August 2016 Minutes

The August B.A.S.H. meeting was held on Sunday the 14th at B&J’s Pizza on SPID. Kyle, Frank, Max and the rest of the B&J’s crew hosted us in a roped-off area in the back room.

El Presidente Daniel Fearn called the meeting to order, welcoming new members Mark Gonzales and Eric Linssen. Treasurer Carroll Pate reported a healthy club balance after continuing his effective dues collection for the new fiscal year.

Paul Holder gave an update on the KEDT-TV Classic Brew, to be held on Thursday, September 22nd at the Museum of Science and History. If you donate a keg for the B.A.S.H. 5-tap portable bar, you receive free admission, a free t-shirt and souvenir glass. Volunteer tappers get half price admission with a t-shirt and glass. Tappers can sign-up at the September meeting.

Daniel gave an update on the Dixie Cup regional homebrew competition. Entries must be in Houston by September 20th. Paul reported that the source for club hats and t-shirts is now Embroid Me at Carroll Lane and SPID. The first session of Steve Cook’s BJCP judging class was held last Wednesday at Lazy Beach. Those who missed the 1st class can still attend this Wednesday’s 2nd session at Lazy Beach from 7 – 9 p.m. The exam will be held here in March 2017 and in Houston in April.

In REALLY, REALLY OLD business, Carroll Pate is inviting everyone to his 75th birthday party at his home in Calallen on Sunday, August 21 from 2 – 5 p.m. He promises not to get too nostalgic about his era (the Cretaceous, we believe).

The competition this month was for Biere De Garde, BJCP category 24C. Vic Aguilar collected 2 points for his victorious “50-Deuce” amber, while Wild Bill Lehfeld’s brown picked up 1 point for second place. After four of six club competitions, cumulative standings are as follows:

• Wild Bill – 5 points
• Mark Quade – 3.5 points
• John Daniels – 3 points
• Jim Hildreth – 3 points
• Paul Kalaghan – 3 points
• Vic Aguilar – 2 points
• Andrew Herzig/Sabrina – 1.5 point

As the meeting concluded, we enjoyed B&J’s pizza courtesy of Wild Bill and El Presidente. Max and Frank supplemented our homebrew with 20 beers on tap and a gazillion cans and bottles in the B&J’s bottle cooler. Besides the scoring competition beers, we enjoyed new homebrews by Micah Cole (Belgian golden strong/Yuengling clone), Steve (Belgian single/dubbel), Walt Crawford (American IPA), Jim (American wheat/black IPA), Paul Holder (infected pale ale), Wild Bill (amber biere de garde) and Jeremy Van Horn (citra IPA).

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• 21-Aug-16: “Cretaceous” Carroll Pate’s 75th birthday (The Pate residence in Calallen)
• 11-Sep-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Mark Woerner, brewing demonstration)
• 22-Sep-16: Classic Brew 2016 (Museum of Science and History)
• 9-Oct-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Railroad Seafood Station hosted by Sean Sutherland, Scottish Ale competition, 2015 BJCP 14A-C, 17C)
• 5-Nov-16: Iron Mash XIII (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, team brewing competition)
• 13-Nov-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, Russian Imperial Stout competition, 2008 BJCP 13F)
• 11-Dec-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Carroll Pate, if he makes it much past 75)

Thanks again El Presidente, Wild Bill and B&J’s, keep on brewin’ and we’ll see you next weekend at Old Man Pate’s and next month at Mark Woerner’s !

July 2016 Minutes

The July B.A.S.H. meeting was held on Sunday the 10th at B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate. Kyle, Hailey, Margie and the rest of the B&J’s crew had us comfortably ensconced in a large area in the back room.

Incoming El Presidente Daniel Fearn called the meeting to order, welcoming new members Vic Aguilar, Josie Aguilar and Greg Sawyer. Treasurer Carroll Pate kicked off the new fiscal year with some new dues collection tactics which can be described as the carrot and the stick. Paid members received a new nametag recognizing them as members in good standing -- the carrot. Deadbeats and holdouts were threatened with brass knuckles, cattle prods and sarcasm -- the stick. Whatever his reprehensible methods, you can’t argue with the results – a burgeoning treasury.

