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July 6 (Saturday) Patriotic Pool Party and Horseshoes Competition
From 4:00pm to dark Ray Statam will host this BrewMasters event at his ranch, 830 Valley View Road, Indian Springs, AL 35124. There is a great pool in the back so bring your suit. (Children are welcome but no lifeguard will be on duty. Parents will be expected to closely supervise children in the pool.)
The BrewMasters will furnish hamburgers and hot dogs with all the trimmings. Members are asked to bring side dishes to share. (If the results are anything like the May 4 party, these will be really special.)
Plan to also bring lawn chairs, sun screen and anything else you can think of that would add to the fun.
Style of the Month
We will set aside time at the pool party for a meeting. The style will be lagers, light ales and other summer quaffers including lawnmower beer, i.e., beers designed to help avoid MWI (Mowing While Intoxicated). Don’t forget to bring homebrews or commercial examples to share.
In honor of the style the club will hold the Love In a Canoe Challenge. Participants will have a chance to blindly identify such classic American beers as Bud, Miller, Coors and at least one Mystery Lager. Put your palate to the test!!!
Help the Homeless
Todd Darroch, long-time member and supporter of the BrewMasters has graciously persuaded a client to let us use the building we call the Brew Hut for several months now. Sadly, Todd has begun taking medicine that is not compatible with drinking alcoholic beverages. Although Todd would accommodate us, it is not right to ask him to since he should obviously not be around people who are drinking.
Until we find a new home, we will be meeting at folks houses. (Doug McCullough will host the August Planning Committee and "The Return Of the Doughboys" pizza party on September 7. If you can volunteer your home or another meeting location, all the members would appreciate your generosity.
In the meantime, say a special thanks to Todd and cross you fingers that he will off the medicine in a year or less. If he is, I am sure he will be back with the dedication and support he has shown for so many years. In appreciation for all he has done for the BrewMasters, the Planning Committee voted unanimously to award him Honorary Membership.
Pay Your Dues
Bring your checkbook to the pool party. The denim shirt premiums (tastefully embroidered with the coveted BrewMasters logo) are expensive enough that we will take your order when you pay dues so you will get the size you need. You already know that dues have been raised to $35/year to cover this more expensive premium.
American Homebrewers Association 2002 National Convention in Los Colinas, Texas
Ray Statam and Doug McCullough represented the Birmingham BrewMasters at this fine event. At the Pool Party you will see photos and hear tales of hobknobbing with Charlie Papazian, Fred Eckert, Ray Daniels, Jeff Renner (Classic American Pilsner historian), Chuck Rager (hops utilization formula), Chris White (White Labs Yeast), Dave Logston (Wyeast), Randy Mosher (noted author), David Houseman and others. Tre’ Montigue, a former BrewMaster and now a Houston Foam Ranger was a welcome sight, too. Avoid both these guys if you don’t want to be verbally assaulted with how wonderful a time was had by all at the convention and the GingerMan tap house. In upcoming months, look for Ray Statam’s account of the conference over a series of installments. (No one ever accused him of being brief!)
Style for August – Saké
Julie Steinhaver will tell us about sake and we will taste a variety of examples. According to the presentation Fred Eckert gave at the AHA Convention, it takes about 12 pounds of rice to make 2 galloons of sake at about 18% ABV. The process does not use malted rice (if there is such a thing). Instead, a special culture called koji breaks down the rice starch into sugars that yeast can ferment. Intrigued? Don’t miss this program! Like sushi and sashimi? Don’t miss this program! Details will be in next month’s newsletter.
New Member!
Remember to welcome new member Mark Stedwell of Montevallo, who attended last month’s meeting. He had his dues payment in hand and ready to turn over. No one accepted it last month but we surely will this time.
June Meeting Summary
I tried my best to list all the beers we tasted at the June Meeting (Why? I don’t know.) but I probably left out one or more. The ones I got were Classic Hefeweizen (DMc), a beer with wheat, barley, honey and Burton ale yeast (JS), Oberdorfer Silver Label, a dark lager using color malts steeped overnight but not mashed (RS), a really spicy witbeer (JS), Blue Moon White Beer, Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier, Erdanger Weissbier, Red Ale fro "Hops" restaurant in Dayton, OH (imported by FT), Hacker-Pshorr Weisse Dark, Budweiser (Porter Dave) and finally, a pale ale made with BBQ grill-toasted pale malt and lots of hops by Steve Smith.
Mead makers were treated to tastes of six different varieties of honey: tubelo (sp?) from the swamps of Florida, two different wildflower samples, orange blossom and a final sample that was as dark as molasses and as flavorful. We sampled a blueberry mead (DMc) and reminisced about the tasty mandarin orange mead that Frances Taylor once made and shared.
June Planning Committee Summary
Due to the situation with the Brew Hut, Ray Statam hosted Planning Committee at his house. If you are not coming to these meetings, you are missing an evening that some argue is better than the regular meeting. Business was discussed and decided. Brews were shared, evaluated and enjoyed. (Bob Nelson brought his I2PA that he was unable to enter. It was superb! Wish you had been there!) There was also snacking on a very unusual East India-style appetizer and a French brie.
If you want to change the way the BrewMasters do things – come on down! The next Planning Committee Meeting is July 31 at Doug McCullough's.
