Last Meeting
Extra, extra read all about it, local homebrew clubs tops the
100 mark for membership!
It's true! That's right folks, you read it here first. Last month
8 new members joined and not only did we get our 100th member,
we got our 103nd member too! Hard to believe for us old timers
that remember meetings when only 4 or 5 people showed up. But
no one lost faith and our little club has blossomed into a huge
multi million worldwide conglomeration seeking to overthrow Microsoft
and (oops, lets not get too carried away here, we're still a friendly
local homebrew club intent on educating and socializing, just
a bit bigger than we were at this time last year)
A huge, hearty thank you and a slap on the back to Jim Bazzy for
lining up last months meeting in the park and arranging for the
beautiful weather (hey, I figured I was gonna blame him if it
rained so I might as well give him credit for the sunny stuff)
Jim actually rented the site from the city with a one day beer
permit and stayed back to make sure the site was clean when all
was said and done, so THANK YOU JIM! The site was easy to find,
the tables and area nice and clean, the bathrooms were only a
half mile away (boo!) and the meeting couldn't have been more
perfect.
Neal started the meeting with a round of introductions, I then
spoke out on the Rivertown Beer Festival on the 26th. We have
68 volunteers from our club and the table assignments are underway
as we speak. For those of you planning on attending the event,
buy your tickets now if you haven't already, they will definitely
sell out again. Orbit magazine has a 15 page insert in this months
issue detailing all the beers (about 200) at this years tasting
so grab one at Borders or Little Profs or wherever you find Orbit.
For those of you working the festival, you must make this months
meeting to get your t-shirt and parking pass. If you can't make
the meeting, please make arrangements to meet with me before the
event as you are required to wear the volunteer shirt and have
a parking pass to get into the ramp. Also, if you haven't got
your instruction sheet, contact me and I'll profs/fax it to you.
I then presented the club with an invitation from Mark & Richard
George, owners of the Wine Barrel Plus, to brew on a Pico system
at a Blues & Jazz fest on Saturday the 27th of this month.
The event is a charity event for the Hemapalic Children's Foundation,
a crippling disease that has just recently been discovered (Mark's
son is afflicted with this disease and he is very involved in
this foundation). The music festival is free and is at Greenmead
Park in Livonia at 8 mile & Newburgh. But most proceeds from
anything sold will benefit the charity. Tim Tepatti & Neal
petty volunteered to bring their system and Tony Treusch and Joe
Carulli volunteered to help out, so a big thank you to all four
of you. WRIF will be there and Drew and Mike will probably harass
the people at the event in their usual way.
I still have a couple of discount cards from members who haven't
picked them up yet. I will mail those in this months newsletter,
along with the 8 new members. The beer trading concept has gotten
off the ground, Lynn Bruce and Johanne Wilson each brought a 6
pick for swapping, anyone who wants to bring beers for swapping,
not consuming, please label each bottle as 6 packs will get split
up if there's more than 2 people in the swap. Bring whatever style
you want and trade for other peoples beer, what a concept! (Thanks
to Tim Tepatti for the idea and Chris Frey for putting the plan
into motion)
Sandy then gave the treasurers report and Neal spoke on the Beer-B-Que
(as Tim was home sick that night). The Annual picnic will not
feature a pig this year. To make a long story short, things just
didn't work out.There will alternative grub aplenty (hams, turkey
drumsticks, etc.) The event is Aug. 10th and will be held at Hemlock
Park in Dearborn. Tim will give directions at this months meetings
and a more detailed profs will go out with menu, events and ammenities.
If memory serves me there is a pool that we can use for $5, a
pavillion to keep us dry in case of..., bathrooms, fields, playground
for kids, in short, plenty to do. If you have a facorite outdoor
activity, bring it along. Sharpen those Jarts, dig out the old
Twister Board, bring your baseball mitts and Frisbees.
The meeting wrapped up with a counter pressure bottle filling
demo by myself, although the demo was less than perfect due to
weather (c.p. filling requires lots of cold for stability) People
got the idea. The club will purchase a c.p. bottle filler for
our library. With so many people getting into kegging, we haven't
decided on a specific model but we will buy a nice, easy to use
model based on a recent review in Zymurgy.
A special thanks to Karl Ziemba (new member last month) who donated
a couple sacks of grains to the club and Neal & Ted Geftos
(& Tim too?) who brewed up a pale ale. One keg was dry hopped
and the other left alone. I brought my summertime jockeybox (coil
chiller) so we had cold beer on tap all night until the kegs were
drained. Yum! Thanks to Karl, Neal, Ted & Tim for providing
the liquid refreshments that night.
