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Contents:
  Hazy about air/oxygen ("Peed, John")
  translation, please ("Walker, Randy")
  Lactobacillus source ("elvira toews")
  MCAB (Bob Wilcox)
  Re: Home Brew Clubs... (Jeff Renner)
  No Apologies to Nobodie ("Rob Moline")
  Haze revisited ("pksmith_morin1")
  AHA Board of Advisors Election ("Mark Tumarkin")
  doppelbock:  simplify (Vachom)
  flowing beer ("patrick finerty jr.")
  Corona Clone (Scott C Hoffman)
  Re: Homebrew Clubs ("Doug Hurst")
  re:UPS beer shipping woes ("Bob G.")
  Carboys--does size matter? ("Neil K")
  O2 and infants (TomAGardner)
  dobbelbocks, no yeast in bottles ("Czerpak, Pete")
  UPS shipping ("S. SNYDER")
  Coriolis experiments, and Phil's better Pilsner. ("Dr. Pivo")
  How to obtain a free outdoor burner from the in-laws ("Andrew Moore")
  American Beer Month Web Site ("Ray Daniels")
  homebrew clubs ("Bob")


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* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!
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Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 14:51:28 -0400
From: "Peed, John" <jpeed at elotouch.com>
Subject: Hazy about air/oxygen


Paul says we should avoid oxygenating the wort if we want to avoid haze.
Does this mean we should not oxygenate when pitching yeast, or did I miss
something?

John Peed
Knoxville, TN




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Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 13:35:49 -0600
From: "Walker, Randy" <Walkerr at littongcs.com>
Subject: translation, please

	Would someone please translate this?
	"Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalts"
> I assume that "hopfen und malz" is "hops and malt", 
> but I don't know what the rest means.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Randy Walker
> Northrop Grumman Guidance & Control
> Salt Lake City, UT
> 801-539-1200, X-7484
> walkerr at littongcs.com
> 


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Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 20:26:49 -0500
From: "elvira toews" <etoews1 at home.com>
Subject: Lactobacillus source

Steve asked if yoghurt is a reasonable source of lactobacillus.  It's a nice
idea and I tried it once myself.

To no avail, I'm afraid.  Checking up the genus later in a recent edition of
Bergey's, I find that a whole raft of formerly separate species have all
been grouped together as "*Lactobacillus delbruecki*" including the former
L. lactis, L. bulgaricus, etc. despite being identifiable by their growth on
selective media.

They're an extremely fastidious species, each race only growing on its own
favourite food.  In other words, yoghurt is yoghurt and Berliner weisse is
Berliner weisse, even if the taxonomists like to shuffle the definitions
every ten years or so.

Sean Richens
srichens at sprint.ca




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Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 20:16:34 -0700
From: Bob Wilcox <2bobw at homeless.com>
Subject: MCAB

 - Anyone from HBD land going to be at MCAB this weekend?

=====================================================
Bob Wilcox
Alameda & Long Barn Ca.
2bobw at home.com
Draught Board Home Brew Club
http://www.dnai.com/~thor/dboard/index.htm




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Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 23:54:30 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at mediaone.net>
Subject: Re: Home Brew Clubs...

"Taliesin2" <shane.saylor at verizon.net>, whose other name would appear 
to be Shane Saylor, and whose signature is longer than his question, 
asks

>What is everybody's opinion of brew clubs? And what can one expect from
>the club? Also, do the clubs offer lessons in Homebrewing? And if they do,
>do you have to be a member to take them? Thanks...

I can't speak for everybody, though I could try.  Many brewers say 
that they've learned more about brewing from HBD than from all the 
other sources.  That's probably true for most of us.  There is an 
incredible pool of knowledge here that no homebrew club can rival.

However, HBD can't offer the real people kind of interaction that a 
club can.  Email just doesn't cut it when it comes to things like 
tasting your beer, extended discussions with nuances, tasting lots of 
other homebrew, etc.  A real club is a valuable resource.  Joining 
one is my first piece of advice for beginners who have questions 
about their beers.

Different clubs have different styles.  Ann Arbor Brewers Guild is an 
old one (1986) but we've never managed to get any real organization 
or program.  We're contentedly anarchistic.  I daresay we'd welcome 
an active program director, killer newsletter editor, or other things 
like that, but mostly people come forward for things as they're 
needed (great competition directors, bulk ingredients buy 
coordinators, for instance).  There probably is just not the energy 
among busy people for other things.

