The Brewsletter
July 2007
The
Official Newsletter of the Hampton
Roads Brewing & Tasting Society (HRB & TS)
www.hrbts.org
The
President’s Podium – Jason Kuller
HAPPY SUMMER EVERYBODY!
It is officially summer and you know what that means…tons of fun stuff
to do outside, around town or out on the open road and certainly with a nice
home or craft brewed beer close by. Did
you know that the average American drinks 21.6 gallons of beer every year? And most of them are probably drinking cheap
massed produced industrial lager. This
fact, along with the plethora of summertime activities that are very conducive
to enjoying a fresh brew, seem like a great opportunity to introduce a friend
or soon to be friend to a whole new deliciously beery world for their taste
buds.
This brings
me to a reminder of some of the great events that are fast approaching for our
club. First the annual club picnic will
be held near JP and Patty’s home in beautiful Currituck, NC
on August 4th . There’ll be
lots of great outdoor fun and even a trip to the beach the next day. This is sure to be a fantastic time for all
who attend and you can even score 3 points toward the club competition by
bringing a keg or equivalent of tasty homebrew for all to enjoy. We also have the Ales for Archaeology event
coming up on Sept. 22nd, as well as the first Sports Hall of Fame
Homebrew Competition that we will most likely be involved in, with a date yet
to be determined.
Lastly, I
would like to thank everyone who came out to our home for the meeting last
month. We had a great time and enjoyed
having everyone hanging out in our wilderness retreat.
Have a great month!
Cheers,
Jason
March
Meeting Location – Diane Catanzaro
July Mead-ing Features
Watering Hole for Splashing Frolic
Hear ye, hear ye! The HRB&TS July Mead-ing will commence
at 7 pm on Wednesday, July 11 at the home of Rob Camlin. Those merry men and
women rich in homebrew and mead will be asked to distribute to the poor and
thirsty! Those noble peasants poor in homebrew will be asked to tithe with some
tasty commercial ales and/or meads, that all may frolic in ye old swimmin’ hole
in Rob’s backyard. Bring ye swimsuit or risk much joshin and perhaps the
nickname “Little John.” Bring ye towele of cloth to dry ye bum. And ‘tis
customary to bring an extra mead or ale for ye noble host in gratitude for his
kind service to ye homebrewe club. Tasty fare to cloy the hungry edge of
appetite tis welcomed.
HRBTS
2007 Summer Picnic – Patti Messier
Gas up your jet skis, sink your teeth into a burger and
follow it down with a cold beer! The
HRBTS 2007 Summer Picnic promises to be a great time! This year’s picnic will be on Saturday,
August 4, 2007 and will be held in scenic Currituck,
NC (yes, it’s another state – no,
it’s really not that far!) The picnic will start at 2pm. Please bring a dish to share and homebrew or
commercial beers. Don’t forget that we
will award 3 HRBTS points to members who bring a 5-gallon keg or the bottle
equivalent of 5 gallons of homebrew for a maximum of 3 points. Points will not be awarded for commercial beer.
Feel free to pitch a
tent or park your RV for a short walk home!
Plan on a trip to the beach at Kitty Hawk
the next morning, beginning with frolicking in the ocean, followed by a visit
to Outer Banks Brewing Station! Hope to
see everyone there!
[Ed. Note: A map
and/or directions will be put out on the Distro list to guide you to the picnic
location]
HRBTS
Treasurer’s Report – Ron & Jeanine Jones
March
- May 2007
March
Beginning
Balance-----------------------------------------$2721.12
Credits------------------Membership $90.00
Raffle $55.00 $ 145.00
Ending Balance
$2866.12
April
Beginning Balance $2866.12
Credits------------------Membership $50.00
Raffle $54.00 $104.00
Ending Balance
$2970.12
May
Beginning Balance-----------------------------------------
$2970.12
Debits-----Patti Messier
$57.82
(AHA
mailing, supplies)
Ending Balance ------------------------------------- -------$2912.30
Competition Corner, February 2006 – Patty
Our monthly judging took place on June 20, at the home of Diane
and CJ. And of course, the beverage of
the month was mead! Our energetic group
of judges (Tom Byrnes, Diane Catanzaro and J.P. Messier) sipped dry, semi-sweet
and sweet meads. They tried still,
petillant and sparkling meads. They
enjoyed traditional meads and fruit meads. They observed blue meads, yellow
meads, and Hawaiian Punch colored meads.
But at the end of the night, it was the traditional meads that won out
over the intense fruit meads.
After the deliberations, the results were as follows:
First Place, Tom
Byrnes with his Maple Madness Mead, good for three HRBTS Cup points;
Second Place, CJ Jones
and Diane Catanzaro with their Mead-A-Licious, good for two HRBTS Cup points; and
Third Place, Tom Byrnes with his Wrong Yeast Dry Mead, earning him one HRBTS Cup point.
Our next monthly judging (July 18) will be for fruit beers, Category 20. Please remember that due to our rescheduled
meeting on July 11, that the judging will take place only ONE week after the
monthly meeting. Choose 2, and only 2,
of your favorite brews and enter them this month! With 5 more competitions to go, it’s time for
YOU to step up and brew some
amazing beers! It’s still anybody’s
game! Give these guys a challenge! Look and plan ahead so you too can enter
these monthly challenges and join the competition!