Rich Byrnes
Beer Judging
By Jim Bazzy
It was really great to see so many entries (about 20) in this
months contest! Luckily, the judges did not have to score them
and comment on paper. We only had to taste, and imagine which
brew we would like to cool our palates after cutting the lawn
on a sweltering summer afternoon. The contest was for a "light
summer beer". There were some tasty entries, but I personally
settled on a beer brewed by the H & H Brewery by Richard Hampo.
It was a lagered beer that was balanced between malt and hops.
It was light in body and refreshing. I think all three judges
were in agreement until the "Brew Beast" showed up,
and, late I might add, with 10 more entries, or was it 20, or
maybe 30??? I stopped counting after a while. Anyway, Tyler finally
took top honors in a split decision. Tyler's winning entry was
an Ale that was medium bodied and had a few more IBU's than the
H & H entry. Both beers were well made. I could have drank
another bottle of each. There was also a cider entry that I felt
was a decent effort. I don't remember who brewed it but, you know
who you are.
Tyler's Winning recipe
Lucky Dutch Lager
extract with grains
6.5 gallons
1 can Laaglander Dutch light kit
3.5 lbs Munton & Fison x-Lite dry malt extract
.25 LB English crystal 20°lov.
.25 LB Belgian carapils
.5oz styrian Goldings 45 mins 5%aa
.5 oz Perle 7.4%aa 25 mins
2 oz hersbrucker 3.5%aa 1 min.
Irish moss
Wyeast 2247 Danish lager yeast II
og 1.050
fg 1.008
fermented for 6 weeks, lagered for 5 weeks at 45°
New Members
Last month's new members include..
Kevin McEnhill, Eric Roddick, Kerry Havener, Tony Tantillo, Paul
Mondro- lucky #100!, Matt Mondro, Bob Zukosky and Sandy Hill.
Retail News
New at Wine Barrel Plus, those wacky guys are at it again, in
an effort to stock every grain known to man Wine Barrel now has
the elusive, highly prized Maris Otter pale malt, available in
bulk or 50Lb. Sack, call for pricing.
A new store!
Sandy Hill & her husband George are opening up a new homebrew
supply shop in Shelby Twp, the Home Brewery. It's a franchise
store out of Missouri that now has 12 locations. They will carry
grains(30+), wine making, mead making, kegging, and much, much
more. The store will be located on Van Dyke between 22 & 23
mile road, a definite bonus for us Eastsiders! The store should
be open in early August and I'll have more info then. We are lined
up for a 10% discount and they will be doing mail-order. Best
of luck to them in the opening of their store. Rich Byrnes
F.O.R.D. is a private, non-profit organization of home brewers. Its main goal is to share information regarding technique, equipment and skill required to brew quality homemade beer.
Correspondence should be directed to:
Rich Byrnes,
30972 Cousino
Warren, MI 48092
Voice/Fax 810-558-9844
usfmczgm@ibmmail.com
CompuServe 75113,411
Visit our website at: http://oeonline.com /~pbabcock/ford.html
current circulation.....104
Correction
In case anyone noticed, last month's newsletter was dated November, 1996. The offending prankster has been properly flogged. This will not happen again. No more missteaks!
Miller's "Heart of the Hops"
Several weeks ago, I e-mailed Miller's "brewmaster",
David Ryder, asking him to please explain exactly what revolutionary
new process enabled Miller to separate the heat from the hops
(whatever that is), or to admit that it was just a marketing ploy
aimed at uneducated beer drinkers. As expected, his response was
-ahem- highly informative and clarifying ;) . Here, for your entertainment,
is his response. (If you care to e-mail/lambast him yourself,
his address (taken from a print ad) is miller@execpc.com).
Dear B.R. Royla,
Thanks for your recent inquiry on new Miller Beer! Due to competitive
reasons, we cannot provide brewing specifics; however, we can
answer some of your questions regarding the "heart of the
hops."
As a homebrewer and hop gardener, I'm sure you're aware that hops
are the spice of beer that add their own special taste and aroma.
Our proprietary brewing expertise enables us to remove the bitter
quality from hops while maintaining their complex flavor attributes.
After doing this, we have, what we call, the "heart of the
hop."
Miller Beer uses only the heart of the hop to produce a rich flavor
that diminishes the bitter and filling characteristics typically
associated with full-flavored beers, and allows for a remarkably
smooth, drinkable taste. Miller Beer is brewed with four times
as many hops as other premium, mainstream beers and with the highest
quality Galena hops from the Pacific Northwest.
I hope that answers your questions. And, should you get the opportunity
to try Miller Beer, I'd be interested in knowing what you think!
