March 1994 Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsman Vol. 2 No. 3
Well, it's that time again, go ahead, sit down, relax, kick your
shoes off, no, better put your shoes back on. Where was everyone
last month?? So it snowed a little, big deal, I was just
a little surprised we didn't see more of you, especially after
January's huge turnout! There were just 8 of us at February's
meeting, and to be honest, I think we accomplished more that night
than all the previous meetings combined. We took advantage of
the small group and turned the meeting into a big brainstorming
session, it's amazing how thirsty brainstorming can make you!!
In attendance were Neal, Mike Dinsmore, Dennis Rainey, Dave Dahl,
Bob Brandt, Tom Herron, a friend of Mike Dinsmore and myself.
Neal had visited the Melborne Brewpub in Ohio and brought back
a 1/2 gallon jug of Bondi's Beach Blonde, a rather average brew
that tasted better fresh out of the tap. I brought another commercial
product, the new Velvet Stout from Miller (Miller?, yes Miller)
For those of you who haven't tried it, go try it. This is the
latest offering from Millers Genuine Reserve label, a rather tasty
sweet stout. This is not an Irish stout, but it doesn't try to
be, this is a quite drinkable commercial product and Miller should
be congratulated for its efforts to produce a real product. Mike
brought a Dunkel Weissen (Dark Wheat) and an American Ale that
he had made, both were quite good and very drinkable, Neal brought
a Bock which was a little on the red side (on purpose which was
called Routenbock, although by the end of the night we renamed
it Rodent Bock in jest, no reflection on the excellent beer we
were drinking.
Many things were discussed at this meeting including the competition
schedule for the year, vacant officer positions, upcoming activities
and club formats (all discussed later in the newsletter).
Some new things you can expect in the newsletter are more recipes
and a new column called Brewers Profile (gee, sounds a little
like Dewars Profile!) which will highlight a different club member
each month, we start this month with our very own president, Neal
Petty. Dennis Rainey has friends in England who send him recipes
from time to time, and Scott & Bonnie have agreed to share
some of their more popular recipes each month, starting this month
with a Sierra-Nevada Pale Ale recipe which they have been working
on for quite some time (I believe they made 10 or 12 different
batches in an effort to re-create this famous brew. As always
however, I still welcome any and all member recipes that you wish
to share. Dennis is also exploring the possibility of having some
fresh English beer air shipped to us, he will be letting us know
more as he gets more info.
Some new things you might see at the meetings are name tags (admittedly,
it's real hard to remember everyone's name when you only see each
other 12 times a year), a sign in sheet with a box for identifying
what beers you brought (recognition is always nice) and a set
time for competitions and meetings.
We decided in all fairness to everyone involved, that ALL beers
to be entered in the competition each month must be turned in
at the very beginning of the meeting. The judges will start the
judging by 6:10 so we can wrap up the competition by 6:45. While
this is going on, everyone else can socialize or eat or whatever,
no club business or demonstrations will happen while the judging
is going on, this way no one misses out on anything. The bottom
line is, if you know you are entering a beer, BE ON TIME
if not a little early. At 6:45 we will officially start the meeting
conducting any business, having a general question and answer
period and demonstrations. I have also had several complaints
relayed to me that at January's meeting there was so much talking
going on at the far end of the table that people couldn't hear
the speaker, Let's have a little courtesy and keep our personal
conversations to a minimum while someone else is speaking, if
anyone thinks getting up in front of this crowd is easy, I welcome
you to try it. There is plenty of time for beer talk before and
after club business, thanks for your cooperation and consideration.
Neal brought in a homemade wort chiller that he put together for
around $12, admittedly he already had some parts laying around,
I made the same chiller and it cost around $20 if you have to
buy the parts. The body of the chiller was made from 1/4"
copper tubing, a 25' roll costs $12 if you buy it in an ice-maker
hookup kit (A-HA), from there you only need to size the coils
to fit your pot and hook it up to the laundry tub or kitchen sink.
Neal used the rubber bulb from a kitchen sink hair washing hose
and clamped it on to the tubing, I used copper fittings and fitted
the whole thing to screw onto the tub's faucet. The wort chiller
will bring 3 gallons of wort down to pitching temp. in about 10
minutes, a definite advantage. We also discussed blowoff Vs non-blowoff
fermentation's. If you ferment in a carboy you must use a blowoff
tube, the two safest ways of doing this are 1) using 1" vinyl
tubing as a blowoff tube, or using 2) JT's all glass 1/2"
blowoff tube. If you are using a smaller tube fitted to an orange
cap, you are asking for trouble. The risk is that the smaller
tube can clog much easier and create back pressure in the carboy,
1 of 2 things will then happen, the pressure will blow the orange
cap off and spray beer all over you ceiling or 2) your carboy
can explode which you don't even want to try and imagine. The
end of the blow off tube should be submerged in a vessel of sterile
water (I prefer campden tablets) big enough to handle the addition
of foam and muck without overflowing.
