Home Imbrewment
September 2004
The
Official Newsletter of the Hampton
Roads Brewing & Tasting Society (HRB & TS)
www.hrbts.org
The
President’s Podium – Chris “C.J.” Jones
Well, it is another month gone by, summer ending too soon,
fall ahead of us, Diane going back to work, the Mets out of the playoffs, and
another abysmal season in the offing for the Washington Redskins. Just like last year at this time, weird.
Man, we had a great stout judging at Tom and Kate Byrnes’
house last week – nine entries, and lots of high quality product. OK, one entry scored in the low twenties
(ours), but it had only been in the bottle for three days. That lack of carbonation will send even a well
crafted beer to its doom. If only that
dang yeast would finish on time, we’d have carbonated beers. You’ll find more info on the judging
elsewhere in this newsletter.
I just saw Spiderman 2 last night. It dawned upon me that at some point I must
have been bitten by a radioactive spider, and become … MaltoMan. My malto-sense was tingling recently – there
were killer beers in Tidewater that I had to rescue from some store
shelves! I headed off to the Farm Fresh in Virginia Beach at the intersection of Princess Anne Road
and South Independence Blvd. What a killer beer selection: Westmalle Double and Triple at $4.19 per
bottle; Stone Imperial Stout, 10.8 % ABV, only five bucks; 2004 Dominion
Millennium, priced big at $12.00 a six pack; and a whole bunch of other fine
things to drink. I couldn’t stop! I headed over to Bon Vivant in Smithfield
and grabbed some Duchesse du Bourgogne and some Verhaghe Echt Kreik, two mighty
fine beverages. Were beers no longer in
danger? Wait, one more stop, to the Gene
Walters Market in Ghent
to save an Orval Trappist ale and a six pack of Dales Pale Ale. A beer super hero’s day is never done. With great power comes great responsibility.
See you in a few weeks.
HRB
& TS Almost Summer Picnic – C. J. Jones
September brings us many things – cooler temperatures if you
are out and about, and coolers full of beer if you are in Rob Sissoms’ back yard in the Chick’s Beach section of Virginia Beach on
September 18th, for our annual Almost
Summer Picnic. The event starts at
noon, and lasts until either we’re tired of great beer or Rob sends us
home. Bring homebrew! For you HRB
& TS Cuppers, each five gallon keg or five gallon “keg equivalent” in the
event you love to lug bottles (maximum of two kegs) gets you five points toward
the HRB & TS Cup. More importantly,
it gets your brothers and sisters of the homebrewing lodge something wonderful
to drink on a nice afternoon.
The Club is springing for cups, plates, etc, so we’re asking
folks to bring a dish to share. If you
are creative in the kitchen, consider using beer as an ingredient in whatever
you bring. This effort may help us
put together a food recipe area on our web page, one that is filled with the
“out of the bottle” things each of us creates when we combine our love of beer
with our love of food. Bring something to sit on (chair, empty
keg, whatever). For you musically
inclined types (Doug, Victor, etc.), bring
something to play some music with.
And be prepared to have a great time.
How do you get to Rob’s?
Take 64 to the Northampton
Blvd exit. After about 3 miles on Northampton, turn left at the light onto Pleasure House Rd.
Once you cross the light at Shore
Drive it is 0.4 miles farther on Pleasure House Road
to Brigadoon Drive
where you make a left. It is a dead end street and bears right to a
circle at the end of the road. Rob’s place is the first house on the
right on the circle, 4844
Brigadoon Drive. The gate to the backyard is to
the right of the house. Parking will be at a premium, so consider car
pooling. You can park in driveway, in
front of house or across the street in front of an empty lot, or anywhere
else you can find a place. Call Rob’s
house at 460-3027 if you get lost.
Here Come De Judges, Here Come De
Judges - C.J. Jones
We recently had four Club members sit for the Beer Judge
Certification Program (BJCP) exam. They
somewhat religiously attended classes put on by John Mitchell, and studied,
studied, studied. Midnight oil was
burned, midnight beers were examined, and the test was taken. With absolutely glorious results – Tom Byrnes, Diane Catanzaro, Richard
Pigeon, and Will Walker are now BJCP recognized beer judges.
That is way cool; the last “home grown” judge we had was Ken
Dunaway, and that was a long time ago.
The Club Officers voted to reward these four people with some largesse
and a couple of beers at the Colley Cantina (not to exceed twenty bucks per
person). I don’t know about you, but I
don’t want to be the only beer know-it-all in the Club who hasn’t stepped up to
the plate and sat for that exam. Who’s
with me? Let’s try and convince these
judges to continue in the efforts of John Mitchell and put on another series of
study sessions for the exam.
The Next Meeting Location – Diane Catanzaro
The next HRB&TS meeting will be Wednesday September 1 at
the Chick’s Beach area lakeside estate of Kevin and Amy Oliver. Jack and Sam
promise to drool if you bring some nice homebrews or commercial beers for mommy
and daddy and their beer club friends to share. Grown ups are so funny
sometimes. Anyway, the meeting commences at 7:30 or a bit before. Feel free to
bring some snackage if desired. Please dress for outdoor weather as we enjoy
scenic Lake Joyce.
Thanks so much to Kevin and Amy for hosting the September meeting.
