April 2010 Newsletter

By Member Newsletters

Blow off from the Prez

Greetings and welcome to another edition of the SAAZ Newsletter.

Things have been and will continue to be busy as the weather warms up.  We have a couple brewing demonstrations and competitions in the next couple of weeks.

Don’t forget to bring your Extract Beers (Any Category) to the April Meeting for the AHA Club-only taste-off to determine which one we send.  The only rule is that 50% of the recipe must be extract, liquid or dried.  See the Homebrewer’s Association website for more details.

In case you missed it, the lat meeting was the Spring Party at Suntree Rotary Park in Suntree.  We had a blast and fun and beer was had by all!  We will return there in October for the Fall SAAZtoberfest.

I would also like to recognize Matt Backus, Dave Webb, Aaron Guittar, and Mike Ellis for winning medals at the Coconut Cup last month.  Also, Glenn Exline (gold) and Sean Gregg (bronze) won medals at the Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing.  This is a qualified-entry only competition.  You can qualify by placing first in any of the qualifying competitions throughout the year.  SAAZ was the only club to win two medals!  See http://www.masterhomebrewer.org for more information.  Great job guys!  We are still awaiting results from the Palm Beach Blowoff, the NHC first round, and the AHA Club Only for American Ales

In case you missed it, there was a great Cigar City tasting at Coaster’s Pub this past Thursday.  I had the opportunity to try the Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout, brewed with chile peppers, vanilla, and cocoa nibs!  It was wonderful!  There may be some of these kegs still on, so check it out.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of The Broken Barrel Tavern in Palm Bay.  For those that missed it: goof news and bad news.  First the bad: They raffled off shirts, glasses pull overs, a bottle of 2009 Utopias, chances in the money machine & a 42″ Flat Panel TV.  They had  selection of very special kegs that we may never see again.  The god news?  They had so many special beers, they didn’t make it through them all.  Kevin will be putting them on as the existing kegs are emptied.  This is just a short list:City Humidor Series- Gruit, Stone 13th Anniversary Ale, Terrapin Side Project Dark Side, Ommegang Belgian Pale Ale, Highland Seven Sisters, Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary.

Check out the World Beer Cup results online at the link below.  Do you see your favorite beer or brewer

http://worldbeercup.org/winners.html

One last thing I want to mention: the website traffic is up and moving.  I think this is a great way to share information, so please use it.  It is easy to sign up and use.

Well, I think that’s all I have for now.  I plagiarized a little from the last time, but I hope you enjoyed!  Continue to read further for more information about the things I mentioned.  I will see you all at the April Meeting.

Next Meeting

This month’s meeting will be at World of Beer in Viera.  We had the officer’s meeting there and were very impressed, both by the hospitality and the beer selection!  We will have the back patio for our use.  Don Ferris will be doing the education.  Since World of Beer does not serve food, you are encouraged to order from Pizza Gallery, Moes, or any of the surrounding restaurants.

Sunday April 18 at 2:00pm

2290 Town Center Avenue, Suite 119

Melbourne, FL 32940

Notes on the meeting:

This is the first time we have had a meeting at World of Beer.  For those of you who may not have been there before, Drew (product manager and SAAZ member) has done an excellent job in selecting 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.

Dues:

For 8 regular meetings and 4 parties worth of great beer and fun membership would be cheap at twice the price!

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

Have you seen the Fraggle Bag?  For those that are not familiar with it, you may see a decorative bag with a concealed bottle in the raffle.  The person who wins this gets to enjoy the fabulous beer inside, and then brings it back to the next raffle with another “mystery” beer.  The beers are typically rare, hard-to-find, or special in some way. Sean Gregg won picked the fraggle bag at the Spring Party and will be bringing it to the April Meeting.  He guarantees the beer inside is one that is special and not available in Florida!

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

Next Florida completion is just around the corner in Gainesville. It is the 2010 Hogtown Brew-Off and takes place on May 14-15th.  Entries are due by May 11.  We will most likely be doing a railroad to get the entries up there, so stay tuned for details.  More information at the link below.

http://www.hogtownbrewers.org/Brewoff/BrewoffFrames.html

AHA EXTRACT: The next Club Only Competition is extract only beers. This means all new brewers can be eligible for this event. Please bring your beers to the April meeting to be judged.

