Category Archives: education

January 2019 Update

The cold cannot stop us. We are Minnesota brewers! This month there were a couple club brews, our winter party, and another great education topic. Read on to see what we have been doing!

Recent Activities

Saison Club Brew

For an upcoming experiment and education topic during the March meeting, a few club members got together to brew a Saison on the 30-gallon club system. The wort was split evenly between six brewers and is being fermented at six different temperatures to see the difference. More details to come with the full experiment report and tasting with the club at the meeting in March at Northern Brewer Minneapolis.

For more photos of the brew day, check out the Instagram Story.

20-gallon hot liquor tank and 30-gallon mash tun
Setting up the sparge arm.
When you have a 30-gallon boil kettle, why not use the whole thing?

Education: Mighty Axe Hops

Our monthly meeting was hosted by our good friends at Northern Brewer Minneapolis with special guest speaker Ben from Mighty Axe Hops. His great presentation on their hop farm in Foley, MN, and the process of field to pellet was great education for the group. With this, we had ten beers and one cider being passed around that were brewed with only Comet hops from the farm. With a unique flavor and aroma, they were all a hit and we look forward to getting more varieties from them in the future.

To try beers that use Mighty Axe, check the Drink Minnesota Hops page on their website for a great selection from around the state.

Ben from Mighty Axe Hops spreading knowledge

Winter Party

The annual Winter Party was held at Perrin’s house this year where we shared many beers, held the High Gravity competition, elected officers, and brewed a potluck beer. Even with the cold temperature, we were able to pull together a brew day with a wide variety of ingredients, figured out a recipe with three base malts, two specialty malts, one specialty grain, a wide variety of hops, spruce tips, and grapefruit. With the 25 gallons brewed, it was split among interested members to bring home and pitch a yeast of choice. It will be interesting in the next weeks to see how this turns out and compares across fermentation profiles!

For the High Gravity competition, we had about ten beers registered to compete in personal preference voting. With a bunch of great options and none where I would turn down a pint, the clear winner was the Baltic Porter from Jim I. With bragging rights until next year (and the recent education topic on the style), I would not be surprised to see more of this style brewed for next winter.

The day also included elections for three of the club leadership positions:

  • Matt Johnson was elected Vice President
  • Tyler Bye was re-elected as Director of Finance
  • Jason Berg (yours truly) was elected Director of Communications and Technology
Ingredient selection.
Mashing in to start the club brew.
Adding ingredients and socializing.
Social time sharing some beers.

Upcoming Events

  • Club Brew and Barrel Fill: Over the next few weeks we are planning a club brew to put together enough Belgian Blond to refill a barrel inoculated with brett, pedio, and lacto. Some of the best beers have come out of this barrel and we look forward to getting this going!
  • Taproom Takeover: On Thursday, February 7 we are meeting at Utepils Brewing to have a pint. All are welcome and this is a great chance to meet a few folks if you are looking to join the club.
  • Off-Site Meetings: As is tradition, the February and March meetings are away from our normal home.
    • Thursday, February 21 at Midwest Supplies for a demo on brewing equipment, including electric systems.
    • Thursday, March 21 at Northern Brewer Minneapolis to discuss and sample the Saison temperature experiment described above.

For announcements of the monthly Taproom Takeover, monthly recap of recent events, and announcements for upcoming events, keep an eye on this space and our social media sites on FacebookInstagram, and Twitter. Come join us and chat about beer and brewing!

Cheers!

January Meeting – Thursday the 17th @ Northern Brewer Mpls

Join us this Thursday for what should be a really fun meeting at Northern Brewer’s Minneapolis location. 6021 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419

We will be joined by Ben from Mighty Axe Hops. He will be giving a presentation on their process and answering your hop related questions.

We will also be tasting around 10 beers brewed by members featuring only Mighty Axe Comet hops!

Come join us, its bound to be a great time. Cheers!

December 2018 Update

Happy New Year, everyone! It has been another busy month with the club and here is a recap of some of the events we have been up to and the happenings planned for early 2019.

Recent Activities

NBA Homebrew Competition

This month was another successful homebrew competition put on by the club. With 174 entries judged and 84 participants, judges, and stewards, it was a few weeks of coordination culminating with a busy weekend of sorting and judging many fine beers!

