May 1998 Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsmen Vol. 6 - No. 5

In this issue:


April's Meeting
Chris Frey

Our last meeting was on Tuesday, April 28th at our home away from home, Chelsea's. Your secretary was detracted and only stayed for a short time. I do remember that it was Brewers Choice and that many entries were received. Also, Doug Geiss needs to put in the order for the t-shirts, so let him know if you are interested. Aw heck, I can't remember much else. But who cares what happened last meeting, we've got something special coming up for our next meeting... Paulaner's German beer tasting!!!



Chris Frey

The next meeting will be held at Chelsea's on Wednesday, May 27th. For those of you who are new to the club, Chelsea's is located on Van Born between Telegraph and Southfield (midway, on the North side). Their address is 22120 Van Born and their phone number is 313-278-0888. The competition is Alt and Kölsch beers. As usual, the thirsty hard-core who want dinner will start arriving around five, people will drift in for an hour or so, and by 6:00ish, we will start our meeting.


Paulaner's German Beer Tasting
Chris Frey

We have one of our favorite guests coming to the meeting on May 27th, Mr. Aldo Mastro from Paulaner Beer Distributors. As you remember, Aldo turned us on to several Belgian and British beers that his company distributes at the December meeting. We were asked to write up our opinions for them and they recently published them on page 9 of their newsletter (copies available at Merchant's in Dearborn). Well, he has asked if we would be willing to sample their German beers and give them similar feedback. The beers we will be asked to evaluate are:

Hope to see you there.


Decisions, Decisions...
Rich Byrnes

We have talked in the past about purchasing a jockey box (aka chiller box) for the benifit of the club. This would be a chest cooler with either cold plates and 4 taps, or coils and 2 taps. The cost on the 4 line system would be around $600 or so, and the cost on the 2 line system would be around $400 or so. Either box we bought would be fitted to be used on either Coke, Pepsi, Hoff-Stevens or Sankey kegs and would be available for everyone in the club to check out as needed. We will be making a decision at this months meeting on what the club prefers and how much money you are willing to allocate to this unit. Please be prepared to vote on this at the meeting, or send a PROFS note to Rbyrnes2 or an email note to rbyrnes2@ford.com to let me know how you would vote if you can't attend the meeting, thanks! The 3rd choice is to not buy anything of this nature.


Treasurer's Report
David Peters

I have the good news/bad news report. First the good news. I would like to thank the diligent efforts of our FERA ticket salespersons. Due to their hard work, the club has received a check for $569. These are proceeds from the various ticket sales events such as Cedar Point. Please continue to support our sales reps. The club and you benefit. Secondly, I would like to welcome and thank our 19 new members this year and the 59 renewing members for 1998.

Now for the bad news. We have lost contact with a number of members. We have continued to send them newsletters and reports. The club can no longer fund the printing and mailing of newsletters to these members. This is the last issue they will receive unless they re-join. If you know any of the members below and think they still want to be active, let them know we are still interested in having them as members.

Mike Beckwith Joseph Brown Lynn and Sandy Bruce Dennis Clancey
Mitch Diana Tim Dunn Brett Kuhnhenn Chris Labadie
John McDonald Kevin McEnhill Bret Pastryk John Pierce
Dennis Propson Steve Robertson Eric Roddick Brian Shepard
Peter Staples Tom Sutphen Joe Swoboda Jim Troeger
Larry Wikel Robert Wolf Mark Woodyard


National Homebrew Day

Big Brew Site #51 - Merchants in Dearborn
Chris Frey

How many of these public homebrew demos have I done now, six? And how many times has it rained? That's what I thought the day before National Homebrew Day. A quick call around found no one had a tent and I would be damned if I was going to stand in the rain for another HB Demo. And this demo was going to be part of the AHA's record setting attempt to have as many homebrewers as possible brewing the same recipe simultaneously across the country.

The hell with it, time for an executive decision and fast! I checked out a pool Econoline from the Ford Fleet that Friday night and stopped at Sam's Warehouse and bought a $200 E-Z-Up tent. At least I was going to have a little cover. Spent the night loading up the PICO and reviewing the recipe.

