September's meeting was held at Chelsea's, our home away from
home. The meeting was sparsely attended as the weather was beautiful
that night (golf anyone?) About 20 members were in attendance
as we gathered to break bread and open bottles.
The actual meeting was short, as there was no club business to
conduct. Johanne couldn't be there so I got to announce the winner
of the summer light beer competition, Matt Mondro and his Honey
Lager, Matt will be commissioned next year to brew 10 gallons
for our annual Beer-B-Q.
Gabrielle added a competition notice that wasn't in the newsletter,
the Great Baraboo's homebrew competition. Entry applications
were due by September 30, so I won't bother to go over the guidelines.
The actual competition will be held on November 17th at 6 so
everyone is welcome to show up and root for the Fermentals who
did enter. Gabby, Ted and Neal (?) will be helping judge the
competition I believe.
One of the things I did accomplish that night was to canvas the
attendees for suggestions for meetings, the newsletter, the website
etc. Everyone had some good ideas and we will be trying to incorporate
many of those ideas. I passed out all the extra copies of the
newspaper article that our club was featured in (Have You Drunk
A Ford, Lately?) but I'm working on getting some more copies.
If anyone has extras, please donate them to the library for those
that didn't get one, thanks!
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 28th at our
venerable club hangout, Chelsea's.
Several club members won some of the 6-row malt that was generously
donated by the Stroh Brewing Company at the annual Beer-B-Q.
If you were one of the lucky winners, you have probably been wondering
how to use this malt in your favorite recipes where you normally
use 2-row malt. I found two articles that make reference to the
differences between 2-row and 6-row malts.
The first reference is from Greg Walz's Beer Judge Certification
Exam Study Guide found on the F.O.R.D. website:
"Two-row barley will have bigger kernels, and thus more potential
fermentables than six-row. It will also have a smaller husk content,
which makes 2-row beers taste less husky/tannic, and a smaller
protein content. All-malt 2-row beers will taste smoother than
similar beers made with 6-row. 6-row barley, however, has more
enzymes, so it is the choice whenever large amounts of adjuncts
will be used. All-malt beers made exclusively with 6-row will
be slightly darker than 2-row beers and taste heavier. The extra
husk content of 6-row, however, aids in providing a lautering
filterbed."
The second reference is from Charlie Papazian's The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing:
"A higher percentage of the entire weight of 6-row varieties
of malted barley is attributable to the husk and embryo. Generally,
6-row varieties have a greater enzyme potential and are able to
convert as much as 30 to 40 percent extra starch (adjuncts) to
sugars and dextrins. The greater amount of husk material enables
easier filtering during the sparging and lautering process. Brewers
often are concerned with the amount of husk tannins that may be
leached out during excessive or improper sparging techniques.
In summary, 6-row varieties of malted barley will yield less
extract per weight of kernel but are desirable for mashing with
adjuncts due to their generally higher enzyme content."
Papazian then presents some all-grain recipes using both 2-row
and 6-row malts. For example, he uses 6-row in his recipes for
"Amaizeing Pale Ale", "Hesitation Red Maerzen",
"High Velocity Weizen", and "Un-American Light
Beer". He also gives recipes where he pretty much uses 2-row
and 6-row interchangeably. For example, in his "Olde 33"
and "Silver Dollar Porter" recipes he says to use "American
2-row or 6-row."
In short, 2-row and 6-row malts are basically interchangeable.
However, you might want to use slightly more 6-row in recipes
where you would normally use 2-row to make up for the lower amount
of potential fermentables and the higher husk content. 6-row
malt is perfect in any recipe with lots of adjuncts because of
its higher enzyme content. Happy Brewing!
This month's review is on Brew-it-Yourself Center on 13262 Northline,
Southgate, Mi., 48195. (313)-284-9529. Their hours of operations
are 11-7pm Monday thru Friday and 11-5pm on Saturdays.
I spoke to the proprietor, Jim McMillan, about his establishment.
Jim has been a homebrewer for 8 years or so. He started when a
neighbor lent him an ancient book on homebrewing. It was an all-grain
based book and he scrounged materials to make his system and first
batches. He actually had never done an extract brew until he opened
his store. He felt he had better be able to tell customers about
the extract they were purchasing and realized that he was a lot
more credible if he had tried them himself.
