Last Meeting

Sheesh, where do I even begin, let's just say we made HISTORY last month. We packed Chelsea's from the entrance to the back wall, all told there were 60 members and guests in attendance a definite all time high! The meeting was a bit chaotic yet we managed to accomplish a number of things, notably:

with the help of Chelsea's Karaoke system (and we all promise to work on the feedback squeals, sorry!) we managed to put on quite a speech. Neal started off with an introduction and then turned the mike over to Tim Tepatti to give the results of the Hail to the Ale competition. This was a feat to pull off if ever there was one, 10 beers were judged at Neals house before the meeting (more on that later)

Neal the talked on the proposed changes to our charter in order to comply with FERA (And for those of you that notices our section of the FERA bulletin board has disappeared, all clubs without an approved charter have temporarily lost their bulletin boards until their charter is approved) The entire change proposal will be posted on the following pages. Neal then proposed a beer judge study group be put together and Dave Dahl and Johanne Wilson have volunteered to be co-chairpeople of the study group, to date 17 people have signed up. Contact Neal Petty for more info. Tim then talked about committees that need to be formed, most important being National Homebrewers Day, the Pig Roast and the Dearborn Homecoming, several people volunteered to help out with that and if anyone else is interested please contact Tim Tepatti. As these committees start progressing towards each event we will have regular updates in the paper. I then spoke about the T-shirts, thanking Pat Babcock for tackling this monumental project. Pat put a lot of effort into designing the order, using statistical methods to determine how many and what extra shirts need to be bought, our initial order was for 150 shirts including the free shirt for each member, any extras members wished to purchase and about 50 extra for future reserves. Pat was also the inspiration behind our logo, I took a logo pat worked on and made a couple minor changes to come up with our final logo (which actually Jim Anderson did the artwork on, our logo as submitted to Jim was quite crude in comparison) The T-shirts were passed our to everyone that let Pat know would be at the meeting, this month Pat will be bringing all the shirts so whoever is there can get their shirts if they haven't already done so.Steve Robertson from Merchants Dearborn finished the evening by talking about the new grain bins and hops/yeast cooler Merchants is putting in, if you haven't been by there recently you should check it out, the homebrew section is coming along quite nicely. If anyone has suggestions for Steve leave a note for him on his desk in the homebrew section or E-mail him at srobert667@aol.com. His management has really listened to the suggestions we have been giving him (well, all except the 75% discount idea but I'm still trying for that one!) Merchants is also hosting a tasting at Schoolcraft College on Feb. 29th at 7pm. There will be over 100 beers, and the food is provided by the Schoolcraft College Gourmet Club (culinary school). Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at the student activities office or by calling 462-4422. I've heard rumors about a 2nd tasting at the Jefferson War Memorial sometime in early March but no confirmations as of yet.

It was great to see all the new members and first timers sitting across the table from the veterans discussing the hobby, people really just jumped into it and when I left at 9:30 there was still a crowd talking shop.

Member News

Congrats Tim & Sue Tepatti, Sue gave birth to a little girl on Jan 29th, Erin Elizabeth was 7Lbs 1½ Oz and was 21" long. Mother & child are doing fine, Tim however....... (Just Kidding)

Competition News

Tyler Barber and William Cole won the Hail to the Ale competition out of 10 entries, their recipe will appear later in the news.

February's competition is Alt which is an AHA contest and March's contest is a Porter (A club favorite for sure so lets see a lot of entries, make the judges work!)