World's Most Expensive Beer' For Sale In London
LONDON (Reuter) - Fancy a drop of really old ale? It will cost
you more than most of the world's finest wine. The first bottle
of Tutankhamun Ale, brewed from an ancient Egyptian recipe, goes
on sale at Harrods department store in London next month for 5,000
pounds ($7,686).
It's the most expensive beer in the world, according to the brewers.
The rest of the batch will be 100 times cheaper-- still a wallet-emptying
experience to quench one's thirst and curiosity. "It has
taken us five years to get this far, but eventually we have bought
a legend to life. It's literally the liquid gold of the pharaohs,"
Jim Merrington, commercial director of Newcastle Breweries, said
Monday in a telephone interview.
The ale, developed by an Egyptologist, two scientists and Britain's
largest brewer Scottish & Newcastle, is based on sediment
from old jars found a brewery inside the Sun Temple of Nefertiti,
queen of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, believed by Egyptologists to be
Tutankhamun's father. The team could only gather and grow enough
of the right raw materials to brew 1,000 bottles of the beer,
said Merrington. The specially numbered, hand-labeled bottles
will g on sale in Harrods on July 2 with bottle number one on
sale for 5,000 pounds and the rest priced at 50 pounds each, with
proceeds going to aid archaeology in Egypt.
Security vans will bring the bottles down from Newcastle for delivery
at Harrods, owned by the Egyptian Al-Fayed brothers. The label
reads "Tutankhamun Ale" with "The Beer of His Majesty"
written over the top in hieroglyphics.
Top 10 Unorthodox flavorings used in entries in the Boston Beer Co. Homebrew Contest
1. Zatarain's crab boil
2. Kiwi juice
3. Honey, ginger, jasmine rice and peppers
4. Horseradish
5. Licorice root powder
6. Hickory
7. Maple Syrup and crushed walnuts
8. Banana
9. Chocolate mint
10. Mango
Hey folks, I am not making this up. Check your Food & Wine
8/96 issue. And if you haven't had an opportunity to try one of
the "Longshot" style beers, they are really quite good.
Upcoming Competition
The Michigan State Fair is upon us! The entry deadline is Aug. 9 and the styles this year are:
English Pale Ale/Bitter
Brown Ale/ Scottish Ale
American Ale/ Common
German Style Wheat
Porter
Stout
Strong Ale / Barley Wine
Belgian Ale/ Lambic
Light Lager
Amber/ Dark Lager
Bock
Fruit Beer
Specialty Beer
The Registrar is Dan McConnell (AABG) and the entry window is
July 26 through Aug. 9th. The competition coordinator is Spencer
Thomas (AABG) and can be reached at 313-994-0072.
I highly recommend to everyone that you enter this competition.
First off, it's only a local competition and there are not as
many entries as say, the AHA nationals or the Sam Adams World
Wide contest. So, right off the bat there's less competitors.
Secondly, the entry fee is usually pretty cheap for this competition,
and you get your beer judged by AHA judges which might provide
you some valuable feedback ($12 entry fee for up to 10 different
beers, $1.20 per entry!). The drop-off for entries is in Ann Arbor
so maybe some carpooling or a road trip will be in order. I will
have entry packets at the meeting or call Spencer Thomas for more
info.
P.S. The first round judging isn't until Aug. 24th so don't worry
if your beer is a bit young right now, you have a month of aging
to go through.
Beer and Sweat Competition
The Bloatarian Brewing League of Cincinnati, Ohio will be hosting
the "8th Annual Beer & Sweat competition" on August
10, 1996. This is a KEG ONLY competition, you must bring your
beer in a KEG and serve it to the judges. Last year the contest
had 62 kegs entered.
For those looking for something different to do this year, this
may be the answer. They will be offering the BJCP judging exam
in the morning, setting up a discussion session with a panel of
brewmasters in the afternoon, and judging with award ceremony
in the evening. There is no cost to attend (contest entry is $5
for one keg, $1 each additional). Contacts: Robert Pinkerton (513)
251-9754 or Jim Luebering (513) 542-3739. I also have the complete
package for the event.
Free - Free - Free - Free - Free - Free
One slightly used 1/2 barrel, intact (nothing cut or welded. Call Chris Cirino @ 313-561-0132 for more info.
oh yeah...
Next Meeting
The next meeting is Wednesday, July 24th at Chelseas, 22120 Vanborn, between Telegraph & Southfield. Call 313-278-0888 for more information on directions. The regular meeting will start promptly at 6ish, but anyone helping out (all colunteers welcome!) on the Beer-B-Que should be there by five. Be there. Aloha!
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