Fellow Homebrewers,
For the May tech topic the subject will be brew gadgets! The homebrewing movement was founded on DIY principles, and home brewers are known for that awesome DIY ingenuity. I know in the past I have been amazed at some of the cool things that our club members have made. Homebrewing has taught many of us to be creative and to view the physical world in a different way. We look at ordinary things and think, “I could make something for brewing out of that.” So this Wednesday, we are encouraging all you MacGyvers out there to bring your coolest brew gadgets to the meeting to show off. The club will have some tables set up to display your gadgets. Bonus points awarded if you print out anything from the internet that you used to build it or if you have a print out to pass out that explains how to make your gadget.
Earlier this month on May 2nd our club participated in AHA National Homebrew Big Brew Day. OVHA members and friends came together to brew in the sunshine at the parking lot at the CYO Homebrew Supply Store at 116 E. Franklin Street and a good time was had by all. It was a tremendously successful event and a beautiful day. I’d like to give a big thank you to Drew Mitchell at CYO for hosting it. If you didn’t make it out, don’t worry, we will have another remote brew towards the end of the year for national learn to homebrew day.
As I write this, the club’s three way brew off contest is underway at the Gonzalez house. Three of our club’s brewers have graciously volunteered to brew the same beer recipe kit using three different popular brewing methods as a fun experiment on different brewing methods and their final outcome. They will be testing the extract method, brew in a bag, and traditional mash method all on the same recipe, to be fermented in the same place, at the same fermentation temperature, with the same yeast. At a later meeting all three batches will be compared side by side in a blind tasting by us and a vote will be held on which method made the best tasting beer.
Zoo brew is coming up fast! Zoo brew takes place on Saturday, June 6, from 6-9 p.m. at the Mesker Zoo and Botanical gardens. The Zoo Brew is a highly anticipated happening that will be fun for all who attend! The evening will consist of beer and wine samples, great food, live music, and fun entertainment, all taking place on Zoo grounds. As usual, we will be participating in the Zoo Brew. As a participant, we will set up a tasting booth during the event to provide a 2 oz. sample of our finest homebrews to Zoo Brew attendees. So far we have 25 volunteers, 23 kegs and some bottles committed to the event. The zoo has asked us to set up and be ready to serve by 5pm for the VIP ticket holders, so we are planning on meeting at Turonis Main Street Brewery around 3-3:30pm that day to load up our equipment before heading to the zoo. I want to give a big thanks to Dan Mills for volunteering his trailer for the event, and to Turonis brewer Josh Petrowski for letting us store our draft cart at Turonis and committing to giving it a good once over cleaning the night before the Zoo brew! I will be organizing a serving schedule in the next few days. Once it is finished I will post it on our website. A server’s license is required to serve at this event so if you have signed up to serve be sure to double check your license and make sure it is up to date. Everyone’s server’s license will be checked the day of the event.
And lastly, the Indiana Brewers cup is set to start accepting entries on June 1st. Last year some members had an issue with getting their entries registered because there are only so many entries allowed and the spots were taken up fast, so this year if you are planning on entering beer I encourage you to be ready to submit next Monday June the 1st. To enter into the Indiana State Fair, please go to www.indianastatefair.com and enter online. Go to: Competitions > Indiana Brewers’ Cup> Online Entry and follow the prompts. No entries will be accepted after June 26, 2015 or sooner if the cap of 1,300 entries is reached (800 Home Brew and 500 Professional Brew) which it most certainly will be reached very quickly. To ensure participation, do not wait until the last minute to register. Each exhibitor is required to pay a $10 entry fee at the time of entry. Payment can be made online with a valid credit card. Each entry must consist of three (3) unmarked bottles, 12 ounces in volume, brown or green glass.
Cheers!
Sky Buttrum
