August 2010 BIER Meeting

8/11/2010

We're so used to meeting inside, that we didn't even talk about going out.  Good turnout, for the summer.  

Present were:

James Dunn        Chris Given        Dave King (2)        Tim & Corrine           Ed Miner

Rich Andel          Don bush            Dick Tuthill             Brian Murphy          Paul Sarkisian       

We discussed:

We discussed the NY State Wine Festival, held at Watkins Glen.  The beer area was not worth the extra $10, only about 8 Breweries represented.  If you’re into wine, there was a ton.  Dave King (2) looked for mead makers for our Niagara Falls NHC bid, and sources for grape juice to be turned into wine.  Neither yielded much.   

The Ithaca Fest is going to be Sept. 4th, don't miss it!  The Ithaca club, IPA (Ithaca Practitioners of Alemaking) is taking the lead in homebrewing, with the AHA tent.

The Madison County Hop Fest is scheduled for Sept. 18th.  We need volunteers for the homebrew tent, examples of equipment (basic and advanced), ingredients, and oh yea, homebrew to serve.  We should have folks from about 4 or 5 different clubs, and it should be a great time, so I hope you can help us. 

 The beers:

Our Homebrews (Mead Night, so those are 1st)

Brian Murphy – Traditional Mead, light, slightly sweet, very nice.  2007, 3 years old, O.G. = 1.095

Ed Miner – Sparkling Peach Mead, oh yes, we’ve enjoyed this for 4 years now, and the 3 additions of peach ingredients worked well, and aged well, too.  15 lb of honey, bottled a bit early, since it is a little carbonated.

Dave King (2) – Kathy’s Besotten Mead, from the AHA Convention, made with several berries, good, but really sweet.  By Curt Stock. 

Dave King (2) – Traveling Blueberry, from the AHA Convention.  

Chris – Sorghum Beer, ½ honey, ½ Sorghum syrup, not bad, an option for Dick.

Dick – Red Bridge, AB version, no flavor, Chris’ is much better flavored.

Chris – Brown Ale, with an English yeast, tasty indeed.

James – Belgian Blond, light Belgian Strong Ale?  8% ABV, young, yeasty

Tim – Palmer’s Brown Ale, from “How to Brew.”  This is a kit, with added 60L crystal.

Rich – Smutty Nose IPA, very bitter finish, slight hop nose, 65 IBU. 

Rich – Smutty Nose IPA Clone, slightly more malt, dry hop planned, and will help a bunch.  This was an overnight mash, no sourness. 

Chris – Porter Kit, US-05 yeast, nicely done

Commercial Examples 

Chris – Stoudts Scarlet Lady ESB, Good crystal malt flavor   

Don – Woodchuck Cider, Granny Smith, slightly sweet, but tart like the apples.

Don – Woodchuck Cider, Amber, sweeter than the Granny Smith

Paul – Indian, Taj Mahal Premium Lager, 4.5%, no flavor, blah, and Beer Advocate agrees.  Don’t waste your money. 

Paul – Czech Maibock, bitter with a good crystal malt flavor.

Another good time, see you in September; maybe we'll have some fresh brew.  In the mean time, let's get some brews into the fermenter.  We need to minimize our commercial beers, since Lou is trying to run a bar, and he’s OK with us bringing in Homebrew, but let’s not push the commercial brew. 

If you can’t help us at the Madison County Hop Fest, Sept. 18th, please at least come by.  It’s a good time, and there’s lots of potential, or new homebrewers to talk to. 

                         -  Dave King (2)