Other clubs are really organized with committees and everything. We ain't.

I suggest you seek out a local club.

Cheers

Jeff
- -- 
***Please note new address*** (old one will still work)
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at mediaone.net
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943


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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 03:50:46 -0500
From: "Rob Moline" <brewer at isunet.net>
Subject: No Apologies to Nobodie

>From: Nob Odie <noone at nuther-planet.net>
>Subject: Re: Jethro Apologizes
>
>> Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 00:11:27 -0500
>> From: "Rob Moline" <brewer at isunet.net>
>> Subject: Jethro Apologizes
>>
>> Jethro Apologizes
>
>What insipid bull Rob. Can't you apologize to someone without using your
alter-
>ego Jethro. If we wanted an apology from a muppet, we would have taken Miss
>Piggy to task. Go stand in the corner. Now!
>
>Paul

     Mr Nobodie,
     My apology was sincere and accepted.
     I didn't know I owed you (we) anything, or that you (we) had taken me
to task. I reserved that for myself.
     If I had wished to apologize to you (we)...I would have....but most
certainly, there is no future in betting on it.
Jethro





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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 05:29:50 -0500
From: "pksmith_morin1" <pksmith_morin1 at msn.com>
Subject: Haze revisited

Steve's discussion is, as usual, rigorous and helpful. I may differ slightly
on a couple of points:

The use of protein "decoys" such as Nylon66, Polyclar AT, etc. is something
that is well known and practiced widely in the industry.  My only problem
with these agents is that they also tend to pull isohumulones, not merely
the offending polyphenols.  This is why I am loathe to place too much
emphasis on reducing polyphenolic or protein components - e.g., using
proteolysis, as I said earlier, is a great way to reduce haze; it is also a
great way to kill your foamstand since the haze-active proteins are not
separate from the foamstand proteins.  I would rely more on "good practice,"
which I define, in this instance, as the absolute avoidance of
post-brewhouse O2 pickup.

Regarding ratios:  If there is an overabundance of polyphenols vis-a-vis the
protein HA sites, then this will prevent the dimers formed from binding to
other dimers, and the total haze potential is consequently reduced.  If
there is a dearth of polyphenols, the opposite occurs:  all available
polyphenols bind to the HA protein sites, but there are many unoccupied
sites and many polyphenol-protein dimers remain unattached.  So, as an
example, if you already have a disproportionate amount of protein (vis-a-vis
polyphenolic content), then adding more haze-potentiating protein will not
contribute to greater haze - as polyphenol-HA protein complexation is not
increased.

In practice, knowing the "proper" ratio is probably well beyond most
production smaller breweries, except by empirical trial; again, don't
polymerize your haze compounds - O2 is your enemy!

Paul



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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 09:05:04 -0400
From: "Mark Tumarkin" <mark_t at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: AHA Board of Advisors Election

If you are an AHA member, Zymurgy Magazine has probably shown up in your
mailbox in the last few days. It is time for the AHA Board of Advisors
election. The candidate's statements and the ballots appear in this issue.
There is supposed to be a link on the Board page of the AHA website to
additional candidate info. Unfortunately, it's not up yet; hopefully that will
be fixed soon.

There have been problems with the AHA in the past and many homebrewers have
become disenchanted with the organization. Recently, there have been changes
that help make the AHA more responsive to its' members. The current staff, le
by Paul Gatza and Gary Glass, are reflective of this, as is the change two
years ago to having the AHA membership elect the BOA members. However, there
has been a very low voter turnout in the last two elections. I'd like to help
continue the drive to make the AHA more member driven - but for this to happen
the membership has to get more involved. I'd like to ask for your help in
this.

I have been nominated as a candidate for the Board of Advisors by Rob Moline
and Paul Gatza. They are both great people whom I really respect and I'm truly
grateful that they have honored me with this nomination. They know me and have
nominated me, but I realize I don't have the national name recognition of some
of the other candidates so I  wanted to tell you a bit more about myself.

First of all, beer is more than a hobby for me; it's a passion. I am a
long-time lurker and occasional poster on the Home Brew Digest. My morning
starts with the HBD and that first cup of coffee - I think I'd have withdrawal
symptoms if I missed either. I like and brew a wide variety of styles, but
most often brew big, hoppy, flavorful ales.