Paul Holder gave an update on the KEDT-TV Classic Brew. B&J’s is again the licensee and KEDT would like B.A.S.H. to return with our 5-tap portable bar. Thursday, September 22nd is the date, with the location to be determined. As this is the 25th anniversary of B.A.S.H., the theme for our booth will be Diamond Beers for the Sparkling City. In others words, brew your favorite beer. We’re looking for about eight donated 5-gallon kegs of homebrew. About four members will be needed to serve our beer. As usual, the event is also looking for volunteer tappers. For half price admission, you get a t-shirt and souvenir glass.

Steve Cook is looking to teach a BJCP judging class. A sign-up sheet was passed around with a healthy response. The classes will begin at Lazy Beach Brewing on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday in August, from about 7 – 9 p.m. About 8 – 10 total classes will complete the course. Upon completion you will take an online exam first, then take an exam in Houston in March or April. The club voted to purchase about $100 worth of supplies needed for the course.

Paul gave a technical presentation on the effect of temperature on beer flavor. We have taste cells that detect sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami (savory). Temperature affects sweet, bitter and umami – the perception of these is directly proportional to temperature. Flavor is affected by aroma – we can detect about 10,000 different aromas. A low temperature hides flavors (good and bad). A high temperature accentuates flavors (good and bad). The optimum temperature for lagers, wheat beers and lambics is 44 – 52 F, for ales 44 – 60 F and for Imperial stouts 70 F.

Paul also mentioned he’s got plenty of Edinburgh ale yeast at Liquid Town for the upcoming Scottish ale competition in October.

As the meeting concluded, we enjoyed B&J’s pizza courtesy of Paul. Margie served up 25 beers on tap and a vast array of beers awaited in the B&J’s bottle cooler. The two Big Brew beers were on tap -- Aggie Bill Hughen’s ginger beer and Sarah Tilton’s altbier. We also enjoyed new homebrews by Vic Aguilar (cider), Steve (citra double IPA), Daniel (jackfruit pale ale), Lee Lehman (porter/barrel-aged porter), Randy Sandifer (red ale), Greg (IPA), Sarah (Russian Imperial Stout) and Jeremy Van Horn (cherry Saison).

Tom Freund allegedly uttered “Number Two is a brown ale!” OK …

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• 14-Aug-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Daniel Nutting, Biere de Garde competition, 2015 BJCP 24C)
• 11-Sep-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Mark Woerner, brewing demonstration)
• 22-Sep-16: Classic Brew 2016 (location to be determined)
• 9-Oct-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Railroad Seafood Station hosted by Sean Sutherland, Scottish Ale competition, 2015 BJCP 14A-C, 17C)
• 5-Nov-16: Iron Mash XIII (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, team brewing competition)
• 13-Nov-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, Russian Imperial Stout competition, 2008 BJCP 13F)

Thanks again Paul and B&J’s, keep on brewin’ and we’ll see you next month at Daniel Nutting’s !

June 2016 Minutes

The June meeting of BASH was held at the home of Judy and Walt Crawford. We were lucky in that it didn’t rain and there were no mosquitoes. Walt and Judy prepared cheeseburgers in paradise and we all enjoyed a fabulous dinner. Judy led us in song to the words of Jimmy Buffet’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise” to work up our appetites. We met three new prospective members, Eric Linssen and Victor and Josie Aguilar. Treasurer for Life Carroll announced that they couldn’t join until July as that is renewal month for all and this would be their complementary meeting. All attendees were shocked to the core to actually hear Carroll turn down money. We will be working with Dr. Lou to get a diagnosis on this sudden change in Carroll’s behavior.

The Competition this month was Irish Red (Category 15A). Comp director Mike said there were 6 entries from Jim, Sarah, John D. and Wild Bill. John D. took top honors and 3 pts, Jim corralled 2nd and 3rd and also earned 3 points.

Outgoing President Sabrina called the meeting to order after the competition was tasted. Carroll reported that we are ending the year with 45 paid members. We discussed our new Facebook group page and those that had visited were lavish in their praise. It is a closed group so to get access, members have to request admission. Normally that is approved within a day as we have several approval authorities. New member, Steve, noted that he is a BJCP judge (only one in South Texas) and would put on a class for those interested in taking the test. Several folks signed up and he may have to make that 2 classes. More on that at the July meeting. Daniel announced that his AHA National entries didn’t place at the National level but placing in the Southwest Area comp is still pretty impressive. After the meeting, we found Daniel took first place with his Pineapple Pale Ale in Category 24 at the ACCF in San Antonio. Some may remember that this is the beer he brewed, extract based, at our April Meeting. We closed the meeting by electing officers for the next year. Daniel F. will be Presidente, Mike W. will continue as VP and Competition Chair, Wild Bill and Carroll will continue as secretary and treasurer also.

