Election 95

Well, the dust has settled and smoke has cleared, the votes are tallied, the winners celebrating and the losers tearing down the posters at campaign headquarters, when all is said and done Neal Petty has emerged victorious as the clubs President for another year, Tom Herron stepped down as Vice President and Tim Tepatti is now our new VP, Sandy Bruce won by a landslide for another year as treasurer, Doug Geiss and Chris Frey were at a virtual tie for librarian until Doug voted for Chris, go figure? And your humble servant, me, will be taking minutes and cranking the newsletters for another year (gee thanks! ) So congratulations to all those who won a prestigious seat on the board and we look forward to seeing the club grow and evolve with the new board members.

A special thanks to Doug LaCureaux for volunteering to be our election official, great work Doug!

Novembers Minutes......

Last months meeting was a lot of fun in Royal Oak. We met at the Royal Oak Brewery on 4th street (if you missed it, you gotta make a point of getting there someday!) and about 28 members and guests showed up, it was a bit farther away than we normally drive, and the parking was a pain in the rear (standard Royal Oak parking situation, nothing special!) but not too many people seemed to mind. There was some controversy about the meeting location, some members felt it was a bit far to drive and perhaps a meeting at an active brewpub would be disruptive to the election process and the judging process for the Brown Ale competition but it turned out OK for those that showed up, this was after all a social meeting. We are currently investigating alternate meeting locations much closer to Dearborn (this months meeting is in Dearborn Heights and may very well be a home base if things work out good!)

Royal Oak Brewery has 4 house beers including a porter, a bitter, and a red and a light ale, there is also a 5th floater called the brewers choice which this month was a brown ale (Nut Brown?)

The food was excellent and the menu had quite a variety of good food on it at reasonable prices.

the Brewmaster, Wayne Burns, was on hand to talk to us and show off his equipment (no pun intended!) to those interested in a tour.

Neal started the meeting with an introduction as there were some new faces in the crowd.

Doug LeCureaux, our election official then announced the election results.

More Nov. Minutes...

I brought in a bag of T-shirts in every size from the shop we will be getting our shirts from. I'll have the bag again at the December meeting, after that we will place the order, if anyone is interested in ordering extra shirts, now's the time to let us know. I also talked about the Box Bar in Plymouth, according to an article in the Plymouth Observer & Eccentric the Box Bar has finally reached an agreement with the city for parking places, this was a major hurdle for the Box Bar becoming a brewpub. Although no specific timeframe was mentioned in the article, I would bet that they will be moving fast on this. The article did state that they don't have a Brewmaster yet, so get those resumes spiffied up and sample beers ready to go!!

Toms crossword puzzle contest will finally happen next month. Bring your completed crossword puzzles to next months meeting, or send them to Tom Herron at MD33 POEE early on for review, Tom is a night shift employee so please don't fax him anything. There is a set of pint glasses on the line for the winner, all correct entries will go into a drawing.

Neal then talked about different sites for meetings, we are growing as a club and a meeting location that better serves our needs is a next step in the clubs evolution. Traffic Jams has been excellent to us, ever since we outgrew the back room and started filling that back area behind the wall we have always had to compete noise-wise with the rest of the restaurant, this has been a problem on occasion. We will see how things go at Chelsea's, let's hope for the best.

The last thing on the agenda for the meeting was a brainstorming notice, we will be asking for everyone's input for the club events for '96 so start thinking ahead; what new events would you like to do, how could we do what we do better?, what did we do that you thought we should drop? You get the picture. I want everyone to know that your input is valuable and every member has a voice.

Competition News

Novembers competition was the AHA Club Only contest Brown Ales, there was 6 entries including Royal Oak's Brown Ale as a ringer, interestingly enough, the Royal Oak beer won by the basis of points, although was disqualified as an entry for AHA purposes.

The actual club first place award was the Renaissance Brown Ale brewed by Tim Tepatti, Al Czajkowski, Chris Frey, Mark Tenbrink and Tony Treusch(?), 2nd place went to Bob Niemi, 3rd to Jim Bazzy, 4th to Tom Plocher and 5th to Bart Clark, congratulations to the Renaissance Team and to all who entered. We haven't officially nailed down the 96 competition schedule but there is a Pale Ale AHA contest in January, entries will be due BEFORE the meeting in January due to the entry deadline, stay tuned for more details.

Winning Recipes

Past due Category....

