Blow off from the Prez
Welcome to the July edition of Blow off from the Prez. It seems like the weather is warming up and so have the homebrewing events! In case you missed it, Sunseed food Co-op and Andy from Southampton presented a beer and cheese pairing at World of Beer. Drew was able to have the Southampton Double Wit, Keller Pils, and Alt all on draft, and Sunseed brought in some excellent cheeses. At the end of the night there was a raffle for a gift-basket filled with wonderful Southampton schwag, and of course, BEER! SAAZ members Ron and Paula Sup also taught an introductory class on mead making at WOB. The class was well attended and they covered all sorts of topics. Of course, there were some very delicious samples, including a 10+ year-old mead with dandelions.
The next competition in the Florida Circuit is the CASK (Jacksonville) First Coast Cup. They have a special “Big Wood” category for wood-aged beers with an original gravity of 1.070 or greater. We will be collecting entries at the SAAZ Officers Meeting on July 7th at Coasters Pub between 6:30pm and 7:30pm. If you cannot make it, please email me and we can try to make other arrangements.
Some upcoming events you might want to check out this month are the Christmas in July Event at Broken Barrel. Details are still to come, but I talked to Kevin about it, and I bet this will be a blast! Matt at Sunseed is working with Stone to have a beer at cheese pairing at Sunseed Food Co-op. I stopped by to meet with the Stone Rep and sample some of the beer and cheese. This will be a great event. While at Sunseed, I met the brewer from Dunedin Brewery. He told me they were working on a special series called “Scottish Enlightenment.” He said they were through label approval, and should be hitting the shelves in the near future. Don’t forget the Sierra Nevada Beer Class at Florida Wine and Spirits in Viera. On this night, a representative of the Sierra Nevada Brewery will be on hand to present his beers and he will have 8 different Sierra Nevada to try. Cost for this evening is $10 per person. These events seem to fill up quicker than I can get the word out, so check out their website or join their mailing list to keep up with the latest information. So, if you’re sitting around like a bump on a log this month, you can’t blame me!
In case you missed it, the last meeting was the Summer Party at Chet’s. As always, the tri-tip was phenomenal. Thanks to everyone who brought a side-dish and beverages for sharing. The weather was warm and we made full use of the pool. Due to a slight lack of preparation on my part, I didn’t have a lawn mower beer trophy or voting material. However, I would say that one of the crowd favorites was Lynn Seelos’ Koolaid Wheat. It was a very nice, refreshing beer. I say quite a few red tongues after we taped that keg!
Our next meeting is a regular monthly meeting on July 18th at 2:00pm at the Broken Barrel in Palm Bay. More details below. If you have any ideas (or would like to volunteer) for educational topics for upcoming meetings, please let us know.
Don’t forget to bring your mead for a mini BOS tasting to decide which one we send to the AHA club only! Continue to read further for more information about the things I mentioned. I will see you all at the Barrel!
Next Meeting
This month’s meeting will be held at The Broken Barrel Tavern in Palm Bay.
Sunday July 18th, 2010 at 2:00 pm.
4700 Babcock Street Northeast
Palm Bay, FL 32905-2838
(321) 728-4755
Notes on the meeting:
This is the third time we have had a meeting at the Broken Barrel Tavern. For those of you who may not have been there before, Kevin has done an excellent job in selecting over 40 beers on draft and just about every bottle you can get in the area. Therefore, let’s leave the commercial beer at home for this meeting and only bring homebrew. The Broken Barrel is a great place, for meetings and in general, so let’s make sure we show them the courtesy and support of the great club sponsor they are.
Dues:
Individual Membership = $15
Couple’s Membership = $25
Lifetime Membership = $150
Dues can be paid to the Treasurer at any club meeting or online at www.saaz.org via PayPal (it’s on the right side of the homepage!)
You don’t want to miss out on the benefits of membership!
Raffle
Do you have some homebrew supplies that you don’t use anymore? Maybe you upgraded or maybe you prefer another product? Consider bringing your dusty supplies to the next meeting for the raffle. We have brewers of all experience levels, so I am sure we can put any brewing supplies to use!
Upcoming Competitions
SAAZ members are highly encouraged to investigate, and enter competitions on their own. Places to find out about upcoming competitions include the AHA (http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/events.asp), and the BJCP (http://www.bjcp.org/compsch.html). You can also find out information on brew-monkey http://www.brewmonkey.com/events.php). MCAB specific information can be obtained at the Official MCAB site (http://www.masterhomebrewer.org/)
The next competition in the Florida Circuit is the CASK (Jacksonville) First Coast Cup. They have a special “Big Wood” category for wood-aged beers with an original gravity of 1.070 or greater. We will be collecting entries at the SAAZ Officers Meeting on July 7th at Coasters Pub between 6:30pm and 7:30pm. If you cannot make it, please email me and we can try to make other arrangements. More information at the link below.
http://www.thecask.org/first%20coast%20cup.htm
Next AHA Club-only is for Meads! We will need to have a mini BOS round to determine which member’s mead we want to send. Please bring your entries to the July Meeting. Note, we encourage you to bring as many as you want, but in the case of several entries, please be prepared to choose only your best to be eligible for competition.
July Birthdays
Matt Raines
John Baldwin
Stephanie Schrandt
Alan Adcox
Suzanne Richmond
Sean Gregg
Andy Schulte
Jack Schweikert
Local events
Broken Barrel
The weekend of July 23rd will be TBBT’s Christmas in July celebration, in which they will be tapping several Belgian and American Christmas & Winter Seasonal Brews. Details to come for the beer line up, but there will be at least half a dozen different beers to choose from with the potential of as many as 10! Starting Friday July 23rd and running as long as these beers last! The second big announcement is the first meeting of beer school for customers, Saturday, July 31st at 3pm. There will be both a chance to learn more about different beer styles as well as samples several examples. The price will be $10 per person, and this is just to cover expenses. Beer school will meet monthly, and will cover different styles and regions as well as some brewing basics and history. It is open to all persons twenty-one years of age and older, and registration will be available at The Broken Barrel Tavern. This is a great way to experiment with different styles and learn more about the World’s favorite beverage!
