(first in a series of articles about homebrewing and the Internet; this months focuses on FORD employees with profs)

Vol. I No 1

P.G. Babcock

"Most of us have become accosted by the net..."

This is a funny malapropism was caught in a passing conversation (I think 'accustomed to' was what was intended), but it hits home on how many feel about the Internet. It's kind of scary; intimidating knowing its breadth. Especially without a road-map.

But the net is much closer to us than we think - Ford Motor Company is extensively tied into the net by both direct and indirect means. Your Profs/OfficeVision account is all that's required to receive and send e-mail based documents.

What could you POSSIBLY be interested in out there?!? The Homebrew Digest, to name one. JudgeNet - the BJCP Judge newsletter. The Lambic Lovers' Digest and the Mead Lovers' Digest.. These are a few e-mail-based newsletters related to our favorite topic!

Access through Profs/OfficeVision requires that you first cause the system to assign you and IBMMAIL ID. This is done by routing a document to the Internet through IBMMAIL.

Continued on page 4...

In April we were back at Traffic Jams and the meeting was definitely well attended, there were a grand total of 32 members and guests in attendance including Peter Blum, a research brewer from Strohs and Wayne Burns, a recent graduate from the Siebold institute of Brewing in Chicago.

The meeting started with an introduction which was a bit hard to hear due to all the background noise, but we got through it anyway.

The National Homebrewers Day Committee then gave a report on what would be happening on May 6th (more on that later!)

We officially submitted our charter to FERA and petitioned them to make us an official club, that normally takes 2-3 months, Neal also sent them copies of all the articles we have been mentioned or featured in as well. Our FERA bulletin Board is on line now and anyone (on profs) can simply type bb FERA at the main command line in profs to go to the bulletin board section. For those of you non-Ford employees we will have a section on Pat Babcocks homebrewing bulletin board as soon as it is up and running (probably by next month, I will post all the details at that point in time!)

We voted on a logo and narrowed the field down to 2 logos, the Michigan outline with pint glass and a crest/coat of arms logo with homebrewing icons in it. We then voted again on those 2 and the crest logo won hands down. The logo has been turned over to a graphic artist for refining and coloring. We hope to have the logo completed and T-shirts done no later than the pig-roast (Aug. 5th).

at this resolution it may be hard to make out everything but the top quadrant is hop vines and flowers, the right quadrant is a barley stalk, the bottom is a keg/cask and the left side is a tankard. The logo was a collaboration between Patrick Babcock and myself. Pat and I will split a gift certificate from Merchants Warehouse, probably going toward an Orval (YUMMMMM!)

We then went over the list of retailers that give us a 10% discount:

Brew & Grow

Merchants in Royal Oak

Wine Barrel Plus

St Clair Brewing Co.

We are still working on Merchants in Dearborn and the new store down river-Brew your own (?)

We will be issuing id cards to be used at these retailers as soon as the logo is complete.

Neal then talked about the difference between priming with Dried Malt Extract (DME) and Corn Sugar, the bottom line is corn sugar will more fully ferment out and is much cleaner to use than DME.

Aprils meeting was the Rauchbeer competition and there were 2 entries. Neal talked about the history and definition of Rauchbeers and Peter Blum added some historical notes. It seems there is a carcinogen called nitromene that is present in Rauchbeers due to the smoking process, there is not a significant level of nitromenes but the publicity was enough to make the public stop buying that style in this country and the style all but died out. It has only been recently that it has made a comeback.

Neal and Ted Geftos (AKA Teddy Petty Brewing and Malting Company) submitted the winning entry known as Beer Jerky (recipe to follow).

