April 1998 Issue 24
Inside This Issue
April 1998 Issue 24
Inside This Issue
 | National Homebrew Day
| CARBOY Summer Party
| April CARBOY Meeting
| CARBOY Night at Harrisons
| No-Sparge Mashing
| Cooking with Beer
| Receive The Fermenter Electronically
| Upcoming Events
| |
National Homebrew Day Oktoberfest will have a new meaning this year since the National Homebrew Day at Pale Ale Brewing /Tomcat will be brewing this style. It will be a new venture for the brewery since it will be their first lager. It will be lagered at the brewery for up to 6 weeks, but you can store it till October for that authentic touch. The event will be held on Saturday, May 2 and will include a light breakfest and a delightful lunch. The lunch will be German sausage based, grilled on site, with sides provided by the participants. We will have tables and chairs to use for eating and an educational interlude describing the Oktoberfest (Marzen) style. A commemorative T-Shirt iron-on transfer will be available for purchase during the event. Of course, each participant will receive 5 gallons of this wonderful Oktoberfest beer!
This is going to be a day to remember, so sign up by contacting James Kinn ASAP. The number of 5 gal. units is limited, so please don't wait. The cost of this event is $20, everything included! If you just want the beer and social time but no food, the cost will be $12. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A CARBOY AND TRUB MEMBER ONLY EVENT!! If you are not a member of these clubs, you MUST JOIN either before or during the event. Contact James Kinn before you forget. Don't forget to send your check written to James Kinn at: James Kinn 3909 Brewster Drive Raleigh, NC 27606 Attn: CARBOY/TRUB NHD
For more details, contact event organizer James Kinn at: JamesKinn@aol.com.
The April meeting of CARBOY will be held on Wednesday, April 22 at 7:00 P.M.. We will meet in the BB&Y Restaurant. Our entry for the Pilsener COC will be selected during the meeting. Steve Murphrey will be leading this month's beer education discussion. As you may recall, Steve was the Director of Judging in the recent Shamrock Open. Steve will share his experience and show us how to judge beer.
The class will include a tasting and judging of a sample beer. The judging will use official scoring sheets. A discussion of the beer and everyone's comments will follow the tasting. If you are interested in judging at any homebrew competition (including the upcoming US Open in Charlotte), don't miss this meeting! It just wouldn't be a CARBOY meeting without beer. So, to keep the tradition alive, we will include a tasting of our members' beers. Please bring at least three 12 ounce bottles (or equivalent) of either homebrew or interesting commercial brew. Feel free to discuss your beers as much or as little as you prefer!
The BB&Y Restaurant is located on the first floor of the Caswell
Building at 3700 National Drive, in the Koger Center off Glenwood Avenue
in west Raleigh. Owner Nick Jones allows CARBOY to meet monthly at his
restaurant when we don't have picnics or field trips scheduled. BB&Y
is open for breakfast and lunch each weekday. We encourage members to visit
BB&Y for a relaxed informal meal. Please let Nick know you're from
CARBOY when you visit his restaurant
The next monthly CARBOY night at Harrison's Bar and Grill in Cary will be held on Tuesday, May 5. Every month, CARBOY members gather for the sole purpose of enjoying beer, food, and friends. Tomcat Ales are served for $2/pint, and appetizers are 1/2 off. Relax after work and join your CARBOY buddies for food and fun! The gathering starts at 5:00 and ends when the last of us leaves.
No-sparge mashing was discussed during the March CARBOY meeting. Part of the discussion concerned one of the benefits of no-sparge mashing: a maltier tasting wort with little astringency. Some members were skeptical, so we decided to take the bull by the horns and see if no-sparge mashing really produced a higher quality wort. How will we do this? Simple, we are going to conduct a side-by-side experiment. We will brew one batch by no-sparge mashing, and a second will use standard sparging techniques. If you are an extract brewer who is interested in brewing all-grain batches, this will be an excellent educational session. You can learn about two mashing techniques and have lots of all-grain brewers to answer your questions.
The event will be held on May 23. Steve Murphrey has offered to host the event. The fun will begin at 11:00 am. If you plan on attending, please contact Steve at swmurph@ibm.net, or (919) 779-4482. Brewing is hungry and thirsty work. As always, homebrew will be greeted with open mugs! Steve will make his grill available for sausages or whatever. Please feel free to bring a side-dish to share with the group. Mike Lewandowski (mlew@ntrnet.net or 468-9707) will be coordinating the brewing.
In order to make this effort work, we will need some brewing to bring their equipment. So far, we will need: -One propane cooker (ie Cajun cookers) (including the propane tank) -One mash tun (~10 gal) and One combination mash/lauter tun (~10 gal) OR two combination mash/lauter tuns (~10 gal) -Two lautering set-ups -One grain mill (preferably powered) If you can bring any of these items, please contact Mike Lewandowski. We will not be brewing to any particular style. We will be brewing "just good beer." Of course, we will need to sample both brews to detect any differences, so watch future issues of The Fermenter for details of our no-sparge mashing party!
This year's CARBOY summer party will be held at Mike Wallace's house.
Mike has arranged a pig pickin' so you know the food will be good! The
event will be held Saturday, June 6. If you have attended this event in
the past, you know how much fun it will be. The projected cost is $5/person.
This will cover the cost of the pig. Please bring homebrew and side-dishes.
Watch the May issue of The Fermenter for more details.
TO INDEX
Cooking with Beer As I write this column, I am struck by upcoming events. Soon, it will be National Homebrew Day, and summer is right around the corner. The following recipe will celebrate both of these events. The recipe includes Oktoberfest beer (just like what we will make at the Pale Ale Brewery), and it tastes great on ice cream (a true summer classic). Here's the recipe:
Lagered Caramel Sauce
| 2.5 cups firmly packed brown sugar
| 1.5 cups light corn syrup
| 6 TBSP unsalted butter
| 0.5 TSP salt
| 0.33 cups Oktoberfest beer
| 5 TSP vanilla extract
| 2 cups heavy cream
| |
- In a heavy pan mix sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt, and beer over low heat, stirring constantly.
- When sugar is dissolved, bring mixture to a boil and cook without stirring until it reaches 235o on a candy thermometer.
- Remove from heat and gently stir in vanilla. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Slowly stir in cream until smooth and glossy. Store in refrigerator
and warm gently before serving.
TO INDEX
Receive The Fermenter Electronically
Receive The Fermenter Electronically You may now receive your copy of The Fermenter by e-mail. Just send a message to Mike Lewandowski (mlew@ntrnet.net) and you will receive the next issue in your electronic mailbox. Please specify whether you prefer your issue formatted as a Word, text, or Word Perfect 6.1 file.
CARBOY's Newsletter The Fermenter is the newsletter of CARBOY. As such, it relies on its membership for content. Please submit any articles, letters, recipes, comments, questions, or suggestions to the address shown below. Electronic mail to mlew@ntrnet.net is preferred, but not required. Thank you!
April 22: CARBOY meeting
(we will select our entry for the AHA Classic Pilsener COC)
May 2: National Homebrew Day
May 5: CARBOY night at Harrison's
May 18: AHA Classic Pilsener COC
May 23: No-sparge mashing
May 27: CARBOY meeting
June 6: CARBOY Summer Party