February Minutes

Walt and Judy Crawford hosted the February B.A.S.H. meeting on Sunday the 12th at their home in King’s Crossing. El Presidente Daniel Fearn was again working at his OTHER job, so Vice President Mike Wojdyla ran the show. After welcoming guests Chris Vega and Amber-Rai, he called the meeting to order. Treasurer “Cretaceous” Carroll Pate led off with another glowing report. In old business, Paul Holder is gathering donor beers for March’s BJCP certification test. He needs unmarked bottles of homebrew, either two 22-oz. bottles or four 12-oz. bottles of the same beer. Place the bottles in a bag along with an envelope with your name on the outside. Inside the envelope, include a note declaring the beer style. Take the beers to Liquid Town on Airline across from Toys’R’Us.

In new business Jim Hildreth shared a story of how he received a second degree burn the size of a golf ball on his arm while brewing. Paul led a discussion of bottle sanitizing methods. In short, don’t use steam – cheap bottle glass is too fragile. If using a dishwasher, don’t use detergent – it can contain small ceramic particles which pit the bottles. Use plain water with a heat drying cycle instead. Dip sanitizing is also OK. In a related note, Chris Vega has bottles to donate.

The competition this month was for dark European lagers, BJCP categories 8A and 8B. Wild Bill Lehfeld’s schwarzbier earned 3 points for 1st place. His Munich dunkel earned 2 points for 2nd place while Mark Quade’s dunkel earned one point for 3rd. Greg Sawyer’s and Vic Aguilar’s schwarzbiers rounded out the competition.

As the meeting adjourned, we gobbled down beef and shredded chicken tacos. Besides the competition beers, we were treated to new homebrews from Vic (kölsch), Jim (IPA) and Carroll/Chris Swanson (Irish stout). Interesting commercial beers included Bryan Cook’s Full Sail Cascade Pilsner/Brooklyn Lager, Lou Needleman’s Kelly’s IPA/Twisted X Tex-Mex Lager/Big Bend Hefe and Tejas Lager, Jeremy Van Horn’s Pappy’s Porter (Vermont) and Chris Vega’s Uinta Hop Nosh IPA.

As usual, the stories grew more ridiculous as the evening grew long and the party congealed around a cluster of besotted die hards. Bryan took the cake with his cruise ship recollection – “My cabin – I heard people vomiting on either side through the sound-proof walls!”

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• 12-Mar-17: B.A.S.H. meeting (Chris Swanson)
• 9-Apr-17: B.A.S.H. meeting (Daniel Fearn, specialty IPA competition, BJCP 21B)
• 6-May-17: Big Brew (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, multiple brewing demonstrations)
• 21-May-17: B.A.S.H. meeting (John Daniels, note: 3rd Sunday)
• 11-Jun-17: B.A.S.H. meeting (William Lee, extract competition, BJCP open category)
• 9-Jul-17: B.A.S.H. meeting (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate hosted by Paul Holder)
• 13-Aug-17: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, British golden ale/Australian sparkling ale competition, BJCP 12A-B)
• 10-Sep-17: B.A.S.H. meeting (Mark Woerner, brewing demonstration)

Thanks again Walt and Judy, welcome Chris V and Amber-Rai, keep on brewin’ and we’ll see you next month at the Swanson’s !