We were all brewing Rob Moline's 1996 GABF Gold Medal winning Barley Wine which had been renamed Big 10/20 (20 years of the AHA, 10 years of National Homebrew Day). We were Site 51 of over 100 registered sites. We had two ½ barrel PICO systems and 3 extract brews going on that day. Volunteers included Doug Geiss, Tony Treusch, Don Parisot, Larry Rose, Mike Arend, Gary Shewchuk, Tony Tantillo and myself.

Started the day off by taking advantage of Merchant's generous offer of an additional 10% off of brewing supplies and then it was up with the tent(s) (Mike Pengally had also purchased a tent... ever try duct-tapping tent stakes to a wet brick wall before?), out with the PICO's, chairs, tents, electrical, hoses and all the rest of the good stuff that goes with brewing. The brew itself was pretty uneventful, except for when people bumped into the tents and rain would spill down their backs.

We had any number of club members and homebrew dignitaries stop in during the day and actually everything went pretty well. Rex Halfpenny, Mike Arend, Pat Babcock and Sue Merritt all stopped by and took pictures. The rain sucked, lunch was catch-as-catch-can, turnout was light due to the weather, but we ended the day with 34 gallons of BB Barley Wine (the all-grain version had a SG of 1.108!) and we had everything packed away before dark.

Recipe for 12 gallons of Big 10/20 Barley Wine

30 Lbs. Briess 2-row Brewers Malt
8 lbs. Caramel 40
3 lbs. Light Dried malt extract (added at the boil)

4 oz. Cascade 4.5% @ 60 minutes
1.5 oz. Gallena 13.4% @ 60 minutes
4 oz. Willamette @ 2 minutes

Boiled for 75 minutes
Sparged 14 gallons and boiled down to 12 gallons

A big thanks goes out to Mike Pengally and the staff at Merchants in Dearborn for their continued support of National Homebrew Day.

Big Brew Site #59 - Wine Barrel Plus in Livonia
Bryce Grevemeyer

First to arrive was Eric Mieczkowski from Ingersoll-Rand. He was doing a 5 gallon all-grain in a square cooler. By the way, he is interested in becoming a member of our club. Club member Elaine Berg was around observing. She has not yet done her own first batch.

Next Dave Wojcik and I (Bryce Grevemeyer) arrived. Dave was doing a 5 gallon partial extract. I was going for my first all-grain. I had the use of Mark Hansen's PICO system. Mark was unable to make it due to a race. Oh well, his loss was my gain. I went for a 10 gallon batch with a small beer following.

Last was Rich Walters, Assistant Brewmaster from the Atwater Brewery in Detroit. Rich did not have his own equipment. I guess when you get to be a professional, you tend to lose track of your homebrew setup. Rich went for a 5 gallon batch of all-grain in my new, never-been-used, 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler that I had been planning to use before I was loaned the PICO.

Of course, it rained. It is a little known fact that US Federal Law REQUIRES it to rain on National Homebrew Day. This law is strictly enforced by the BATF.

We had plenty of stuff to eat, courtesy of Marc George and the Wine Barrel Plus, who also supplied all the fixing for the beer. Because of Marc's liquor license, we were not able to drink beer while we worked. However, toward the end of the day, we discovered that non-alcoholic beer could taste a lot like Atwater's Krausen Dunkel. Gee, I wonder how that happened?

Being new to all-grain, there was much equipment that I needed but did not have... iodine, thermometer, etc. Thanks Eric!!!

There was much that I learned about all-grain that day. I have the PICO boiling kettle going with recirculation. I have the false bottom in place. Good thing too, 'cause all four of the hop bags have come undone. Oh well. I decide not to use the sparge head because it will restrict the flow and I'm afraid of scorching the wort with the false bottom in place. There are no clamps with this system, so I use a pair of channel locks gently pinching the hose and wedged lightly under the rim, to keep the hose in place. I have a ladle in the kettle. It starts to slide in. Quickly I grab it. Nice catch! As I pull it out I hit the hose, which immediately comes loose and starts spraying hot wort everywhere. With my free hand I grab the hose and get it under control (the hose is damn hot!). Someone takes the ladle from me and I get the pump shut off. Now lets see, where are those channel locks??? #%($#$@!!!!!! Oh well. I decide to put the sparge head on, to prevent the hose from coming loose again. I've got the threads started, no I don't. Oops! #%($#$@!!!!!! Oh well. Finally I get a plastic tie and secure it in place with that. The plastic handles on my channel locks survived intact.