The following grains were smoked over a 20% hickory 80% mesquite blend for 1 hr. 45 minutes (soak grains for 5 minutes in water first)

¼ # 80 l. Crystal

½ # Belgian Pilsner

½ # Durst Munich

½ # Pale 2 row

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

3 # light dry malt extract

¾ # 80L. Crystal

¼ # Belgian Pilsner

¾ # Durst Munich

1 ½ # Pale 2 row

½ Oz. Perle hops (60)

½ Oz. Hallertau (60)

½ Oz. Tettenang (60)

½ Oz. Perle 8.4% (30)

½ Oz. Hallertau 2.6%

½ Oz. Tettenang 2.6% for aroma (5 mins.)

1 tsp. rehydrated Irish Moss (18 mins.)

Yeastlab Dusseldorf Alt

O.G. 1.052

F.G. 1.020

Brewers Specifics.........

Smoked grains were added to the other grains in 2 gallons of water and brought up to 140 for 15 minutes, then raised to 155 for 15 minutes. Mashout at 170 and sparge at 170 using the Papazian zap-pap lauter tun. The DME was added to the wort and boiled for 60 minutes. The only thing the brewers would change next time is to use beechwood for smoking.

Shane Patrick Byrnes, son of Rich & Eileen, came into this world screaming and kicking on May 5Th at 4:02 am. Mother and child are doing well, although no one gets any sleep (so no comments on this newsletter!)

Congratulations to our very own Bob Niemi whose Bock (Return of Rutting Buck Bock) took 2nd place in the AHA national competition from 68 entries, way to go Bob!

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.

F.O.R.D. is an associate member of the American Homebrewers Association. F.O.R.D. encourages letters, opinions, articles for publicat- ion and information from members and friends of the club.

Correspondence should be directed to:

Circulation 75

Continued from Page 1

...Send a note, using the following as the address "ibmmail(Internet)" (no quotes). Now, on the first line following the Subject line type "/Internet". On the next line, type "/to pbabcock @oeonline.com". Third line, "/end". And finally, the fourth line: "Hi, Pat! Getting an IBMMAIL ID! See ya!". Hit PF7 to send it. (Alternately, you can type "IIN" at the PROFS command line and follow the instructions there.)

When IBMMAIL processes your letter, it will respond back to you with a note. Your IBMMAIL address will be contained therein. It will look something like USFMCxxx and will be unique to only you. Write this ID down! To IBMMAIL, you are now known as USFMCxxx; to the rest of the Internet you are called usfmcxxx@ibmmail.com. (For the curious: The USFMC identifies your affiliation: United States Ford Motor Company. The last three (xxx) are your assigned ID using 0-9 and a-z.)

I recommend adding this address to the note closing in your control file, along with your phone numbers. From the PROFS command line, hit PF11 (Office Applications), PF4 (Electronic Mail Functions), PF5 (Process your OV/VM control files), PF1 (Process your main nickname file), PF5 (Change your nickname file's control information). Edit the information in either Greeting: or Closing: to announce your phone, IBMMAIL address, etc. Mine, for instance looks like this:

Greeting:

FROM:Patrick G. (Pat) Babcock

Bronco Plant Vehicle Team

Continued on Page 5.....

Body Construction Assembly Engineering Representative

Subject:_____________

Closing:

Best Regards ________

Patrick G. Babcock Michigan Truck Plant PVT Office

usfmchql@ibmmail.com38303 Michigan Avenue________

(Wayne, MI 48184 (313)46-70842 (V) -70843 (F)

When you've got it just the way you want it, hit PF12 to save it. Use the menus to back out to the main menu - PF12, PF12, PF11, PF11.

Now! Let's say you want to receive the homebrew digest in your mailbox each morning (excluding Sunday)- send a profs note as follows:

To: ibmmail(Internet)

From: (Your Name Automatically Here via PROFS)

Subject: (leave blank)

/Internet

/to homebrew-request @hpfcmi.fc.hp.com

/end

subscribe

PF7 to send.

