We held our last meeting at the home of Doug Geiss. With the weather
this summer being so good, it makes for a pleasant change and
we thank Doug for holding it there. Doug and Kathy shared their
unique blend of Kaluha (homemade of course) and Nestles Toll House
Porter as well as Belgian Wit and Cider. Doug, what are you doing
with 15 tomatoe plants in your backyard?
Rich covered the upcoming events (which have all passed us now),
such as Rivertown Beer festival, the Beer-B-Que, the Michigan
State Fair competition (not behind us, but entries are), the public
homebrew demonstration at Merchants and the joint meeting in Pontiac.
Johanne reviewed the winners of the competition and gave us the
next months category. Sandy gave us an update on the treasury
and I discussed the 1997 National AHA meeting and showed off a
new toy from Sabco.
Our club PICO System was present at the meeting as well. If you
want to sign out the system, contact Tyler Barber to reserve the
system. It is recommended that you plan a few weeks in advance,
but if you get a wild hair and decide that you want to brew in
a few days (you have to get your yeast stepped up!), give him
a call and find out if it's available. There will be a nominal
fee for the propane and a major fee if it doesn't come back spotless
(and I know, you can scrub even the worst burn off a PICO with
steel wool and elbow grease, right Doug?!?).
Special thanks to Jim Rice for providing us with the delicious Chicken Teriyaki as well. That was a nice touch, since many of us did not bring anything to bar-b-que!
The next meeting of the Fermentals will be on Tuesday, Aug. 26th
at our favorite hangout, Chelsea's. Check inside to find out about
competition style for the month!
Chelsea's is located on Vanborn between Telegraph and Southfield
(midway, on the North side). Their address is 22120 Vanborn and
their number is 313-278-0888
Special thanks to everyone who volunteered at this years Rivertown
Beer Festival. Close to 70 Fermentals and guests were on hand
to help the thirsty masses get their share of microbrew. Other
homebrew clubs that were on hand included the Ann Arbor Brewers
Guild, the Pontiac Brewing Tribe, and the Detroit Carboys. Merchants
even treated us to some free beer at the end of the night, the
cases that had been opened and the beer that was already out cold
were given to us, most everyone got at least a case of beer at
the end of the night. This event has become a highlight for many
people and I hope to see many of you back next year.
Many thanks to the Pontiac Brewing Tribe and Kings Brewery for inviting us out last month. About a dozen Fermentals and a dozen Tribesmen were on hand to socialize. Rich Bojanowski and Scott King were our hosts and bartenders. The evening started out with a tour of the brewery, the exclusive kind where you get to ask technical questions and get intelligent answers, we then moved back to the tasting room and reveled in the pale ale, amber, and a tasty stout. Kegged homebrew was on hand from both clubs to share, and someone even brought a keg of mead (cyser?) I don't know how late the evening lasted as I had to leave early but I believe a good time was had by all. We hope to do more inter-club activities in the near future, maybe next time we will try to be closer to home.
This years Beer-B-Q was one of the hottest, most miserable (weather-wise)
in our history! I couldn't believe the temp and humidity, but
such is the luck of the draw. About 50 people were on hand to
share in the food, beverage and festivities. Doug Lecureaux once
again prepared a feast. Prime rib, turkey drumsticks and a pork
roast seemed to disappear, and the dishes that all the members
brought were fantastic as well (Tyler, where's that spinach pie
recipe?) Neal Petty broke out his trusty guitar once again, although
it's just not the same without a roaring fire. Mark Hansen brought
a collection of homemade Didgereedoo's (Australian aboriginal
mouth horns) that seemed to be popular. Mark Hansen and Eileen
Byrnes both brought their juggling sticks (Mark got Eileen hooked
last year on these) and many people got a quick lesson and had
fun trying to control the sticks (for those that want them, they
are widely available at the Renaissance Festival)
One of the big highlights was the introduction of our new bar.
Tyler Barber and Rich Byrnes put this little baby together after
much planning. Tyler did the woodwork, and Rich did the plumbing.
The bar has hoses for 6 ball-lock and 6 pin-lock kegs (beverage
and gas hoses) and is quite a sight. This bar is now a club asset
so if you wish to use it for a party please contact Tyler Barber
at 313-292-8404.
Neal Petty organized and ran the kids games this year and did a great job as always, Johanne Wilson was the big ringleader this year. The raffle and ticket sales allowed us to do better than breakeven again this year and the assortment of raffle prizes were simply the best. Whole pounds of hop pellets, sacks of grains, beer books and hats and glasses and tee shirts and beers were all part of the booty that was raffled off.
Special thanks go to all the suppliers, friends and club members who donated to this years raffle. Items were donated from the following benefactors:
"You can't be a real country unless you have BEER and an airline...It helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need BEER."
