Silicon Valley Sudzers Homebrew Club

Our June meeting will be held Friday, June 6 at 7 pm at Nick’s house. Need the address or directions? Email moresimcoe@sudzers.org. Don’t forget to carpool if possible to make sure there’s enough parking to go around.

Meeting agenda:

7:00 Social Time

7:15 Club Business/Upcoming events:

-Thirsty Third Thursday June 19 – Clandestine Brewing
-Intermediate homebrewing workshop at Palo Alto Library June 19
-Members-only off flavor tasting June 27
-Club Session beers competition July 11
-Kraftbrew Fest Sudzers collaboration with Gordon Biersch August 2
-Fall beer pairing dinner – need volunteers

7:30 Presentation – Charles on force conditioning vs bottle
conditioning, with several samples

8:00 Homebrew evaluations. Reminder: Bring your recipe – club members
will have lots of questions! Sign your beer in on the whiteboard along
with your name and statistics (IBU, ABV, etc. – optional, but helpful
in determining tasting order)

After homebrew evaluations: more social time/informal commercial brew
sharing. Always welcome: homebrews from any style to share.  Don’t have any
homebrew on hand right now? Feel free to bring other interesting brews
you’ve picked up. Don’t have a beer to bring? Please bring some snacks
to share.

First time attendee Pranab was welcomed to the group.

Derek H reported on the AHA Rally at Heretic Brewing in Fairfield, which included a free wort giveaway to anyone who brought a carboy or keg. About 10 Sudzers attended and 6 or 7 got the free wort, which has been fermented with various yeasts and added ingredients – will be fun to taste all the variations starting with truly identical wort. It’s like the biggest split batch experiment ever, since Heretic gave away 20+ bbls of wort, 5 gallons at a time.

Chris Q hosted a successful brew day on April 19. Chris provided tasty grilled refreshments and brewed a Northern English Brown Ale, while Doug attempted to recreate the amazing doppelbock from the spring 2010 club brew.

Thirsty Third Thursday meetup was scheduled for TL Beer Garden in Sunnyvale on May 15.

The date for the second club session beer competition judging was set for July 11 at 7 pm. This will take the place of our regular July meeting (moved to the second Friday to avoid meeting on July 4.) Ribbons will be awarded for the best hop forward beers and the best non-hop forward beers. All beers must be under 5% ABV to be submitted.

Derek H met the proprietors of the San Francisco Mead Company and will invite them to a future meeting.

Members-only event with the Siebel off flavors kit will be held May 16 at Nick’s house, 7 pm.

Justin gave a very informative presentation on mash temperature, which will be posted on the website soon.

Tyler visited the new Faction Brewing brewery and tasting room, and generously brought growlers of their pilsner, Winter IPA, and Carlo’s Stout to share.

Charles will do a presentation at the June meeting providing side by side comparisons of several beers in which batches were split in order to compare the effects of bottle conditioning vs keg conditioning.

Steve H has about 6 styrofoam wine shipping containers that someone can use for shipping or to keep beer/bombers semi-insulated. He will bring to June meeting.

Congratulations to the following Silicon Valley Sudzers for outstanding results among the 256 entries in the Alameda County Fair homebrew competition (BABO).

Best In Show: Jim & Jason Williams, George G. Williams, Scottish Export 80/- (also took first in Scottish & Irish Ales)

1st Place: Justin Vincent, English Porter, Robust Porter

1st Place: Justin Vincent, Red Sky at Night, Flanders Oud Bruin

2nd Place: Jim & Jason Williams, Smoken Chipotle Oak Smoked Porter, Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer

3rd Place: Justin Vincent, Belgian Summer IPA, Belgian Specialty

3rd Place: Justin Vincent, Northern Nutter, Northern English Brown Ale

Cheers, gentlemen!

Sudzer Chief Communications Officer Derek W’s latest column from the Los Altos Town Crier: Steins Beer Garden celebrates a year of craft brews in Mtn. View.

http://www.losaltosonline.com/special-sections2/sections/food-a-wine/47393-steins-beer-garden-celebrates-a-year-of-craft-brews-in-mtn-view

Several Sudzers enjoyed the American Homebrewers Association rally at Heretic Brewing in Fairfield on April 26, and at least 6 club members participated in the “free wort giveaway.” Heretic brewed 750 gallons (about 25 bbl) of a brown ale wort, which they gave out to the first 150 homebrewers to sign up for 5 gallons apiece. White Labs provided five different yeast strains for homebrewers to choose, and no doubt the Sudzers will come up with many creative finished products that they can claim as co-brewed with Jamil Zainasheff.