Congratulations to all the winners! Results can be found on the competition site. Keep an eye out for the next competition the same time next year!

Four Roses Bourbon Barrel Fill

With two new barrels added to the collection, we decided break them in with an Imperial Stout — and a big one at that with 1.140 target starting gravity! To get that high, the brewers in the club had long days to boil down the wort to that gravity, ranging from 2.5-4.5 hours for just the boil!

The email thread in the Google Group was quite active with discussion around best practices, problems people were having, and the results of brewing and fermentation. At the club meeting there was good discussion about what worked well (regular aeration the first several days, huge yeast starters, degassing regularly) and what we can do next time we try to make something this big. We are looking forward to seeing what this motor oil of a beer turns into over the next months in the barrel!

Monthly Education Topic: Baltic Porter

The education topic at the regular monthly meeting was about Baltic Porter with discussion lead by Bill H. An uncommon style at best, this topic was pushed back a few times until we could find enough commercial styles to bring and a few members could brew their own.

A high gravity, cool fermented version of Imperial Stout, these were a new style to many members and a hit with the club. I would not be surprised if more local homebrew competitions start getting more submissions for this style based on this new interest!

Upcoming Events

  • January Taproom Takeover at Wabasha Brewing on Thursday, January 3. Come join the social hour and learn about the club. Everyone is welcome!
  • Club brew day in January for an upcoming Saison experiment. We will be brewing 25+ gallons to split into a few fermenters. All are welcome to join!
  • Winter party in January for the club high-gravity competition, annual membership renewal, officer voting (Vice President, Communication Director, Finance Director), and a group collaborative brew. More details to come on the location and sign-up.
  • Off-site meetings: Since we are unable to use our normal home at East Side Neighborhood Services for the first few months of the year, we will be off-site in January, February, and March. Check the Club Calendar for details.
    • January: Northern Brewer Minneapolis with Ben from Mighty Axe hops as the guest speaker and the Comet hops experiment. After-party at Wild Mind.
    • February: Midwest Supplies (St. Louis Park) for a demo on electric brewing equipment. After-party at Steel Toe.
    • March: Northern Brewer Minneapolis for the Saison experiment from the January club brew day. After-party at Wild Mind.

For announcements of the monthly Taproom Takeover, monthly recap of recent events, and announcements for upcoming events, keep an eye on this space and our social media sites on FacebookInstagram, and Twitter. Come join us and chat about beer and brewing!

Cheers!

Recap – April Monthly Meeting

April Meeting Recap

The April meeting had a great educational  session lead by Bad Weather’s Christian Breitbarth. We covered yeast washing, over-building starting, building a yeast bank, and most importantly, how to create and work in sterile environments.

Thanks member Jason Berg, there are great notes in the club forum. Make sure to check it our!

We also covered the introduction of the club yeast bank. This new benefit for members will being kicking off over the next few weeks, and will also be accompanied by some club wort canning days. The wort canning days will be club members have the opportunity to can starter wort, decreasing the time it takes to grow yeast for brew days. Watch the forum for updates from Paul for the yeast bank and Carl for the first wort canning day.

Committee Updates

The barrels continue to be a great benefit to club members. There have been brew days to brew the Belgian Dark Strong that will be going into the Buffalo Trace barrel. These brew days have given us a chance to use the new 30 gallon mash tun and boil kettle, as well as step up the brewing water chemistry and mash pH game from previous education sessions. The committee also gave an update on the Lambic and George Dickel transfers.

Upcoming Events

Big Brew Day, May 5th

The Nordeast Brewers Alliance will be at Northern Brewer Minneapolis for Big Brew Day. We will be brewing, possibly grilling, and serving samples from club members. So make sure you grab your gear to brew on site (great chance to try BIAB if you haven’t) and if you want to share one of your brews on the club jockey box, make to sign up on the registration form that was posted to the group. There are also slots to share at other events there!

Midwest Homebrew Club Fair, May 12th

Our friends at Midwest Brewing Supply will be holding a homebrew club fair for local clubs from 10am-4pm. Think of it like ‘Homebrew Con Lite’. Its an opportunity for us to show off to potential members and other clubs. They will also be giving away malt from Able Seedhouse. The beer made with that malt will be entered into a competition, details to come. Everybody is welcome, come hang out, drink beer, and promote the club!