Frank Zappa
A New Brewer Amongst Us
Congrats go to Joe and Beth Tomasi. Their newest little carboy, Andrew Joseph, was born July 31st at 8lbs, 9ozs. Everyone is doing fine and little Joe is glad to be out of the primary fermenter!
Brenda O'Malley is home as usual, making dinner, when Tim Finnegan arrives at her door.
"Brenda, may I come in?" he asks. "I've somethin' to tell ya."
"Of course you can come in, your always welcome, Tim. But where's my husband?"
"That's what I'm here to be tellin' ya, Brenda. There was an accident down at the Guinness brewery..."
"Oh, god no!" cries Brenda. "Please don't tell me..."
"I must, Brenda. Your husband Mick is dead and gone. I'm sorry."
Brenda reached a hand out to her side, found the arm of the rocking chair by the fireplace, pulled the chair to her and collapsed into it. She wept for many minutes. Finally she looked up at Tim. "How did it happen, Tim?"
"It was terrible, Brenda. He fell into a vat of Guinness Stout and drowned."
"Oh my dear Lord! But you must tell me true, Tim. Did he at least go quickly?"
"Well, no Brenda...no."
"No?"
"Fact is, he got out three times to pee."
Congratulations to Pat Babcock, Rich Byrnes, Aaron Dionne, Gabrielle
Palmer, and Mike Preston for having recipes published in the soon
to be released More Homebrew Favorites by Karl Lutzen and
Mark Stevens.
Gabrielle had several recipes, Pat had quite a few, Aaron had
one and Rich, Mike and Pat had a joint recipe published (let's
see, one paper, special adjunct...ed). The Rich, Pat and Mike
recipe even made the cover (Santa's Bum Warmer).
This is a new recipe book with 260 homebrew recipes all submitted
voluntarily from homebrewers across the country. There are extract,
partial mash and all grain recipes, all nicely identified. This
appears to be an excellent book and should be in the club library
as soon as it is released. Cograts again to all who are now published!
During the recent flooding in North Dakota, Anheuser-Busch donated
drinking water in white cans. It became known as "Floodweiser".
Hello fellow beer lovers, let me introduce myself...
My name is Joe Sellinger and I am the guy who will try to fill
the shoes of Pat Babcock and maintain the F.O.R.D. web sites.
They call me a web master but I consider myself a programmer.
I have been a programmer for over 10 years. I have always worked
in the Unix/*nix environment and now that the web is here my talents
seem to somewhat fit.
I'll say it, I love beer! I am, what I consider, a rookie brewer. I have brewed for about 2 years and have done nothing but all grain for the last year. Don't get me wrong. I still love extract brewa, but my brew days have become more like a party then a brew day. My friends find out I am brewing and I end up with a garage full. I start with great intentions, early start, filtered water, spotless clean work area, fresh help in the form of a friend. It goes this way for a couple of hours of selecting the recipe and buying the supplies. Now home and bringing water up to the first strike temperature on can start drinking some of your previous products. Now others start to show up (my father being the first). Just tap one of those kegs Joe! The ball rolls down the hill. At this point the fresh help is not so fresh or helpful. I have had brew days with 10-12 people in my garage and neighbors passing mugs of beer over the fence. With this many people drinking a single 5 gallon keg goes fairly quickly. Now brewing 5 gallons is not enough. I would not want to brew 10 gallons from extract with 10 of my friends in the kitchen.
I guess that is enough about my brewing and computer skills. Please,
if you have any ideas for the web site or some new content, don't
hesitate to drop me a note. My profs is jselling and outside of
Ford you can reach me at: jss@jrock.com. If you would like to
see some of my other web projects, please check out www.sunglassesafterdark.com.
It is a site I wrote for a friends band.
Last month's competition was Extract Extravaganza. We had entries from all sorts of styles, an imperial stout, a Belgian Strong Ale, a bohemian pilsner to name a few. We judged each
according to style, and ended up awarding the first prize to a
specialty brew brewed by Eric Roddick and Jim Troeger.
Eric Roddick and Jim Troeger's Rasberry Wheat is a low body wheat
beer with a delicate raspberry flavor and aroma. It was clear
for a wheat beer. The malt and hops were well balanced and the
raspberry came through nicely. As first prize winners, they entered
this beer in the Club only AHA competition , and we think it should
come up with high marks.
The evening we were judging these beers, everything tasted really
good. We had a four way tie for 2nd place: Neal Petty's
Belgian strong ale, Jim Rice's Bohemian Pilsner, Tyler's Pale
Ale and Tyler's Barley wine were all fine examples of good tasting
brews made using extracts!
August is our "Light Summer Brew" Month. It is another
open style competition. The definition of a summer beer, is the
beer that can be enjoyed on a warm summer evening, you know what
I mean - a lawnmower beer, a Sunday-on-the-porch-beer, a perfect-day-for
-sailing beer a…. I could go on and on. The beers will be
judged according to their style as well as "summer drinkability".
