Rich started the meeting with an introduction of some of our new
members. He discussed the legalization rally at Big Buck (details
inside) and gave out Hop Posters from the new Zymurgy Hop Edition.
He also passed out info on a company that specializes in draft
systems and will do custom work as well.
Johanne passed out several ribbons for the recent winners of our
most recent competition and collected entries for the Ocktoberfest
competition (only one submission! Good luck Jim, but I think you
have this one in the bag). She also mentioned that the next local
BJCP test is going to be held February 11th, 1998. Contact Johanne
Wilson for details.
Tony Truesch volunteered for election monitor for the upcoming
elections, but this was later modified to a volunteer to be Vice-President,
so we probably need an election monitor - will discuss at next
meeting.
We had a special guest speaker - Mr. Patrick Reynolds. Pat is
a Leader at Henry Ford Greenfield Village and he is a brewing
Historian. He has been working in Museums for 10+ years and as
of late can be found providing details of beer history in his
talks to visitors.
He started by pointing out that beer has been extremely important
to American history. In the 1700's it wasn't safe to drink the
water pretty much in any town. Although people didn't understand
why their water was unsanitary, unhealthy, etc., they did understand
that if you brewed with it and drank the beer, you had a significantly
greater chance of surviving.
Beers during this period were usually "small beers",
drunk by young and old alike. Their alcohol content probably averaged
around 2%. Ginger ale and root beer were not so distant cousins
of the style brewed at this time.
And beers were not really brewed so much to style. Rather, fermented
beverages were known by their area that they were brewed in. Small
beers were rarely fermented through. Instead, they tended to be
aged, oh, a week or so and then drunk!
Brewing back then tended to be more of a woman's craft (ergo,
the Ale Wife). Women learned from their Mom, and most men didn't
want to know and marry a woman whose Mother didn't or couldn't
brew.
Pat reiterated the fact that the landing at Plymouth Rock was
due to the crew on the Mayflower running out of beer. The first
brews in this country were definitely made from malted maize,
as there were no native barley plants. Pumpkin Ale was brewed
as well as molasses beer, Spruce beer, etc.
Yeast back then was unknown, but they called that stuff on the
bottom of the last batch "godisgreat" and knew enough
to pitch the godisgreat into each new batch. Mash Tuns were barrels
and brewers knew their Coopers (barrelmakers). In the old days,
there was only the single-infusion mash. None of these double
decoctions thank you. The thermometer was a finger, which is pretty
amazing when you realize the close temps needed to brew beer.
All sorts of neat stuff was utilized before hops plants were imported.
Black pepper, hot pepper, sage, heather (reported to have mystical
qualities!).
All in all, Pat educated the crowd and amused us when he showed
us his mash tun ( an old wooden barrel, basically). If you are
at Dearborn Village and you see a man discussing brewing in the
olde days, stop and say hi to Pat.
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 19th at
our venerable club hangout, Chelsea's. The club meeting
is being pushed up a week (and will be in December as well) due
to the holidays. The December meeting will be on Tuesday, December
16th.
For those of you who are new to the club, Chelseas is located
on Van Born between Telegraph and Southfield (midway, on the North
side). Their address is 22120 Van Born and their number is 313-278-0888
Why bother spending your time and money making starters and stepping
up packets of yeast when you can get an almost unending supply
of fresh, healthy yeast absolutely free! Micro-breweries and
brewpubs end up washing much of their yeast down the drain because
they just keep multiplying far beyond what the brewery needs.
Each of the local microbreweries/brewpubs listed below have generously
offered to share their yeast with us whenever they can. Call
ahead at least a day in advance to see if the yeast that you are
looking for is available and to arrange to pick it up. Bring
a sterilized container for the yeast, such as a mason jar or a
plastic zip-lock bag. While you're there, be sure to try a few
of their wonderful beers or pick up a six-pack to enjoy while
you are brewing up your latest ale or lager. After all, it's
the least you can do for all of those wonderful yeasties you've
just gotten!