Neal has expressed a desire to do some live brewing as a demonstration,
initially Wine Barrel Plus had offered us their brew room (they
teach classes) to use, then rescinded the offer based on their
lawyers advice (some insurance problem) so if anyone knows of
a place where we might do a live brew, let us know, this could
be of tremendous help to the club.
Tom Herron will be reporting on possible discount pricing from
Premier Malts in Grosse Pointe, we may get a real deal if we buy
a few cases as a club and the split it.
CLUB BUSINESS:
Our phantom treasurer, Mike Preston has exited the club, with
honorable discharge. Mike has been re-assigned to Oakville for
5 months so the position of Treasurer is now available. The position
of vice-president is now also available, I was kind of doing double
duty and I feel the more people involved in the club the better.
We will hold a general election this month so if you feel you
want to become an officer, be at this meeting and throw your name
in the election. The positions are available to all PAID members,
voting likewise. I feel we could also create a position for special
event chairperson (I.E. Beer-B-Que, T-shirts, etc.......)
Speaking of T-shirts, I haven't seen any logos yet, the sooner
we come up with a logo, the sooner we can get rolling on T-shirts
and other club stuff (mugs, coasters, etc.......) Just sketch
out an idea and let the club see it, once we get our concept down,
we can have an artist create the logo, don't be afraid, just have
a brew or two and start sketching out ideas, how much more fun
can one person have!! Also, how 'bout a club motto? Any witty
ideas on that one?
COMPETITION NEWS:
Well, congratulations to Neal Petty on his Rodentbock, even though
it was the only Bock entered, it was very worthy of a first place
award. He will be competing in the AHA's Bock is Best competition.
Neals Bock was made in Dave West's new 55 gallon Pico setup, and
Neal added lots of Chocolate in the secondary.
This month is the Brown Ale competition and the category is defined as follows:
The rest of our competitions will be published on a separate page
(suitable for framing or taping to the fridge.
I will also have info at the meeting on the 3rd annual Crescent
City Competition (April 10th deadline, all categories) and the
1994 AHA national competition (deadline April 4th) AHA expects
3000 entries this year in 72 categories, they have split preliminary
judging into 5 different sites around the country. Let me know
if you want any more info on this.
The newsletter I get from AHA informed me that there are more
than 20,000 AHA members, wow, how many more non AHA brewers are
out there, this is great.
NEW MEMBERS:
Mike Dinsmore officially joined last month, Mike is from Grand
Rapids and is a supplier to Ford, but is in town so much that
he just couldn't resist.
Hey gang, we made it in Zymurgy this issue, we are now nationally
known, I've already had two calls this past weekend from people
who want to check us out, we look forward to meeting Chad Mcdaniels
and Mark Moylan, each said they have a friend who might be interested
as well, we're on a roll now!!!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Later this summer we will be having our first ever Beer-B-Que.
Tom Herron has generously donated his house and yard in Warren
for this event, his yard is big enough to make this event work,
trust me. Some events will include Volleyball and horse-shoes,
and a Bonfire at the end of the evening. This will obviously be
a weekend event and you are encouraged to bring your spouse/significant
other/ or a beer loving friend, no kids however, please. We thought
it might be fun to have two beer competitions that day, first
a bad beer competition, don't make anything special for this,
just dig that special bottle out of the back of your pantry and
bring it with. Secondly, a brewola competition. This is where
everyone brews the same beer, we supply the recipe and name the
exact ingredients you should use, the only difference will be
in style, this should prove very educational. I would like someone
who has helped plan or work on this kind of an event before to
get with Tom and help Organize this event, it will be a pot luck
event and we will provide the barbecue stuff, there may be a small
surcharge for non-paid members, more details will follow as this
gets more organized. I can smell it now, can't wait.
Dave Dahl has also generously extended an invitation to his cottage
in Irish Hills later this season, in the fall, maybe September
or October. I say cottage but with 4 bedrooms, this is a house.
The exact weekend is not set, but we could have another beer-b-que
and a fun relaxing weekend, way to go Dave.