Don't confine yourself to light pilsners - Last year we had brown
ales, continental pilsners, specialty brews and even a cider.
Also, we will choose the winner to be our Commemorative beer for
next years Beer B Q and brew up 15 gallons of the brew for next
years batch (imagine the prestige!) So please don't be shy, bring
in the brew that YOU have been enjoying all summer, and I am sure
it will do well here.
I'm having a Party and your all invited! Well, this certainly
beats having to mail invites to everyone. Kathy and I just purchased
a new home in Saline (actually, an old home, circa 1873) and we
are going to have a house warming party on Saturday, September
20th.
Along with all our work and school friends, I would like to invite all of the F.O.R.D. club.
I came to Michigan two and a half years ago knowing no one, and
you folks have done more for me to feel at home than anyone else
has!
I will be bar-b-quing and homebrewers are encouraged to bring their own homebrew. I will also have the clubs new 12-tap bar system, so if you are planning to bring a keg, let me know.
The party will start around 4:00 and will continue until whenever.
I ask that you RSVP me by September 12th so I can plan accordingly.
Also, when you RSVP, indicate what side dish you will bring so
that we don't have forty two bean dishes. This bash will be regardless
of weather so plan on coming, checking out the new Crispy homestead
and having a good time. My work number is 313- 337-1642 and my
new home number is 313-944- 6618. Or profs me at cfrey. Hope to
see ya there!
Oh yeah, directions! Take I-94 to the Saline Rt. 12 exit (I think
it's 181-A, just south of Ann Arbor) and go approximately 7-8
miles west until you are in downtown Saline. Take a left at the
Ann Arbor Saline Rd. (landmark-Mac's Acadian Resturant is on your
left at the corner). Go approx. 1/4 mile down the hill and up
the hill. At the top of the hill is a blinking light. My house
# is 275 on the left.
Special thanks to Al,, Doug, Kathy, Mark, Neal, and Tony for helping
me move the other day! Without your collective help, this move
would have been even MORE STRESSFUL!
A convention of all the major brewers is being held in New York
City. At the end of the day the presidents of all the major breweries
decide to go out together for a drink.
When they get to the bar the president of "Budweiser"
orders a Bud, the president of "Miller" orders a MGD,
the president of "Carlsberg" orders a Carlsberg and
so on.
When the waitress get's to Jim Koch he amazes everyone by ordering
a coke.
"Your not going to order a Sam Adams?" they all asked.
"Nah. I figured if you guys aren't going to drink any beer,
then I won't either."
Late in July, the Pontiac Brewing Tribe invited us up to their
meeting location at King's Pontiac Brewery. While Rich has discussed
the brewery a little, I wanted to expand on a few points and give
a little more info (and a neat tech tip!).
Scott King (the principal owner and brewery's namesake) and Jeff
Maier (brewer) were on hand to welcome us at their tap room. The
brewery, located at 895 Oakland Ave., is easy to find. Just take
Telegraph to Pontiac where it ends, hang a right and their building
is approx. 1 mile on the right.
The tap room has the atmosphere of a club house with darts, beer
and comfortably used chairs and sofas. And beer. Damn good beer,
if I might add. You can buy it during the hours of 4-8pm Thursday
and Friday and Saturday from 1-4pm. It's open to the public during
these hours and you can also buy beer to go.
They currently have a Amber, Brown, Pale, Porter, Wheat (summer
special), Cherry (summer special) and Cream. In the past they
have brewed an Old Ale (really it's a Barley Wine), and they could
change one or two at any given time. They have a 15 barrel brewhouse
and a bunch of 30 barrel fermentors, so Jeff actually has to brew
two batches back-to-back to fill one fermentor.
From the fermentors they transfer the beer into a Brite Tank which
helps clarify their product. They then either bottle or keg. They
supply to Mr. B's (under the Mr. B's private label) and to Tom's
Oyster House. They have the most dangerous looking bottle machine
(probably built before OSHA), but they indicated that the price
was right, and hey, it works and everyone has all their digits,
so...
TECH TIP: We have had microbrewers come and speak to the club
and we have gone as a club to 3 or 4 microbreweries and meet them.
One thing they have almost always stressed is that if you call
them beforehand, and ask them for yeast, they will give you some.
I put this supposition to the test with Jeff. I had been stepping
up my yeast for the public brew demo and had gotten it up to,
oh, around half a litter of a mixture of starter and two fingers
of yeast slurry. Jeff mentioned that they were brewing a wheat
beer utilizing the same yeast that I was planning to use.
I asked him if I could have some and he grabbed a 1 gallon plastic
baggie and filled it over half full of fresh, pure yeast, right
off the bottom of his 30 barrel fermentor! Here's the tech tip
- baggies are sanitized from the factory and stay that way until
you open them.