Atwater Block Brewery
237 Jos. Campau
Detroit, MI
(313) 393-2337
Ask for Tom Majorosi (Brewmaster)
Atwater uses the following yeasts:
King Brewing Co.
895 Oakland Ave.
Pontiac, MI
(248) 745-5900
Ask for Jeff Meier (Brewer) or
Scott King (Owner)
King Brewing uses the following yeasts:
Motor City Brewing Works
470 W. Canfield
Detroit, MI
(313) 832-2700
Ask for John Linardos (Brewer)
Motor City uses the following yeast exclusively:
Royal Oak Brewery
215 E. Fourth St.
Royal Oak, MI
(810) 544-1141
Ask for Wayne Burns (Brewmaster)
Royal Oak uses Wyeast exclusively:
Several other local breweries have offered to share their yeast
with us, including Big Buck Brewery & Steakhouse and Great
Baraboo Brewing Company, but I was unable to reach their brewers
for confirmation before this article was published. I will publish
this information again when I get more information from those
breweries.
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?
In English pubs, ale is ordered in pints and quarts; so in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".
Ford is being called a good neighbor by the people of the former
Soviet Union, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company
produces Escort and Transit vehicles at a venture outside Minsk.
Ford allows employees from the Lenin collective farm, located
next door to the site, to cultivate a barley crop on the company's
property. The Belarusian government and a local Ford dealer have
a stake in the Ford facility.
OK, boys and girls. The precedent has been set. Now go to your
plant and area managers and see if they will let us grow hops/barley
on some of our local sites!
On Monday, November 3rd, there was a Michican Legalization Rallly
held at the recently opened Big Buck Brewery in Auburn Hills (affectionatly
known as BB #3). The event was sponsored by Rex Halfpenny ( Michigan
Beer Guide), Brian Rezac (AHA Administrator) and Scott Graham
(Big Buck Corporate Brewer).
In late October, Anthony's HB 4850 went to committee and passed.
Now, as of this writing, it awaits further action on the Senate
Floor. What this bill will do is add one word to Prohibition Repeal
legislation. That's right, one word. In the section that discusses
wine and cider making, they need to add the word beer.
Big Buck laid out a buffet of serious eats for the estimated 130 people who attended. I counted over a dozen Fermentals (Rich, Gabby, Sandy, Bruce, Tyler, Jim, Howard, Mike, Jeff, John, Neal, Ted, Bret and myself). The Pontaic Brew Tribe had a similarly strong showing. Several local Home Brew merchants, brewmeisters from Atwater Block, Royal Oak and of course Big Buck, Pico, and other ventures that relate to homebrewing, along with other homebrewers, their mates and family rounded out the rogue gallery.
Rex started off the meeting by getting everyone into the brewery
area and basically got down to the reason for our being there:
he wants us to write a letter to our Senator supporting the passage
of legislation to legalize our hobby. I felt he was effective
in getting the message across and I have attached the letter I
wrote to my Senator.
Rex introduced Scott Grahman, Brewmaster for Big Buck. He was
the brewmaster at the original Big Buck in Gaylord and has been
instrumental in the development of the other two (BB #2 is in
Grand Rapids, affectionately known as Little Buck). He mentioned
that BB is a publicly owned company. Their focus is on producing
good beer and food (the dark beers had a great deal more flavor
and character, but the "lite" beers should be a commercial
success).
Scott received a fair amount of good-natured ribbing for the commercial
"lite" products that they sell and indicated that they
always have a specialty beer on tap that homebrewers should appreciate
(their bock was delicious that evening). All three BB's share
their specialty beers, so you may end up drinking something that
was brewed in Grand Rapids.
Their system is currently producing 95 barrels a week and they
are hoping to expand their capacity and get into lagering in the
future.
