April 2013 Minutes

April 2013 Minutes
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​Mark Woerner hosted the April B.A.S.H. meeting at his home in Corpus Christi. Good food and beer were plentiful, new members and guests were in abundance, a spirited competition was held and the B.A.S.H. candidate for Pope, Travis Clapp, returned from the Vatican unsuccessful but undaunted.

President Jason Merry called the meeting to order by welcoming new/old member Rick Kelley, new members Justin Haas and Jackie Di Fiore, as well as guests Giovanni and Rachel, Rudy and Jo Ann, Kaisen and Julie. Treasurer-For-Life Carroll Pate dazzled us with another eloquent and articulate report. Vice President Erik Hinz reported ongoing progress on the new website. A motion was passed to fork over funds to adopt the new site.

Competition Director Kyle Hotz will host the upcoming Big Brew. Drew Burkhardt, Cory Mathews and Wayne Oakes will brew the AHA English Mild recipe at the event. If you’re interested in brewing the American Pilsner, contact Kyle.

Paul Holder mentioned that he has a customer moving to Australia who needs to sell a two-tap kegerator and several kegs. Paul also conducted an education event courtesy of 5 Star, maker of homebrew cleaning and sanitizing products. The “Eight Rules of Cleaning/Sanitizing“ are as follows:

• Only sanitize clean equipment
• Dirty equipment will always have bacteria
• Cleaners are not sanitizers
• Sanitizers are not cleaners
• Higher temperatures and longer times lead to better cleaning
• Do not overuse cleaner or sanitizer
• Cleaner/sanitizer must be in direct contact with the equipment
• Always add chemicals to water, not water to chemicals 

The competition this month was for extract beers. Host Mark seized first place with his strong Scotch ale, earning three points. Mark’s barleywine and Wild Bill Lehfeld’s Vienna lager each earned 1 ½ points with their second place tie. Rounding out the field were Wild Bill’s Munich Helles and old ale, Mark Quade’s Belgian pale ale, Paul’s American pale ale and Mark Woerner’s IPA.

The monthly feast featured Mark Woerner’s venison backstrap rollups and stuff-that-Mark-killed chili. When asked what exactly was in the chili, Mark replied “Engineers, Park Service employees and other foraging fauna”. New homebrews this month included Drew/Cory/Wayne’s kolsch, Ruben Cantu’s hefeweizen and pale ale, Tom Freund/Paul’s New Albion pale ale clone, Claudio Montiel’s spiced mead and Kevin Ramler’s pale ale (last month’s demonstration brew). Commercial beers included Drew’s Shiner Farmhouse Ale, Kyle/Travis’ B&J’s Golden Promise SMASH ale, Jack Heim’s Ommegang Three Philosophers Quadrupel, Rick’s Liefman’s Goudenband and Quilmes and Gregory Tegarden’s Green Flash Hop Head and Ska ESB.

Travis skulked through the meeting, still bitter over his defeat last month at the Papal Conclave. After the first few votes produced black smoke, we were all hopeful that opinions would coalesce around Travis as the compromise candidate. Alas, the only thing coalescing around Travis in Rome was a bevy of campfire girls with hygiene issues. Better luck next time, big guy!

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• ​4-May-13: Big Brew (Kyle Hotz, brewing demonstration open to public) 
• 19-May-13: B.A.S.H. meeting (moved to 3rd Sunday , John and Nikki Daniels, no competition or brewing demonstration) 
• 9-June-13: B.A.S.H. meeting (Lou Needleman, English Mild competition) 
• 14-July-13: B.A.S.H. meeting (B&J’s on Staples at Timbergate, hosted by Paul Holder) 
• 3-Aug-13: Mead Day (need host, brewing demonstration open to public) 
• 11-Aug-13: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, European amber lager competition)

Thanks again Mark, cheer up Travis, keep on brewin’ and we’ll see you next month in Rockport at the Daniels’ (as always, with your own glass!