Well, the next day after Doug and I finished brewing our smoked,
wheat beer (ok, somewhat burnt wheat beer, but hey, we'll just
call it smoked), we dropped the yeast into the carboys. Before
I could get the carboys home, the airlocks started blowing off.
I don't mean squeezing out, I mean blowing out. In the hour it
took me to get home the krausen filled the empty 1.5 gallon headspace
and was forcing it's way through the airlock. I have never seen
such a start to a beer before.
So if you are interested in really stepping up some yeast, call
one of our local microbreweries. Jeff tells me that they just
wash it down the drain because the little suckers just keep multiplying
far beyond what they need. The number of King's is 248-745-5900.
And buy a six-pack of their Porter while you are there - it's
good!
Sigh, collective memory, don't fail me now. I went to the 1997
National AHA meeting in Cleveland a couple of weeks ago. Mark
Hansen was my traveling buddy and roommate as well. We checked
in and received our registration packets (which contained a little
cider, a little barley wine) and dumped our stuff off to look
around.
The first evening's highlight was Michael Jackson reminiscing
about great beers, how he ended up being such a beer geek and
generally getting a little more animated as he drank a little
more.
After that finished, Mark and I went up to our room on the seventh
floor, only to find that the homebrew club, S.N.O.B. (can't for
the life of me remember what that stood for) had 12 kegs of beer
in the hospitality suite two rooms down from us. Bummer!
The next morning everyone (approx. 500 or so) filled the room
to listen to Charlie P. speak. He started by saying that recently
he realized that he hadn't done enough brewing himself, but that
he had gotten around to doing this delightful little stout. Down
the aisles came carts of stout in pitchers. It brought new meaning
to "Beer, it's not just for Breakfast anymore." I attempted
to log everything we tried that morning and by 1:00pm we had 35
entries in the log (seriously misplaced that sucker, probably
show up in time for the party). All the beers that made it to
the second round of competition were put on ice and available
for most of the day (I mean several hundred varieties!).
And all through the day there were workshops on yeast, hops, grains,
designing recipes. I learned (and drank) a lot.
That evening was the buffet and all the local microbreweries of
Cleveland were on hand distributing bottles of beer, glasses of
beer, etc. After 9:00 I have no clue what we did.
The next day was more of the same, except we had a booze cruise
through the waterways around Cleveland. Now, I never thought I
would say this, but Cleveland is a mighty nice little city. Beer
on the cruise was supplied by the Cleveland Homebrew Club (probably
the S.N.O.B.'s, but I don't remember) and it was good. They brewed
enough for several hundred people to last the evening.
Memories: Seeing the "Further Bus" of Ken Kesey fame
past midnight, parked outside the Rock & Roll Museum. Drinking
Barley Wine at 5 in the morning while watching grown men and women
deteriorate. Waking up three hours later to go to a seminar only
to realize it was standing room only and I wasn't going to stand
for three hours. Charlie P. working hard, just like everyone else
in the AHA, emptying boxes, selling merchandise and being very
accessible. Coveting the Sabco Brew System. Trying to smuggle
a newly made friend onto the booze cruise, but failing. Breaking
bottles accidently while waiting for the elevator just as the
doors open and Security is coming out. Talking to Charlie P. about
the finer points of making Death By Barley Wine. Gallons of Barley
Wine. Literally. Bringing a case of beer to the convention and
leaving with four cases. Our new friends from the Pontiac Brew
Tribe.
Overall, a beery, beery good meeting. Will I go next year? I am
not that dedicated that I feel that I need to make an annual pilgramige.
However, when it gets back to the Mid-West, yeah, I'll go again.
It's a four-day beer summer camp and you can learn a lot, play
a lot and taste more damn beer that I assure you you have never
tried before. The conventioners were the most ruley (opposite
of unruley?) bunch of drinkers I ever meet.
(as forwarded to me through many intermediaries, but most recently,
Pat Babcock).
published by the F.O.R.D.homebrew club
Editor Chris Frey
Contributing Writers
Rich Byrnes
Chris Frey
Joe Sellinger
Johanne Wilson
Club Officers
Rich Byrnes, President
Johanne Wilson, Vice-Pres.
Sandy Bruce, Treasurer
Ted Geftos, Librarian
Chris Frey, Secretary
Jim Bazzy, Event Coordinator
Tyler Barber, Equipment Manager
Pat Babcock, Business Manager
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.
Chris P. Frey
275 S. Ann Arbor St.
Saline, Mi. 48176
Work 313-337-1642
Home 313-944-6618
(w) chris.frey-ford@e-mail.com
(h) crispy@worldnet.att.com
Visit our website at: http://hbd.ord/ford
current circulation.....136, and growing!
