Forum Archive

New Decade I would like to wish a Happy New Year to all members and their families. I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays season. As we enter the new decade, we go in with the bar set high. Back-to-back Brewers of the Year and back-to-back Club of the Year. But looking back at past leadership and member accomplishmments, this does not surprise me. Past presidents have taken this club to new heights and have not left many new areas to conquer. Member accomplishments have shown us how strong this club become in a relatively short period of time. Over the next two years, I hpoe to take this club down a new path and focus on our foundations of sound brewing techniques and beer appreciation. I feel a club of our size and caliber needs a few more BJCP certified judges and more participation in local contests. The BJCP exam and study guide provide an invaluable resource to better your brewing techniques and hone your beer appreciation skills. I look forward to the task of leading this club into a new decade. Cheers, Jeff An end to 2009.... and change of leadership We have had an interesting year to say the least, the economy has been the worst since the depression of the 1930's , many of our members suffered too, with jobs lost and on a somewhat positive side - new horizons for a few who were lucky enough to pick it up again quickly with new jobs. Local Brewing business also felt the effect, but we are still lucky enough to have two suppliers in town. The club from humble roots of about 5 members in November of 2000 , had its 10 year birthday this year and grew again with a total 75 members on our books now, but attendance was mediocre at the meetings which I do think was partly due to meal costs. Culinary Visions who had done a great job for us changed its location and did not have a meeting room at its new place, so we changed venue to the Gate City Deli and it seems to have been successful and things picked up again with better attendance. Our Monthly meetings covered a lot of subjects and we learned about Mead Making, Yeast management and making your own Mash Tun amongst all the subjects presented. While we did not have a Big Brew in 2009, we did have a very successful 2nd Skirmish in the Triad Competition, as well as our famous Oktoberfest which was held on a wonderful September afternoon. A small cooperative of members also toiled away in the NC sun and soil, and contributed to a reasonable second year of hops growing, not as much as expected, but still positive, and with attention should, yield better crops in 2010. Yesterday at our 2009 Christmas Party , we had the tremendous pleasure of Honoring two of our Founder members, Mac Wylie and David Craft, as well as our Carolina Brewer of the Year Jim Smith with Lifetime memberships, for the their contributions to the BBG. I have enjoyed the last two years as President, which have certainly kept me busy, but in the most part it has been a very positive experience and I know that Jeff and his new Board will do a great job going forward and I will continue to act in a consultant role if needed. I have made many new friends and still continue to learn each time I brew and each time I attend others' brew days. I also suffered the humiliation of having more than one batch sour on me too this year and through lots of agony and going back to basics finally discovered its source -the O2 stone, which is now boiled for 10 minutes in the Kettle each batch. I have recently updated my blog with details of my system and the continuing improvements and tinkering I keep doing. I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and look forward in 2010 to being able to rush out the house at 6:30pm on my way to the monthly meeting without CO2, kegs and PC and Box , and and and.....then enjoying a cold one with all of you. Happy Brewing. Rick Cockcroft 2009 A Year of Change We start 2009 with an economy is a state of shock, a new President and a new government. At least the BBG is still much the same , and brewing continues to be a growth hobby. We even have a new Brew Store in town which offers Wyeast as well as White Labs. The club has been formally acknowledged as Carolina Brew Club of the year 2008, and much more importantly one of our own Jim Smith , won Brewer of the year. An incredible effort by so many members, well done. This shows how committed we are to our hobby and good beer. I am always heartened by the help that our members offer other members who need help and I hope this remains a solid part of the BBG. I look forward to seeing newer members be involved, because that is why we are successful, this club is about each and every one of you, if not happy speak up, if you have ideas or suggestions , say them out aloud, if you feel your brewing style is not being addressed, volunteer to talk about it. That way we all learn and benefit from the Battleground Brewers Guild. I encourage members to bring their beers to the monthly meetings, we will soon start a monthly brew style, and hope we all get to taste a lot more of YOUR beers Brew on! 2008 Thanksgiving How time flies when you are drinking too much.... Seriously , 2008 seems to have run out ahead of me, brew season has fully started and while my kegs are mostly full, I cannot get my mind around the fact that we only have a month to Christmas - 30 shopping days left !!!. The club has again gone from strength to strength this year, our members have done exceptionally well at competitions, new brewers walking away with ribbons and even BOS placings. Our forum continues to be active and provide good advice to our members and non-member homebrewers around us. Membership is way up .. nearing the heady number of 70, with good participation at every event we throw. Some of the members engaged in a hops experiment and while we did not get too many hops to brew with, we did learn a bunch and have a solid base for next year - we also created a stir in the community , with 4 different groups now wanting to start growing hops commercially. We also did a club brew, and are enjoying the fruits of that - with Sami Klaus and Robust Porter for some members. As this year winds to a climax , lets give thanks for our families who put up with our obsession , our health and good beer. I hope that those of you traveling in the next few days -take care and come back safe. Enjoy the holiday and if looking for a bargain this weekend , think about the bigger kettle or fermenter as well [:D] Hackers etc Boy oh boy..... what a terrible time last month. We can only apologize for the down time we have had, many of you have missed your daily fix of the BBG site, as have I. We were hit by a hacker who inserted SQL code into the registration forms, this scrambled our database and our forums , and he also had malicious code to redirect to his porn sites. That part did NOT work because of security that we already had in place. What we have done: (we being Steven Lanz and Mike Marble) Restored the site back to last know good point Upgraded the Forum software Upgraded Security on forums Added code to protect forms What we lost temporarily , verification of new members to prevent the bots doing auto registrations Many small admin tasks that were coded into our forums - like adding the BBG logo What we will do in future. Monitor security and manually backup the site daily - our hosting service don't allow remote auto backups If we keep getting hit , we will have to redesign the site with more security friendly forum software. A big thanks to Steven and Mike 2008 starts well 1/4 of the year has slipped past already and we are are on track to have a great year in the BBG. Mac and his team, left us in a great state to continue to grow the club to greater heights. We started off the year with a "High Gravity Brew" in mid February, with two beers chosen - Samiclaus and Baltic Porter, and both still fermenting happily in secondary at this time. Our membership continues to grow with only a few members having not renewed this year.... some I am sure are waiting on the tax refund check to be able to pay us [8D] We look forward to an exciting year with so many new members. Remember the BBG is your club, speak up and give us feedback on how we are doing... ...................................................................... 2007 Wrap Season Greetings to all BBG Brewers and their families. Once again it was a very active year for brewing and participating in events. It was great to meet new members but even greater to see those who have been members actively help in answering brewing questions at meetings and brew sessions. A lot of tips and knowledge were shared during the year as well as beers. Perhaps the "clean your beer closet" was one of the best and most memorable meetings. Other highlights were our first ever competition, a terrific Octoberfest and an even better Holiday Party. The latter thanks to our incoming President for organizing. Best Wishes to all in the New Year and to Rick and his board as we begin another BBG year. Thanks to everyone for their participation and support for the last two years. It has be a joy to be your President.[:)][:)][:)] Mac 2006 WRAP Season Greetings to all Brewers and their Families, It was great to see many of you at Natty's Loft Sunday for a little celebration. The room was a great place for a party. For those who could not make it we missed you and hope you can make it next year. 2006 was a good year for brewing and brewing activities; many of which are becoming a tradition. This is good. However; put on your thinking hat and think about topics and special events we should consider for 2007. It is always good to have a few new things to expand our brewing knowledge and to have opportunities to socialize over good beer. Thank you to all for participating throughout the year in our monthly meetings, special events, and sharing your beers with your fellow brewers. Have a Wonderful Holiday and a Happy New Year, Mac 2006 Update Report I hope you have been enjoying the new meeting format and the topics presented so far this year. If you have any suggestions for a topic please let me know and we will try to work it in. So far this year we have 28 members. Participation in meetings and events has be excellent. As I once said " Membership has it's priveleges but participation it's rewards". Thanks to everyone for your participation it makes the meeting. Last I would like to encourge all of you to consider entering some of the Carolina competitions this year. And attend a competition if you can. Brewers are some of the most friendly helpful, people with whom you can associate. Not just our club but all. For the ultimate