Tim's Paranoid Porter

15 gallon all grain batch
24 Lbs. 2 row Malt

3 Lbs. Munich Malt

1.5 Lbs Crystal

2 Lbs. Chocolate

2 Lbs Black Patent

1 Oz Cascade 4% 60 Mins

2 Oz Nugget 14.4% 60 Mins

1.5 Oz. Cascade 20 Mins

.5 Oz. Cascade 5 Mins

Yeast unknown

OG, FG Unknown

Renaissance Red Nut Brown Ale

15 Gallon All Grain

24 Lbs Pale 2 row

1 Lb. Toasted

3 Lbs. Crystal

½ Lb. Chocolate Malt

3 Tsp. Irish Moss

6 caramels

2 Lbs. Dark Brown Sugar

4 Oz. Kent 60 Min

2 Oz. Fuggles 60 Min

1 Oz. Fuggles 30 Min

1 Oz. Fuggles 10 Min

Yeast: Unknown

OG/FG Unknown

Member News

Neal Petty's Imperial Stout took a 2nd and Jim Bazzy's Porter took a 3rd at the Taste Of The Great Lakes competition, congratulations to both!!

Bulk Grain Purchase

The Ann Arbor Brewers Guild (AABG) has invited us to join them for their annual bulk grain purchase, although exact prices aren't known right now the list of grains is as follows:

Schrier Malts(around $25/50Lb)

Domestic-Wisconsin

2 Row Pale

6 Row Pale

Caramel 10/20/30/60

DeWolf Cosyns(around $50/50Lb)

imported-Belgium

Pale Ale, Pilsen, Wheat

Munich

Aromatic

Caramel Pils

Caravienne

Caramunich

Special B (YUM!!)

Biscuit

Chocolate

Black Malt

Roasted

Neal has data sheets on all the grains if you're interested, and he is the person to contact if you want in on this deal, call him at 50491 or 313-382-1166

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:

Rich Byrnes,

30972 Cousino

Warren, MI 48092

Voice/Fax 810-558-9844

Rich.Byrnes@e-Mail.com

CompuServe 75113,411

Habermanns Corner

Hops used in brewing beer are the dried blossom of the female hop plant (humulus lupulus). These flowers grow into a cone shaped strobile on the female plant. The hop is native to northern temperate zones and is found in Europe, Asia, Japan, and North America. It's use in beer can be traced to Continental Europe in the 8th Century, and it was first used in Germany in the 12th Century.

Use of hops in beer gained popularity due to their bacteriostatic effect. A hop rate of 3gm/5 gallon provides an iso-alpha acid level strong enough to prevent the growth of spoilage bacteria. Most countries today use a minimal level for the product to be called beer. Hops also provide beta acids and essential oils. The use of hops provide flavor, stability, and aid in foam retention.

The hop plant itself is a perennial. When planting hops, a cutting of the rootstock is planted in hills 2 yards apart in well drained soil. In the western U.S., the only remaining commercial fields are plowed in March, the vines are trained in May, and the flowers are harvested from mid August to mid September depending on the variety. Only the female plants are cultivated as the male plant is of no value except to pollinate certain varieties (Fuggle, Bullion, Brewers Gold), and causes increased seed generation which adds weight to the bail.

Hops are harvested once per year, the timing of which varies with location and weather conditions. Hallertau, Tettnanger, Fuggle, and Saaz are harvested early in the season, while Cascade, Willamette, Nugget, Bullion, and Spalt are late varieties. In judging ripeness, the flowers are felt for a slight dampness and springiness by pressing in the palm of the hand. The flower should stay compressed and feel papery and light, leaving the hand sticky.

To harvest the hop, vines are cut to ground and the entire vine is trucked to where the cones are stripped from the plants. Fresh cones have 80% moisture and are kiln dried to 8-9% moisture. The temperature of these kilns is 122 - 158 degrees F to for 8-15 hours. After kilning, the hops are allowed to cool and are then mixed to get a uniform quality before being packed in burlap sacks in 200 LB bales.

Kiln drying hops provides for optimal storage. The flowers are fluffed daily, because they can become moldy, wilted, and rancid if moisture is trapped. After about three days the moisture level is around 10%.

When choosing hops, find a reputable store that uses dry, cold, dark storage, preferably in vapor barrier sealed (nitrogen) mylar or plastic. The color should be green to greenish yellow with lemon yellow lupulin. It is best to avoid brown, reddish, orange hops since this indicates oxidation. The odor should be typical for variety with no sulfur or earthy aroma. The flowers should feel springy, not mushy, dry not brittle with only small amounts of seeds or stems. An indication of old hops is a rancid or cheesy taste, and odors like oily or sour.

