F.O.R.D Crest Ye Olde Brew News F.E.R.A. Crest
February 2005
Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsmen Volume 13 Number 2
In this issue:

 February's Meeting

We will meet again at the Tenny Street Roadhouse (http://www.tennystreet.com/) on Tuesday February 22, 2005. We will meet in the back room.

Tenny Street Roadhouse is located at 22361 West Village Drive in Dearborn, Michigan. The building is a former post office, located one block south of Michigan Avenue and one block east of Military. Phone. It is about two blocks west of Baileys.

As it has been in the past, as owners begin to see our club members as friendly, courteous and paying customers, they will in turn be gladder to see us in the future and may be more receptive to stocking a few more "specialty" brews that we may request.


Competition Results


Jim Rice

The results from January's mead competition are..

Mead Competition

January 2005 2005 SCORING TOTAL

11-Feb-05 Tyler's Pub






NAME STYLE ARM APP FLAV IMPR SCR PLA PTS
Tyler Barber Peach Cider 8.5 5.0 16.8 12.5 42.8 1st 5
John & Sheila Rucinski Pineapple Mead 8.3 5.0 16.0 13.0 42.3 2nd 4
Kurt K. / Mike T. Triple Berry Mead 7.7 5.0 15.3 12.0 40.0 3rd 3
Tyler Barber Traditional Mead 8.3 5.0 15.0 10.8 39.1 HM
John & Sheila Rucinski Raspberry Mead 6.7 5.0 14.0 10.3 36.0 HM
Tyler Barber Rose Mead 6.5 4.5 14.8 9.5 35.3 HM
Mike Arend Berry Melomel 7.0 4.0 12.0 10.0 33.0 HM 1

February's competition is Sour Ale, BJCP category 17.


News Items

Meeting Minutes

Sheila Rucinski


Meeting Date:

January 25, 2005

Where:

Tenny Street Roadhouse


Discussions











Next Meeting



DRB invites FORD to discussion on sugars

Chris Frey

Bob Z, long time member of the FORD club and President of the Down River Brewers Guild, kindly invited members of FORD to join in on a discussion of the chemistry and biology of brewing sugars and their impact on our brews.

Several members of the club were present, and the meeting structure, unbeknownst to us, included guests serving their beer first, one bottle at a time. The server (Doug Geiss and I) learned that we then discussed the "making" of our beer while some dozen and a half plus members "evaluated" our brew. Fortunately, the first one I opened was a Belgian Tripple with the Orval yeast - clearly a crowd pleaser and easy for me to discuss. Rounded that out with a Double IPA from the Big Brew recipe.

Then, once everyone settled in, Alex Kennedy, a noted bio-chemist, and fellow DBG member, discussed sugars in detail. Alex provided handouts and used the available white board to draw distinctions between the alpha and beta amylase. Some of you may remember that Alex spoke at the National AHA Convention here in Livonia some years ago.

Alex went on to discuss the various breakdowns of sugars developed in our wort at different time and temps, including a way to determine control of your unfermentables to a degree by getting more or less Maltose, a non-fermentable sugar that we seek in certain styles, such as milk stout, for sweetness and body.

Also, to achieve optimum extraction, or shortest saccharification times, maximize your alpha or beta Amylase activity, ph plays a big part. I think we all know this, but only a few of us pay enough attention to this important element. Fortunately for those of you on Detroit city water, it's composition in very good, near optimal for our standard ales and lagers.

Admittedly, some of what he discussed was over my head - I have always confessed to be a Marketing Major, not one strongly schooled in the sciences. But there were times during his discussion where I really understood where he was going and I ended the evening with a greater appreciation on how to achieve certain characteristics more carefully and scientifically (read - repeatable) in the future.

A tip 'o the hat to Bob Zukosky for the invite - rumor is he will put together a discussion on our friend the yeasts soon..,

FIELD TRIP TO BELLS BREWING COMPANY

Jim Rice

Over the last few years, many members have expressed interest in a club trip to Bells Brewing in Kalamazoo. I have researched this and found:

Amtrak runs a train from Dearborn to Kalamazoo. The train station is just 4 blocks from the Radisson hotel. The pub is only 3 blocks from the Radisson. There are a number of other Bars / Restaurants in the area.

I arbitrarily picked the date of Saturday, April 9 staying overnight and returning Sunday.

Train leaves Dearborn (station is behind the Centennial Library) at 12 noon Saturday and arrives in Kalamazoo at 3pm.

Train leaves Kalamazoo at 11:30am and arrives back in Dearborn 2pm.

The cost for 20 minimum is: Train $36 each; Hotel $110 double. The regular rate is $169 and the FORD Corporate rate is $119. I was able to negotiate the lower rate.