Lets see. We have electric pumps connected to an indoor type plug strip. The strip is sitting on the ground. It's raining. The rain is coming off the canopy and then running across the concrete under our feet. It's running over the plug strip. We have wet shoes. Is there something wrong with this picture?

Because I sparged too much and did not spend enough time boiling it down, I ended up with about 12 gallons of "barley wine" that only had a OG of 1.069. I also got about 8 gallons of a small beer. OG 1.020. It was about 9:30pm before we finished up. I would have boiled both beers longer, but I ran out of propane, (and patience).

Hats off to Rich Walters who stuck around to the bitter end to get me packed up and the canopies down. Thanks also to Chrispy who made sure that I had his cell phone number, so that I would have a contact in case of trouble. And a huge thanks to Marc George and the staff at Wine Barrel Plus for everything else!

Big Brew Site #61 - Neal's House
Neal Petty

"Who ordered this weather?" was a popular question on National Home-Brewer's Day. The rain made clean-up a real chore (but don't ask Tim or Ted 'cause they won't know). Brewing "Charlie Wine" (dedication to Mr. Papazian) were Ted Geftos, Neal Petty, and Tim Tepatti. The official observers were Michelle Geftos and Dan Lingg while Zoe and Tony Geftos unofficially watched the production (Ted did officially introduce Zoe to brewing by a baptism in Barley Wine, luckily he had a spare outfit on hand). "Charlie Wine" was brewed in a volume of 13 U.S. gallons in the T-N-T Pico System. We made several modifications to the recipe including addition of Maple Syrup and grain bill tailoring due to system efficiencies. The O.G. was 1.088 (target was 1.097) with a calculated IBU's of 70. Loads of fresh Scottish Ale yeast donated compliments of Royal Oak Brewery made quick progress on the wort.

Now don't get it in your mind that our spirits were in any way dampened by the weather. Continuous sampling of home-brews and commercial Barley Wines helped motivate the brewers. Tim's craving of for fried chicken paid off as we sent Ted on a run to the Colonel's for a bucket (we were disappointed to learn that KFC has discontinued the bucket). As the sun dropped the wood stove was stoked to drive away the dampness and the stogies were lit. Neal cleared the garage around 10:30pm and the troop headed over to Timothy O'Malley's for some Guinness and karaoke while the cold-break settled. T-N-T hopes to brew again soon, but need to wait until several of the brewers get out of the dog house!



Sue Merritt


Cheers! Jim Rice is presented with the "F.O.R.D. Homebrewer of the Year" plaque by Johanne Wilson.

Tony Treusch checks the specific gravity of his barley wine while other club members look on, including Chris Frey, Larry Rose, Tony Tantillo, and Don Parisot.

A Big Donation!
Chris Frey

Scott Day of Brew N' Grow generously donated $450 in gift certificates to the club with instructions for two $100 gift certificates to be given away at the Beer-B-Q. The other ten $25 gift certificates are to be used at the club's discretion. So plan on buying lots of raffle tickets at upcoming meetings. A huge thanks to Scott for the donation and also for his continued support of our club and homebrewing in the Metro-Detroit area!


New Club Equipment
Chris Frey

As I mentioned earlier in the newsletter, the club now owns a 10'X10' E-Z-Up tent. This is a great party tent that stows away in a small car with fold-down seats. It takes two people about 3-5 minutes to put up and it is sturdy. You don't need to be brewing to check this out, so keep that in mind. Another club benefit!


Christian Walker Peters
Parents: David & Dawn David says "All are home and doing well. A CP (Chocolate Porter) beer is in the secondary in honor of Christian Peters (CP) who was known as Critter Peters (CP) until birth."

Congratulations to David, Dawn, Marissa and Christian from the Fermentals!!!

Big Sister:Marissa
Date of Birth:May 6, 1998 at 7:31 AM
Weight:9 lbs. 6 oz.
Length:21-1/4 in.