Joke: What does Buck Naked Lite (their lite beer) and making love
in a canoe have in common? They are both f*cking close to water.
Then Brian spoke as an AHA representative to let us know why it is important to legalize homebrew in all fifty states (currently only 32 states clearly recognize homebrew as legal; 7 have laws that are unclear and 11 it is still illegal, including Michigan). Recently, in Delaware (Brian's home state, but we won't hold that against him), a brew pub was sponsoring a homebrew competition. An anonymous call to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission (ABC's exist in many states) forced the state to review it's laws, determine that it was indeed illegal and they caused the event to shut down.
Another thing that would behoove us all if homebrewing was legal
in all fifty states is then it would be legal to send homebrew
via UPS or the Post Office (what, you didn't know interstate transport
of homebrew was illegal?!?).
Brian was kicked off of his soap box and Rex launched into a brief
history of beer. He covered much the same ground as our speaker
did the week before, but added a few spicey nuggets.
A 1767 survey of beer consumption in Massachusetts found that
the average adult drank five gallons of beer A DAY! That's what
he said. Food basically consisted of pork and grits. Pork and
grits for breakfast, lunch and dinner. People spent, on average
five minutes eating their meals during this time. It was a chore,
not something they looked forward to. But beer...I digress.
Pilgrams brewed in 30 gallon batches. They mostly brewed small
beers, utilizing the indigenous ingredients. Water, spruce, wheat
bran and barley would be mashed together and a few handful of
hops would be tossed into the boil. this mess would then be strained,
some molasses stirred in, put into another vessel and yeast would
then be added. The brew was then ready to drink THE NEXT DAY!
I wonder if they sucked down their five gallons of swill as quickly
as they ate their meals?
Bottom line - good time had by all, many little freebies were
given away, we got another good brewery in the neighborhood and
we should all write to our Senator.
To: The Honorable Senator Jim Berryman P.O. Box 30036
State Capitol Building
Lansing, Mi. 48909-7536
From: Chris P. Frey
275 S. Ann Arbor St.
Saline, Mi. 48176
Re: House Bill 4850
I am writing you today to request your support of HB 4850. This
bill will correct an apparent oversight dating back to the repeal
of Prohibition; the legalization of homebrewing beer. Homebrewing
has a long and storied history in the U.S. and Michigan. My family
has a tradition with homebrewing before, during and after Prohibition.
In fact, my great-grandfather came from Germany in the 1860's
and started a brewery in Grand Rapids that was active from 1863
until his death in 1893.
I am an active homebrewer. I am a member and officer of the largest
homebrewing club in Michigan, the Fermental Order of Renaissance
Draughtsman, or F.O.R.D. for short. Our club is sponsored by Ford
under their umbrella of non-profit recreational clubs. We share
technical information, help new-comers to the hobby and compete
at a local, state and even national basis. I personally won a
ribbon at the Michigan State Fair this year for one of my creations.
The point is, even with it's current "outlaw" status,
homebrewing is active in Michigan, and supported by the community.
When Jimmy Carter corrected the oversight created by Prohibition's
repeal in 1979, eleven states, including Michigan, did not, and
homebrewing is still technically illegal in our state. HB 4850
will correct this and take our respected hobby out of the "rogue"
category and into the legitimate mainstream, where it belongs.
Thank you for your time and I hope you will support the passage of this bill.
Sincerely,
Chris P. Frey
Editors Note: All Senators share the same address; all you have
to do is find out which one works for you - a call to the Sec.
of State or your local town hall will give you the name of your
particular Senator.
Well, it looks like it's going to be a one-horse race so far.
Rich Byrnes has agreed to run for President another year, Tony
Treusch is the vice-presidential nominee, Chris Frey has agreed
to remain Secretary, David Peters has agreed to run for Treasurer
and Johanne Wilson has agreed to be Librarian. There is still
time to throw in your hat, even at the meeting. However, assuming
that this is the ballot, get to know you officers if you don't
already. While it is obvious that we don't have a great deal of
people with the time to make the commitment to run for office,
if you have a good idea or want to spearhead an event, let one
of us know. Want to do a public demo at one of your favorite retailers?