I am a BJCP Certified Judge and also the Primary  Fermenter of the Hogtown
Brewers, in Gainesville, FL. Hogtown Brewers was founded over 15 years ago,
and like many brew clubs, has ha its ups and downs. When I was elected three
years ago, the club was truly at a low point. Since then, we have turned it
around and it is now an active, growing club once again. Our website,
http://hbd.org/hogtown/ will give you an idea of what we're about.

Last year, with help from Pat Babcock, I established the Florida Brewers List,
an email list on the HBD server. The main purpose for the list was to create a
vehicle for getting information out quickly to as many brewers as possible as
part of our ongoing fight to change the repressive Florida bottle laws. I am
happy to report that the bottle bill effort looks very positive at this point,
with the Senate bill being passed by a 37 to 2 margin. We are still waiting
for the vote in the House. Keep your fingers crossed!

A secondary reason for the list was to get out information about homebrew
competitions and other club events, beer festivals, brew pub openings and
events; in short anything of interest to brewers and beer lovers in Florida.
This builds the sense of community that is one of the things I enjoy most
about our hobby and the AHA.

I'm also on the executive committee of a multi-club group putting together a
bid to hold the 2002 AHA National Convention in Orlando. If we win the bid,
we've got a great group of people from many of the Florida homebrew clubs, and
also members of the Florida Brewers Guild from the state's brewpubs and
microbreweries, who will work hard to make this the best AHA convention yet.
Despite our reputation as a beer wasteland; Florida has some great beer and
I'd love to have the chance to share a pint with you.

And speaking of Florida; after the fiasco in the last Presidential election, I
hope you won't hold the fact that I'm from Florida against me. Really, I
promise not to call for endless recounts. Well, at least I won't if I win...

Seriously though, the message that we should have all taken home from that
fiasco was that each of our votes counts. That's an important message to
consider in these AHA BOA elections. This is only the third year of electing
BOA members, rather than appointing them. This is a major change for the AHA ,
but the number of voters has been extremely low. There were only about 70
votes the first year, and approximately 120 last year - this is out of over
10,000 AHA members. There have been a lot of positive changes in the AA over
the last couple of years. I'd like to continue these changes and make the
organization even more member-driven. But you've got to participate in the
process to make that happen. We have a terrific slate of candidates. You can't
make a mistake with your vote, but it's really important that you be sure to
vote. If elected, I'll work hard to make the AHA as responsive to its'
membership as possible. I hope I've been able to give you a sense of my
passion and commitment to home brewing.

It's truly important for you to place your votes for whichever candidates you
want. We've all got to become more involved in the AHA in order to make it the
organization we want, but remember: if you don't want to see those endless
recounts - vote for me.

Thank you,

Mark Tumarkin



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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 08:48:53 -0500
From: Vachom <MVachow at newman.k12.la.us>
Subject: doppelbock:  simplify

In response to Casey's request for advice on his doppelbock recipe:  first,
I'm a staunch advocate for simple recipes, which is another way of saying
that I think technique is more important than elaborate ingredient lists.
In that light, my favorite doppelbock recipe goes like this 70% Munich malt,
30% pilsener malt.  Double decoction.  30 IBU Saaz or Hallertauer, 2/3 at
the beginning of the boil, 1/3 in the middle.  If you just want to do an
infusion mash, then throw in a pound of melanoidan malt and keep the mash
temps at the upper end--which is in part an answer to your question about
the alcohol being overpowering.  Alcohol will dominate if you undershoot
mash temps and/or if you ferment too warm.  Wyeast Bavarian lager will serve
you well.  It's my favorite for malty German styles.  All of the raisiny,
chocolatey notes common to doppelbocks can be derived from the proper
mashing of the Munich malt and well maintained fermentation temps.

Mike Vachow
New Orleans


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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 10:04:32 -0400
From: "patrick finerty jr." <zinc at finerty.net>
Subject: flowing beer

hola,
just a quick note of appreciation for all of the replies i received
for my query regarding fluid dynamics. may you never have a stuck
mash! 

 -patrick in Toronto


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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 10:35:40 -0400
From: Scott C Hoffman <sch at cabe.com>
Subject: Corona Clone

Im looking for a good Corona clone recipe partial mash or extract please.