We were fortunate to have many new homebrews to sample. Paul H. brought a Best Bitter, Jeremy a Mosaic IPA, Carroll an English Brown (what a surprise), Mike a SMASH beer, Steve a Belgian Cider, guest Eric a Chocolate Stout, Sarah also a chocolate stout, and a mystery beer and guest Victor a Citra Pils. Of course, there were many commercial beers to fill in the blanks between homebrews.

The top comment was from outgoing Pres Sabrina who confessed her difficulty in buying Saran Wrap in Norway. We can only imagine why one would need Saran Wrap in Norway.

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• 10-Jul-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, hosted by Paul Holder), Special Rules apply. You may bring homebrew but it must stay inside the cordoned area for the club. You may bring appetizers; various pizzas will be provided. NO COMMERCIAL BEER ALLOWED (you are welcome to purchase commercial beers from B&J’s and wander all over with them)
• 14-Aug-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Daniel Nutting, Biere de Garde competition, 2015 BJCP 24C)
• 11-Sep-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Mark Woerner, brewing demonstration)
• 9-Oct-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Railroad Seafood Station, Scottish Ale competition, 2015 BJCP 14A-C, 17C)
• 13-Nov-16 Host needed.

Thanks again to Judy and Walt for a fabulous time. Hope you get rid of the tomatoes, Walt.

May 2016 Minutes

The rain fell, the water rose and Travis Clapp built his ark, stocking it with two sheep, two goats, two ferrets, two more sheep, etc. The rest of us braved the biblical deluge and ventured to Rockport for the May B.A.S.H. meeting, hosted by John and Nikki Daniels on Sunday the 15th. Amateur meteorologist John reported that this was only the 5th time in the past 30 years that it has rained on the 3rd Sunday in May. In any case, we stayed high and dry on the Daniels’ huge covered rear porch.

With El Presidente Sabrina Krueger gallivanting across the Baltic Sea, it was up to Vice President Mike Wojdyla to call the meeting to order. Carroll Pate delivered another sterling treasury report – forget Alexander Hamilton, THIS GUY belongs on the ten dollar bill! We all congratulated Daniel Fearn on advancing to the AHA finals in Baltimore with his European amber lager and semisweet mead.

Lorelei Brewing has received labeling approval and has beers on tap in eight bars in Corpus Christi. Carroll reported on an article in an online forum about stretching your yeast inventory. First, prepare a 25% solution of glycerine with water. Open your packet of yeast and divide the contents into up to ten portions. Then dilute each portion 50/50 with the glycerine/water mixture. The resulting slurries should stay viable up to 2 years in the refrigerator. Paul Holder warned of a potential yeast shortage – supplier White Labs in San Diego is at capacity. Mark your calendars – Carroll will celebrate his 75th birthday in Calallen on Sunday, August 21st. Said elderly Paul “I look up to Carroll as sort of a father figure”!

There was no competition or demonstration brew this month. We washed down our INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS taco salad with new homebrews from John and Mike (Irish red ale), Daniel (pineapple pale ale), Paul (porter), Wild Bill Lehfeld (amber biere de garde), Carroll and Chris Swanson (American pale ale) and Mike (eisbock). In true old-school fashion, no commercial beer was present.

As usual, the conversation got a little weird near the end with Chris uttering a real gem – “He had throat cancer from all the cigars he drank”! Hmmm ….

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• 12-Jun-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Walt Crawford, Irish Red Ale competition, 2015 BJCP 15A)
• 10-Jul-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, hosted by Paul Holder)
• 14-Aug-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Daniel Nutting, Biere de Garde competition, 2015 BJCP 24C)
• 11-Sep-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Mark Woerner, brewing demonstration)
• 9-Oct-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Railroad Seafood Station hosted by Sean Sutherland, Scottish Ale competition, 2015 BJCP 14A-C, 17C)

Thanks again John and Nikki, keep on brewin’ and we’ll see you next month at the Crawford’s !