Florida Wine and Spirits
Wednesday, July 14th, Chris Dickman will be hosting a wine class from 7 PM – 8:30 PM. It will be very informative and the cost for this special evening will be $20.00. Seating is limited, reservations are a must and payment is due at the time of reservations.
On Tuesday, July 27th, Chris Pascale is hosting a Sierra Nevada Beer Class. On this night, a representative of the Sierra Nevada Brewery will be on hand to present his beers and he will have 8 different Sierra Nevada to try. Cost for this evening is $10 per person. Again seating is limited and payment is due at the time of reservations.
WOB
This Sunday, July 11th starting at 2 pm, World of Beer is having another customer appreciation. Come hang out, drink great beer, grab some food and enjoy the World Cup final. Then on Tuesday the 13th they will be having a Magic Hat Food Pairing. Meals will include ginger boiled shrimp over infused rice, marinated pork with apricot chutney and a bread pudding that will make you rethink what you thought you knew about beer and food pairing. $10 gets you servings of each (beer sold separately). But don’t hesitate, it’s a first come, first served event with an opportunity to chat with both the chef and a representative from Magic Hat. On the 27th they will be having a Terrapin Brewery Night. Make sure to check their web page for more info. http://viera.wobusa.com/default.aspx
Sunseed Food Co-op
There will be a great beer and cheese pairing at Sunseed this month on July 23rd. We will be pairing Stone Brewing beers with some fantastic cheese from the co-op. This is not one to miss. The cost wil be $5.00 for a pint glass and then samples of all the beers and cheese. There will also be a raffle basket of beer goodies also and maybe a special raffle of beer. So please check it out if you can.
***Beer News Beer News Beer News***
New Beers in Florida
Check out the new or limited releases now available.
Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary 2nd Edition. This is the second release of Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary collaboration brewing, “Charlie, Fred & Ken’s Bock”. Charlie Papazian and Fred Eckhardt are two of the country’s most esteemed homebrewers and writers. Their influential books and steadfast promotions of brewing culture helped propel the craft brewing movement. Charlie and Fred agreed to work with Sierra Nevada on this very special brew in honor of their 30th anniversary. This Imperial Helles Bock is a testament to the ever-evolving brewer’s art.
Dogfish Head Sah’Tea Dogfish Head Sahtea is based on the traditional 9th century Finnish recipe for Sahti in that they brew it with rye and juniper and heat the wort with wood-fired rocks. They then break with tradition by adding an exotic Black Chai Tea at the end of the boil. Dogfish always being the unique brewer has brought another ancient recipe for our palates.
Cigar City Brewing 110K+OT. 110K + OT is not for the college guys, white collar folk or the namby-pamby Nancy boys who haven’t done a hard days work in their lives. Nor is this beer for the common man. This beer is for the working man who has arrived. If your work boots are steel toed, come back when they are gold toed! This edition is a double IPA!
Cigar City Brewing IPA Humidor Series. Here’s an American Style India Pale Ale aged on Spanish Cedar. Unfiltered and Bottler Conditioned.
Cascade The Vine **only 12 bottles in Brevard***
This Northwest Style Sour Ale is a blend of soured Triple, Blonde Quad and Golden ales that have been refermented with the fresh pressed juice of white wine grapes. The beer spent more than six months of lactic fermentation and aging in small oak barrels. 9.2% ABV
Also the Cascade Kriek and Apricot sours are available in Florida right now.
Education
Q: When I force carbonate my beer in my kegs, I get quite a bit of head in the beer when I have reached carbonation. Is there a away to combat this? I refrigerate my CO2 tank when carbonating and carbonate at about 35psi for 48-72 hours as needed.
The main problem is we really don’t your actual carbonation level, so my feeling is that you are over carbonated. A lot of older information teaches carbonation by increasing the to high psi levels for a few days for faster carbonation, the main problem is that you tend to end up with excess foaming. The following are two simple steps to trouble free carbonation.
1st Method – This is the most preferred by us here at the shop too. Get the beer cold (32-38F), hold 10-12psi of pressure at that temp for at least 7 days. This should perfectly carbonate the beer. The benefit of this is that you should be able to serve your beer at the same pressure (if you have 5 feet of 3/16″ tubing). This also ensures that you won’t over carbonate the beer, and give the beer some time to cold age before you start drinking it. For best result if you can fit more than one keg in your refrigerator you may want to add a manifold (or gas tee) to allow kegs to be served and carbonating at the same time. That way you are never without beer to serve.
2nd Method – If you need to carbonate quicker. Using a carbonation stone will cut down the time needed to carbonate the beer to about 1/2 hour. Again, the beer needs to be cold. Attach the stone so that it is at or near the bottom of the keg. Start with no pressure on the regulator and increase to 1-2 psi and let sit for about 4-5 minutes. You should hear the bubbles in the keg. Repeat the pressure increase in 1-2 psi increments waiting 4-5 minutes between increases till you are about 14-16 psi. Try a sample glass. If this is the desired carbonation level, you can either remove or leave in the stone and back pressure down to serving psi. If not, keep increasing the psi in 1-2 psi increments till you get your desired level.
Conclusion
Well in conclusion it was a great beer June and looks to be a great beer July so make sure you all check out your local craft beer places and give them some support. They are doing a great job for us. Also it is about to be Commander SAAZ time so get ready with those entries and get excited to help out. Well that is all this month I will see you all next month.