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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 09:32:08 -0500
From: "Doug Hurst" <DougH at theshowdept.com>
Subject: Re: Homebrew Clubs

Shane was asking about the merits of homebrew clubs.  

My experience in with clubs in Chicago (one in particular) and elsewhere
has been less than spectacular.  I find them generally  very cliqueish.
If you're not part of the 40-55 age demographic or close friends with a
leading member, you're on the outside.  I'm sure all clubs are not as
closed as this, but this has been my experience. 

Beyond that, I have a problem with the concept of beer
competitions(which seems to be a major driving force of AHA clubs).  Why
should I place my beer up for judging against others or against a
"standard".  I understand the BJCP and AHA style guidelines and do feel
they have a place/are useful.  The point is, I don't feel the need to be
ranked in comparison to other's beers.  If I like my beer that's all
that matters; not how it stacks up against someone elses beer or palate.
IMHO beer is about comradery and fellowship and I don't find competition
supportive of that end.  I guess I'm just not the competetive type.  

That's not to say that access to people who understand, explain and
teach beer flavor profiles isn't beneficial.  My largest deficiency is
pinpointing specific flavor characteristics in my beer.  If I were
involved in a club, I would have ready access to people who could help
me learn more.  As it is, I have the difficult task of learning tasting
on my own or searching out experts.  I am, however, quite comfortable
making my own informal comparisons between my beer and
traditional/commercial examples.  I can tell when my beer does or does
not stack up.

I'm sure a lot of people will respond more positively about homebrew
clubs.  They will talk about learning from other brewers and such.  It
is possible to brew with, and learn from other people without joining a
club.   I'm sure clubs have their merits, just not for me.  That's why I
read the HBD (which I suppose could be termed a club of sorts).

Doug Hurst
Chicago, IL


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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 07:40:40 -0700
From: "Bob G." <bobo99 at best.com>
Subject: re:UPS beer shipping woes

"Dean Fikar" <dfikar at flash.net> talks about shipping woes of using UPS
to ship beer.

Dean,

Here's what I have done in the past. I live in California and ship beer
regularly to my family on the east coast. After I package the beer
meticulously making sure there is no way anything will break(use lots of
bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts), I call UPS for a "home pickup". When
they ask me what I am shipping I tell them it is homemade rootbeer. I
give them all the info such as dimensions of the package(s) and the
weight. They then tell me the cost so I just write a check, put the
package on my porch with the check taped to it and go to work. When I
get home the "yellow receipt" is there on my porch. What happens when
they make home pickups as far as i know is that it is already cleared
for shipment. I have never had one rejected and they always reach their
destination. The cost for this is just an extra 4 bucks...completely
worth avoiding any aggravation at the UPS counter. Hope this helps.

Brewer Bob


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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 11:12:07 -0400
From: "Neil K" <neilk27 at hotmail.com>
Subject: Carboys--does size matter?

I recently bought a 23 litre (6 US gallon)carboy to make wine, and want to 
try to use it as a primary for beer too. Is there enough room in the 23 
litre carboy for a 19 litre (5 US gallon) batch? Should I use a blow-off 
hose or is there enough headspace for an airlock? I also plan to aerate with 
an aquarium pump setup. If I aerate in the carboy where does all the foam 
go? Someone at Paddock Wood suggested I try using anti-foam in the fermenter 
to keep the foam down--has anyone ever tried this and was it successful?

Neil Kaye




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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 11:30:06 EDT
From: TomAGardner at cs.com
Subject: O2 and infants

Many thanks to Jeff Greenly and the info on types of O2 supplies. One 
clarification re infants and O2. Premature infants (less than 1 kg and less 
than 30 weeks gestation) have immature lungs (alveoli and surfactants) 
and may require supplemental O2. When excessive supplemental O2 was 
used with premature infants in the 1950s it was associated with an 
increased frequency of retinal neovascularization (retinopathy of prematurity 
or ROP). This has been reduced to the natural frequency by monitoring the 
blood O2 level and keeping it at a normal level. This is not a problem with 
your children at home.


