November 2017 Minutes

Eric Linssen hosted the November B.A.S.H. meeting on Sunday the 12 th , with a big assist from Cathy Carrier’s Mom Phyllis. El Presidente Mike Wojdyla opened the meeting and thanked our veterans. Treasurer Tom Freund reported a decent account balance, after expenses for Iron Mash. In old business, Paul Holder made available leftover grains and adjuncts from Iron Mash. It was announced that founding member Jake Garret passed away in October. Many long-serving members owe much of their brewing acumen to Jake. He was famous for drinking the yeasty residue from everyone’s bottles, stating “It’s high in vitamin B complex”. We had another discussion on the future of club competitions and a motion was approved to have a subcommittee come up with a recommendation to present at the December meeting. Paul will lead the subcommittee, assisted by Daniel Fearn, Tom Freund, Eric and Aggie Bill Hughen. They will meet

Tuesday, November 21 at 7:00 p.m. at Lazy Beach Brewing. Speaking of competitions, the October contest was for pale malty European lagers, BJCP 4A-C.

Wild Bill Lehfeld submitted the only entries, thus earning one point towards homebrewer of the year. His Munich helles scored an average of 37.7/50, while his festbier averaged 35.7/50. After five of six competitions, cumulative standings are as follows:

• Wild Bill – 14 points
• Jeremy Van Horn – 3 points
• Greg Sawyer – 1 point
• Mark Quade – 1 point
• John Daniels – 1 point

Entries were collected for the November contest for brown British beers, BJCP 13A-C. After the meeting adjourned, we feasted on red, blanco and vegetarian chili. Besides the competition beers, we enjoyed new homebrews by Tom (German hefeweizen), Paul (Belgian IPA #2), Eric (coconut stout) and Jeremy (American pale ale). Interesting commercial brews included Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout

and Oatsmobile from Jack and Karen Heim, Moonlight Meadery Mango Mead from Dianna Hughen and Tom’s Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. During the height of a torrential downpour, Paul exclaimed “If that isn’t drip irrigation I don’t know what

is!” Carroll Pate mentioned “Very little hunting goes on in my backyard”. To Paul’s inquiry “Hey Wild Bill, are you ready to jump in the pool?”, Wild Bill replied “I’ve done stupider things!” Wild Bill also requested “Hey Paul, can you order me three missionaries?”


Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• 10-Dec- 17: B.A.S.H. meeting (Carroll “Brisket” Pate, brewing demonstration)
• 14-Jan- 18: B.A.S.H. meeting (Tom Freund, Iron Mash XIV judging)
• 11-Feb- 18: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, competition)
• 11-Mar- 18: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, brewing demonstration)
• 8 –Apr-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, competition)
• 5-May- 18: Big Brew (multiple brewing demonstrations)
• 20-May- 18: B.A.S.H. meeting (John Daniels, NOTE: 3 RD SUNDAY)

Thanks again Eric and Phyllis, keep on brewin’ and we’ll see you next month at the Pate’s !

Iron Mash XIV Minutes

Iron Mash XIV was held on Saturday, November 4 at B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate. The weather was cooperative – warm and breezy.

Four teams competed in this years’ event. Team “JEB” was a three-way brew date involving Jeremy Van Horn, Eric Linssen and Aggie Bill Hughen. “Mötley Brüe” consisted of Chris Ackman and Larry Sommers. “Tilted Keg” was a solo effort by Sarah Tilton. The fourth team was an improvised unit. Originally titled “Repeat Offenders”, the 3-man crew suffered some last day attrition. Mark Quade decided to star in a solo remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (Kevin Spacey was unavailable). Walt Crawford was dragged kicking and screaming on a Caribbean cruise by wife Judy. This left Mark Woerner as “The Lone Ranger”, until a few volunteers stepped up to help. Besides Mark Woerner, “Lone Ranger and Friends” included Philip Mooney, El Presidente Mark Wojdyla and Brad Klager.

Tom Freund welcomed the teams and Paul Holder passed out the box of mystery ingredients at high noon. After 30 minutes of brainstorming, arguing and cogitating the teams declared a style and finalized their recipes. Team “JEB” decided to make an English Porter, “Mötley Brüe” settled on a red IPA, “Tilted Keg” chose a peanut butter American porter and “Lone Ranger and Friends” picked an American pale ale.

The teams then ignited their propane burners and commenced brewing. When they finished steeping, boiling and cooling their wort they cleaned up and took the brews home to pitch yeast and begin fermentation. The resulting beers will be judged at the January B.A.S.H. meeting. The winning team will be awarded the Iron Mash trophy for one year and each winning team member will receive an individual chrome plated bling medal. In the end, all attendees will be winners because we get to drink the beers!

Iron Mash XIV was well attended by club members. Several curious bystanders wandered by and were introduced to the hobby of homebrewing. Trash talk was at a minimum this year as were obvious brewing screwups. As usual, Paul made the most perceptive comment – “Mike, you need to take better care of your instrument”.