Let's make it a Club event, use the club PICO, get out the club
banners, ect. Want to see more songs at the barbque? Volunteer!
While it may require a bit of your time, when you coordinate an
event you feel good about yourself and you help spread the good
word about the club. OK, I am off my soapbox.
Anheuser-Busch: Calls its flagship drink the king of beers, but
the St. Louis-based brewing giant can also lay claim to being
the world's largest recycler of aluminum cans. Anheuser-Busch,
Recycling Corp., the company's St. Louis based recycling arm,
handled 607 million pounds of aluminum beverage cans last year
through a collection and purchasing network scattered throughout
the lower 48 states. Even though the company is the world's largest
brewer, AB still collects more aluminum cans than even it can
use. Efforts cover virtually everything used at the plant - even
the wood chips the company touts in its beechwood-aged brewing
process (be still my sarcastic tounge-ed.). The company also trucks
out 400,000,000 pounds of used grain each year, which dairy farms
within a several-hundred-mile radius use for feed (got Bud?).
You can tell much about some people by the items adorning their
cubicles. My friend's desk had sundry plaques and awards from
various well done assignments, separate school photos of each
of his six children, and a magazine cover showing one of his friends
and fellow pole-vaulters in action. What first caught my eye
and began our friendship was a poster from Merchant Du Vin with
wonderfully detailed descriptions of beers from around the globe.
Mike and I shared the same mistress, beer and the art of making
it.
Over the past four years I made many trips to Cleveland Engine
Plant #2. Rarely did I not have time to head back to the Quality
Office, where Mike worked as a supervisor for the Dynamometer
and Teardown room, to discuss the latest batch, best commercial
brew, newest brewpub, and on occasion exchange a bottle or two
for evaluation.
Mike brewed all-grain beers in the cool months and stored them
in is fruit cellar for year round consumption. His beers were
brewed only with the rainwater that his gutter system stored in
a large cistern below his home in rural Ohio.
Tonight I am drinking a smoked Octoberfest (Rauchbier) that I
(plus Tim and Ted) brewed in Mike's memory. Mike Berken left
this world earlier this fall after a year long bout with leukemia.
This beer has been lagering and warm aging for months, and now
that I am settling into my new home I finally set the time aside
for kegging, the first taste, and this letter I promised to write.
I believe you would enjoy this beer, Mike (after all the last
beer of yours I tasted was coconut curry!) but it is most important
that I enjoy it and remember you.
In a week or two I am going to invite my minister over to bless
this new house. His requested fee for the blessing is the taste
of some of my homebrews. I look forward to sharing this special
applewood-smoked beer with him and others while sharing the special
memories it carries.
Farewell friend, I look forward to our next chat over one of your cool ones - Cheers!
Wyeast Recommendations
The following beer descriptions are taken from the American Homebrewers
Association National Homebrew Competition Guidelines (with some
adjustments by Wyeast Labs).
Yeasts for use with various Ales
English Pale Ale, Bitters Low to medium maltiness, high hop bitterness,
low to medium diacetyl OK, Fruitiness/esters OK (or even "highly
desirable") 1028, 1098, 1968
American-style Pale Ale, Generally drier than British pale ales;
high hop bitterness; high hop aroma. Low diacetyl OK. Fruity/estery
1056, 1028, 1338
Brown Ale/Mild, Low bitterness; sweet and malty. Low esters; low
diacetyl OK. Light to medium body 1028, 1338, 1084
Scottish Ale, Low bitterness; medium to high maltiness. Medium
body. Low diacetyl OK 1728, 1056, 1084
Scottish Strong Ale, Medium to full body; very malty. Low bitterness.