The alpha acid percent is the percent of flowers by weight composed of alpha resin (humulone, columulone, and adhumulone). These acids convert to iso-alpha acids (now water soluble) during the boil and give a clean bitterness and provide spoilage retardant preservatives. The beta acids (lupulone, colupulone and adlipulone) actually have a minimal contribution to beer.

When storing hops, the idea is to keep them as cold as possible (-5 to 30 F) which will slow oxidation, and away from air. Pellets take less space for storage and can be kept in oxygen barrier bags in a freezer until needed. Frozen in this way hops could last a few years. Consider them bad when oxidation has given them a cheesy aroma. Oxidized alpha acids lose bitterness and cannot be isomerized. Although some literature states that cold storage and anaerobic conditions are not necessary for bittering hops, my personal experience with bittering hops has been to the contrary. Treat your bittering hops the same as your aroma hops -- in the freezer away from air and warm temperatures.

There are many advantages to using pellets. They store better than whole hops since the resins are protected better than whole hops. The protection from moisture and oxygen helps the pellets keep longer too. Pellets increase hot break but don't have to be filtered like whole hops. Pellets are easy to handle, there is reduced deterioration, and an increase in alpha utilization (need 20% more leaf than pellets).

Another form of hops is isomerized hop extracts, created when bales are shredded, then the cones extracted with an organic solvent like hexane, then extracted further with aqueous alkali. The advantages of this process include a long shelf life, accurate measurement and consistent quality. However, isomerized extracts contain only vital alpha acids necessary for bittering and non-isomerized extracts must be added to the boil, and don't use them for dry hopping due to the presence of solvents.

Plugs, or Type 100 pellets, are whole hop flowers compressed into half-ounce round disks. When added to the boil, these pellets expand to resemble whole flowers. This form is a good compromise between fresh whole and pellets because they are packaged in oxygen barrier sacks like pellets, and are easily stored.

To grow hops at home, all that is needed is sufficient sun and climbing space. Hops produce an annual vine from permanent root stock called a crown and can grow 25 feet high. The crown also produces an underground stem or rhizome. The vine can grow up to one foot per day, which implies that a strong support of poles and twine is required. Also, avoid electric wires whenever possible. The soil should be loamy and well drained with a Ph of 6.5 - 8.0. Add fertilizer (potassium, phosphates, nitrogen) and support the vines off ground to prevent disease. One vine produces about 1-2.5 LB flowers per year.

When planting hops, avoid rot by planting after the last frost. If delayed, refrigerate rhizome in plastic, but try and plant in early spring, no later than May. Plant the rhizome vertically with the buds facing upward, about two inches below the grounds surface. Keep your hills about six feet apart. Mulch the ground the first year to control weeds and collect moisture. Expect to see slow growth in the first year while the root system develops. After the vine is one foot tall, select the two best vines by trimming weak vines at ground level. Every few weeks a severe trim will help the plant by encouraging only the strongest vines.

The hop is subject to several diseases. Downy mildew appears in spring and makes the shoots brittle and spiky. Identification includes curling leaves with a silver upper and black underneath. Remove infected leaves and strip the bottom three feet of vine. Spray a fungicide with copper hydroxide. Wilt (Verticillum wilt) leaves a dull green tissue alternating in yellow bands. Remove the infected leaves and use a fungicide. The hop aphid (Phorodon humuli) appears in cool weather then spreads. Use an insecticidal soap like Diazinon or use lady bugs. Spider mites (Tetranychus urticae) spin fine white webs under the leaves and leave small freckle-like spots on the upper leave surface. This causes defoliation and a red rusty look to the cones. Aphid spray works well for this problem.

Editors Note...

Thanks to John for all his excellent contributions over the past year! As a solo editor and secretary I always appreciate any and all contributions, but John has always risen above and beyond the call for help with very well written detailed articles. If anyone has a topic they would like to see john cover, please let me know!

Letter to the club...

Dear Homebrewers:

I am writing to solicit your contributions to a newspaper that will begin publishing in February 1996. Great Lakes Brewing News will focus on events occurring in the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River region of the U.S. and Canada, including parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

The BI-Monthly newspaper will be distributed free at homebrew shops, craft breweries, and high variety beer bars and restaurants. It will include columns on homebrewing, food & beer, brewery openings and beer styles, as well as list beer events like local and national homebrew competitions and regional beer festivals. More importantly, Great Lakes Brewing News will report on what's new in the brewing community where you live.