Loon river cafe, Vandyke at 15mile (sterling place hotel), will
be offering a wild game and beer dinner on April 18th. Beer provided
by Detroit-Mackinac brewery. The wild game dishes are complemented
by appropriate brews cost is $20 per person - reservations required
979-1420
Neal and Tom will be going to the blessing of the Bock this weekend
so we will hear about that at the meeting.
April: Stout*
May: Pale Ale
June: Light summer beer
July: Wheat Beer*
August: Mead
September: Octoberfest*
October: Pumpkin or Fruit
November: Specialty*
December: Porter and Holiday Spiced
Beer
* AHA club only competitions.
Name: Neal E. Petty
Secondary Hobby: Sailboat racing
Years Brewing: 1.5
Batches Brewed: 10
First Batch: Fizz Brown Ale. As with
most beginners I started with a kit. I had no idea on how to brew
beer, so I read the $1.99 book that came with the brew kit and
read the instructions on the kit. Now that I was really confused
I Called my brother, John Habermann (Wine Barrel's Guru), and
purchased 3# DME and Fuggles Hops. I bottled
before fermentation was complete and over primed by 1/tsp per
bottle (hence the name "Fizz Brown Ale").
The flavor was a good duplicate of Newcastle
Brown (after sitting for 15 min.) but the foam really brought
up the yeast.
Worst Batch: Batch #2 "David's
Late Ale" named after my son who was not very eager to join
this world. At this time I thought I knew all there
was to brewing.Boiled up 6# of DME, added
Hallertauer and Tettnang hops, and one package dry yeast.
It was cheap, alcoholic, and boring.
Best Batch: Batch #3 "Amanda's
Shorter Porter" named after my now 7 year old step-daughter.
Ted and I (again at the beer store) brewed from a recipe from
my brother a porter and a stout. The only differences were the
porter used light DME, the Stout used Dark DME and the hop selection
and boiling times. Both beers are credited with being best batches.
Unfortunately my attempt to duplicate fell a little short (but
took a third place at the Taste of the Great Lakes last year).
Favorite Batch: Again the porter reigns, even non-beer
drinkers that can get over the dark color tend
to enjoy this beer.
Favorite Style to Brew: I'm in an experimental
mode. Anything that has unusual ingredients
(raspberries, maple sap, spices, honey, oatmeal) is most
enjoyable to brew. I brew beer for myself and I'm
not afraid of hops.
What improved my beer the most: Liquid
yeast. If a brewer can overlook the added cost liquid yeast over
dry yeast on just one batch, they will never go back.
Beer Philosophy: "Beer is Life, the rest is just details"
(stolen)
It has only been within the last five years that I have even started
tasting beers. I believe this late start in life was due to the
rarity of good beer. Well, I've taken to beer like a religion,
ready to go door to door to spread the good word. I revel in the
history, styles, and geographic trivia of beer. I am learning
and reading as much as my free time will spare. February 12, 1994
I took the AHA Beer Judge Certification Exam (results unavailable
until May) this test is the equivalent of the Bar Exam (no pun
intended), SAT, PE, etc. I don't know how often I will search
out competitions, but it seams like the ultimate bragging rite
for brewers, and I prosper on the benefit of tasting and judging
my fellow homebrewers latest creations.
I Have to include this recipe beer-pancakes because I made
them a couple weeks ago, and wow, what a taste, I didn't however
make the beer syrup from last month, but what a combo that would
make.
Beer Pancakes:
1 1/2 Cups sifted flour 1 Egg
1/2 tsp. salt 2/3 Cup beer (Ale recommended)
1/2 Tbs. Baking Powder 3/4 Cup milk
1/2 Tbs. sugar 2 Tbs. melted butter
Measure dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add egg, beer and milk.
Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until batter is light
and frothy; batter will be the consistency of cream. Blend in
melted butter. Cook the pancakes on a hot griddle. Yield about
18 pancakes.
8 lbs Alexander's Pale Malt
1/3 LB Cara-pils Malt
1/3 LB Crystal malt
2.5 oz Perle (7.6 alpha) 60 mins.
1.0 oz Perle (7.6 alpha) 25 mins.
2.0 oz Cascade (7.7 alpha) 1.5 mins
Wyeast 1056 (American ale)
Grains steeped at 154 for 30 mins. 2 Tsp. gypsum added (But Bottled
water was used). The boiling pot was covered for 5 minutes after
boil to maximize the cascade hops aroma. Fermentation was at 65
the entire time. Starting gravity was 1.052, final was 1.012.
Alcohol by volume was calculated to be 5.16%
Back to the FORD Newsletter Page...
© 1995, 1996 by Pat Babcock
| Another page by BabsTech Enterprises.
Can we do yours? | Last updated 11/14/96 |