He used to work for UPS as a manager and several years ago saw
the handwriting on the walls (downsizing, leading to increased
work loads for those who stayed behind).
Jim wasn't afraid of work. In fact, when he opened his store 2
1/2 years ago, he worked the midnight shift at UPS and then opened
the store after he got off of work. He maintained this dual-career
path until he felt confident enough to quit his job at UPS and
give his full attention to his store.
It was during this year that his wife drained the last keg of
homebrew and decided to become a brewer herself. His store is
primarily a one-man operation. He looked at the downriver area
and picked his stores current location to be as centered as possible
to this market.
A review of his inventory shows a well-stocked store filled with
fresh materials for both beer and wine making. While he doesn't
carry, or attempt to carry all lines of extract, he does carry
a sufficient supply and variety of those companies that he has
had the best results from.
Being a one-man operation, he meets and works with everyone who
comes into the store. He feels that he has suffered through most
of the vexing issues most homebrewers face and therefore can relate
and assist in most problems/issues. He will crush grains for no
charge and carries a good selection of grains, hops and yeast.
I also spied an excellent little jockey box for $119, with 50
feet of tubing to ensure a cool one every time (hey Kathy, looking
for a good Christmas gift for me?). If you brew in the area, stop
in and say hi to Jim and give him some business.
The following is a list of some upcoming beer festivals:
The Taste of the Great Lakes Conference will be held on Saturday,
November 1 in Frankenmuth. Several notable attendees will include
Charlie Papazian and Fred Eckhardt. For more information, call
Jeff Hervert at (517) 652-9081.
Produced by the Craft Beer Institute, this year's Real Ale Festival
is being hosted and sponsored by Chicago's newest brewpub, River
West Brewing Company. The Real Ale Festival is a celebration
of English-style cask-conditioned ale -- a unique form of beer
that delivers the freshest possible product to the consumer.
The Real Ale Festival, held November 7-9, will include a National
Cask Ale Competition, Homebrewed Real Ale Competition, Hop Varietal
Beer Seminar, Cask Ale Education Seminar, and 3 public tasting
events where consumers can enjoy 90 different brands of cask-conditioned
ale from America and Britain. The list of participating breweries
includes one brewery from Michigan -- Arcadia Brewing Company
of Battle Creek.
There will be three guest speakers at the Cask Ale Education Seminar,
including Richard Fuller of Fuller's Brewery in London; one of
Britain's best-known real ale writers, Roger Protz; and Alan Pugsley,
America's leading expert on cask-conditioned ales.
For more information, contact the Craft Beer Institute at (773)
665-1300, or e-mail Ray Daniels at raydan@compuserve.com,
or see the Real Ale Festival web page at http://www.mcs.com/~rdan/RAF.html.
The weather was beautiful, the beer was cold, the food was plentiful,
the music was cool and the company was excellent. Chris invited
the homebrew club, the motorcycle association and many of his
friends from all walks of life to help he and Kathy break in their
house and garage. This was no small feat considering they had
been in the house less than a month and Kathy had been out of
town for most of that. Many Fermentals were there to help Chris
and brought some excellent beers, I remember the bar (the infamous
Tyler/Rich bar) having blueberry porter, raspberry vanilla ale,
London pale ale, cherry wheat, hard lemonade, ale of deathly pallor,
and a potent barley wine to help quench the crowds thirst. Tyler,
Jim Rice, Al Czajkowski, Crispy and Mark Hansen all brought beer
to share, thanks guys! Tyler even broke out a rare bottle of
René Cuve Lambic he picked up in Chicago, what a treat
that was!
Chris and Kathy were excellent hosts, keeping the barbecue cranking
burgers all night while the guests all brought dishes to pass,
I remember some awesome desserts and appetizers that had everyone
nibbling all night long. Chris and Kathy just bought a century
old farmhouse in Saline that has a lot of character, and a lot
of room for Chris's brewery (a basement we would all be envious
of ) and a huge garage to house his Pico brewery. As the evening
chilled, we fired up one of the propane burners as our campfire
to sit around, what a blast! A very special thanks to Chris and
Kathy Frey for hosting this wonderful party.