The Digest will echo an 'automagical response' acknowledging your addition to its mailing list. Note that the digest usually comes through as Non-OV/VM mail due to its size. It is usually stored as I1002526 FILE in your in-basket. You can view it on-line using PROFS with or without storing it, or store and download it (as text; not binary) to your PC for viewing or printing. Note: Tom Sieja (TSIEJA) publishes the digest to interested F.O.R.D. members on a weekly basis. If you're not interested in responding to any 'articles' in the digest, or cannot follow the digest on a daily basis, please contact Tom to get on the list.

Submitting articles to the digest is similar:

To: ibmmail(Internet)

From: (Your Name Automatically Here via PROFS)

Subject: (subject of article)

/Internet

/to homebrew @hpfcmi.fc.hp.com

/end

[Body of text that is your article...]

Again, you'll get an 'automagical response' acknowledging your submission. This time, though, it will include instructions for cancellation of your article. Don't delete this message until your article is published: you never know when you might want to 'back-pedal' - you discover you're wrong, someone else beats you to the question/answer, or you simply change your mind.

The fine print: PROFS/OfficeVision is provided as a means for Ford employees to conduct Ford's business.

Continued on next page.

Other uses, such as that outlined above, are generally not condoned. If participation in the Internet is desired, you are urged to subscribe to an Internet Services Provider outside of Ford Motor Company, and pursue your hobby at home and outside of regular business hours. Ford Motor Company Internet guidelines specifically prohibit the use of outside Internet services providers on a Ford-owned computer. The author and The Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsmen assume no responsibility and/or liability for the losses, consequential or otherwise, resulting from the use of information contained herein.

Next month, tune in for a primer in etiquette on the net: 'Netiquette - Avoiding Asbestos Dependency'.

Editors Note: For info on Mead Digest contact RBYRNES2, For Lambic Digest contact MTENBRIN.

This Months meeting will be at Traffic Jam & Snugs in Detroit. TJ's is located at the corner of Canfield and 2nd street.

The Competition for the month is Scottish Ale and is an informal contest. The contest for June is Light Summer Beer and their is no definitions for this style, we just made it up. Obviously porters, stouts and Barley wines won't be appropriate but light ales and lagers alike are definitely correct.

Reuters news service.

BEER LOVERS FOAM OVER NOISE LIMITS.

Munich, Germany

Some 20,000 people marched through Munich on Friday to demand the governm- ent keep its hands off their beer gardens after neighbors won a court order forcing one pub to close early. The first "Bavarian Beer Garden Revolution" attracted quaffers ranging from Finance Minister Theo Waigel and Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser Schnarrenberger to the anonymous thousands for whom a day without beer is a day wasted. "The law must be changed, and immediately," thundered Christian Ude,mayor of Germanys beer capitol.

In lieu of a report in the newsletter a flyer will be distributed at the meeting detailing the highlights of the upcoming pig roast. For the benefit of those not in attendance at the meeting, this flyer will be sent to you.

Although I could only spend about an hour or two in Royal Oak on Saturday the 6th, I couldn't have been more proud. Several Fermentals were there making both all grain and extract beers, demonstrating equipment and techniques, answering the many questions from the visitors to the exhibit. Volunteers report well over 100 people had stopped by before the club was done cleaning up. Special thanks go to Chris Frey and John Habermann for all the preliminary work in selecting a site and negotiating all the details. Fred Rubarth and Al Czajkowski were also volunteers on the committee, thanks guys! Also special thanks to Jim Bazzy for cooking sausages on the Hibachi to feed all the volunteers. The weather couldn't have been better and the crowds were very interested in what we were doing.

Another very special thanks to Tony Randazzo at Merchants warehouse in Royal Oak for making this event come together. Tony supplied all the ingredients for al l the beer that was made that day, and also provided a rather large section of parking lot for our club to be in.

The next two pages detail the contents and policies of the library, due to its size Doug won't be bringing the entire library with him anymore. Thanks to Mike Preston for donating the pocket guide to beers and Rich Byrnes for donating the Great Guide to Cooking with Beer.

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