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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 12:34:09 -0400
From: "Czerpak, Pete" <Pete.Czerpak at siigroup.com>
Subject: dobbelbocks, no yeast in bottles

Casey presents his dopplebock recipe for critique.  I might offer that its a
bit complex with perhaps too many types of grains.  Consider conbining the
lager and pils grains.  Consider combining the carapils and caramel grains.
Consider combining the vienna and munich.  Fairly simple grain bills can
yield some nice beers.  YOu probably don't need any crystal grains actually
since you'll have plenty of maltiness from the munich/vienna as well as the
high OG.

make sure to use plenty of yeast (like huge amounts - one smack pack will
not do it), like a previous slurry, to get this batch going.  Also, pay
attention to temperature since it will rise with all those sugars for teh
yeast to convert....

I do think alcohol will be present in taste but I think the malt will
certainly be there as well in force.  Thats what I noticed with my strong
scotch ale atleast.  Much different taste than the alcohol presence with
belgians and their esters....

Hops look okay but again, quite a bit of variety.  Try one variety for
bitter and perhaps another for flavor and aroma, like northern brewer
(hallertauer cross breed by the way) and perhaps tett or saaz for the other
additions.

Cade asks about minimizing yeast in bottles.  Do you currently use a
secondary fermentation to help clear the beer?  About your method, it will
work okay BUT if you use a plastic fermentor or glass fermentor you will be
unable to seal it adequately against the pressure and it will leak and also
certainly risk a pressure explosion of the vessel.  If you ferment in
stainless, you can do it however as its similar to how some of the big boys
naturally ferment.

With my bottle conditioned brews, I used to get between 1/16" and 1/8" of
yeast solids on the bottom.  Nothing to bother me from drinking from the
bottle... although keg and counterpressure are my current way to go.

Pete Czerpak
albany, NY



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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 12:55:35 -0400
From: "S. SNYDER" <SSNYDER at LBGHQ.com>
Subject: UPS shipping

A few days late but...

I have sent beer only by UPS (ground) with no description and have had no
problems.  I have even had bottles break en route and never a peep.

They don't like taking environmental samples in coolers to well though.
Wonder why...

Scott Snyder
Trumbull, CT 06611 (soon to be San Diego, CA)
ssnyder at lbghq.com

Rotten Rotti Brewing Company


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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 21:12:27 +0200
From: "Dr. Pivo" <dp at pivo.w.se>
Subject: Coriolis experiments, and Phil's better Pilsner.

Phil Yates has recently posted on his improvements to our cooperative
brew, that involved a few continents, and road activity from Burradoo to
Newcastle earlier this year.

And that is EXACTLY what I hope and expect to hear.... Get some input
from some other source of brewing, extract what might be interesting and
new, and add it to your own list. of "knowns".

I sort of think that that is what "homebrewing" is all about.

I do have a few comments on Phil's posting, however.  (It is really much
easier to post ideas, when one has actually been involved with the
making of, and tasted the beer in question.... rather than
theoretically inferring about techniques one has absolutley no practical
experience with, or beers which one has never tasted either in anything
near a fresh state, or perhaps at all).

My general impression of our cooperative product was "too little" of
everything.  It was gentle, and in balance, but a Czech Pilsner should
truly make your chin drop, if not in amasement, than by the pure impact
of flavour.

Phil writes of his new product:


> Why is it so delightful? Well for one thing the saaz flowers came from New
> Zealand instead of Czechoslovakia. Now of course there is nothing wrong with
> Czech hops, we all know that. But the Czech pellets Doc Pivo and I used on
> Mark 1, I suspect were not as fresh as they should have been.
>

I think if you take the pellets in question, if you have any left  (you
haven't been feeding them to your turtles, Phil?), and rub a bit between
the palms of your hands, and give that a sniff you'll find there is
nothing wrong with them.  In fact, as I tipped them up, at the generous
hands of the brew master in the cellar where they came from, I "sucked"
a vaccuum, on the aluminum foil bag, and got a jolly "St. Patrick's day"
face, from the bright fresh colour of them, and nearly fell backwards
from the aroma.... to everyone's bemusement.

Where I think the real rub is, was the stuffing of them into the "Helen"
stockings.  Apparently this is a common practice among "pellet" users,
and where pellets are in great use, there are many people (mostly women)
who are walking around with a nylon stocking on only one leg, the other
one having been seruptitiously pinched by a "pellet user".