Editorial Section

First off, I'm not one to editorialize but this is an important issue and needs to be mentioned. Recently the executive staff of this club, your elected officials held a separate meeting, a high level power lunch so to speak. The key question was raised, "How big is too big?" This of course refers to the size of the club. When Mike Preston and I founded this club in the early fall of '93, we had a dream, a vision that we could start a successful club founded at Ford Motor Company with members from all over the company and community. Immediately after we started the club Mike was shipped to Ontario for 6 months, so I carried the torch and kept the dream going. The club started small, about a dozen members after the first two meetings, but we still believed that we would blossom. By the end of 1994 we were up to 30 members and feeling proud, Mike was back from Ontario, we had a strong executive staff and we had a successful year, brewing at the Renaissance festival and having our first pig roast, completely free that year! By the end of 1995, the club had grown to 73 members and as of this writing, we are up to 77 members with 13 people in the batting circle, possibly joining at this meeting. I have no doubt we will admit member number 100 by summer, YIKES! Our thoughts at that lunchtime meeting were simple, can we handle a club that size, can we keep the events interesting and include everyone, where do we go when we outgrow Chelsea's (Ideas anyone? help!)

Our focus has to shift from recruiting new members to actually running the club with the existing members. Are we turning people away, not yet, but it's not inconceivable that we may have to at some point. The executive staffers have a huge task ahead of them for the upcoming year, and we will need all the help we can get. Anytime we ask for help on a committee, we really do need help, get involved, help organize and execute. If anyone has ideas for the club, please see me or Neal or Tim or Sandy or Chris, we want to make this club a fun experience for everyone.

Rich Byrnes

Charter Updates

Folks, you have NO idea how much stress this damn charter is causing us but here we go again

F.E.R.A. has rejected our latest club charter based on the percentage of Ford Employees. F.E.R.A. had been maintaining that 90% of the club membership be made of Ford employees and retirees. In November they opened up the policy by allowing the 90% to be all Ford A-Plan eligible and not limiting the club size by adding an "Associate" membership. The "Associate" members will not be counted in the roster distributed to FERA at year end, and have all rights except they cannot hold an or vote in the election of officers.

At this point in time FERA has taken away our bulletin board on PROFS until our charter is submitted. In order to speed up the process of amending our constitution, I am requesting that the Executive Committee vote on the incorporation of this note in the newsletter as the first reading. I will have the completed the rewrite of the constitution by the February 27 meeting and call a vote to approve.

It is extremely difficult to communicate all of the changes required by F.E.R.A. in a simplified format. Below you will find portions of the latest charter, then the italicized section is the meat of the changes required to comply with F.E.R.A.

Neal E. Petty

President, F.O.R.D.

THE FOLLOWING IS THE LATEST ARTICLES FROM THE CONSTITUTION BASED ON THE 70% FORD EMPLOYEE REQUIREMENT.

Art. 2, Section 2: CLASSES OF MEMBERSHIP

Membership in the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB may be "Regular", "Associate", or "Household."

Art. 2, Section 2.1: REGULAR MEMBERSHIP

All adult, full-time employees and retirees of Ford Motor Co. are eligible for "Regular" membership in the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB.

Art. 2, Section 2.2: ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP

Any adult, subject to Article 2, Section 1, who does not qualify as a "Regular" member, by virtue of their employment situation, is eligible for "Associate" membership in the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB; this includes non-Ford people, "agency" people working at Ford, vendors or suppliers, and people with no official relationship with Ford Motor Company. All the privileges and responsibilities of Regular membership will accrue to Associate members with the exception of eligibility for the office of President or Treasurer of the FERMENTAL ORDER OF RENAISSANCE DRAUGHTSMEN, in accordance with Article 3, Section 1.1.

Art. 2, Section 2.3: HOUSEHOLD MEMBERSHIP

The adult immediate family members (spouse, children) living in the same household) of a Regular or Associate member ,or Two adults residing at the same address, are eligible for a "Household" membership in the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB. All the privileges and responsibilities of Regular membership will accrue to Household members with the exception of eligibility for the office of President or Treasurer of the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB if the person is not a current full-time employee of Ford Motor Co. Dues shall be set by the Executive Board at a rate less than the combined dues for regular/associate members.

Art. 2, Section 4: PERCENTAGE OF NON FORD EMPLOYEES

A minimum of 70% of the total membership of the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB shall be Regular members. The Executive Board is prohibited from approving Associate memberships that would violate this provision.