The current HRBTS Cup standings are in the table, following
this text. Enter some beers and join the
ranks!
2007 HRBTS CUP STANDINGS (as of 20 June 2007)
|
Name of Brewer(s)
|
Total Points Accumulated
|
|
J. P. Messier
|
13
|
|
Chris Jones and Diane Catanzaro
|
11
|
|
Tom Byrnes
|
11
|
|
Brian Edgar
|
4
|
|
Victor Perrotti
|
3
|
|
Gus Gustavson
|
3
|
|
This could easily
be you ….
|
…. if you get brewing
|
Quit
throwing away your used yeast vials! – Patti
Messier
Hey, all you brewers out there! We need you to save your used White Lab Yeast
vials HRBTS will begin collecting your empty vials and redeeming them with
White Labs to earn some great prizes for our raffles. JP Messier will be collecting them at the
monthly meetings as well as the judgings.
So gather those empty vials and hand them off to JP at the next meeting!
2007 HRB & TS Beer of the Month
Schedule – Patty Messier
|
Month
|
Style
|
Category
|
Judging
|
AHA
|
|
January
|
Holiday Season
|
21B
|
Dec 20th
|
|
|
February
|
Barleywine
|
19B,C
|
Jan 24th
|
|
|
March
|
Scottish Ale
|
9A,B,C
|
Feb 21st
|
Y
|
|
April
|
Extract
|
All
|
Mar 21st
|
Y
|
|
May
|
India Pale Ale
|
14A,B
|
Apr 18th
|
|
|
June
|
German/American Wheat & Rye
|
6D, 15
|
May 16th
|
|
|
July
|
Meads
|
24,25,26
|
Jun 20th
|
Y
|
|
August
|
Fruit Beer
|
20
|
Jul 18th
|
|
|
September
|
Belgian Strong Ale
|
18
|
Aug 15th
|
|
|
October
|
European Amber & Dark Lager, Bock
|
3,4,5
|
Sep 19th
|
|
|
November
|
Smoke-Flavored & Wood Aged
|
22
|
Oct 24th
|
|
|
December
|
Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer
|
21
|
Nov 21st
|
|
|
January
|
Stouts
|
13A,B,C
|
Dec 19th
|
|
|
February
|
Strong Ale & Russian Imperial Stout
|
13F, 19
|
Jan 23rd
|
|
Recipes
of the Month – J.P. Messier
1st Place
Winner – Tom Byrnes
Maple Madness
12.5 lbs VA clover honey
6 quarts Canadian real maple syrup
5 tsp yeast nutrient
2 pks Red Star Cote Des Blancs dry yeast
Bring 5 gallons water to boil,
turn off heat, add honey, syrup and other ingredients, and cover for 15 minutes
to pasteurize. Cool and add yeast rehydrated in 1 cup of water. Ferment to completion
and bottle.
Age at judging was 4 years-6
months
Notes: do not use pancake
syrup This recipe is expensive to make, shop for syrup at Sams Club or
Costco. Flavor profile will change dramatically over the years.
2nd Place
Winner - CJ & Diane
Meadalicious Honey Love
A sweet, traditional mead
-Prehydrated one 5-gm package of Red Star dry yeast “Premium
Cuvee”
-Boiled 4 gallons tap water, let cool slightly
-Added about 20 lbs organic Shenandoah
Valley summer thistle honey from Golden Angels Apiary, Singers
Glen, Virginia. Purchased at the Heritage Store, Virginia Beach.
-Heated on low heat, for about an hour, stirring regularly.
Never let boil, but got close.
-Added 1.25 TBS acid blend at some point while heating.
-After the hour, turned off heat and covered a short time.
-Added 1 TBS Irish Moss…might skip this next time though.
-Placed pot in ice bath for cold break, let sit about 50
minutes, then transferred to carboy.
-Pitched yeast at 68 degrees F.
-Added 1 tsp yeast nutrient.
-Mopped floor.
-Transferred to secondary 1 month later.
-Bottled after 4 months in secondary.
-At the time of judging, the mead had been in the bottle a
little less than 2 years.
3rd Place
Winner - Tom Byrnes
Wrong Yeast Mead
20 pounds Dismal
Swamp honey
2 tsp acid blend
5 tsp yeast nutrient
WYEAST Dry Mead Yeast
Bring 5 gallons water to boil,
turn off heat, add honey and other ingredients, and cover for 15 minutes to
pasteurize. Cool and add yeast in 1000ML starter. Ferment to completion and
bottle.
Age at judging was 6 years-8
months
Notes: this created an intense
dryness that took many years to mellow. May want to try another yeast. HRBTS members purchased honey from a Suffolk beekeeper.
About the HRB & TS
The Hampton Roads Brewing and Tasting Society is dedicated
to promoting the enjoyment of home brewing.
The annual dues are $20 per individual and $25 per family. Members are encouraged to support the
reasonable enjoyment of beer and observe the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia,
the Federal government, and the Golden Rule.
Persons attending HRB & TS meetings and events are solely liable for
actions attendant to their participation.
HRB & TS maintains a NO SMOKING policy during all meetings so that
members may better enjoy fine beers.
Visit the HRB & TS online at www.hrbts.org.