As the year winds down to an end, it's time to start thinking
about the elected positions in the club. The offices of President
and Treasurer must be Ford employees, but the offices of Secretary,
Vice President and Librarian are open to anyone. Sandy Bruce
who has been with us since the very first meeting has announced
she is stepping down as treasurer so please think about that position
if you are interested.
Ted Geftos is expecting a new baby soon so he has announced he
will be stepping down as librarian, Johanne Wilson and Chris Frey
are yet undecided on whether or not they are running for Vice
President and Secretary again, but Chris is very sure he wants
to turn the reigns of the newsletter editors position over.
I have decided to run for another term as President. There are
several volunteer positions within the club including Newsletter
Editor, Website Manager, Equipment Manager, Business Manager,
and Special Events Coordinator. As these are strictly volunteer
positions we will announce in December which positions will be
open.
For those of you that are considering a career in politics, here
are the "job" descriptions of the various offices. (pulled
from oct-96 Ye Olde Brew News) We also need a volunteer at the
October meeting to become the Election Official, this person will
record all nominations for offices in October and record all votes
in November. If you are interested in running for any office,
please contact Rich Byrnes or Chris Frey to have yourself nominated
IF YOU CAN'T BE AT THE OCTOBER MEETING. For those of you that
can't be at the November meeting, we will have some sort of absentee
ballot.
Office of President
Article 8 of the Fermental Constitution (9/11/96 revision) covers
the duties of the club officers, I will paraphrase and add in
the other duties of the Chief Executive Officer not found in the
chapter.
The President is the chief executive officer and chief administrative
officer of the club. The president establishes the meeting sites
and presides as chairperson during the meetings. The president
has authority to execute contracts based upon Executive Board
approval, and co-sign drafts against the treasury. The president
also has authority to appoint committees within the club (i.e.
Pig Roast committee).
The president represents the club at the monthly (except summer
months) FERA General Council meetings. FERA provides a free meal
to entice attendance, and a formal Christmas party in December
as a reward. The great part of the job is the title, and the knowledge
that you are the Big Cheese of one of the countries premier homebrewing
clubs. You get your name in lights, a handful of business cards...and
if you join right now (oop's too many info-mercials!) Based on
recent IRS rulings, the president of FERA clubs must be an active,
full-time Ford Motor Company employee.
Vice President
The most important role of the VP position is to perform the duties
of the president in case of absence. The VP is a voting and active
member of the executive committee. The Fermentals have also added
the duties outside of the constitution such as scheduling and
organizing the clubs homebrew contests. This includes maintaining
the prize inventory and locating judges. The VP has also historically
spearheaded the coordination of the annual picnic (Beer-B-Que).
The vice presidential position has been an excellent way to be
involved in the shaping of the club, without all the publicity
as the president and secretary.
Secretary
The person that will hold the position of secretary should be
prepared for a multitude of different tasks, taking minutes at
executive and regular meetings, writing up minutes and articles
for the newsletter, copying and distributing the newsletter via
intercompany mail, US mail and profs.
Treasurer
The treasurer collects dues from new members and collects yearly
dues from the active members. Deposit moneys into the savings
account. Dispense moneys for various expenses (to secretary for
newsletters and postage, etc.), for various equipment bought for
club use, raffle items bought and shortages for club meeting bills
(hopefully won't be too many of these in the year). Keeps balance
of savings account and makes sure the account is up to date.
Librarian
The librarian position is really three duties. First; maintain the library and ensure that you keep a record of where the various journals and books are. Second, raise funds (currently through the 50-50 raffle) to purchase new titles. All of the library has been funded separately from the rest of the clubs dues. Third, bring the library to club meetings and ensure that members are aware of their benefit to use this resource. That is the basic duties, the rest is up to the individual to determine what they see as
the best method of disseminating important homebrew information
to the club members.
The Pico system is housed at Tyler Barbers home, please call Tyler
at 313-292-8404 to check the system out. The system is available
to any club member who wishes to check it out. For those of you
who have never seen the system, it's a great way to get together
with a couple brew buddies and make 5-15 gallons of all grain
OR extract beer (rumor has it one of our prestigious brewsters
even brewed 40 gallons one fine weekend, so the system works!)