Big Brew 2016!

B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate hosted the 2016 Corpus Christi edition of the American Homebrewers Association’s Big Brew. Two teams from the Bay Area Association of Homebrewers (B.A.S.H.) brewed the AHA’s selected recipes for this year in an outdoor, public demonstration. The weather was beautiful (if a tad breezy) and the B.A.S.H. canopy provided ample shade.

In a solo effort, Aggie Bill Hughen brewed a 5-gallon batch of ginger beer. Sarah Tilton and Sean Sutherland brewed a Dusseldorf alt. Our canopy was FULLY ERECT by 11:00 a.m. Aggie Bill ignited his propane burner at 11:10, followed by Sarah and Sean at 11:15. El Presidente Sabrina Krueger quit complaining about her new “B.A.S.H. Mom” moniker long enough to lead the traditional global synchronized toast to homebrewing at high noon. We got a pleasant surprise at 1:00 p.m. when prodigal son Claudio Montiel joined the festivities.

By 3:15 both beers were done. The canopy was taken down and stowed by 3:30 with little drama. No embarrassing screwups or ridiculous comments were noted this year, although during a slightly sloppy cleanup phase Sarah discovered that her phone is, in fact, amphibious! The finished beers can be sampled at the July meeting.

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• 15-May-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (NOTE: 3RD SUNDAY, John Daniels)
• 12-Jun-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Walt Crawford, Irish Red Ale competition, 2015 BJCP 15A)
• 10-Jul-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, hosted by Paul Holder)
• 14-Aug-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Daniel Nutting, Biere de Garde competition, 2015 BJCP 24C)
• 11-Sep-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Mark Woerner, brewing demonstration)
• 9-Oct-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Railroad Seafood Station, Scottish Ale competition, 2015 BJCP 14A-C, 17C)

See you at The Daniels’!

April Minutes 2016

Brad Klager hosted the April B.A.S.H. meeting on Sunday the 10th. El Presidente Sabrina Krueger called the meeting to order and welcomed guest Mike Westergren and new members Steve Cook and Randy Sandifer (with wife Carla). Treasurer Carroll Pate rambled on about the club treasury and took a lot of pictures. We all congratulated Daniel Fearn on earning 3rd place in an AHA regional competition with his European amber lager.

For the upcoming Big Brew on Saturday, May 7 Sarah Tilton and Aggie Bill Hughen will brew the two AHA recipes (Dusseldorf alt and ginger beer, respectively). Heads up – the May monthly meeting will be on the 3rd Sunday (5/15) so as not to interfere with Mothers’ Day. You don’t want to miss Nikki Daniels’ INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS taco salad. Jim Hildreth was strong-armed into being nominating committee chairman for this summers’ club elections. Daniel Fearn made us aware of the upcoming Alamo City Cervezafest. Beer competition entries cost $8 each. You can enter one beer per BJCP category in three unmarked 12 ounce bottles.

Paul Holder gave a brief presentation on fruit beers. They may contain chemicals which interfere with medication. The bottom line is to always disclose fruit presence in homebrew, especially with grapefruit.

The competition this month was for lagers. Wild Bill Lehfeld’s dopplebock captured 1st place, earning 3 points. Mark Quade’s American lager finished 2nd, scoring 2 points. Wild Bill’s Helles exportbier tallied one point for a 3rd place finish. After two club competitions, cumulative scores are as follows:

• Wild Bill – 4 points
• Mark Quade – 3.5 points
• Paul Kalaghan – 3 points
• Andrew Herzig/Sabrina – 1.5 point

We enjoyed a bounty of Southeast Asian food along with an explosion of new homebrews. Besides the scoring competition beers, we tasted new brews from Daniel Fearn (Vienna lager), Tom Freund (English porter), Jim (IPA), Paul Holder (“halfieweizen”/pale ale), Paul Kalaghan (Czech pils), host Brad (“reindeer beer”), Wild Bill (Munich dunkel) and Mark Quade (Helles bock). Interesting commercial beers made their usual appearance, including Boulevard Calling IPA (Steve), Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale (Andrew/Sabrina), Pilsner Urquell (Paul K) and Big Bend Hefeweizen/No. 22 Porter/Tejas Lager and Twisted X Premium Tex-Mex Lager/Fuego Jalapeño Pilsner/Chupa Hopra IPA (Lou Needleman).