The date of April 9 was just for current pricing. All interested in going, please reply with dates you would prefer. The actual date will be determined by the most votes from the club. We will assume that anyone suggesting a date will attend.

The Radisson in the only hotel near the train station and the pub. They offer complementary shuttle service from the train station and it is easily within walking distance. 10 Minutes away: Fairfield Inn $64, Clarion $87, Best Western $90.

The Brewery is 14 miles from the Pub and is undergoing expansion and renovation. They are not currently offering brewery tours to the public.



Mugshots

I'll have pictures next month.


Next Month's Competition

Next month's competition styles are Extract beers. These beers must contain 50% extract, if I recall correctly.


beerglass Beer Events, Meetings & Competitions bitter


Bob Barrett
February 22 Tuesday F.O.R.D meeting at Tenny Street Roadhouse 22361 W. Village Drive, Dearborn ...in the back room! Phone 313-277-3212 Club Competition Style Sour Ales , BJCP category 17
March 4, Friday - Entry deadline for the AHA Club Only Competition Category #17 Sour Beers From the new 2004 BJCP Style Guidelines http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/schedule.html
March 5 Saturday Entry deadline for the Drunk Monk Challenge http://www.knaves.org/dmc/
Tuesday F.O.R.D meeting at Tenny Street Roadhouse March 22 22361 W. Village Drive, Dearborn ...in the back room! Phone 313-277-3212 Club Competition Style TBD
TBD Entry deadline for the AHA Club Only Competition Category #17 Sour Beers From the new 2004 BJCP Style Guidelines http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/schedule.html
Friday Entry deadline for American Homebrewers Association April 15 National Homebrew Competition http://www.beertown.org/events/nhc/index.html Entries due April 5-15, 2005 First round judging April 22 - May 1, 2005
Tuesday F.O.R.D meeting at Tenny Street Roadhouse April 26 22361 W. Village Drive, Dearborn ...in the back room! Phone 313-277-3212 Club Competition Style TBD
TBD Entry deadline for the AHA Club Only Competition Extract Beers for all BJCP Categories #1-23 Extract must make up more than 50% of fermentables http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/schedule.html
Saturday National Home Brew Day May 7
Tuesday, May 24 - F.O.R.D meeting at Tenny Street Roadhouse 22361 W. Village Drive, Dearborn …..in the back room Phone 313-278-3677 http://www.tennystreet.com Club Competition Style TBD
Thursday - Saturday 27th Annual National Homebrewer's Conference June 16 - 18 Baltimore, Maryland http://www.beertown.org/events/hbc/index.html
Tuesday, June 28th - F.O.R.D meeting at Tenny Street Roadhouse 22361 W. Village Drive, Dearborn …..in the back room Phone 313-278-3677 http://www.tennystreet.com Club Competition Style 16. BELGIAN AND FRENCH ALE
July -- AMERICAN BEER MONTH
Tuesday July 26th - F.O.R.D meeting at Tenny Street Roadhouse 22361 W. Village Drive, Dearborn ….. in the back room Phone 313-278-3677 http://www.tennystreet.com Club Competition Style 3. EUROPEAN AMBER LAGER
Tuesday August 26 th - F.O.R.D meeting at Tenny Street Roadhouse 22361 W. Village Drive, Dearborn …..in the back room Phone 313-278-3677 http://www.tennystreet.com Club Competition Style TBD
Tuesday September 27th - F.O.R.D meeting at Tenny Street Roadhouse 22361 W. Village Drive, Dearborn …..in the back room Phone 313-278-3677 http://www.tennystreet.com Club Competition Style 12C. BALTIC PORTER





Ye Olde Brew News
published by the F.O.R.D. Homebrew Club
Editor:
Tony Tantillo

Contributors:
Bob Barrett
Jim Rice
Sheila Rucinski
Chris Frey



Club Officers:
Rich Sovoda,President
Jim Rice, Vice President
Shelila Rucinski, Secretary
Chris Frey, Treasurer
Tony Tantillo, Newsletter Editor
Mark Stavenga , Webmaster
Sue Merritt, Photographer/Historian/Beer Mooch
Kathy Loftus, Photographer
Mike Arend, Librarian
Jim Rice & Tyler Barber, Special Events Coordinators
Tyler Barber, Equipment Manager
Rich Byrnes, Business Manager

F.O.R.D. is a private, non-profit organization of homebrewers. The main goal of this club is to promote awareness and appreciation of the quality and variety of beer; to share information regarding technique, equipment and skill required to brew quality homemade beer; and to encourage responsible use of beer as an alcohol-containing beverage.
Howard Klix Jr.
24737 Cushing Ave
Eastpointe, MI 48021

Phone: (586) 779-1445
Email: raistlin@wideopenwest.com

Visit our website at: http://www.be.ford.com/brewers/
or external to Ford at: http://hbd.org/ford/

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