Even if you don't all grain brew, you can use one burner, one
keg and some other stuff to brew extract beers (how about a 15
gallon batch of your favorite brew, split between a couple buddies?
Sandy Bruce, Sue Merritt and Rich Byrnes are selling Gold C ($10)
and Entertainment books ($40) this year on behalf of FERA, profits
will go back to the club. If anyone else at Ford is interested
in selling these books, please contact me and I will fill you
in on the details of being a building rep for these books. We
will also be selling auto show tickets again this year if you're
interested.
"People who drink "light beer" don't really like
the taste of beer; they just like to pee a lot." - Capital
Brewery, Middletown, WI.
We had 4 entries in last month's "Weiss is Nice" competition.
The winner of this competition can enter his/her beer into the
AHA Club-only "Weiss is Nice" competition. Although
we only had a few entries, the beers were exceptionally good.
The judges (Ted Geftos and myself) unanimously agreed that Gary
Shewchuk's "Weizenheimer" deserved top honors.
1st Place
Name: Gary Shewchuk
AHA Style: 19b. Weizen/Weissbier
Score: 45/50
This beer was an impeccable example of the style, with the typical
banana and clove aroma evident in the nose. The banana flavor
dominated the flavor profile, with a bready taste from the yeast.
It also had a clove flavor in the back of the mouth along with
a slight vanilla taste. Overall, an extremely well balanced and
complex hefeweizen with absolutely no off-flavors. In fact, the
only fault that we could find with Gary's hefeweizen was a low
carbonation level. An excellent hefeweizen!
2nd Place
Name: Scott Henry
AHA Style: 19b. Weizen/Weissbier
Score: 38/50
Scott's hefeweizen had a straw/golden color with some wonderful
banana and fruity esters. It also had a slight clove and banana
flavor with no off-flavors. The only flaw with this beer was
the low head retention and carbonation levels. All in all, a
splendidly brewed hefeweizen.
3rd Place
Name: Don Parisot
AHA Style: 19c. Dunkelweizen
Score: 33/50
Don's dunkelweizen had a wonderful sweet malt aroma and chocolate
malt flavor, along with a beautiful dark brown color as is typical
for this style. But it was missing some the esters usually found
in a dunkelweizen. Otherwise, a very delicious homebrew.
Thanks go to all the entrants and judges, as well as Mike Arend
for acting as the steward for the competition. And good luck
to Gary in the AHA competition!
6# Munton & Fison 55% Dry Wheat Extract (Unhopped)
1 oz. Tettenanger Hop Pellets
Wyeast Weihenstephen Yeast
Boil time 60 min.
Add extract and hops, boil for 60 min. Cool.
O.G. = 1.048
F.G. = 1.011
12 day primary @ 74 F
Bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar.
This is the season for Oktoberfests, so don't drink all of your
brew, reserve some this competition!
The AHA defines this style as follows:
Vienna: Reddish brown or copper in color. Light to medium body.
Malty aroma, slight malt sweetness and clean hop bitterness. "Noble-type"
(that is German style) hop aromas and flavors are used, in the
low to medium range. Fruity ester, diacetyl and chill hazes should
not be perceived. This beer is made with a lager yeast.
Marzens are medium bodied, color can range from golden to reddish
brown. Sweet or toasty maltiness should dominate over a clean
hop bitterness. Hop aroma and flavor are low but noticeable,
as with the Vienna lager, fruity ester, diacetyl and chill hazes
should not be perceived.
Oktoberfests are more full bodied than marzens, are darker in
color than Marzens, with all other Marzen characteristics.
Before entering your brew, try judge yourself which of the three
categories it falls into. The beer that gets high points is that
which is close to style, as well as a good tasting brew.
Also, if you are interested in helping us judge, please see me
or Gabrielle Palmer. We normally get many entries in this category,
so we can use all the help we can get. No experience necessary
and it is a great way to learn about beers.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Middle-aged men who binge on beer - drinking six or more bottles per session - have a six times greater risk of having a fatal heart attack, a seven times greater risk of dying violently, and a three times greater risk of dying overall compared with men who drink less than three bottles per session, according to a study in the British Medical Journal.