Medium to high diacetyl. High alcohol 1728, 1056
English Strong Ale, Medium to full body; malty; medium to high
bitterness. fruitiness/esters high. Low diacetyl OK. High alcohol.
1968, 1028, 1098
Porter, Medium to full body; low to medium sweetness; medium to
high bitterness; fruitiness/esters high. Low diacetyl OK 1084,
1028, 1056
Dry Stout, Medium to full body. Medium to high bitterness. Sweet
maltiness. No hop flavor or aroma. Diacetyl low to medium. Alcohol
low to medium 1084, 1007, 1028
Sweet Stout, Medium to full body. Low bitterness. No hop flavor
or aroma. Low to medium alcohol. Low diacetyl OK 1968,1338,1056
Imperial Stout, Malty. Fruitiness/esters OK. High hop bitterness
an flavor. Full body; high alcohol 1084, 1056, 1728
Barley Wine, Malty sweet. Fruity/estery. Medium to full body.
Very high alcohol. Low to medium diacetyl OK 1728, 1084, 1056
Dusseldorf-style Altbier, Light to medium body; medium to high
bitterness. Low hop flavor. Low fruitiness and esters 1007,1338,1056
Kolsch, Light to medium body; dry. Medium bitterness; low hop
flavor and aroma 2565,1007,1338
Yeasts for use with various Lagers
Bohemian Pilsner, Light to medium body. Medium to high bitterness
low to medium hop flavor; high hop aroma. Low to medium maltiness
Low diacetyl OK. No fruitiness/esters 2124, 2007, 2278
German Pilsner, Light to medium body. Dry. Bitter. Medium to high
hop flavor and aroma. Very low diacetyl OK. No fruitiness/esters
2007, 2124, 2308
American Pilsner, Light body. Low to medium bitterness; low to
medium hop aroma. No fruitiness/esters or diacetyl 2035,2007,2278
German Light Lager (Helles), Medium maltiness. Low bitterness.
Hopflavor and aroma. Low diacetyl OK. No fruitiness/esters 2308,
2206, 2035
Dortmund/Export, Medium body. Medium maltiness. Medium bitterness.
Hop flavor and aroma. No fruitiness/esters or diacetyl 2206,2308,2035
Vienna/Oktoberfest/Maerzenbier, Malty sweetness; medium body.
Low to medium bitterness. Low hop flavor and aroma. No fruitiness/esters
or diacetyl 2206, 2278, 2308
Bavarian Dark (Dunkel), Medium body. Medium bitterness. Low diacety
OK. No fruitiness/esters 2206, 2308
Bock/Doppelbock, Full body. Malty. Low bitterness. Low diacetyl OK. No fruitiness/esters. Medium to high alcohol 2124, 2278, 2007
California Common Beer, Medium body; medium to high hop bitterness
and flavor. Fruitiness/esters low 2112
Yeasts for use with various Wheat Beers
American Wheat, Light to medium body. Low to medium bitterness.
Some malt and hop aroma. Low to medium fruitiness/esters. Low
diacetyl OK 1007,1056
Bavarian Weizenbier, Light to medium body. fruity/estery/phenolic.
Low bitterness. Low hop flavor and aroma OK. No diacetyl. Distinctive
clove/banana/vanilla aroma/flavor evident 3068, 3056
Belgian Witbier, Low to medium bitterness. Low to medium body.
Dry tart. Low to medium esters. Some phenolic notes in aroma/flavor
3944
Berliner Weisse, Light body. Dry. Sharp lactic sourness. Fruity
and estery. Very low bitterness; no hop character. No diacetyl
3068 with sour mash or L bulgaricus
Yeasts for use with special Styles
Belgian Ales (dubbel, tripel, abbey, grand cru), Everything, all
over the map. All marked by distinctive contributions from the
yeast 1214, 3944
Lambic, Sour, horsey. Fruity/estery. Can be phenolic 3278
F.O.R.D.
BREW NEWS
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
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