Art. 3, Section 1.1: PRESIDENT and TREASURER

The office of president and the office of treasurer shall be limited to current full time Ford Motor Company employees (Regular members), as required for Ford Employee Recreation Association affiliation.

THE FOLLOWING IS THE LATEST PROPOSAL PUT FORTH IN ORDER TO BECOME PART OF THE F.E.R.A. ORGANIZATION. SEVERAL OTHER CHANGES WOULD BE REQUIRED THROUGHOUT THE CHARTER IN ORDER TO FOLLOW THROUGH PROPER WORDING. WE WILL STILL HAVE HOUSEHOLD MEMBERSHIPS, BUT THERE IS NO REAL NEED TO DEFINE THEM WITHIN THE CHARTER.

*Art. 2, Section 2: CLASSES OF MEMBERSHIP

Membership in the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB may be "Ford", "Regular", or "Associate".

*Art. 2, Section 2.1: FORD MEMBERSHIP

All Adult, Ford A-Plan eligible individuals are eligible for "Ford" membership in the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB. A-Plan eligibility (November 1, 1990) includes parents, children, spouses of children, and siblings of Ford Motor Company employees, retirees, and surviving spouses. Siblings are defined as: brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law, step brothers, step sisters, half brothers, and half sisters. "Ford" members may hold any office within the club, and have full voting rights.

*Art. 2, Section 2.2: REGULAR MEMBERSHIP

Adults, subject to Article 2, Section 1, who do not qualify as a "Ford" member, by virtue of their A-Plan eligibility, may be eligible for "Regular" membership in the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB. All the privileges and responsibilities of "Ford" membership will accrue to "Regular" members with the exception of election to the office of President and Treasurer, in accordance with Article 3, Section 1.1. The number of "Regular" memberships will be in accordance to Article 2, Section 4. Once a "Regular" member obtains this rank, the membership will not be downgraded to "Associate" status.

*Art. 2, Section 2.3: ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP

Adults, subject to Article 2, Section 1, who do not qualify as a "Ford" member by virtue of their A-Plan eligibility, may be eligible for "Associate" membership in the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB. The privileges and responsibilities of "Regular" members will accrue to "Associate" members with the exception to voting rights and the right to hold office.. "Associate" members will not be able to cast a ballot on club elections. The number of "Associate" memberships will not be limited. An "Associate" member may be upgraded to "Regular" member based on the formula shown in Article 2, Section 4. Upgrades to "Regular" memberships would be based on seniority.

*Art. 2, Section 4: PERCENTAGE OF NON FORD EMPLOYEES

A minimum of 90% of the "Charter" membership of the F.O.R.D. HOMEBREW CLUB shall be "Ford" members. "Charter" membership is defined as "Ford" and "Regular" memberships. Once 10% of the "Charter" memberships are filled with "Regular" members, all further applicants joining the club that are not Ford A-Plan eligible, will be required to join as "Associate" members. Once a member has become a "Regular" member, the rank will not be downgraded to "Associate" regardless of fluctuations in "Ford" membership.

*Art. 3, Section 1.1: PRESIDENT and TREASURER

The office of president and the office of treasurer shall be limited to "Ford" members as required for Ford Employee Recreation Association affiliation. "Ford" members are defined in Article2, Section 2.1.

Fun Stuff

OK, enough serious newsletter stuff, lets have some fun!

The horse and mule live 30 years,

and know nothing of wines and beers.

The goat and sheep at 20 die,

and never taste of scotch and rye.

The cow drinks water by the ton,

and at 18 is mostly done.

The dog at 15 cashes in,

without the aid of rum or gin.

The cat in milk and water soaks,

and then in 12 short years it croaks.

The modest, sober, bone-dry hen

lays eggs for nogs and dies at 10.

All animals are strictly dry...

they sinless live and swiftly die.

But sinful, ginful, rum-soaked men

survive for three score and ten.

And some men...the mighty few...

stay pickled til we're 92.