April Birthdays

Dan Schlegel

Drew Thaller

Steve Stresau

T-Shirts

There seem to be some people that are experiencing fading on the new T-shirts that were ordered.  If this is happening to your shirt, please bring yours, with a piece of paper pinned to it with your name, to the April meeting.  We are going to work with the vendor to see if there is something that can be done to correct this.  I can’t promise what will happen, but let’s hope for the best.

Local events

Earth Day Brew at Sunseed is coming up very shortly. At Sunseed’s annual Earth day Event Sean Gregg will be demonstration brewing extract pale ale. This event will be held on April 24th starting at noon. Look for more information in the April Newsletter and flyers at the store.

Big Brew Day May 1 will also be happening at Sunseed. This is the following Saturday after Earth day. So two weeks in a row to come see brewing demos. This Demo will start a little earlier and will have both all grain and extract demonstration. Start time around 11:00 am.

Terrapin Beer and Chocolate Pairing is coming to Sunseed Food co-op in May.

On Saturday May 8th Sunseed will be holding a beer and chocolate pairing with Mike Wallace from Terrapin Brewing. The event will start at 6:00 pm and will last ab out an hour and half. The store will be open for purchase after the tasting. The cost will be $10.00 per person. Please come out and try this special event.

***Beer News    Beer News      Beer News***

New Beers in Florida:

There are some pretty exciting new beers her in Florida right now that you should be seeing at your favorite shops and bars. Hoppin Frog has graced us with 2 exciting Imperial stouts, the first being their famous B.O.R.I.S the Crusher that was barrel aged for your enjoyment and if that was not enough they went ahead and doubled up on the B.O.R.I.S and created D.O.R.I.S the Destroyer. Also look for some new beers from the Bruery, the Saison de Lente is awesome and should be tried by any saison lover. Terrapin Brewery has released its new batch of Rye2, which I hear is their hoppiest to date and very fresh right now. Please support your local craft beer dealer so we can keep these gems coming to the state.

Education:

Well it is summer now here in Florida and after that longer than normal winter we had I would say it is time for some good summer beers, and that to me would be wheat beers. The two that I think make the best summer beers would be Hefeweizens and Berliner weiss. So here is a quick over view of the two styles.

Hefeweizen: The best known and original wheat beer is hefeweizen. Using wheat as an ingredient in beer was the first exception made to the famous beer purity law, Rheinheitsgebot, and that exception was made specifically so the nobility could continue to enjoy this style. This Bavarian style of wheat beer is pale and cloudy. It is bottled and served unfiltered so the yeast used during fermentation is still present. This special strain of yeast contributes banana and clove notes to the aroma and flavor of the beer. Wheat beer is an ale so it is heavier and doesn’t provide the smack of a lager. But served cold, with or without a slice of lemon, it is no less refreshing.

Examples of Hefeweizen include:

Berliner Weisse: While the brewers in southern Germany really on yeast for the flavor and aroma of their wheat beers, brewers in northern Germany use a different technique. Berliner Weisse is fermented with ale yeast and Lactobacillus delbruckii which creates an unforgettable beer. The bacterium contributes a dominant mouth-puckering sourness. Otherwise this beer is light in character and very effervescent. Some fans of this rare style like to sweeten it with flavored syrups. That may work for them but as with every beer I always encourage initiates to try it on its own first.

Examples of Berliner Weisse to try:

Summer Time Lite Wheat Recipe:

5 gallon batch extract 1.036 OG

3# Bavarin wheat DME

1# Honey

1oz Saaz pellets at 60 min

1 pack of Munich dry yeast or wlp 300

This is a very light and easy recipe for anyone to try and should be around $20 or less to make. Enjoy!

Conclusion

Well this month flew by again and the year seems to be cruising too. So before you know it Commander S.A.A.Z will be here. So enjoy your beer time well and get to brewing so we can have a big showing this year from the club.

P.S. There will be a ESB going on at Cocoa Beach Brewing Company in about 2 weeks brewed by one of our club members, so please check it out and support our friends at our local brewery.