July 2014 Meeting – Notes

General Business
On a somewhat cool & occasionally rainy July day, 28 members, 4 guests, and 6 children, gathered at the Moyer residence for beer, food, companionship and education.
Treasurer’s report: Mike U. (in absentia) 70 members, $1,458.37. Last year we had 80 members. Less members means less income, but that has been compensated by the 50/50 raffles. If the extra cups and t-shirts sell, we will have a budgetary surplus. (Prez note: I deposited $222 after the meeting – t-shirts, cups, 50/50 raffle & one family membership)
Princess of Propaganda report: Carrie – Cups and t-shirts!! T-shirts were distributed to those that attended. Approximately 30 cups remain. We only have one Guild member who has not paid for their shirt. As soon as that person has paid, we’ll have broken even on the shirts, with 8 shirts remaining to sell. We will sell extra cups/shirts at Microfestivus for $15 each (non-club members – club members can get them at $10 each).
Budget review – I was not able to access the online Valley Bank account, so I’m missing some details, but we should be close to on-budget, and will be ahead of budget once we sell some more cups.
Future meetings:
  • August 23rd – Dan & Terri
  • September 6th – Scott & Martha (Oatmeal Stout competition)
  • October 11th – James & Joan (Munich Dunkel presentation)
  • November 22nd – Justin & Carrie
Discussions
  • Technical Seminar, Introduction to Water
    • General feeling among attendees is that it was a success.
    • Buren recorded audio. I will put it up on the website if I can figure out how to do so.
    • Next Technical Seminar – DMS and diacetyl. Date will be determined once Microfestivus is out of the way.
  • Microfestivus
    • VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED!! Please contact Harry Montoro directly (harry.montoro@verizon.net) if you can help set up, pour, judge, or clean up…
    • SCBG tent – we need club members to hang out at the tent as much as possible to hand out flyers and answer questions
    • Brewing demonstration – we still do not have a volunteer!
  • Learn to Homebrew Day – November 1st – we will hand out flyers for it at Microfestivus
    • Alex will brew. Any other volunteers?
  • Brew Bug – Doug will get it from Paul and try to make it work. Chris S. will take a shot at it next.
  • Group brew at Chaos
    • Will has been pretty busy due to the summer festival season, so we’ll do the group brew in the fall.
    • Chris S, Dennis, and Dan volunteered to develop the recipe. An amber seemed to be of interest to most attendees.
    • Everyone will add their own yeast & adjuncts to make it unique
  • Event in Richmond on November 9th at Strangeways Brewery
    • Idea is to get together with other Virginia homebrew clubs with the intention to start a statewide homebrew club.
    • They didn’t seem to have any real plan for the weekend yet. Will continue to follow up on this.
  • Open floor
    • Chris S. & Dennis went to Hawaii and were very impressed with Kona, especially the beers only available at the pub. (The beers for mainland distribution are brewed by their sister brewery Redhook.)
    • Bulk buy – Doug to distribute pricing and grain list. We will order through Roanoke Railhouse, but our grain will be on its own pallet, so we need at least 20 bags to make the shipping reasonable.
    • Bryan might be able to order an occasional bag with his orders. Please talk directly with him.
    • Justin & Carrie went to the Outer Banks Brewery Station. They have set-up a nice outside area with a kid play area, picnic tables, umbrellas & live music. They really liked the red ale.
    • Bryan recommended RVA Yeast in Richmond. He said that the prices were very good for the volumes that he uses in his 2 barrel system, but he was unsure about homebrew pricing. https://www.facebook.com/rvayeastlabs
    • There was an article in roanoke.com about Old Dominion Hop Cooperative uniting Virginia hop growers. http://www.olddominionhops.com/
    • During Kevin’s many week stint as brewmaster at Bull & Bones, he had the opportunity to come up with his own recipe for their summer seasonal, Kevin’s Kölsch. Go there and drink some!

Break and 50/50 Raffle

  • $32 each for the winner (sorry, not in my notes) and the club!

Style Presentation & Commercial Tasting: Oatmeal Stout

Presentation by John M.
Some notes from VP Dan:
  • Too much oatmeal may give astringency but some (including Thom) don’t agree using flakes
  • Some companies include as low as 0.5% in beer to market it as a healthy beer
  • There were no Oatmeal stouts in 1977 when Michael Jackson did his research
  • Samuel Smith was first to bring style back
  • Oats add silkiness and smoothness and increases body. It does not add much flavor
  • There are 6 subcategories of stout
  • Typical ABV = 4.2 to 5.9%
  • IBU 25-40
  • SRM: dark brown to black
  • The taste typically has a coffee with cream and chocolate notes
  • Jamil recommends competition beer to be sweet like an oatmeal cookie. Typically use Victory or special B malts.
  • You can toast the oats at 300 to 350F to get a nutty flavor. Bryn recommended to cool it in a paper bag.

Doug Moyer