Thanks to Mike Preston for sending that one in!

When my whistle needs some wetting,

You'd be very safe in betting

that a cup of tea

is not my cup of tea.

I get in a happy humor

just by being the consumer

of a tall cool one

(or maybe two or three).

When I'm hot and/or perspiring,

I take measures toward acquiring

something icy cold

to soothe my thirsty throat.

Any food I eat that's salty

I wash down with something malty,

'cause I've learned

that there's no better antidote.

Ahhh, whatever the occasion,

I require no persuasion

to fill up a foamy glass

or stein or mug.

For to my own way of thinking

beer's the perfect brew for drinking

sip by sip or gulp by gulp

or chug-a-lug!

Karen Ravn

Thanks to Marilyn Konchel for submitting that one

Club Calendar

Jan 24 (W)-- Pale Ale (AHA)

Feb. 27 (T)-- Alt (AHA)

Mar 27 (W)-- Porter

APR 23 (T)-- Bock (AHA)

May 4 (Sa)- Nat'l Homebrewers Day

May 22 (W)-- Wheat

Jun. 25 (T)-- Light Summer Brew

Jul. 26 (F)-- Rivertown Beer Fest

Jul. 31 (W)-- Mead (AHA)

AUG 2-4 (F-SU) Dearborn Homecoming

Aug. 10 (Sa)- Annual Pig Roast

Aug. 27 (T)-- Fruit Brew

Sep 25 (W)-- Octoberfest (AHA)

Oct. 22 (T)-- Stout

Nov. 13 (W)-- Belgian (AHA)

DEC 17 (T)-- Christmas Brew

Pale Ale (Jan-AHA)

More Fun Stuff

The following excerpt is from a Dave Barry column, "A Boy and His Hobby".

"...But I'm glad I got into beer-making, because the beer sold here in the United States is sweet and watery and lacking in taste and overcarbonated and just generally the lamest, wimpiest beer in the entire known world. All the other nations are drinking Ray Charles beer, and we are drinking Barry Manilow. This is why American TV beer commercials are so

ludicrously masculine. It's a classic case of overcompensation. You may have seen, for example, the Budweiser or Miller commercial where some big hairy men are standing around on the side of a river when a barge breaks loose and starts drifting out of control. Now real men, men who drink real beer, would have enough confidence in their own masculinity to say: "Don't worry; it's probably insured." But the men in the commercial feel this compulsion to go racing off on a tugboat and capture the barge with big hairy ropes, after which they make excited masculine hand gestures at teach other to indicate that they have done a task requiring absolute *gallons* of testosterone. Then they go to a bar where they drink Miller or Budweiser and continue to reassure themselves that they are truly a collection of major stud horses, which is why you don't see any women around. The women have grown weary of listening to the men say: 'Hey! We sure rescued THAT barge, didn't we?!' And: 'You think it's easy, to rescue a barge? Well it's NOT! and, much later at night: 'Hey! Let's go let the barge loose again!' So the women have all gone off in search of men who make their own beer."

Recipes

Poohs Pale Ale (6.5 gallon recipe)

Tyler Barber & William Cole

8 lbs Alexanders Pale extract

1.4 Lbs Alexanders Amber Extract

1 Lb Hollendar x-lite dry malt

All boiled for 75 mins

1 Oz Galena hops (8.7&a.a.) 75 mins

1 Oz Cascade hops (5.4%aa) 35 mins

3 Oz Cascade Hops(5.4%aa) dryhop 7 days

2 tsp burton water salts

wyeast 1056

1 cup corn sugar to prime

og 1.060 fg 1.020

Baked Apples A'la Brewski

Core 4 large apples about 3/4 of the way down, use a spoon and scoop out "some" more apple. Fill each hole with chopped walnuts and raisins.

