July 2018 meeting notes

 

We drew a nice crowd to Southern Hills Homebrew Supply including several new members. The count was 34 members and 3 children. Thanks so much to Robb and Southern Hills Homebrew Supply for hosting us.

Dues Reminder- If you have not paid dues for 2018, please do so. Diane will collect dues at the next meeting if you wish to pay cash or check. If you would prefer to use PayPal, simply send money to president@starcitybrewers.org. Choose the “Friends and Family” option to avoid a fee.

  • Next Meeting– Hammer and Forge- Sunday August 19th 3PM-6PM
    • Imperial Stout Presentation will be led by Adam K. Thanks Adam.
  • September Meeting & Specialty IPA Competition
    • Moved to Sunday, September 23rd – Still at Harry’s 3PM-6PM Judging set to begin at 3PM.
    • Please save the date! We anticipate that we’ll need many judges for this competition.
  • Treasurer’s Report– $5,028.22
  • Microfestivus Volunteers– Slim pickings for spots available to volunteer. Mostly clean-up left at this point.
  • Competitions
    • September 22nd– Blacksburg Brew Do, Sponsored by Ballast Point this year. The Guild did really well in this competition last year- we swept almost every category. Mike Czernicki won best in show last year and had his beer brewed earlier this month by Starr Hill in Roanoke. His beer should be on tap sometime in early fall. It would be exciting to have another guild member’s beer win best of show again this year!
      • Drop Off Times & Locations:
        • August 20th and 21st Between 5:00-7:00 @ Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg
        • August 21st from 5:00-7:00 @ Ballast Point in Daleville
        • Steve Lusk will be running competition entries to Ballast Point. Thanks, Steve!
    • 25th Annual Dominion Cup- August 11th
        • Steve L. has driven the entries to Richmond. Best of luck to all who entered.
  • Throwdown Committee
    • Rudy Recapped the committee meeting held recently at Barrel Chest.
    • Throwdown will be held at Big Lick Brewing Co. on March 22nd-23rd Please save the date!
    • Committee is still in the beginning stages. More to report soon.
  • Board of Directors Vacancy
    • There was no spoken opposition at the meeting to hold off on the Board of Directors election until the regularly scheduled election in December.
    • As of right now there are 2 nominees- Paul Mahoney and Rodger Thurlow.
    • If you would like to run or nominate someone please contact Allen, Chris G., Rudy, or Harry.
  • Welcome Packets
    • Welcome packets have been completed thanks to the community building committee. These packets will be given to all new members who enter the guild to give them an “at-a-glance” perspective of what to expect each month, quarter, and year from the guild. The idea is to automatically have all the answers in front of new members to minimize the overwhelmingness of being a new member in the guild.
    • Special thanks to Takumi for drafting them up and revising several times.
    • There are a couple things that members have asked about adding to the welcome packet. This information will be reviewed and added as suggestions are sent in.
  • Twin Creeks Women’s Brewing Event
    • This event was a success! 11 women, including several of our own, attended this event hosted by Twin Creeks’ new taproom manager (and now guild member) Haley Overstreet.
    • Andy and Jason Bishop led the brewing demonstration by allowing each of the women to be hands-on with the process. They brewed an IPA called “Property of the Ladies.” The beer was tapped on July 25th. It was brewed on their pilot system, so there’s only a small amount available. Make sure you get over to try it before it’s gone!
  • Future Women’s Brewing Event Hosts
    • We’re always looking for folks to host future women’s events. We’re looking for ladies within the guild to step up as hosts and organizers. If you’re interested in doing this, please contact Chris Gray to coordinate dates and times.
  • Yeast Harvesting
    • Rudy and Takumi will be heading up an interesting project on harvesting a club strain of yeast developed from swabbing spores around the area.
    • If you are interested in joining in this project please contact Rudy at Rudylyon57@msn.com
  • Group Brew w/ Chaos Mountain
    • Joe and the Chaos Mountain crew have reached out to the guild about doing another group brew. The date for this is Saturday, October 27th. This entails 5bbls of wort being brewed by Chaos Mountain and club members bringing fermenters and filling for $10 per 5 gallons.
    • We had a lot of participation last time we did this and we expect to have the same this time.
    • Chris G. will be coordinating with Joe and the crew for a base recipe.
    • Rudy and Takumi suggested that this would be a good risk-free way of testing out whatever yeast strain the SCBG Yeast Wranglers are able to culture.
  • 50/50 Raffle
    • Scott Stewart won the 50/50 raffle at his first ever meeting! The pot was $75, the biggest we’ve had in awhile. Congrats, Scott and welcome to the guild! Spend it wisely.
  • Iron Brewer
    • Takumi introduced an interesting idea that several members were on board with- An “Iron Brewer” competition similar to “Iron Chef” or “Chopped.” The way this will work is whoever is competing picks some sort of mystery ingredient and the mystery ingredients are shuffled and assigned to someone who then must brew a beer with that ingredient.
    • Takumi will be following up through email. It may be a good idea to make the final beer exchange happen at the December meeting at Chaos Mountain.
  • Specialty IPA Presentation
    • Many of the specialty IPAs cited by the BJCP are not commercially available anymore in our area.
    • Allen was able to find a few- Houblon Chouffe- Belgian IPA, Back in Black- Black IPA, Indian Brown- Brown IPA, and Big Lick’s newest New England IPA- Citra on Top of the World.
    • Essentially, the consensus with all the specialty IPAs is to pay close attention to balance of flavor. In the Belgian IPA, for instance, is a Belgian dubbel/tripel with more hops. The Brown IPA is essentially an American Brown with more hops. Black IPAs may use specialty grains such as black patent or many varieties of chocolate malt in order to achieve the darker color, though the key is still making it hop-forward.
    • As for Red and White IPAs, many of us agree that Deschutes Fresh Squeezed fits that category well. Use some of the lighter crystal malts, for example 40-60L, to achieve the red color and a bit of sweetness, then hop accordingly.
    • White IPAs are also hard to come by. In this style, you want to use a good dosage of wheat in order to lighten the color and give the beer a sort of hefeweizen body and look. These are generally unfiltered and may be hazy.
    • Adam K. chimed in about Rye IPAs, since he’s brewed several. Don’t shy away from using lots of rye in order to make it shine. Just make sure it’s not too overwhelming. Picking the earthier varieties of hops and a neutral strain of yeast will allow the rye to really come through.
    • Ended with the almighty New England IPA. The key to this one is soft water, one of many fruit-forward yeast strains such as London Ale III, and lots of flameout hops and dry hops. Just about any variety of hops may be used or blended in this style. Best results usually come from Citra, Mosaic, and Galaxy and similar. Dry hopping during active fermentation is a common practice as well.