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• 7-May-16: Big Brew (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, multiple brewing demonstations)
• 15-May-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (NOTE: 3RD SUNDAY, John Daniels)
• 12-Jun-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Walt Crawford, Irish Red Ale competition, 2015 BJCP 15A)
• 10-Jul-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, hosted by Paul Holder)
• 14-Aug-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Daniel Nutting, Biere de Garde competition, 2015 BJCP 24C)
• 11-Sep-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Mark Woerner, brewing demonstration)
• 9-Oct-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, Scottish Ale competition, 2015 BJCP 14A-C, 17C)

Thanks again Brad, keep on brewin’ and we’ll see you next month at the Big Brew and the Daniels’ !

March 2016 Minutes

Jim and Tracy Hildreth hosted the March B.A.S.H. meeting on Sunday the 13th. Daniel Fearn conducted a brewing demonstration, making a pineapple pale ale while adorned in a spiffy B.A.S.H. apron. El Presidente Sabrina Krueger called the meeting to order and welcomed numerous neighbors, friends, relatives and other guests. Treasurer Carroll Pate reported that his efforts to embezzle the entire club account have failed again. He promised to pick it up just a little bit in the future.
For this years’ Big Brew public brewing demonstration in early-May, the AHA published only two recipes this year instead of the usual three. Sarah Tilton and Sean Sutherland will brew the Dusseldorf Alt, while Aggie Bill Hughen will brew the ginger beer. See Paul Holder if you want to brew a third beer.

Paul gave a presentation on dry brewing yeast. Yeast is generally recognized as the most important ingredient in beer and most people would say that liquid yeast is preferable to dry yeast. A recent article in the March/April 2016 issue of Brew Your Own magazine (available online) discusses recent developments in dry yeast. In short, today’s dry yeast is much improved over the varieties available in the 80’s and 90’s. Dry yeast only loses viability at the rate of 10-20% per year, so it stores longer than liquid yeast. You need 6 million cells per milliliter of wort, or about 114 million cells for a 5 gallon batch of ale, or double that for a batch of lager. A package of dry yeast contains about 200 billion cells. You must rehydrate it properly with water (never wort) before pitching. Sprinkle the package of dry yeast into 6 ounces of RO or distilled water at 95 – 105 F. Let it rest for 30 minutes, then stir for another 30 minutes before pitching.

Vice President and Competition Director Mike Wojdyla gave a presentation on Russian Imperial Stout, November’s competition style. You should aim for an ABV of at least 8%, use up to 8 different grains for a complex malty flavor and expect to age the beer for several months. We tasted examples of Clown Shoes Blaecorn Unicorn, Avery The Czar, Real Ale Commissar and Texas Big Beer Brewing Czar of Texas.

As we feasted on chicken pasta alfredo, we tried new homebrews by host Jim (nut brown ale), Wild Bill Lehfeld (Dortmunder export) and Jeremy Van Horn (imperial brown ale/cinnamon vanilla imperial brown). Interesting commercial beers were in abundance, including Andrew Herzig/Sabrina’s Stone Ruination/Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Brad Klager’s Lagunitas The Hairy Eyeball/Lagunitas Sucks, Lou Needleman’s Big Bend Terlingua Gold/Six Points Sweet Action and Bengali/Cow Creek Dark Tex Mex Lager/Tractor Brewing Milk Mustachio Stout.

Uncharacteristically, nothing stupid or bizarre was overheard. We’ll do better next month …

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• 10-Apr-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Brad Klager, lager competition)
• 7-May-16: Big Brew (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, multiple brewing demonstations)
• 15-May-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (NOTE: 3RD SUNDAY, John Daniels)
• 12-Jun-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Walt Crawford, Irish Red Ale competition, 2015 BJCP 15A)
• 10-Jul-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, hosted by Paul Holder)
• 14-Aug-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Daniel Nutting, Biere de Garde competition, 2015 BJCP 24C)
• 11-Sep-16: B.A.S.H. meeting (Mark Woerner, brewing demonstration)

Thanks again Jim and Tracy, keep on brewin’ and we’ll see you next month at Brad Klager’s!