Make the syrup by bringing to a boil 1 Cup of beer (I used a belgian!), 1/2 Cup white Sugar, ½ Cup brown Sugar, 1 Tbls butter or margerine, ½Tsp cinnamon and a few drops of red food coloring. Boil over medium heat for 5-6 mins and pour into and over each apple (upright in a baking dish) Bake uncovered at 350 for an hour, serve with icecream or as is, YUM!

New Members

Jay Cangelosi

Bill Cole

Craig Hebert

Bill Howard

Paul Hellebuyck

Linas Orentas

Bob Palmer

Gabrielle Palmer

Johanne Wilson & Gerry Garner

So say hi to these fine folks and welcome to the club!

Brewing Techniques

The following is some thoughts on dry hopping by Jack Schmidling with some notes by George Fix

Date: Thu, 4 Jan 96 22:18 CST

From: arf@mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)

Subject: Hops Additions

>From: George.Fix@utamat.uta.edu

>Interestingly, DeClerck anticipated these results. This was undoubtly behind his recommendation that late addition hops be pre-processed in boiling water to remove "undesirable constituents".

I thought I read a "Eureka" into this until I got to the next paragraph but for what it is worth, here is what I have recently learned:

I long ago gave up on so-called dry hopping because I detested the grass like flavor it contributed to my beer and it tasted nothing like the great European Pilsners that I enjoy so much.

All attempts at adding hops at various times during the boil failed to produce what I was looking for. I even "invented" the chiller in the lid business so I could let latest additions soak for various periods of time at various temps to see if that did anything. Nothing.

The most recent batch was finished by adding one oz of Saaz along with the quart of water that it had been steeped in after primary fermentation. The water was brought to a boil, hops added, heat turned off and allowed to steep for 10 min. This was added to the beer after the first week of fermentation. It sat on this for ten days, at which point the beer was clear and it was transferred to a keg and carbonated.

Guess what? It tastes and smells like European Pils.

I have now concluded that the taste and smell I didn't like was the taste and smell of raw hops. It must be boiled to remove the grassy flavor and aroma but not long enough to lose the desired aroma. Furthermore, most or all of that aroma and taste are lost in long boil, cool down and primary fermentation.

> (iii) Top marks were given the the brew using 1st wort hopping, and in fact the brewery which participated in this study has now switched from whirlpool hopping to 1st wort hopping. All of this comes as a complete surprise to me....

Me too because it totally contradicts what I just got through saying.

Js

Merchandise Mania

Coasters: If at least 40 people commit to a sleeve of 50 coasters we can place an order, projected cost about $6 per sleeve, please let me know at the meeting, or via profs/e-mail or just call me, we can get these by the March meeting if wanted. (4" round coasters, white with black logo)

Mugs & Mugs.....

Coffee Mugs, 11 Oz, white with black logo on the front (or back if you want) and your name on the back (or front I guess) Cost will be about $8.50 with name (name optional) depending on the size of the order. Your name can be put on in any of the following fonts.

Beer Mugs-18 Oz white, 6.5" tall with the bottom 2.5" faceted and the top 4" round. Cost about $12.00, same name rules apply. (NOTE any text can be substituted for a single name)

Need to know right hand/left hand, logo facing you or away, name,font & quantity. Your name will be enlarged to about 3" wide.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is Tuesday the 27th at Chelseas in Dearborn Heights. Chelseas is on VanBorn between Telegraph & Southfield on the North side of the street, they are at 22120 Vanborn, a block west of Monroe. Their phone number is 278-0888 if you need more info. The meeting starts at 6 O'clock more or less and goes til the last member leaves.

****** If you haven't paid dues yet for the year please plan on paying at this meeting, thanks! *********

Club Equipment

We have started investigating the purchase of a Pico-style system for our club. We are investigating different ways of funding this major purchase and how to manage this asset, if anyone wants to assist with this project please see a club officer. We have decided as a first step to purchase a 40lb propane tank to use for any club brewing demos, this will help the people that are bringing their own systems to be used.

This space for rent!

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

Another page by BabsTech Enterprises. Can we do yours?

Last updated 8/25/96