November Meeting in a Basement

Because the Park Winery was unable to provide the space in November, Ed Stone hosted the DBF meeting at his home. Specifically, we met in his basement, which he has practically dedicated to the art of beer and winemaking.

For home brewers, Ed's basement is a sanctuary. Against one wall, there's burner with a natural gas feed. Above, Ed installed a vented hood to draw away gas exhausts and the aromas from the wort. (Why is it that most women find the fragrance of boiling wort unappealing?) Around the basement perimeter stand somewhere between 6 to 100 5-gallon carboys containing various beers and wines in different stages of clarification.

Next to the washbasin, there is a full-size refrigerator-turned-beer-tap. For this meeting, Ed served a Centennial Ale that he brewed at the club's Teach-A-Friend-To-Brew demonstration, held at the Park Winery on November 5 (see related story). The thirsty club members drank the keg dry. It must be noted that the keg did not contain 5 gallons at the start of the meeting, however. After emptying the keg, the group had the opportunity to taste Ed's version of Stoney Creek's Vanilla Porter.

Several DBF members brought samples of their recent brewing efforts. You should have been there, because Al Minetola, Webmaster and DBF's Chief Note Taker wasn't writing anything down. His memory began to falter at some point after someone lifted the top off a bottle of Pat Scanlon's barley wine.

Additionally, Ed uncapped a bottle of Mead that he brewed several years ago. He detailed the lengthy fermentation process involved in its making, resulting in a very dry, high-alcohol version of this honey ale style. (Meads are often considered wines, but at 20% alcohol, Ed's version is more like a brandy.)

Regarding actual club business, we decided to purchase hoses and hardware to facilitate multiple wort chillers operating simultaneously at group events. It became obvious at the two most recent brewing events that several boil pots were waiting while others were chilling, a situation easily remedied with a little hardware and engineering.