NBA December Recap

2017 Wrapped up with a bang for the Nordeast Brewers Alliance!

Let’s start with the Nordeast Brewers Alliance Homebrew competition – congratulations to all of the participants and winners. The competition this year was our largest yet, with 180 entries. A special thank you to our judges, volunteers, and sponsors that made this year a success!

 

 

 

 

The NBA was also named Growler Magazine’s “Kind of a Big Deal” Homebrew Club of the Year!

 

To wrap up 2017 we had our monthly meeting. We had a great educational discussion on brewing with wood, highlighted with white ash, maple, and sassafras.

Along with some festive fun, there will be some great things to look forward to in 2018 – including quarterly club brews on the club system, and group brews with members. Look for those sign-up sheets starting in January.

 

And to kick off 2018, we will have our Winter Party and high-gravity club comp on January 20.

 

November with the Nordeast Brewers Alliance

I hope everyone got their leaves raked this weekend, because:

  1. this is the last week for Minneapolis yard waste
  2. it’s going to be a fun week with the NBA!

Thursday, November 16, is our monthly meeting at ESNS, 7pm. Our education topic will be “off flavors.” Bring tasting glasses and some brew for what should be a great session.

Saturday, November 18, we will be at the grand re-opening of Northern Brewer Minneapolis. We will have the club system going for 20gal of a Winter Warmer, and hopefully the classroom system for 10gal of a Brown Ale. The club will also be sharing our beers with the home brewing community there. If you would like to share, here is the sign-up list.

You can also still register for the NBA Homebrew Competition! Make sure you are registered and have your entries at the drop-off locations by the 27th.

Lastly, the NBA is getting internet famous! Carl, Chris, and Aaron spent time with Chip for an episode of Chop N Brew, tasting a handful of beers featuring Weyermann® Barke® Vienna Malt. Check it, and share it with your social networks.

August 2017 Recap & Upcoming Events

Thanks to everybody that came out to the meeting this month. We had a great turnout, lots of beer and a fun education topic.

As the year turns from summer to fall, here are some upcoming events the NBA will be participating in:
Big River Brewfest – We will be serving between 6 and 12 beers at the event this year. This is a great opportunity to share our beer with a very wide audience. Oct. 7 in the ESNS parking lot.
Members check out the NBA Google Group for more details. Not a member? Come by and hang out with us, and find out why you should become a member.
The NBA Homebrew Competition – For the 6th year in a row we will be running our BJCP sanctioned homebrew competition! More member info is in the NBA Group.
NBA Committees
We have some committee meetings coming up. Be one the look out for those invites if you are part of the committee and be the look out for updates from those committees at meetings. These are some great benefits to club members:
-Competition Committee
September Club meeting is September 21st at ESNS, with the education topic: mash pH and water chemistry.
We are also planning the December club mini experiment – wood aging.

Monthly Meeting – August 17 at ESNS

The August monthly meeting will be Thursday, August 17th, at EastSide Neighborhood Services at 7pm.

This month’s educational topic will be deep dive into Aroma Training!

We will also discuss upcoming events:

  • 6th Annual NBA Homebrew Competition
  • Nordeast Big River Brew Fest

Bring a tasting glass and some homebrew to share, if you don’t have any homebrew ready, don’t sweat it, just bring  a glass. If you feel compelled to bring beer grab something new or interesting from the commercially available options at your local purveyor.

Monthly Meeting – July 20th at ESNS

Same Beer time, same Beer place:

After surviving HomeBrew Con last month, we are back to our normal schedule.

The July monthly meeting will be Thursday, July 20th, at EastSide Neighborhood Services at 7pm.

Guests:

We will have a couple out-of-town guests in attendance for this meeting. Ariel and Ben from the Brewminaries, a homebrew club out of New York City, will be joining us and sharing a few beers. We will also be sending them home with a few beers to share with their members back east.

We will cover a bunch of stuff this meeting:

HomeBrew Con retrospective; NBA party, social hour, club night.
Single Hop brew day and  tasting.
Barrel, we got a new one!
Educational topic; Wort Canning.

We look forward to seeing you!