October 18th club meeting recap

meeting recaps
Pictured above is a sample from our current barrel project that Nick brought to the 10/18 meeting for tasting

Here’s the recap of our 10/18/12 meeting:

  • Recap for new members/potential members: what you get by joining (% off at brew shops and 4Firkins), events etc…
  • Farmers Market – Aaron H. and Nate brewed a rye porter, used hops Grant grew
  • Big River Brewfest recap – 150 entries, earned around $350
    • Might be good to do a “what went good, what went bad”
      • Wrong = left one case of beer at Liquor store
      • Wrong = website database had a few entries missing
      • Right = website was only $20
      • Could signup for other stuff ahead of time
    • Nate has 6 cases cases of entries that didn’t make it to the competition, need to drink categories 1-3 soon. Party?
  • Future Barrel project – Aaron’s cellar
    • Cellar has the four 60 gal. barrels (Casey’s)
      • Cab
      • Cab
      • Zin
      • Merlot
    • Options – Flanders red, wee heavy, Russian imperial, barley wine, Belgian strong, saison, sour stout, lambic, sour porter
    • Grant will create form to vote. UPDATE: done
    • Club voted $200 is ok to use to build the barrel racks
  • Yeast experiment Continue reading October 18th club meeting recap →

Barrel project phase two: style voting

barrel project

If you attended the 10/18 meeting (meeting notes coming soon… wanted to get this done first) or have been paying attention to the email chain(s), we’ve got four barrels on loan to the club from Casey that need filling. We need to first determine styles so club members know if they’re even interested in participating. We WANT members to be interested in participating, which is why our members get to determine via (largely) democratic process what styles of beer barrel project participants will collectively brew to fill these four barrels (236 gallons!). The poll below will be left open until end of day 10/31/12, after which it will be disabled and votes tallied with a report out via blog post by end of day 11/2/12.

Stuff to consider: Continue reading Barrel project phase two: style voting →

2012 Nordeast Big River Brew Fest homebrew competition results

events

The Nordeast Big River Brew Fest homebrew competition wrapped up today with final category judging and the best-of-show round. A HUGE CHEERS to NBA ExComm club member Tyler Bye for taking the lead role in managing this competition. Many of us pitched in, but Tyler was the driving force. That’s how you debate!

We had over 150 entries in the first year of our competition. Thanks to all the entrants and sponsors for your support in making this a success. Check out the pic below for a listing of all those who placed in each category. Entrants: if you were unable to pick up your scoresheets/medals/prizes at the competition today, we’ll be handing these out at our club meeting at East Side Neighborhood Services this coming Thursday evening, 10/18 at 7:00pm. Those who aren’t able to make the meeting will have applicable items mailed to them.

Also of note: Continue reading 2012 Nordeast Big River Brew Fest homebrew competition results →

5 NBA members place at the 2012 MN State Fair homebrew competition

events

Five NBA members placed in six categories of the 2012 State Fair competition today:

  • Category 7 – Amber hybrid: 3rd place, Grant Wright
  • Category 13 – Stout: 2nd place, Nathan O’brien
  • Catgory 15 – German wheat and rye: 3rd place, Davis Kessler
  • Category 16 – Belgian and French ale: 3rd place, Tom Burtyk
  • Category 17 – Sour ale: 1st place, Tom Burtyk
  • Category 19 – Strong ale: 2nd place, Tyler Bye

Continue reading 5 NBA members place at the 2012 MN State Fair homebrew competition →

Barrel Project Update at 3.5 months

homebrewing
Image
Brett Pellicle forming at the top of the barrel. This Pellicle at the top of the beer is Brettanomyces way of keeping oxygen from infiltrating the beer. Amazing funky critter!

Eight of the members of the Nordeast Brewers Barrel aging project came over to my place on Saturday and sampled the barrel and here are my thoughts on how it’s coming along.   It tastes AMAZING and I couldn’t be happier with the direction it’s going.    It feels really great to have so much time, consideration, and collaboration, all come together and turn into something amazing!

Tasting notes –

Appearance – completely still because it’s pulled from the barrel.   Yellow color with a hint of brown that’s definitely a contribution of the oak.

Aroma -belgian esters, bready malt, tartness, and slight oak is evident.

Flavor – Starts out and hits you with a nice lactic tartness, the middle is slighty malty and the oak sneaks up on you after a few sips.  It’s hard to pull it out, but the oak is definitely starting to come through.   The finish is dry, yet it has an interesting sweetness that hits you at the very end of the sip.   Gravity is at 1.002 so we feel that the sweetness is most likely coming from the sugars in the wood either from the oak itself, or from the Honeywine that previously was in the oak, or both.  Mouth waters and brings you back for more!

Mouthfeel – Tart, thin – medium body

Overall – Damn…this is a fucking fantastic beer already!  We are planning on letting it sit for another 3 months to get some additional brett characteristics going, and to let it become more intensely sour.

BOOMSHAKALAKA!