My Brewing | Michael Kopcsak

Brewing

I started making home brewed beer in college because I thought, "well making beer has to be less expensive than buying it?" (at the time New Castle Brown Ale was my preferred but costly beer). I stopped brewing after 3 batches of really horrible stuff I wouldn't call beer. Fast forward to 2014, I jumped head first back into the craft and have enjoyed it ever since. My tastes have certainly matured and my preferences have refined. I operate a small private home brewery called "Bodaxu Brewery." (contact me for the origin of that name ;-).

Merch!

What brewery would be complete without merch? My lovely wife models a t-shirt with a design I refined over time.

Back side of the shirt

I'm in the midst of a "brand refresh" as they say in the trade, so expect to see a new brand sometime in 2025.

All Grain Brewing

Just like your favorite brewery, I brew from "scratch" with recipes perfected over the years. This is my "brew rig" complete with (from left to right) Hot Liquor Tank, Mash Tun and Boil Kettle. This system has gone through a lot of modifications. I typically brew 4-5 batches in a brew day with brew day occurring roughly 5 times a year.

Checking pH!

With all-grain brewing, it's critical to measure the pH of the mash at each step in the journey as the grains get heated in the mashing process, the pH can change and affect (positively or negatively) your final product. Different styles of beers call for different "water profiles" (which roughly means the mineral content in the base water). Many a brew day I wish I had paid more attention in Chemistry classes!

Glycol Chiller Loop

Over the Xmas Holidays in 2024 I got it into my head that I needed a "better" way to chill the beer fermenters. I built this glycol loop which circulates a chilled distilled water and glycol mixture held at a steady 28F in order to keep my fermentations on a regulated temperature.

Speckled Red

So one hectic brewing day, I was making an Irish Red Ale along with a few IPAs. Things got a little crazy on me and I accidentally tossed the IPA hops into the boil kettle with the Irish Red...opps...turns out that the resulting beer was stellar and is always a favorite of my guests.

German Kolsch

Also one of the local crowd favorites, my German Kolsch is a delightful beer that's soft on the palette, light and incredibly approachable. I only have one 10 gallon keg, and Kolsch is the only beer that ever goes in it. It's that popular with my family and friends.

German Helles

This is a little known beer style but a personal favorite of mine. As far as my guests go, it's a third to the Kolsch and Speckled Red ale.

Honey Brown Ale

As I mentioned above, I started brewing way back when because I was a nut for New Castle Brown Ale. Well, I don't go anywhere near that beer any more but I definitely like to brew and have on hand this Honey Brown Ale.

West Coast IPA

I'm not big on IPAs in general, but I wouldn't be a good host if I didn't offer my friends a hop heavy west coast IPA!

NEIPA

If you're a beer head (or hop head) you'll know what "NEIPA" is but for those of you who may not know, it's New England IPA. This syle is often called a "hazy" as it is intentionally made to be opaque and to be very fruit (as in fruity hops) forward.

Promo Shot

We've hosted a couple of charity fundraisers at the brewery over the years to raise money for various causes, and we needed promo images for the fundraiser!

Merch in use

Me and some of our friends outfitted with different styles of Bodaxu hats.

Beer 'n Bites

From one of the fundraisers "Beer 'n Bites" - these were all the beers I had made for tasting and food pairings with an amazing chef, Chef Monmon of San Francisco.