February 2018 Minutes

Chris and Elizabeth Ackman hosted the Mardi Gras-themed February B.A.S.H. meeting on Sunday the 11th at their home in frigid Portland. Wild Bill Lehfeld passed out beads to female attendees. Uncharacteristically for such a known pervert, he asked for nothing but homebrew in return. Go figure! El Presidente Mike Wojdyla called the meeting to order and thanked our hosts.  Tom Fruend’s treasurer’s report was superlative.

In new business, VP for Policies Jessica Fearn announced a brewing education schedule: 2/18 Improving Extract Beers (Paul Holder), 3/18 Hops (Tom Freund), 4/18 Lambics (Aggie Bill Hughen), 5/18 Iodine Mash Conversion Test (Wild Bill Lehfeld), 6/18 ?, 7/18 Fermentation (Cory Mathews), 8/18 ?, 9/18 ?, 10/18 Yeast and History of Beer (Mark Quade). Paul gave us four tips to improve extract beers:

1. Use water with no minerals (such as Windmill or Glacier RO machine water) because extract already contains needed minerals.
2. Hops need to be boiled for at least one hour to get the flavor, but extract does not. Only add 1/3 to ½ of extract at the beginning of the boil, with the remainder added during the last ten minutes.
3. Dark, crystal and caramel malts added to extract beers for color and flavor do not need to be mashed because their starch has already been converted to sugar. They just need to be steeped in 100 – 150F water. Other grains (2-row/pilsner/Munich/etc.) must be mashed.
4. Extra light DME contains no crystal malt. Light, amber and dark DME contain increasing amounts of crystal malt.

We feasted on jambalaya and enjoyed new homebrews from host Chris (porter/brown ale), Paul (best bitter) and Mark (weizenbock).  Interesting commercial brews were provided by Aggie Bill (Lindeman’s Faro Lambic), Brad Klager (Dogfish Head Sea Quench Session Sour) and Cory ( Lazy Beach Kombucha/Crawfish Ale).

This month marked our inaugural dual competition format. Beers were collected for Best of Show (open category) and Homebrewer of the Year (European sour ale, BJCP 23A-F). VP for Competitions Daniel Fearn announced that the judging will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, 2/22. Results will be revealed at the March meeting.

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

25-Feb-18: Club brew event at Lazy Beach, 10 a.m.

11-Mar-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (Brad Klager, “grain tea” brewing demonstration)

8 –Apr-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (Walt Crawford, competition: BOS open/HBOY CA and KY common, BJCP 19B/27B)

5-May-18: Big Brew (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, multiple brewing demonstrations)

20-May-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (John Daniels, NOTE: 3RD SUNDAY)

10-Jun-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, competition: BOS open/HBOY Czech lager, BJCP 3A-D)

8-Jul-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, hosted by Paul Holder)

12-Aug-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, competition: BOS open/HBOY >51% extract challenge)

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

January 2018 Minutes

Tom and Rocky Freund hosted the January B.A.S.H. meeting on Sunday the 14th at their home in Flour Bluff, co-hosted by Aggie Bill and Dianna Hughen. El Presidente Mike Wojdyla opened the meeting by thanking our hosts and co-hosts and welcoming new member Ryan Goodhew (USMC) and guest Tatiana (Brian Cook’s friend).  The treasurer’s report was glowing for a change.

In new business, Paul Holder reported that member Sarah Tilton is now the head brewer at Railroad Seafood Station. Psi Brewing is opening at Garrett’s Barbecue on Ayers and Port. A brewery license application has been submitted for South Water Street at the maintenance shop of the old Cadillac dealership.

Vice President for Competitions Daniel Fearn asked for a topic for the February meeting education event. There is an upcoming contest in Houston for BJCP category 11C British strong bitter ale with no entry fee. Cory Mathews proposed a once/year club brew at Lazy Beach. We settled on Sunday 2/25 at 10 a.m. Steve Cook announced the first competition on the Lone Star circuit is the Bluebonnet in Dallas-Fort Worth with 1525 entries. Drop off your beers at Liquid Town on Airline near Toys ‘R ‘Us by 1/27 after paying the entry fee online. The next competition is an AHA event with 12 or 13 sites nationwide. See Steve if you’re interested in entering beers in one of these competitions. Paul gave an education on “puffy” hop bags, which no one has seen until recently. His puffy bag of UK Challenger hop pellets definitely had an off-odor compared to a normal bag of the same hop. The beer made with another puffy bag of Challenger lost much of the off-flavor but Paul advised NOT buying a puffy bag.

We feasted on tamales, chili blanco and bratwurst which we washed down with some of the Iron Mash beers and new homebrews by Steve (Irish red), Paul (hefe), Aggie Bill (Blackshoe Hefeweizen) and Larry Sommers (Holiday Cheermeister brown barleywine/imperial red IPA). Interesting commercial brews included Brad Klager’s Lagunitas WTF/Real Ale Black Quad/North Coast Old Rasputin and Cory’s Lazy Beach Brunette Dark American Wheat/Feeling Hazy IPA.

Speaking of Iron Mash XIV, the judges awarded Repeat Offenders’ American pale ale an average score of 37. JEB’s English porter scored 33, Tilted Keg’s peanut butter porter scored 32 and Motley Brew’s red IPA scored 27. Winners Mark Woerner, Phil Mooney, Brad and El Presidente donned their bling medals and performed a victory dance.

The following exchange was overheard during the meeting:

Brad – “This one’s only 8.1% ABV”

Wild Bill Lehfeld – “So it’s a session beer, then!”

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

11-Feb-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (Chris Ackman?, competition: BOS open/HBOY European sour ale, BJCP23A-F)

11-Mar-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (Brad Klager, brewing demonstration)

8 –Apr-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, competition: BOS open/HBOY CA and KY common, BJCP 19B/27B)

5-May-18: Big Brew (multiple brewing demonstrations)

20-May-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (John Daniels, NOTE: 3RD SUNDAY)

10-June-18: B.A.S.H. meeting (need host, competition: BOS open/HBOY Czech lager, BJCP 3A-D)

Thanks again Tom, Rocky, Aggie Bill and Dianna, congratulations Repeat Offenders, keep on brewin’ and we’ll see you next month at the Ackman’s!