Newsletter from 09/06/05

Fellow Homebrewers,

The cool weather and the smell of freshly racked Oktoberfest has got me thinking about Fall. On brew day we brewed 2 batches of Oktoberfest (one was actually called a Kristoberfest) and a Kolsh. Dave Goff. aka Mr. Beer brewed the Kolsh, which was his first all grain batch, a very welcomed step up from his uh, Mr Beer kits. From what I saw, based on the color and the taste of the wort, it’s going to be a damn fine Kolsh! I am really looking forward to trying them all.

Local News

Although they haven’t posted it yet, the FOSSILS are having their annual Porter contest again this coming November. I entered last year and received back some very good judging sheets. So far, including myself, have 5 BHJ members planning on entering. In years past, they only accepted brown and robust porters, but this year they may be also accepting Baltic and specialty.

I encourage anyone who would like to get some good feedback and a shot at the prize to enter. Send me an email, if you would like to enter so I know to coordinate with you when it comes entry time. We will most like plan a road trip down to RichO’s Pub to deliver everyone’s entries since there is some tighter restrictions/confusion on shipping fermented beverages. I have attached the email I received last year announcing the winner. I will forward any new details that I receive about the contest.

Club Stuff

The next meeting is this week Thursday, September 8th at 7:00pm. Matt Dunn will be hosting and is organizing a beer style presentation for IPA and Munich Dunkel. We will examine the BJCP guidelines for these styles and then sample Ayinger Munich Dunkel and 3 Floyds Alpha King IPA. We will also have BJCP score sheets on hand if we want to score the samples or if anyone wants to bring a homebrew to have scored by the club. Even though it’s a bit outside of the guidelines I will bring a bottle of my high gravity Munich Dunkel to throw in the mix for a comparison. If you plan on attending, please bring a few bucks to help pay for the beer purchase. Directions to Matt’s pad are at the bottom of the email.

We don’t have a definite meeting place yet for the September 22nd meeting but we will probably meet at Upland. We have been talking about meeting at a bar/pub for the 4th Thursday of the month meetings instead of the usual. We would like to find pubs/bars that would be open to us brining in homebrews to share. If any of you have any recommendations for such a place let me know.

I will send out an announcement for the next meeting when the venue is confirmed.

Beer Style of the Month

Porter! In response to the FOSSILS upcoming competition we’re breaking out the black and chocolate malts for some serious porter brewing. There isn’t a brew day this month, so it’s all on your own. For the 2nd meeting in October, if they’re ready, it will be fun to try a bunch of porter homebrews and give critiques. If you’re going to do a robust porter, best get brewing now!

As always, if you want any brewing advice or general help, feel free to email me.

Until next time, brew on!

Ryan.

Directions to Matt’s place:

Basic directions from downtown Bloomington area:

Take college south, then take a left (east) on 3rd street. Take a right onto south Jordon ave, continue south until you hit Maxwell. Take a left on Maxwell, then turn right onto south Mitchell Street. Look for 928 S. Mitchel on the right side of the street.