June Highlights
May 1 General Meeting
There are good meetings, there are not-so-good meetings and then there are really fun meetings. The May general meeting was a really fun one. Members brought a whole host of homemade libations to sample, beginning with honeysuckle-strawberry mead and continuing through alt, pale ale, kolsch, wheat and an unusual San Francisco Pale Ale. Other members contributed commercial examples. A special treat was the three very special brews Dennis personally imported (in his suitcase) from Belgium. These included Rochefort 10, Bellevue Gueze and Leffe Blond. There were simply too many homebrews and other commercial examples to recall and I did not make a list. Let it be said that while it was a challenge, the BrewMasters managed to give each one the tasting it was due.
Besides having some great brews, we also managed to test several hydrometers. Using a technique described in Zymurgy magazine, Jon poured prepared sample solutions of varying gravities and we dipped our tubes. Your editor found a consistent difference of 1.001 between his two hydrometers. Ray Statam found one of his to be significantly off.
May 4 Party
Perhaps the BrewMasters should really be the Birmingham ChefMasters. The food at the Big Brew Day May 4 Party was outstanding. There was Jeromy’s yummy barbecue, your editor’s homemade Swedish rye bread and blue cheese dip, incredible chicken curry and rice curry from Jon and Julie, fabulous curried potatoes by Jackie and Tracy. Special thanks are due to Kim for the brats and wieners. Even without the wursts, Kim is due a round of applause for letting us party at his place.
By now I have probably made someone mad by leaving them out or misquoting what they brought or did. Please accept my apologies and be assured that it was not intentional.
Iron Brewer Unseated!
We have a new Iron Brewer! Kim Thomson unseated reigning Iron Brewer Ray Statam with an Imperial India Pale Ale that was simply over the top in every category. Extract brewers, take heart; all-grainers, beware: the winning entry was an EXTRACT batch! Kim disclosed that it was dry hopped with the "three C’s": Cascade, Centennial, and Columbus. And what a nose it had! In truth, all the entries were excellent beers worthy of special recognition. If you were not there to taste one, consider asking the contestants to bring more to a future meeting.
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May Highlights
Highlights of the April 3 General Meeting
The homebrews shared were exceptional. They included a Special Bitter from Kim Thomson, a Cream Ale from Bill Lees, Pale Ales from Bob Nelson and Dave Holder and two beers from Jon Steinhaver, a brown ale and a Porter.
If you missed the single malt tasting, you missed a very special program. Participants now know the difference between malt whiskey, grain whiskey, blended whiskey, single malt whiskey and vatted malt whiskey. Samples were tasted straight, with distilled water and with ice. After the Talisker 10-year-old, the Lafroaig 15-year-old and the Lagavulin 16-year-old all knew the aroma and taste of peat! Many felt that the best was the Bushmills Three Wood 16-year-old Irish single malt. Others liked the Jameson Gold Special Reserve or the Oban 14-year-old. Folks familiar with Chivas Regal blended scotch could recognize the taste of the Strathisla 12-year-old, a single malt which is a major component of Chivas. Liquor-filled chocolates made for a sweet finish.
What's In In Your Water?
If you get your water from Pelham, here is good news. Ray Statam contacted Pelham Water Works with that question and got the following answer:
Calcium (Ca++) 26 mg/L
Alkalinity (as CO3)– 111 mg/L
Chlorine (Cl–) 2 mg/L
Magnesium (Mg++) 11 mg/L
Sodium (Na+) 1.3 mg/L
Sulfates (SO4–) not undetectable
pH 7.62
They went on to say that chlorine is added at the rate of 1.0-1.2 mg/L for disinfecting.
You may have heard that some water systems add chloramines instead of chlorine. It is said that chloramines are not volatile so drawing your brewing water out the night before brewing so as to reduce dissolved chlorine has no effect. The technique should work, however, with Pelham water.
Pelham draws its water from wells that tap an aquifer that stretches north into Tennessee. If you compare our water with the great brewing cities of the world, you will see that we have excellent water for beer. Ours is somewhere between Munich, and Pilsen. Munich water is harder with more calcium, magnesium and sulfates. Pilsen water is much softer but still has higher sulfates that emphasize hop flavors.
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April Highlights
Highlights of the March 6 General Meeting
Our first meeting in the Brew Hut was a resounding success with about 16 participants. We even got some work done. Todd (and probably others) had finished most of the cleaning before most of us arrived. Someone helped by hauling off the orthodontist’s chair. The gas stove ended up in Frances Taylor’s truck to be dropped off at Bill Freeman’s house for disposal. There was general agreement that the ceiling tiles still need to be replaced.
The brews we shared were exceptional. There was one homebrewed German altbier and a commercial Diebels Alt for comparison. Most preferred the homebrew.
Lots of other beers were sampled. A real standout was a homebrewed blackberry wheat. It started as a "normal" wheat beer but fermented with Dusseldorf Altbier yeast. Then so many blackberries were added that it reminded one of a Lindeman’s lambic, only better. It was tart and refreshing and the head was deep purple!! Some do not like fruit beers but all agreed this one was special.
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March Highlights
February General Meeting Highlights
If you missed the stout, porter and dark lager meeting at Bill Lee’s house, you missed a good one. Attendance was better than usual and so were the beers. Bill’s basement is everything one could ask for. He had laid out a spread of cheeses, sausage and snacks for us, too. Although there was no prepared discussion of the styles, there was plenty of discussion and plenty of sampling of them as well. Thanks, Bill, for your generous hospitality.