January 21, 2012 meeting notes

meeting recaps

Here’s what went down on 1/21:

  • Pre meeting: 
    • tasting of Nick P’s Brett Saison (10 mo old)
  • Introductions/misc. (5 min.)
    • Still no gavel!
    • Attendance: Andrew N, Matt P, Justin G, Steve A, Eric C, Tim S, Rick & Dave T, Andrew W, Adam S, Steve M, Brendan K, Grant W, Tyler B, Nick P, Kevin S
  • Announcements/upcoming events/new business (15 min.)
    • Collect 2012 membership dues from those yet to join, $20.00
    • Hand out membership cards to those who have paid dues
      • Membership card entitles you to 10% off purchases at Northern Brewer and Midwest Supplies.  If you find out any other companies offer us a discount, be sure to share that information with the group.
    • By-laws update [ExComm]
    • Upcoming competitions Continue reading January 21, 2012 meeting notes →

Summer BBQ and club-only competition: beers below 6% ABV

events

During our 1/21/12 meeting, we decided what the club needed was a few annual club-only competitions. We’re going to do a “lower gravity beer” competition in July [EDIT: COMPETITION AND BBQ ARE NOW SATURDAY JUNE 30th 2012] and a “high gravity beer” competition in December each year. Though we didn’t talk in detail about the December competition, we agreed up on the basic rules for the summer competition: Continue reading Summer BBQ and club-only competition: beers below 6% ABV →

December 17 2011 meeting notes

meeting recaps

Introductions/misc. (5 min.)
Andrew (5 years AG), Matt (5 years), Dean (new to brewing), Tim (2 yrs), Nick P (3 years), Andrew W (AG), Dan (Casual brewer 6 years), Tyler, Steve (since April – Extract), Eric (>1 year), Grant (2 yrs), Nick K. (8 yrs), Nathan (“Chief El Beardo” ; original founder)

Announcements/upcoming events/new business (15 min.)

  • Should we get a gavel?
  • Membership cards
    • Top priority. Grant working to get these printed and distributed to members.
    • Will need approval from Midwest Supplies (Andrew has an in…) and Northern Brewer? Steve should be able to help there.
  • Original NBA Meeting 1 year ago. Woohoo!

Membership dues due ($20) for 2012 – what does this get you? Continue reading December 17 2011 meeting notes →

December 17th meeting agenda

upcoming meetings

Meeting starts at 4:00pm, Pracna on Main in Northeast Minneapolis.

  • Introductions/misc. (5 min.)
  • Announcements/upcoming events/new business (15 min.)
    • Collect 2012 membership dues, $20.00
  • Group experiments update (5 min.)
    • Nick to discuss the barrel-aging project
    • Bring $25 if you want in. You’ll also be asked to contribute 5 gallons of wort at a later date.
  • Financial Report (5 min.)
    • Matt to discuss our banking situation
  • Education session (20 min.)
    • Nick Pederson will discuss decoction mashing
  • General Q&A (10 min.)
  • Break (5 min.)
  • Tasting/group critique (20 min.)
    • Grant – Belgian dubbel
    • Tim S. – Schwartz bier
    • Nick K. – Imperial IPA
    • Nick P. – Belgian Tripel/DIPA
  • What’s on tap? (5 min.) Suggest items of discussion for next month.
  • Social hour/open discussion

November 19th meeting recap

meeting recaps

The meeting on November 19th was a very important one for the future of the club. We’re looking to increase participation in 2012, so we took some proactive measures to make sure that happens.

Conversation points of note:

  • Elections: We decided on the club’s 2012 executive committee to disperse ownership of various responsibilities necessary to make things happen.
  • Membership: In order to plan fun events for the club and get membership cards printed (which gets each member 10% off purchases at homebrew shops), we agreed that a small budget is necessary. Membership into the club will cost you a small annual fee of $20. Next year’s dues will be collected at the next meeting, Saturday 12/17, 4:00pm at Pracna.
  • Agenda: We’ve had lots of great discussion at our meetings in 2011 but we lacked structure. During our November  meeting, we agreed upon a format for future meetings. Future meetings will run as follows: Continue reading November 19th meeting recap →

Club meeting November 19th at Pracna on Main (4pm – 6pm)

upcoming meetings

It seems that the club has taken a toll on us this summer.   With so many events, weekends up north, and just in general…other things to do…. this club really took a beating in the participation department.    We clearly need to come up with ways to keep people more active in the club.

This months meeting we will be discusing ways to get things rolling a little bit more.   Here are some ideas that I think we should be considering, deciding upon, and then following through on!

 

1. $Club fee!$   Although times are tough and some people may be turned off by a club fee, I think that it will also do many good things for the Northeast Homebrew Club.   For one, we will be able to buy some things for the club.  Shirts, stickers, spare equipment.   We can think about buying equipment eventually for a Big Brew Set-up.   Barrels for a club Barrel aging project, money to rent a bus to go visit a brewery (can you say Schell’s in the summer time, or during Bock fest!)  For two…I think that people will feel more urgency to show up to meetings if they’ve invested a little money into it!

2. Special Events – Brewery tours (or even help brew at a Brewery, aka, Fulton(?)).  Visit a Hop Farm, or a the Rahr fields of Barley!

3. Competitions –  Club only competitions as well as any AHA sactioned event.  (I think a really fun idea would be to have every member create one style (say American Brown Ale) t0 style…. and then we all enter our beer into one competition and for that style.   Try and take 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place!

4. Experiments – We did the great hops experiment, but the funny thing was, only the 8 brewers that brewed Single Hop versions for that experiment showed up for the tasting.   It could’ve been a great learning experience for everyone.  At least the 8 of us got to taste the difference.    Don’t get me wrong, it was a huge success, but that was the only real experiment we’ve been able to pull off.

5. Education – We all want to learn.  We all have something we can teach.   Whether it’s extremely technical yeast info,  water adjustments, or how to make better extracts, I feel we need to take this up a notch!

***When I originally helped start this group last year with Nathan, I really just wanted to have a place for Northeast Homebrewers to come together and hang out.   That was fine for the first few months.   It turns out that it seems like we need to have much more STRUCTURE for this to be a group where people actually want to participate.   We will be stepping the club up a notch in 2012 …that is….if that’s what we all decide we want to do!

 

Cheers,

Nick Pederson

612.965.1144

pederson.nick@gmail.com