experience of that attend the National Homebrewing Conference in Orlando. See you a week from Wednesday at Ham's. Mac Happy New Year Welcome to 2006 and all our members and our leaders. First I would like to offer our Stout Thank You to Aaron Wall for the perseverence and good heartness he has give the last two years as our President. We don't demand alot of our President but we do like to give him a good ribbing. ALOT!!!! Thanks,Aaron. Also I would like to give a special thank you to Mike Andrews for serving as our Event VP for the last two years. Athough Mike did not get to enjoy many of our meetings due to business travel we always had a place set up to met. Thanks Mike! I am looking forward to our first meeting of 2006. Besides learning about equipment fabrication please come with any ideas for events and educational topics you would like to see included in our 2006 schedule. Cheers,Mac December 7, 1941 Inspired by the events of this day 64 years ago, I did a little research for information about the brewing and consumption of beer during this period of history. I hope you'll find the following information as interesting as I have. Prost! Supplying the Troops in WWII British breweries set up a "beer for troops" committee in July 1942. "It is a national duty that every brewer should do his utmost to supply beer for troops in their messes, many of which are a long distance from the nearest licensed premises". A long way, indeed--in Muslim-dominated areas of the Middle East and northern Africa, alcohol was completely forbidden (although often still available). Local culture notwithstanding, Whitbread and Wanted sent 500 cases of beer to honor " the defenders of Tobruk" in North Africa, the arrival of which was celebrated long afterward. Camp-following breweries, such as Bushell, Watkins & Smith of Westerham, even strapped beer casks beneath the wings of fighter planes for the great D-Day Invasion of June 1944. American breweries were also generous to soldiers, but not voluntarily. The US Department of Agriculture actually ordered that 15 percent of all beer production in the United States be set aside for the troops, which amounted to a bigger ration of beer than the average citizen received. With the advantage of large canning lines, and a normal original gravity of 1045, American wartime beers were also much stronger than those from the United Kingdom. One interesting footnote: many cans of American beer during the war were painted olive drab to camouflage them from enemy aircraft. Beer Afloat Britain's Royal Navy in 1944 launched the most ambitious plan for supplying soldiers with beer during World War II. Anticipating a long war in the Pacific, with impending shortages of beer for sailors on the high seas, the navy selected Adlams, brewery engineers based in Bristol, to design a "brewing boat" capable of making 250 barrels of beer per week using malt extract. Four such floating breweries were planned initially, although the number was reduced to two because of many technical problems, including exploding drums of extract. Two former minesweepers, the Agamemnon and the Menestheus, were chosen for the project and sent to Vancouver, Canada, in the summer of 1945 to be outfitted. But the war, or rather the lack of it, got in the way. After atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered on August 14, 1945. Meanwhile, the first test brew on board the "beer boat" was not completed until December 31, 1945, in Vancouver. Only the Menestheus was equipped with what was called the "Davy Jones Brewery." It was sent on a single, somewhat meaningless voyage to Yokohama, Shanghai, and Hong Kong and other Pacific ports to dispense to sailors and visiting dignitaries just one brew, an English mild ale. After barely six months as a brewery, the Menestheus sailed back to England and her brew house was dismantled. Such a project was never undertaken again. Source: Alan Moen Beer tips for Thanksgiving Fortify the ancestral tradition of feasting by complementing it with beer! It's been documented in voyage journals that the Mayflower abandoned its voyage and landed in Plymouth due to running out of beer. That one of the first establishments constructed within the Pilgrim colony was a brewery, and that most of its passengers were also separatist farmers, poorly educated and without social or political standing. Given these facts, do you honestly think that they drank wine at the very first Thanksgiving in 1621? Hell no! They drank beer! So as the holiday season creeps up yet again, some of you will ask your hosts what to bring to Thanksgiving and Christmas. You can go ahead and be that same boring person that shows up with that cheap bottle of Chardonnay, thinking that it will help you swallow down hunks of dry turkey. But that's just plain rude, man. Cheap and boring is not the way to go. What you really need is some quality craft-brewed beer to liven up the festivities. Impress the hell out of everyone when you whip out bottles of intriguing beer and reel off brief explanations of what they are. Fortify the ancestral tradition of feasting by complementing it with beer. Suggest a beer pairing with dinner. Hell, make it an all-day event, and remember there's nothing wrong with drinking at 10am. Beer goes with every meal and minute of the day! Here are some brief suggestions ... Apéritif (before dinner) Try not to kill palates too early in the day, by starting off with a nice light-bodied (not lite in soul) Pilsner or Lager to introduce the evening and guests with. Offer something that will arouse appetites and slowly awaken the senses. * Brooklyn Lager or Pilsner * Otter Creek Vermont Lager * Sam Adams Boston Lager * Thomas Hooker's Munich Style Golden Lager You could even try a Belgian-style Strong Pale Ale along the lines of Duvel. Its light-bodied fluffiness and higher alcohol will loosen minds into conversation. Hors d'oeuvre Hour Kick things up a notch with a moderate level of hops. The hoppy characters in Pale Ales will pair nicely with salads, a slew of cheese varieties, fruits, and many hors d'oeuvres, without overwhelming any flavors. But don't go too bitter. * Anchor Liberty Ale * Harpoon IPA * Smuttynose's Shoal's Pale Ale * Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Dinner Eating poultry, gravy, stuffing, etc? You could kick the day up a notch by pairing your meal with some strong Belgian-style ales. Their higher alcohol percentages cut through fats and starches, provide an edge of sweetness, and boast very diverse and complex flavors that lend themselves very well to this pairing. * Allagash Grand Cru * Avery's Salvation * North Coast's Pranqster * Ommegang's Rare Vos Another recommendation is to reintroduce more Pilsners and Lagers, as they will not only act as a palate cleanser in-between bites, but their lightness and spicy tones complement poultry and the contrast with gravies and stuffing is often welcome. Dessert In our opinion, the best course in which to pair beer with. However, the last thing you want to do is kill a beer with a pairing that is too sweet, so ensure that your beers are sweeter than your desserts. Rich and big Stouts are our favorites, and tend to work very well. * Brooklyn's Black Chocolate Stout * Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout or Oak Aged Yeti * Stone's Russian Imperial Stout * Victory's Storm King Stout Digestif (after dinner) Time to kick back and let that food digest. No doubt you are bloated at this point, so the moment calls for something smooth and numbing. Enter Barleywine-style ales, or a similar, big, complex, malty and alcoholic beer. Simply decant some into a snifter, sip, and appreciate life, and your swollen gut. * Berkshire's Holidale * Stone's Old Guardian Barley Wine Style Ale * Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot Barley Wine Style Ale * Dogfish Head's Immort Ale or Raison d'Extra Now our examples are certainly not the bible in pairing beer with food, but they should give you head start. In time, you will find that nearly every beer pairs with most types of food, some more than others with certain styles of food, and others less. Just remember to be experimental with your pairings and make sure to have fun doing it. And with that, we'll leave you with a 16th century English proverb: Wine is but single broth, ale is meat, drink and cloth. Respect Beer. Source: Beer Advocate Goodbye Eric Lamb??? A good friend of mine called me this morning to let me know he had heard that Liberty's brewer, Eric Lamb, would be leaving his current position in October. If this is true, I would like to take this opportunity to wish him the best in his future brewing endeavors. Eric has been a great supporter of the Battleground Brewers Guild and will be missed. On several occassions, he has had the club over to the restaurant and picked up the tab on all of our sampling. He also was responsible for arranging the biggest brew of all for the BBG, when he helped the club to brew a batch on his system with our own recipe. And let's not forget how convenient he has made shopping for the all-grain brewer. In case you didn't know, Eric has always been willing to sell a sack of grain at a price that can't be beat. Make sure you get by Liberty before he leaves and tell him thanks for all of his support. Fast track to brewing know-how... New Brewer? Aspiring Brewer? Wanting to learn? Well here's your chance, learn the same way many of the Battleground Brewers learned the skill if brewing...under the watchfull eye of veteran brewer and BBG co-founder, Mac Wylie at the 5Y (he'll explain later). You are invited to attend all, or any part of an Open Brew Session at Mac Wylie's on Sunday August 14th. Here is what will be happening. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mac will be doing an all grain Pilsner. 1 to 3 p.m. We will be do an extract brew with specialty grains of an American Pale Ale. If you are a new extract brewer, or want to learn how to brew your first batch, this is for you. It will be a hands on opportunity for you. Send Mac an email if you think you might come and around what time. macwylie@aol.com Location, Location, Location The BBG Executive Committee met last night to discuss programming for the remainder of the year. Check back to the Calendar section soon to see what's been planned. The other major topic of discussion was that of a more effective and constant meeting place. If you were at our last meeting, you realize the urgency of finding a solution. Of course some new ideas were kicked around, but we are still looking to secure that end all place. To date, Cooper's measures up as the best room for a meeting. Ideas? Newsworthy