The new findings come from a study that monitored death rates
from any cause over nearly eight years among 1,641 beer drinkers
living in Kuopio, Finland. Of these, 76 (about 4%) were binge
drinkers. When the study began, the men ranged in age from 42
to 60.
The researchers say the increase in death from all causes among
binge drinkers was independent of age or total alcohol consumption.
The increased death rates among beer bingers were also not affected
significantly by other factors such as smoking, unemployment,
previous diseases, marital status, blood pressure, or cholesterol
levels.
Given the new findings, the Finnish investigators say researchers
should look beyond total alcohol intake when studying the effects
of drinking on health.
"Our findings suggest that drinking pattern may have independent
effects on health that are not explained by total (alcohol) consumption,"
they write.
But the underlying reasons for the increased mortality risks
among beer bingers remains unclear.
"The reason that the men who indulged in heavy drinking
sessions had an increased risk of death in our follow-up study
might come from the beer itself, from the pattern of heavy acute
intake (binging), or from other characteristics that are associated
with men who prefer to drink six or more beers at a time,"
the researchers state.
"Risks of injuries, poisoning, violence, and suicide apparently
increase with acute intoxication," write the researchers.
They say that the risk of heart attack after a heavy intake of
beer may be due to possible events in heart muscle and/or in the
coronary arteries that could trigger a fatal heart attack. These
events could include sudden heart rhythm abnormalities, blood
clots, and coronary artery blockages.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal
OC-4 & TCI of Oakland County will air an interview of Doug
Geiss and the writer on the topic of homebrewing. Doug, Rich Byrnes
and I meet at the Oakland Community Cable production studio earlier
this month to record a half-hour special on homebrewing. OC4 is
a Public Access television station (TCI Channel 52). The program
will air on Thursday, October 23rd at 6:30 pm (would someone in
the area PLEASE video a copy of this program and make me a copy,
thank you).
*ahem* La la la la...*ahem* LAAAAAAAA!
DO......the stuff...that buys me beer...
RAY....the guy who sells me beer...
ME......the guy...who drinks the beer,
FAR....a long way to get beer...
SO.......I'll have another beer...
LA......I'll have another beer...
TEA...No thanks, I'm drinking beer...
That will bring us back to...
(looks into an empty glass)
D'OH!
Pilsener - 35 Entries
Gold - Stoudt's Pils,
Stoudt Brewing Co., Adamstown, PA
Silver - Atwater Pilsener,
Atwater Block Brewery, Detroit, MI
Bronze - Bavarian Pilsener, Bavarian Brewing Company, Ltd., Mammee,
OH
American-Style Light Lager
22 Entries
Gold - Old Milwaukee Light, The Stroh Brewery Company, Detroit, MI
Silver - Southpaw Light, Plank Road Brewery, Milwaukee, WI
Bronze - Coors Light, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, CO
American-Style Lager 22 Entries
Gold - Drummond Bros. Lager, Evansville Brewing Company, Inc., Evansville, IN
Silver - Busch, Anheuser-Busch, Inc., St. Louis, MO
Bronze - Old Milwaukee, The Stroh Brewery Company, Detroit,
MI
American-Style Premium Lager 17 Entries
Gold - Stroh's, The Stroh Brewery Company, Detroit, MI
Silver - Miller Genuine Draft, Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee WI
Bronze - Miss Liberty Lager, Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery, Myrtle
Beach, SC
American-Style Specialty Lager 22 Entries
Gold - Olde English Malt Liquor, Pabst Brewing Company, Tumwater, WA
Silver - Laser Malt Liquor, Falstaff Brewing Co., Tumwater, WA
Bronze - Schlitz Malt Liquor, St. Ides Brewing Company, Detroit,
MI
Check out www.winebarrel.com when you get a chance. Mark George
would like comments and he also has posted coupons on the net
as well! Scope it out and give him feedback.
"Put it back in the horse." - H. Allen Smith, an American humorist in the '30s - '50s, after drinking his first American beer.
F.O.R.D. BREW NEWS
published by the F.O.R.D.homebrew club
Editor Chris Frey
Contributing Writers
Club Officers
Correspondence should be directed to:
Visit our website at: http://www.be.ford.com/brewery/ or external to Ford - http://hbd.org/ford
current circulation.....130