Competition Results
Tony Treusch

Last month's contest was "Brewer's Choice", a style free-for-all. We had 22 entries. The winners are:

Brewer's Choice
Place Name Style Points
1 Tyler Barber Stout 44/50
1 Tyler Barber Barley Wine 44/50
2 Chris Frey P.I.T.A. Porter 43/50
2 Jim Racine & Tony Tantillo Barley Wine 43/50
3 Chris Frey Pale Ale (SN#2) 40/50

This month's competition is Alt/Kölsch. This is a contest of the AHA major category "German-Style Ale" (18) including 18a) "German-Style Kölsch/Köln-Style Kölsch" and 18b) "Düsseldorf-Style Altbier".

June's contest is "Weiss is Nice", an AHA Club-Only competition. This is a contest of the AHA major category "German-Style Wheat Beer" (19) including "Berliner-Style Weisse" (19a), "German-Style Hefeweizen/Hefeweissbier" (19b), "German-Style Dunkelweizen" (19c) and "German-Style Weizenbock" (19d). These do not include fruit beers.

June is also when we have our annual Label Contest. Bring your finest examples of beer label art to be judged by our panel of experts (to be named). The entries will be judged for both originality and appearance. The entries should not be on bottles.

July's contest is "Summer Light Beers". It is not style specific, but is focused on beers which are light on the palate and refreshing on a hot summer day.


1998 Competition Schedule
Meeting Date Competition AHA Style Categories
May 27 (W) Alt/Kölsch Competition #18 a & b
June 23 (T) Weiss is Nice Competition (AHA)
Label Contest
#19 a, b, c & d
July 22 (W) Summer Light Beer (Lawnmower) Competition All Styles
August 25 (T) Best of Fest Competition (AHA) #17 a & b
September 23 (W) Fruit/Lambic Competition #3 a, b & c and #21 a & b
October 27 (T) If It's Not Scottish... Competition (AHA) #8 a, b & c and #10 b
November 18 (W) Porter Competition #9 a & b
December 15 (T) Holiday Ale/Barleywine Competition
Entries due for January 1999 Hail to the Ales Competition (AHA)
All Styles

Summer Festival & Competition
Rex Halfpenny

There are two great events in Michigan this summer. The Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Festival will be held at Greenmead in Livonia on July 25, 1998. The Festival will showcase the beer and food of Guild members. Greenmead, a turn of the century period 92 acre farm, is a National Historic Landmark. Attendees will be able to visit period buildings and interact with volunteers dressed in period attire performing period tasks. A special beer tent will feature Michigan brewed beer, beer related exhibits and demonstrations. The public is welcome from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. Tickets will be $25.00 and available at any Michigan Brewers Guild establishment or by mail from Rex Halfpenny, Executive Director, PO Box 648, Leonard, MI 48367. This first annual event is a fund raiser for the Michigan Brewers Guild and is expected to be a sell out.

The Pontiac Brewing Tribe homebrew club will produce an American Homebrewers Association sanctioned homebrew competition "Brew-WOW" in conjunction with the Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Festival. All AHA style categories and subcategorize will be judged. Entry fees are $5.00 for the first 3 bottle entry, $4.00 for the second and $3.00 for each entry thereafter. The first round judging will take place at King Brewing Company in Pontiac on July 18, 1998. Best of Show judging will take place at the Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Festival July 25 at 4:00 p.m. Entries will be accepted at King Brewing Company, 895 Oakland Avenue, Pontiac, MI 48340 (248) 745-5900 between July 13 and July 17, 1998. AHA rules of competition will apply. All homebrewers are encouraged to participate. If you are interested in judging in this sanctioned competition please call Rex Halfpenny, Competition/Judge Director (248) 628-6584 or E-mail MIBeerguyd@aol.com. For more information visit www.michiganbeerguide.com or contact Jim Lawson, Competition Registrar at (248) 543-2835, mlyoungest@aol.com. Sponsors are needed to help with awards, supplies, door prizes and services. If you are interested please contact Craig Spicer, Procurement Director at (810) 625-6093, kegg@usa.pipline.com.



Alt or Nothing
Gabrielle Palmer

A true example of altbier is very hard to find outside of Germany, but after much research I've found two beers that are be considered to be in the altbier style and are readily available in the Metro-Detroit area...