Using the  "pellets in a stocking" reminded me a bit  of my days in the
sewage treatment business, before I got promoted to "the Head Poop
Sinker" in the "Main Tank", and got to ride around in a little dinghy
with a pellet gun.

Yes, before that  big promotion came through, I had to walk around the
sides of the pond, and smack them with a paddle.

You may recall, Phil, that I struck a similar working attitude: mouth
agape, a bit of spittle running out of the corner, and me poking at the
little floating bagged pellet dookie, and staring in amasement at how it
didn't sink.  In fact, there was quite a bit of "bubble" around the
actual hops.

If your pH meter has not quite been functioning up to snuff since then,
it could well be because of my using it in an "Errol Flynn" number,
fencing with the pellet poop.

In short, I think we were getting next to "no" utilisation of our late
additions, which is where the (as you so adequately put it)..


> The freshness and hop character
> jump out and smack you fair in the face (maybe this explains my "knocked out
> state" lying on the drive.
>
There might be a bit of general wisdom to be gained from this.  The only
time I have ever "bagged" hops, is when using them for dry hopping,
where they get plenty of time to "expose themselves".  When watching
these ones stuffed into Helen's (Phil's?) saucy stockings, floating on
the surface of the boil like a bloated cane toad, it seemed inherently
apparent that we could never be "extracting" flavour from the hops in
the same manner as a free floating rolling boil.

I think this was born out in the hop flavour of the finished product,
where there was far less than I would of expected from the joyous
ammounts we so generously chucked in.

So perhaps this would be something to be passed on to "bag ladies"
everywhere...... If you are "packaging" your hops in the boil, do not
expect timing, and ammounts to be directly translatable from similar
"freee floating" usage.

As to New Zealand Saaz?  I think it is a fairly established fact that a
hops particular character might have more to do with the dirt it's grown
in, than the actual varietal it is.

I "believe" that the New Zealand beer "Haagen" (can't make the funny
letters in ASCII) is an example of this hop.  That has a very lovely
floral character, that in fact reminds me of a Hallertau Mittelfrau...
but I believe is a "New Zealand Saaz".... If there is anyone out there
who can further enlighten me on the particular hopping of that beer, I
would be happy to add it to my list of "tedious information".

Phil has also made mention of certain aspects of the malt, and I think
as a "bilateral trade agreement", this should be worth commenting as
well, but I think the hops are enough of an issue for one posting...
which leads to...


> Wes Smith also is making available to us hop flower plugs from Europe. I am
> yet to put these into action.
>
At which point , I am sure you will be delighted  at the results.

Probably more important than the fact of Phil and I gawking at how
differently we brew beer, was when Dave Lamotte, Phil, and I were
sitting there tasting our different products, and Dave and I made fun of
Phil's little "Phil's sparge arm" - which in case of point is nothing
more than a toy--- looks real cute spinning around, but doesn't do much
more than dump water in---- after which every beer Phil took up of
Dave's, he said: "Seems to have a sparging problem."

And as Phil blasted each of Dave's sample's in a PET bottle with a
carbonater cap, I'd shout: "Oh Christ.  Just look what you've done to
the Foam Once Proteins!"

And we went on tasting, mumbleing "Sparging problem.", or "Foam Once
Proteins." with each sip-- in short taking the buggery out of each
other, and the seriousness with which some people approach what is truly
a joyous endeavour-- I do believe we sanctified the very reason why
"having a beer together", is an idiom in itself, and why more brewers
should probably brew and taste together.

Dr. Pivo





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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 15:39:14 -0400
From: "Andrew Moore" <abmjunk at hotmail.com>
Subject: How to obtain a free outdoor burner from the in-laws

I thought you might appreciate my strategy to obtain a free outdoor propane 
burner.

Since the birth of my daughter, my wife and I have been seeing the 
grandparents a whole lot more often. Recently, my in-laws came for a
three-day visit, an occurance which neither my wife nor I was viewing
particularly favorably.

Until.

Until, I learned that they were bringing several pounds of fresh shrimp to 
fry. (My in-laws live near Charleston, SC). The idea bulb illuminated. My 
in-laws regularly cook outdoors on (you guessed it) an outdoor propane 
burner. It's convenient for smelly, large scale cooking, i.e. blackened fish 
or frying shrimp. So, I took the opportunity to suggest that my 
father-in-law might want to shop for a burner in order to fry the shrimp 
while my wife and mother-in-law went baby shopping. He goes to Wal-Mart, my 
wife and mother-in-law go to Babys 'R Us and everybody is happy.

