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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
  Grain prices ("Pat Casey")
  Helping out HBD (Calvin Perilloux)
  RE: Grain Prices (Don Van Valkenburg)
  Grain Prices (Scott Birdwell)
  2008 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out ("Crist, Jonathan")


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Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 16:54:02 +1100
From: "Pat Casey" <pat at bmbrews.com.au>
Subject: Grain prices

Drought in Australia still, a bad year in Europe, and a bad year in Nth
America mean that yields and quality are both down. Many farmers in Nth
America and Europe are also switching from barley to other crops destined
for the ethanol fuel industry. In April we had a 25% increase in the
wholesale price of malt, I am just surprised there has not been another
increase.

Pat
Absolute Homebrew
www.absolutehomebrew.com.au



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Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 07:16:40 -0800 (PST)
From: Calvin Perilloux <calvinperilloux at yahoo.com>
Subject: Helping out HBD

As the end of year approaches, and some of us in the USA are 
thinking of where our tax-year-end charitable contributions
might be directed, I'd like to point out that Pat worked hard
to get official non-profit 501(c)(3) status for HBD earlier 
this year.  

I find HBD to be a great little forum.  Sometimes, depending
on the brewing season, it gets slow, sometimes it picks up,
but there is always a wealth of searchable information that 
is kept available to us, and it's nice to help support that.  
It's not cheap, as you can see if you browse the Finances 
sections, and hats off to Pat Babcock for keeping this up 
and running.

Here are some relevant clips from the Announcements page 
earlier this year for anyone looking to donate:

 "We are now Home Brew Digest, Incorporated, a 501(c)3 corporation. 
  We are an educational charity, dedicated to disseminating information

  pertaining to the home production of fermented foodstuffs, including 
  beer, wine, cheese, sauerkraut, etc." 

 "If you were waiting to make a donation to the HBD because you 
  couldn't deduct it from your income taxes, you can now." 

 "The Home Brew Digest, Inc. EIN as a non-profit is 26-0150215. 
  Under IRS rules, we are a 501(c)3 corporation [...]" 

However, I note on http://hbd.org/donors_table.shtml that it says 
this from about 2004:

 "Currently, the Digest has no bank account of its own. 
  Donations must be made payable to   Pat Babcock  
  in order for the funds to be used. Donations can be mailed to: 	
  
  HBD Server Fund
  PO Box 871309
  Canton Township, MI 48187-6309"

Pat, is that still the case?  Or can we make out checks now to 
"Home Brew Digest, Incorporated"?

Calvin Perilloux
Middletown, Maryland, USA



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Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:47:53 -0800
From: Don Van Valkenburg <valkenburg at verizon.net>
Subject: RE: Grain Prices

In addition to crop shortages, I suspect pressure is being put on other 
grains such as barley as corn is increasingly used for ethanol 
production.  Corn is now not only considered an agricultural commodity, 
but an energy commodity and is reflecting those market pressures.

cheers
Don


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Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 10:02:07 -0600
From: Scott Birdwell <defalcos at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Grain Prices

Nathan Hirneisen said:

"A homebrew shop that i frequent has drastically increase
their prices for both grain and hops. I'm sure that everyone
is familiar with the hops shortages world wide, but.
I didn't quite expect grain prices to increase so drastically.

About 4 months ago i bought 55# of Weyermann Pils for $42.
Last week went to the same store and it was $67.
A 60% price increase in that short a time.
I was shocked to say the least...

The only thing i can think is with the price of corn up,
less tillable land is in barley. And with the dollar being
lousy to the euro, that makes it even worst.

Any ideas?"

When comes to any imported grains, you don't have to look much  
further than the exchange rate.  The dollar is nearing all time lows  
against many European currencies, causing their products to soar in  
price here in the US.  Add to that the poor crop that seems to be a  
problem almost worldwide, and you've got some serious shortages,  
driving prices further up.  Domestically you've got the good ol' US  
Government throwing money at farmers to encourage them to grow corn  
for ethanol.  Even though you'll never convince me that producing  
ethanol creates more energy than it takes to produce it, it's all  
about the money.  I can't really fault the farmers.  They're trying  
to make a living, too!  My wife works in the food service industry  
and has received notice that wheat flour prices are going way up for  
the same reason.  FWIW some of my hop costs are going up six-fold,  
assuming I can even get my hands on them.  It's going to be a rough  
year or two for those of us in the craft beer/ homebrew industry.

Scott Birdwell
DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Houston TX



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Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 13:12:52 -0600
From: "Crist, Jonathan" <Jonathan.Crist at bsci.com>
Subject: 2008 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out

Get Ready for the 2008 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out, January 25-26 in St
Paul, Minnesota. Sponsored by the St. Paul Homebrewers Club and the
Minnesota Home Brewers Assn., this is one of the largest contests in the
country and offers prizes along with medals for every award. This
includes the hand-made wooden chalices for best-of-show winners in beer,
mead and cider. Check out the infamous "Eis-Anything" category, and NEW
this year there are two categories for first time entrants (1060+ OG and
1060- OG). Entries are accepted January 1-12. All the details can be
found at http://www.mnbrewers.com/mashout

Jonathan Crist




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