Notes from the February Meeting

Last night, the club met for its February meeting that has been postponed from last week due to the weather. The off-schedule might have discouraged a few from making it out, and so a few regular members were not in attendance.

However, we'd like to warmly welcome three new members: Jim, Sam, and Eric. It seems both the place mat ad and the Gazette article were effective recruitment ventures!

In total, we had 12 members in the Dubliner for the meeting. After everyone grabbed a pint and socialized for a bit, we began the program. Our program was given by Dave Juart, who shared his experience in using a small 2 gallon cooler to do counter top partial mashing. This extra step adds just a bit more time in the extract brewing schedule, but has the benefit of adding more control and complexity to the flavor and fermentables that one normally doesn't get with extract brewing.

Dave got several questions followed by lively discussion on the technique. Thanks, Dave!

Following the presentation, Nate made a few announcements regarding upcoming events:

• Febtoberfest is currently booked at the Coney for Saturday, March 22. It was brought to my attention that several of us forgot that this is the Saturday on Easter weekend. The deposit was put down, but if that Saturday is a conflict for a large percentage of the membership, thereby preventing them from attending, then we may have to push the event back to the next available weekend. An email will be sent this week regarding.
• We need to find out how many members are committed to attending, with and without their significant others; we'll try to keep the costs as low as possible, but that will depend on participation and which food items we select
• Club name?? So far, all we have been given is the "Trubadours". Are there other nominations?
• Pints For Pets - the first annual brew festival to be held at the Blair Co. ball park on May 17 from 4-8pm. $30 admission, with all monies going to the Central PA Humane Society. If interest is high, we'll see about organizing transportation.

After the official business, we got down to the tasting of three homebrews:

1. Excelsior Stout, courtesy of Jon Defibaugh, a sweetish milk stout with a very creamy body!
2. Batch XI, courtesy of Muckney Brewing (Dave Juart, Justin Tanaka), is a "kitchen sink", Stone 11th Anniversary-inspired ale - described as an extra dark IPA. Very hoppy!
3. Dark & Mysterious, courtesy of Muckney Brewing also, was a cinnamon porter and the first recipe written entirely by Mr. Tanaka. Quite a wallop of spice in that one!

After the tasting, as usual, several people stuck around for another round and some good discussion. In all, another successful meeting!

A Few Braved the Streets ...

Thanks to those few who braved the elements and the roads last night to hold down a table at The Coney in case some members or new recruits showed up! We'll pick up again next Tuesday (2/19) with the same scheduled program.

February 12 Meeting Postponed: Inclement Weather

Tonight's Indiana Homebrewers Club meeting is postponed until next Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 8pm due to the inclement weather.

By meeting time, there is a strong possibility of snow turning to freezing rain, making both driving and walking a bit dangerous.

An email was sent to the membership list, and the Coney will be informed in case anyone calls there to ask.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, but the 'board' felt that attendance would probably be lower than normal, and that safety could be an issue in such conditions.

Gazette Article on Homebrew Club

A big thanks to Sam Kusic from the Indiana Gazette for his article today on the club. For those who get the paper, check out today's page 4.

Probably the only drawback to the article is that there is no contact information for readers, other than to come to the Coney, but I think it was well written - it elevates beer and homebrewers without making us sound too snobby or like total drunks ;)

Article?

Well, apologies for getting everyone all excited this week ... I'm sure by now you've opened the Gazette to find no homebrew club article, but rather a grown man with a KISS doll collection.

Presumably, the article will still run (Sam talked to the four of us last week), but we don't know if it'll be during the week, next Sunday, or next month now. The whole point was to get some interest up for our meeting on Tuesday and tie in with the ads last month. Keep your fingers crossed - we'll keep you posted!

February Meeting Announcement

The next Homebrewers Club meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 8pm at the Coney. The program will include a brief instruction/discussion by Dave Juart on how to add more complexity and variety to extract brewing by using a counter-top partial mash step.

We'll have a small homebrew tasting, as usual, and some general discussion on a new club name and some updates on Febtoberfest.

Look for the homebrew club article in this Sunday's Indiana Gazette!