Guild Happenings Some great things are happening that will allow us to spread the word about all the great brewing resources available through the Battleground Brewers Guild. Be sure to pick up a copy of the June 29th News and Record and look for an article highlighting the Guild on the front page of the Lifestyles section. This article is written by a new reporter at the N & R named Katie Reetz and should include some photos from our last meeting at Red Oak Brew Pub. In other news, I just learned that the Guild will be represented at the upcoming Summertime Brews Festival in Greensboro on Saturday, July 30th. Be sure to stop by the Battleground Brewers Guild Booth for homebrewed samples the day of the event and visit with some of the Guild's talented homebrewers. For more information, visit http://www.summertimebrews.com. Brewing with Adjuncts If you missed the meeting last night, you missed out on some great information about brewing with adjuncts from Jeff. We had a really nice turn out with several new faces. There was a reporter and photographer from the News and Record on hand who were working on a spotlight story on the Guild and a feature on summertime beers. Hopefully, they were able to get what they needed, although it was awfully loud in there last night. Tasted some nice lawnmower beers and I also recieved some helpful hints on brewing with wheat. A special thanks goes out to Jeff, who presented and took questions on the topic of the evening. I look forward to our next gathering at the home of past president, David Craft. See you there on July 4th. Bavarian Wheat With summer on the mind I decided to brew a wheat beer this past Sunday, or as Jim calls it, "The Lord's Work" (Brewing on Sunday). One of my favorite styles for warm weather, the Bavarian style Hefeweizen is a beautiful beer that looks almost ready to drink the moment it exits the mash tun. But the wait is worth it. I'm pulling my wheat glasses out of storage now in anticipation of a lazy Saturday afternoon, sitting on the back porch in my adirondack chair with two lazy Dobermans on one side and a tall glass of Hefeweizen garnished with a slice of lemon. One surprise came from the Sunday's brew. I normally begin each brew several days early with a stepped up yeast starter. But since this brew was totally unplanned, I resorted to pitching a fresh tube of White Labs Bavarian Wheat Liquid Yeast. I put the brew to bed about 10 p.m. on Sunday and it was perking along fine on Monday morning. By the time I arrived home from work, it was quite obvious that I would need to install a blow-off tube. I guess there really is enough yeast in those tubes to adequately pitch five gallons. Prost. Big Brew...Big Success Thinking back on today's event, National Hombrew Day, it's easy to reflect on the many things that make this hobby so enjoyable. For those who were able to attend this annual event, you no doubt sampled a variety of brews that can only be found on certain places on earth, yet because you craft them, you bring the exotic to your own table. That was certainly the case today, with what has to be the most complex and tasty example of all, Jeff Ziemba's Oak Aged Stout...simply amazing. There were many more, but simply too many to list in this log or maybe just more than I feel like writing. Anyway, Big Brew was a wonderful opportunity to find out the value of a Battleground Brewers Guild membership. Thanks to all who helped make this event possible. Blogging and Big Brew A great idea came out of a recent meeting at Liberty in High Point. Mike Marble, our web guy, took some time to explain all of the functionality of our new Web site and I asked if a blog/ongoing commentary type of thing would be a possibility. He said "let's give it a try." The intent of this journal is to be a running commentary on happenings in the realm of the Battleground Brewers Guild, as well as more specific topics as they pertain to the art of brewing or just beer in general. I hope you'll take time to check the site often, as we endeavor to make it a useful resource for homebrewers that is constantly being updated. With Big Brew looming, I am already checking the Weather Chanel in the hopes that Saturday will be pleasant for this annual event. If you haven't been to one of these events as hosted by the Battleground Brewers Guild, you are missing out on a day of learning with many opportunities to learn about brewing techniqes as well as seeing demonstrations of some very unique equipment. Oh yeah, and there's always some tasty examples of handcrafted brews offered up by some of the Triad's finest brewers, as is evidenced by the rows of brewing ribbons adorning their brewing sanctuaries (i.e. the garage). This year's event is sure to be another good one. Our gracious host, Jeff Ziemba, will give an all-grain brewing demonstration from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. If you haven't been to this fabeled home and brewery you will want to make sure you attend, even if it's only to get a glimpse of the best home bar you've ever seen. If you do plan on attending, make sure to RSVP, and be sure to bring some examples of your latest brew to share. See you there. May 1, 2005 A reminder that our April meeting is next Wednesday at 6:30 at Liberty Brewpub in High Point next to Oak Hollow Mall. Topic is beer, what else.