October 2005 Meeting Notes

For the club records, here are the notes from the DBF meeting held in October 2005. Al Minetola, the club Minister of Secretarial Stuff, did not attend the meeting, but Vice President Tom Adams took copious notes.

Attendees:
Tom, Ed, Skip, Jay, Bruce, Dave Peters, Mike Young, Scott Hoverman, and John Wohlfarth.

There were 3 home brews brought in to sample by members, and Skip's keg filled its last sample for Bruce: Jay and John shared two different style ESBs and Tom shared a modified Baron's Dutch Lager. All were sampled and liked. John's ESB stood out, with a full mouth feel and great hoppy finish.

President called meeting to order 19:05.

1. Ed reviewed Saturday's Brew-B-Q. The weather held out for us, we had 4 brew pots producing 20 gal's of wort, and a great time was had by all!

2. Special thanks and praise to Gary for cooking up the ribs and running the grills. Those who were there know, words cannot describe Gary's expertise!

3. Ed also shared with us the experience of a high krausen from the Russian Imperial Stout. Apparently, he was kept up all Sunday night with the lid exploding off the fermenter! After changing air locks, switching to a blow off tube, he was finally able to keep the lid on by about 04:00 Monday. He took some video and shared with the group how active the yeast was, and the remnants of wort on objects around the fermenters.

4. There were 4 brew pots running at the same time, 2 stouts, a steam style, and Centennial. There were two wort chillers present, Ed's and Jays, but only one hose! Ed saved the day by borrowing the neighbor's hose and the process was completed. From this, though, Ed is going to either engineer a manifold for multiple chiller usage (see upcoming event below) or one from someplace like Home Depot.

5. From the brewing on Sat, the brew pots purchased from Sam's this summer come with an inner pot that is perforated with big holes.

This would make a great grain steeping “sock” if we could get some fine stainless mesh like the old DBF had. Another option being looked into by both Skip and Ed is a liner made of the same material Ed uses for his grain sock to line the pot. More at the next meeting.

6. November 5th is national Teach a Friend to Brew Day. The club is planning another demonstration brew like last spring at Park Winery. Skip would like to see at least 6 brew pots being operated. We had 4 pots at Ed's, so all we need is two more members to show up with their brewing equipment! We want to have the pots up and running under fire by 14:00 (2pm) so please arrive by 13:00 (1pm) to get set up and ready to enjoy the afternoon!

7. Tom reminded everyone of the discount at Park Winery on supplies for members who have paid dues.

8. Some discussion on what beers would be demonstrated on the 5 th , an Octoberfest, stout, and various ales were mentioned, along with a recipe not from kit to show how easy our hobby really is.

9.  A “mash tun“ design was discussed being made from a cooler with copper piping in the bottom to pull off liquids. John had tried this 3 times with limited success in the past, but as a club, we may look into building one.

Here is a link to an example of one made from a 100qt cooler for 20 gal batches! lossilverechos.com/beer/e/mashtun100.html

Next meeting will be Tuesday November 22nd. Dave expressed great distress to this, as he will be on a trip to England/Amsterdam that week, sampling some of the indigenous refreshments. Of course, all the members felt sorry for Dave, and a couple of places to see and pubs to visit in were offered up by our Pres to help Dave cope with his separation from the club J

Sampling was completed and the meeting adjourned at 21:00.