It worked! I now own a very nice Brinkmann burner that is taller than the 
models I had seen previously. (This seems like a genuine improvement over 
the squat models with which I am familiar). I can't vouch for its use in 
brewing yet, but I can say the shrimp were tasty.

Looking forward to outdoor cooking/brewing,

Andrew Moore
Richmond, Virginia


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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 18:06:41 -0500
From: "Ray Daniels" <raydan at ameritech.net>
Subject: American Beer Month Web Site

In the spirit of homebrewing and in the shadow of Larry Bell, an American
Beer Month web site has been spawned.  Still a long way to go, but it's on
the right track.  Check it out.

http://www.americanbeermonth.com/index.html

Ray Daniels
Editor-in-Chief
Zymurgy & The New Brewer
E-mail:  ray at aob.org





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Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 22:53:15 -0400
From: "Bob" <bsmntbrewr at home.com>
Subject: homebrew clubs

I'd like to chime in on Shane's question regarding home brew
clubs too.  As far as I am concerned it is one of the best
things about home brewing.  Our club is fairly small with
about 15 members, but growing, and we are in our fourth
year.  Our little group is fairly diverse itself when it
comes to walks of life and our president can go by the title
SWMBO at meetings as well as at home.

We've never had any lessons set up but members usually
announce their brew sessions via our web page,
http://hbd.org/starcity , and non members are always
welcome.  At one time we did set up some little seminar
activities but they quickly died off.  Our last one was the
infamous, infamous to us at least,  "Great Yeast Meeting", I
don't recall much about yeast from that day. We really enjoy
cornering folks once they make the mistake of showing
interest.  I would like to think most home brewers would be
pleased to take time to show someone how its done and/or
answer their questions.

I don't know if I would have stuck with brewing without the
club.  I've learned more about brewing from club members
than I believe I would have with out them.  Before sitting
in on few all grain sessions I was totally mystified by the
process no matter how many times I read about it.  But
seeing it done, well, I thought "I can do this!"

Unless you really hate people Shane, join your local club.

David Persenaire ask:
<snip>
Any one have any suggestions for events, outings, meeting
ideas?
</snip>

David,
We have four style specific competitions a year (first
through third get a trophy at each comp) and bestow the
brewer with the most points at the end of the year as Home
Brewer of the Year.  We even have a plaque we engrave each
year to memorialize the brewer's accomplishment.  We try to
come up with a nice prize for the brewer of the year too.
One year it was a keg system donated by our HB shop.

In the months preceding a competition meeting we have a
presentation on the chosen style's history and brewing
techniques at one meeting and at the next meeting we sample
commercial examples and use the BJCP scoring sheets to
familiarize ourselves with the style's characteristics and
hone our tasting skills.

In addition to our monthly meetings we participate in Big
Brew as a group.  This year we are combining BB with a camp
out.  We also have an annual fall camp out that has been a
blast. The club finances the food and necessities and the
members bring the beer.  We also volunteer to serve at a
local beer festival as a group and man a home brew and beer
info booth during the event.  This year we are participating
in organizing the event as well.  We visit other events as a
group when it can be arranged.  This year we are planning on
having a group attending Mash Out, I can't wait!

If Roanoke had any decent watering holes I'm sure we would
organize some pub crawls and such.  If we had any local
Micros/Brew Pubs I'm also sure we could find a way to weasel
in on some of their brew sessions.  Last year we had a
regional micro offer as a grand prize for a competition the
opportunity to brew the winner's beer on their system and
serve it in their pub.  Unfortunately that hasn't come to
fruition for various reasons.

You may also want to try to arrange guest speakers or invite
brewery reps to your meetings.  This works well when your
club holds a clone competition.  We had a brewery's
president show up at a meeting with prizes and a keg of the
commercial brew we were cloning.  Of course we gave him the
honor of picking the winner.

Listen to your members and do your best to bring them new
ideas and expand upon the old and you should do fine.  Good
luck.  What are other clubs doing?  You can never have
enough ideas.

Brew On!
Bob Bratcher
Roanoke, VA
Star City Brewers Guild
http://hbd.org/starcity
Treasurer & Webmeister





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