History of Altbier:

Alt, which means "old" in German, has a long tradition associated with the German town of Düsseldorf. Altbiers are produced in the same fashion as the Kölsch beers of Köln (Cologne), just south of Düsseldorf. While the majority of German brewers were embracing the "new" lager beers, the brewers in Düsseldorf and Köln continued using the traditional ale yeasts to ferment their beers. After fermentation, the beers were placed in cool storage (lagering) to increase the clarity and mellow out any possible harshness. Altbiers almost always contain only Spalt hops, considered by Düsseldorf brewers to be equal to the classic Hallertau and Saaz. Although altbiers are aggressively hopped to provide a prominent bitterness, hop aroma and flavor are minimal to non-existant. Even with all that hop bitterness, altbiers remain rich, smooth and well balanced thanks to cold aging or lagering. The lagering usually lasts about 3-8 weeks which helps to eliminate any fruity esters that are usually associated with ales. The cold storage period also seems to soften the hop "bite" that usually accompanies high-hopped ales.

About the Style:

The Alt style uses a top-fermenting ale yeast, but then is cold-aged. Copper to brown in color, this German ale has a medium to high bitterness, but also may have a low hop flavor and almost no hop aroma. This medium bodied beer has a rounded malty flavor that is medium to high but not overpowering. A variety of malts, including wheat, may be used. Overall impression is clean, crisp and flavorful. Fruity esters should be low. No diacetyl or chill haze should be perceived.

The Beers:


Schmaltz's Alt
August Schell Brewing Co.
New Ulm, Minnesota, USA
http://www.schellsbrewery.com/

Grölsch Amber
Grölsch Bierbrouwerijen
Greonlo, Holland
http://www.grolsch.nl/
Looks & Taste:
Dark brown in color with a creamy, brownish head and a light Brussels lace that cascades down the side of the glass. This alt has a roasted, phenolic aroma. This medium-bodied beer posseses a smooth, rich, malty flavor balanced with just the right amount of bitterness in the finish. Very crisp and clean with a dry, thirst-quenching finish. This beer is copper colored with a creamy white head. It has a malty bouquet with a slight DMS (dimethyl sulfide - corn) aroma. It has a nice, medium-bodied malty flavor with a light, clean, dry, bitter finish. Not as clean and smooth as the Schmaltz's Alt.
Ratings (out of 5):

Quaffable Quotes:

It is disgusting to note the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subjects and the amount of money that goes out of the country in consequence. Everybody is using coffee. If possible, this must be prevented. My people must drink beer. -- Frederick the Great


Upcoming Beery Dates
Gabrielle Palmer
May 27Paulaner Beer Tasting offered by the Paulaner Distributor, featuring their German products.
June 11Pilsners Tasting at Arbor Brewing Company. Join us the second Thursday of each month for a unique night of tasting, toasting, meeting and mingling. Just $20.
July 9Wheat Beers Tasting at Arbor Brewing Company, $20.
July 25Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Festival at Greenmead in Livonia, $25.
August 13Pale Ales Tasting at Arbor Brewing Company, $20.
August 291998 Beer-B-Q - at Centennial Park in Taylor.
September 10Michigan Beer Fest Tasting at Arbor Brewing Company, $20.
October 8Oktoberfests Tasting at Arbor Brewing Company, $20.
October 10Beer Judge Certification Exam in Brighton. For more information, contact Bill Pfeiffer at meadmaker@livingonline.com.
November 12Belgian Beers Tasting at Arbor Brewing Company, $20.
December 10Seasonal Beers Tasting at Arbor Brewing Company, $20.

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

Contributing Writers:
Rich Byrnes, Chris Frey,
Bryce Grevemeyer, Rex Halfpenny,
Gabrielle Palmer, David Peters,
Neal Petty and Tony Treusch

Contributing Photographers:
Mike Arend, Pat Babcock
and Sue Merritt

Club Officers:
Rich Byrnes, President
Tony Treusch, Vice-President
David Peters, Treasurer
Chris Frey, Secretary
Gabrielle Palmer, Newsletter Editor
Sue Merritt, Photographer/Historian/Beer Mooch
Johanne Wilson, Librarian
Jim Bazzy, Special Events Coordinator
Tyler Barber, Equipment Manager
Doug Geiss, Business Manager
Joe Sellinger, Webmaster

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.

Correspondence should be directed to:
Chris P. Frey
275 S. Ann Arbor St.
Saline, MI 48176

Work: 313-337-1642
Home: 734-944-6618

(w) chris.frey-ford@e-mail.com
(h) Crispy275@aol.com

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

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