Newsletter from 11/09/2005

Homebrewers,

Unfortunately this one’s going to have to be real short. I’m actually writing this from a hotel room. I’ve been quite busy the last few weeks.

I am really going to try and brew a batch of beer this weekend. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had the time to brew in almost 2 months! It’s time to get back on the wagon (or in this case would it be fall off the wagon?).

One of these months I’ll actually get this out the first week of the month. Before I get started, I need a homebrew…

Local News

I’m sure there’s something cool going on, but I’ve been outta town too long to know what’s shakin’. Sorry guys.

However, a few weeks ago I was in Dick’s Sporting Goods and found a very nice stainless steel turkey fryer setup. The highlight of this particular fryer setup is that the 8 gallon kettle has what looks like a ½ NPT faucet for draining. It’s not a ball valve but one of those basic screw valve cross handled faucets. It even has what could be a ½ threaded end. If the threaded end on the faucet doesn’t isn’t NPT at least the faucet could be easily replaced with a no-weld ball-valve. This plus lots of other accessories for around 70 bones.

Club Stuff

The next meeting is scheduled for this Thursday November 10th. In lieu of anyone offering to host, I guess I will host this one, the directions to my place can be found at the bottom.

If you are planning on entering your porter in the Fossil’s Porter competition, then you will need to bring two unmarked, plain capped, 12oz bottles to submit. Also include your name, club affiliations, return address, OG/FG and porter category on a index card (or whatever). Bring a couple of extra bottles so we can have a pre-evaluation of all the entries. If you cannot bring your bottles to the meeting, you may drop them off on my doorstep between now and 2:00pm on Friday.

As always, bring in homebrew or a commercial example of something you would like to brew to the meeting.

Due to Thanksgiving there will not be a second meeting in November. The next meeting will be December 8th.

Anita from Great fermentations has invited our club to attend an FBI on November 19th from 3:00pm to 7:00pm. I’ve attached the invitation to this email below.

Beer Style of the Month

Normally we try to get a club vote on style of the month, but because I’ve been a slacker of a Grand Poobah the last few weeks, it didn’t happen. So, I’m going to put on my club dictator’s cap and declare November Mild Ale month. Its pushing it, but if you brewed tomorrow, it could be ready for thanksgiving. A nice low gravity Mild ale would go great with that turkey dinner. Impress the family and brew up a nice British Mild Ale. The basic recipe is simple: Maris Otter, Crystal malt, with a splash of Willamette or Fuggles for bittering/aroma and English ale yeast. It will finish fast because the OG is around 1.035. If you can’t find a good and simple recipe, feel free to email me..

Until next time, brew on!

Ryan.

Directions to the Nov. 10th meeting:

I live at 3827 Fox Chase Run, 47401. Plug it into mapquest if you want custom directions. Here’s the vanilla: Take walnut south to Rhorer road (Where the new Kroger is) take a left and drive about 2 miles. If you hit a 3 way stop Snoddy/Rhorer you’ve gone about ¼ mile too far. Look for Fox Chase Run on the left hand side of the road. Turn into the addition and I’m the 2nd house on the right.

FBI Meeting invitation:

Jim and Anita are hosting the November Foam Blowers meeting and would like to extend an invitation to the Hop Jockeys to join us. The meeting will be at my house on Saturday, November 19th from 3-7 PM. We live at 6035 Gladden Drive, Indianapolis 46220. Gladden drive is 1 block east of Meridian, one block north of Kessler along the Broad Ripple Canal. The designated beer styles for this meeting are milds and session beers. It will be an inside/outside party so you may want to bring lawn chairs.

The are only a couple of club rules.

1. Don't drink to excess.

2. Bring either homebrewed or commercial beers to share.

I hope some of your members join us.

Anita johnson