As the founder of the Southwest Brewing News, a paper that played no small part in legalizing brewpubs in Texas and the continuing spread of better beer across the Southwestern US, I can attest to the importance of regional "Brewspapers" in promoting better beer. Now that I have returned to live in the Great Lakes Region, I hope to begin this beery venture anew. Since you are some of the most knowledgeable people in your region when it comes to beer and brewing, I would like to invite anyone interested in contributing articles, photos, graphics, etc, to write, call or fax me. I look forward to hearing from you!

Signed Bill Metzger

214 Muegel Rd

E Amhurst, NY 14051

716-689-5841-phone

716-689-5789-Fax

swbrewing@aol.com - E-Mail

Next Months Meeting

The Year in Review

We have never as a club had any sort of internal award for anything, and we don't this year either but I would like to acknowledge some memorable brewing achievements this past year.

* Early in the year Tom Sieja had decided to have a homebrew only wedding, his brothers drove up from Alabama bringing parts of their Pico System, and between what they brought and Tom's Pico System, they made 45 gallons of beer one snowy icy cold Friday, I stopped by on my lunch to see how they were doing and they were having a blast, Tom actually had to borrow Carboys from different people to pull this off but it was a success

* Later that spring Bob Niemi's wonderful "son of rutting buck Bock" beer was sent off to the AHA National Club Only Bock Is Best competition and he placed 2nd out of about 45 entries, if memory serves me, he darn near came close to a first, way to go Bob!

* May 6th (National Homebrewers Day) brought many of us to Merchants Warehouse in Royal Oak where we did our first of 3 parking lot brews this year, a couple hundred people showed up to check us out including a motorcycle gang (oops, CLUB). The event was a lot of fun, I however spent most of the day in the hospital getting to know my new day old son.

* We finally picked a logo, only a year and a half after we formed, many good entries made it to the finals, but a logo designed by Pat Babcock and myself was the crowd pleaser.

* We had a meeting at Neals house, well, garage. The rain kicked up a bit but that didn't stop Neal and Tim from brewing an All Grain Batch under the garage door.

* The club had 4 days at the Renaissance Festival in Holly to brew, this is an invitational event that we will be back to next year as well, it was a lot of fun although a bit distracting with all the live performances right in front of the Pico-brewery. Frankenmuth supplied all the base grains for a 15 gallon batch of your choice, participants had to wear monks robes but it was worth it.

* We were invited as the sole club to be volunteers at the Rivertown Beer Festival in Late July, there were about 180 different beers being served and our members were helping out at each table with serving and answering questions. We will be invited back next year and have the dubious honor of being the only club involved in this event. This year there were 5000 attendees (Sold out!) and the red cross made $25,000 I believe. It was a definite fun time and next year should be even more so!

* Our 2nd annual Pig roast was a great success, this year we sold tickets and had a rather large raffle so very little club money was needed, and next year will probably be self supporting. About 40 people showed up to Tom & Tammy Herrons house in Warren to pig out (Pun Intended!) Many people donated prizes including homebrew supply shops and people we met at the Rivertown Beer Fest. Start thinking ahead to next year!

* Jim Bazzy who just started brewing this year took 3 awards at the Michigan State Fair and a 3rd place for his porter at the Taste Of The Great Lakes competition, way to go Jim. And if I may quote Jim "C'mon everyone, I'm just a beginner, if I can win awards, lets see the better brewers enter these competitions and sweep up!"

* Our membership ranks swelled from 33 at the end of '94 to 66 as of this writing, we even had 11 people join in January of this year, I do believe that's our all time record, since the beginning of the club. We also had many spouses join the club this year, 6 in all (for a grand total of 7 spouses in the club!)

***************************

I'm afraid I'm going to have to end the newsletter here, my Father In Law passed away today (Monday) so I have to wrap this up so I can copy it and get it out tomorrow. I had hoped to have several more articles including an introduction to the new board members, but that will have to wait.

Hope to see you all on the 12th!

Remember, Dues are DUE!! $15 to re-up for another year of action packed non-stop fun and education, what a deal!!

A special thanks to Tom Herron and Doug Geiss for their hard work over the past year as Vice President and Librarian, your contribution to the club was appreciated by all!

Last word.......

Another page by BabsTech Enterprises. Can we do yours?

Last updated 11/14/96