This Year’s Brewing Schedule – C.J. Jones
Cut this out and tape it to your refrigerator along with
those pictures drawn by your children!
|
Month
|
Beer of the Month (BJCP Style #)
|
AHA Club Only Contest (Yes/No)
|
HBBTS Judging Date
|
|
March
|
Brown Ales (10)
|
No
|
2/18/02
|
|
April
|
Mead (25)
|
Yes
|
3/24/04
|
|
May
|
Porter (15)
|
No
|
4/21/04
|
|
June
|
California Common (6C)
|
No
|
5/19/04
|
|
July
|
American Pale Ale (6A)
|
No
|
6/23/04
|
|
August
|
Wheat beer (3B, 17, 19B)
|
Yes
|
7/21/04
|
|
September
|
Stout (16)
|
No
|
8/18/04
|
|
October
|
Octoberfest (9A)
|
No
|
9/22/04
|
|
November
|
India Pale Ale (7)
|
Yes
|
10/20/04
|
|
December
|
Barleywine (12)
|
No
|
11/17/04
|
|
January 2005
|
Spiced beers (22)
|
No
|
12/22/04
|
|
February 2005
|
Strong Belgian Ales (18)
|
No
|
1/??/05
|
|
March 2005
|
Will be decided by 2005
HRB & TS Club Officers
|
Competition Connection- Tom Byrnes
Our newly crowned BJCP Recognized Judges and Doug made
quick work of 9 stouts. This was an interesting contest because it was the
first time that Russian Imperial Stouts were included in this category and
American Stouts made their competition debut as a subcategory.
The finalists of this contest are
listed below:
First Place: CJ/Diane Russian Imperial Stout 36.3
Second Place: CJ/Diane Dry Stout 35.5
Third Place. Richard
Pidgeon 31.3
Again thanks to all who entered and
helped with this contest.
If you would like to hold a
judging meeting at your house, please let me know.
Since we have new members here are the rules for the HRBTS CUP: This years contest will run
from January through December of a given year. Members will accrue points from
entering and winning the contests sponsored by the club. The only criterion is
that multiple entries in the same contest must be different recipes. Points are
as follows: 5 points for 1st place, 4 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd
and 1 point for entry. The entry point is not awarded if the beer places in the
contest. It is intended to encourage entries.
The club officers may also award points for members brewing for special
events. The Competition Coordinator will keep the points. The club president
will be the final arbiter of any disputes.
Here is the current HRBTS Home
Brewer of the Year points.
HRBTS CUP 2004 STANDINGS
|
BREWER
|
CUMULATIVE POINTS
|
|
Richard Pidgeon
|
58
|
|
CJ/Diane
|
48
|
|
Tom Byrnes
|
26
|
|
OVBC (Mike Q, Rob, Erin, John and Catherine)
|
21
|
|
Mike Pensinger
|
14
|
|
Doug Boyd
|
12
|
|
Victor
|
11
|
|
Phil Swanson
|
6
|
|
Will Walker
|
5
|
|
Corey Pettiford
|
2
|
|
Joe Rainer
|
1
|
|
John Pearson
|
1
|
Calling all kegs. Want
to earn up to 10 points for the contest and contribute to the enjoyment of
fellow members? Then brew and keg beer
for the club picnic. Five points will be
awarded for each 5 gallons brought to a club party, with a maximum of ten
points.
Next month’s contest will be Octoberfest which will be held September
22,2004. The location will be announced later. Please consider the BJCP
guidelines prior to entering your beer.
These can be accessed at www.beertown.org
and have recently changed.
I would like to remind members
that both Virginia Beach Homebrew Hobbies and Wine and Cake offer HRBTS members
a 10% discount when you pay by cash or check. A similar discount is available
at Homebrew.com. In order to qualify for these discounts you must have your
dues paid up and be on the member list that Doug provides to these retailers.
Eat Your Oatmeal Stout
|
Brewer:
|
St. Arnold
|
Email:
|
aarnold44@excite.com
|
|
Beer:
|
Eat Your Oatmeal Stout
|
Style:
|
Oatmeal Stout
|
|
Type:
|
All grain
|
Size:
|
5.25 gallons
|
|
Color:
|
|
101 HCU (~35 SRM)
|
|
|
|
Bitterness:
|
35 IBU
|
|
OG:
|
1.052
|
FG:
|
1.015
|
|
Alcohol:
|
4.8% v/v (3.8% w/w)
|
|
Grain:
|
7 lb. British pale (Marris Otter)
4 oz. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils)
4 oz. British crystal 50-60L
8 oz. British chocolate
4 oz. British black patent
4 oz. Roasted barley
1 lb. Rolled oats
|
|
Mash:
|
79% efficiency
|
|
Multi-step infusion
Dough in 9.5 qt of 122° to get strike temp of 115° for beta glucanase rest
for 30 min
Infuse 8 qts boiling water to get temp of 155° for conversion rest for 60 min.
Sparge with 170° to get 6.25 wort.
|
|
Boil:
|
60 minutes
|
SG 1.044
|
6.25 gallons
|
|
Hops:
|
.5 oz. Target (10.9% AA, 60 min.)
.25 oz. Fuggles (4.5% AA, 30 min.)
.25 oz. Kent Goldings (5.9% AA, 30 min.)
.5 oz. Fuggles (4.5% AA, 15 min.)
.5 oz. Kent Goldings (5.9% AA, 15 min.)
|
|
Yeast:
|
WL023 Burton Ale stepped up to a 1 pint starter.
|
|
Log:
|
Pitched yeast at 75°.
Ferment at 68° for 5 days - rack to secondary.
Secondary fermentation at 68° for 7 days.
|
|
Carbonation:
|
2.3 volumes
|
Corn Sugar: 3.86 oz. for 5 gallons @ 68°F
|
|
Tasting:
|
Nice roastiness flavor/aroma from the dark malts, great
head retention. The oats give it a nice smooth creaminess.
|
|
|
|
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