, from raw milk to whey, to curds, to fresh cheese, to a 60-day aged cheese, to a 5-month aged cheese, to a 24-month aged cheese and finally to a cave aged cheese.

Workshop 2: How to Make Raw, Probiotic Rich Yogurt
By Amanda Love, The Barefoot Cook
Come and learn how to make this delicious probiotic food that can be a tool for gut and whole body healing. It is easy to make and can be made with a variety of milks. Did you know home made yogurt is much more medicinal than store bought? Amanda will explain why and will demonstrate how to make various kind of yogurts with difference starters and different milks including cow, goat and coconut milk. Come to this class and start making your own yogurts today! Taste delicious samples of various yogurts from Mother Culture and Kokonut Yogurt.

Workshop 3: Kombucha Fermentation
By Kimberly Lanski & JP Gremillion of Buddha’s Brew
A brief history of kombucha and its benefits, how to brew kombucha and what to look for in a healthy, alive batch of kombucha. Special secrets to a super alive brew. The workshop will include a kombucha tasting. The first 25 people to arrive at the workshop will receive a limited edition Buddha’s Brew kombucha SCOBY!

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11:45am – 12:30pm

Workshop 4: Sourdough & Yeast Bread (Hands-on)
By David Norman of Easy Tiger
Learn the science and how to create flavor in crafting artisan bread. David will cover the details and methodology of bread fermentation. He will focus on how to get a sourdough starter going using only flour and water. As well as look at yeast fermentation, some yeast based starters and bread recipes using baker’s yeast. He will go over the similarities and differences in fermentation using a sourdough starter versus using baker’s yeast.

Hands-on participants (ticketed separately) will begin their own starter, feed a starter that is already going and take both of them home (plus be given instruction on how to feed and maintain the sourdough). There will be samples of sourdough and yeast raised breads, plus bread recipes!

Workshop 5: Sexy up Your Sauerkraut
By Karen Diggs of Kraut Source
Learn how to use exotic spices with aphrodisiac properties to “sexy up” your sauerkraut and other stimulating dishes and libations using sauerkraut and kimchi brine.

Workshop 6: Koji & Miso
By Charles Zhuo of Barley Swine
An overview of the process of miso making, focusing on local rice koji and resulting miso made from local ingredients.

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1:30pm-2:15pm

Workshop 7: Restaurant Tricks for the Home Cook — How to Utilize Cooking Scraps for Fermentation (Hands-on)
By Kevin Fink of Emmer & Rye
There are many ways to reduce waste while adding flavor and depth to a dish. Join us as we explore utilizing the “other” parts of vegetables to create powders and seasonings, pull out layers of fermented vegetables in a stock, and utilize lactic acid for brines. These are restaurant tips that are easily transferable into a home kitchen.

Interactive participants (ticketed separately) will sample a rainbow of vinegars and create their own fermented spice pack that can be added to recipes to layer flavor in exciting ways.

Workshop 8: Texas Wine Panel
Featuring John Bratcher McPherson Cellars, Chris Brundrett of William Chris Vineyards & David Kuhlken of Pedernales Cellars, Moderated by Arianna Auber of the Austin American Statesman.

McPherson Cellars, owned by Texas wine pioneer Kim McPherson, is located in downtown Lubbock and his award winning wines are made from Rhone, Spanish and Italian varietals grown on the Texas High Plains. In 2013 Kim was named #20 on the list of the 100 most influential winemakers in America and McPherson Cellars was listed in the Top 101 Wineries in the US in 2014 and 2015.

Pedernales Cellars is Texas’ premier boutique winery, specializing in Spanish and Rhone style wines.  Owned and operated by a sixth generation Texas family, Pedernales Cellars cultivates environmentally sustained practices and the highest standards of hospitality.  David Kuhlken, winemaker at Pedernales Cellars and one of the owners, is a UC Davis educated oenologist, whose wines have won accolades both nationally and internationally.

Winegrower, winemaker and co-owner of William Chris Vineyards, Chris Brundrett, believes that good wine is not made, but grown. Brundrett attended Texas A&M University, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture with a minor in Entomology in 2005. After college, he took on the role as the manager of numerous vineyards in both the Hill Country and the High Plains, and eventually founded William Chris Vineyards in Hye with mentor and partner William “Bill” Blackmon in 2010. As the vineyard has grown, Brundrett is even more passionate, not only about Texas grown wine, but as a fierce proponent for Texas winegrowers and the education behind the efforts that go in to each bottle.

Workshop 9: Fall Fermentation Garden
By John Dromgoole of The Natural Gardener

What is the best way to have the freshest veggies in your ferments? Why grow the yourself, of course! John Dromgoole of The Natural Gardener will be leading a workshop on how to build a fall garden that focuses on fermentation friendly vegetables. He will hit on topics such as the importance of soil quality, what vegetables will start out better as transplants or seeds, planting for a timely harvest, insect management and prevention and what vegetables you should plant for a fermentation focused harvest.

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2:45pm – 3:30pm

Workshop 10: Fermented Pickles (Hands-on)
By Kate Payne of Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking

Learn how to ferment vegetables into tasty and probiotic pickles. Lacto-fermented foods provide numerous health benefits using lactobacillus bacteria to preserve food as opposed to vinegar. We’ll cover methodology for pickling seasonal veggies in a fermented brine.

Hands-on participants (ticketed separately) will make and take home a personalized a jar of seasonal veggies to ferment at home. 

Workshop 11: A Practical Approach to Working with Yeast for Brewing Beer
By Patrick Young of Independence Brewing Co.
As the Quality Assurance and Lab Manager for Independence Brewing Co., Patrick Young manages all aspects of the various yeast strains for the brewery, ensuring yeast viability and optimal fermentation. Patrick will step away from the microscope to provide a practical guide to working with brewers yeast, share best practices for home brewers, and discuss the flavors that fermentation creates in different yeasts.

Workshop 12: Fermented Drinks, Nature’s Healthy “Sodas”
By Hannah Crum of Kombucha Kamp
Sodas are a fad and they are fading fast. So what’s a 21st century bacteriosapien going to sip on? Why, fermented drinks of course! Milk Kefir, Water Kefir, Kombucha and Jun are covered in this demo and conversation about why our bodies thrill to the unique flavors and benefits of these tasty drinks that have been around as long as we have. Hannah Crum aka the Kombucha Mamma has been fermenting and educating for over a decade.