Hello Sudzers! Our April meeting will be held Friday, May 2 at 7 pm
at Nick’s house. Need the address or directions? Email
moresimcoe@sudzers.org. Don’t forget to carpool if possible to make
sure there’s enough parking to go around.

If you would like to pay your 2014 dues, entitling you to many club
benefits, including a 10% discount at MoreBeer and member-only events,
please bring $25 cash.

Meeting agenda:

7:00 Social Time

7:15 Club Business

-Recent events:
-Spring club brew day at Chris Q’s
–AHA Rally at Heretic Brewing

-Upcoming events:
-Thirsty Third Thursday May 15 – TL Beer Garden, 769 N. Mathilda, Sunnyvale
-Members-only off flavor tasting – May 16
-Session ales competition in July – date

7:30 Presentation – Justin V on mash temperatures

7:45 Brewery visit report with samples – Tyler on Faction Brewing

8:00 Homebrew evaluations. Reminder: Bring your recipe – club members
will have lots of questions! Sign your beer in on the whiteboard along
with your name and statistics (IBU, ABV, etc. – optional, but helpful
in determining tasting order)

After homebrew evaluations: more social time/informal commercial brew
sharing. Always welcome: homebrews from any style to share.  Don’t have any
homebrew on hand right now? Feel free to bring other interesting brews
you’ve picked up. Don’t have a beer to bring? Please bring some snacks
to share.

From the Los Altos Town Crier

http://www.losaltosonline.com/special-sections2/sections/food-a-wine/47214-beer-cheese-contrasting-but-complementary-pairings-work-best

Our April 17 Thirsty Third Thursday meetup will be held at Steins Beer Garden with owner Ted Kim and chef Colby Reade available to speak with us about their first year operating Steins. Please RSVP to moresimcoe@sudzers.org by the end of the day Monday April 7 if you plan to attend so that we can have enough space reserved.

Chris R and Linda are unable to host the spring club brew day on April 19, but Chris Q has generously agreed to host at his house on the same day. Stay tuned for details.

At our May club meeting, Justin will do a presentation on mash temperatures. In June, Charles will have a presentation comparing bottle-conditioned and kegged versions of the same brews.

The members-only event to review the BJCP off flavor kit will be held at Nick’s house on May 16. More details will be forthcoming. Steve C also volunteered to organize and teach a BJCP judging class this summer/fall and to host an examination.

At the July meeting, we will have a club-only session beers competition. All beers must be under 5% ABV, and judging will be split into two categories (hop-centric and non-hop-centric), with a best of show winner to be chosen from the top beers in each category.

A small selection of homebrews this month, but they were outstanding!

Derek W’s El Hefe Hefeweizen

Pete’s Saison with Dupont yeast cultured from a bottle and 85 degree fermentation

Charles’ NAB2 Biere de Garde

Charles’ NAB1 Leffe Belgian Blond clone

Mikael & Bill’s Lagunitas Sucks clone

Jim W’s  Smoked Porter with oak and chipotles

 

 

 

Hello Sudzers! Our April meeting will be held Friday, April 4 at 7 pm
at Nick’s house. Need the address or directions? Email
moresimcoe@sudzers.org. Don’t forget to carpool if possible to make
sure there’s enough parking to go around.

If you would like to pay your 2014 dues, entitling you to many club
benefits, including a 10% discount at MoreBeer and member-only events,
please bring $25 cash.

Because of the large number of homebrews that have been brought to
recent meetings, the officers have decided to implement a cap on the
formal evaluations. We will only have 15 beers presented per meeting
(of course, others may be brought and shared and critiqued during
social time before or after the meeting, but we will not pass them
around to every attendee). The first 15 brews (limit one per brewer)
entered on the whiteboard will be part of the formal tasting. If fewer
than 15 brewers bring beers, we can open up opportunities for brewers
to present a second beer.

7:00 Social Time

7:15 Club Business

-Upcoming events:
-Thirsty Third Thursday – Steins Beer Garden (with owner Ted Kim and
chef Colby Reade)
-Club Brew Day – April 19 at Chris and Linda’s house
-May meeting: presentation by Justin on mash temperatures
-Members-only off flavor tasting – date
-Session ales competition in July – judging criteria

7:30 Homebrew evaluations. Reminder: Bring your recipe – club members
will have lots of questions! Sign your beer in on the whiteboard along
with your name and statistics (IBU, ABV, etc. – optional, but helpful
in determining tasting order)

After homebrew evaluations: more social time/informal commercial brew
sharing. Always welcome: homebrews from any style to share.  Don’t have any
homebrew on hand right now? Feel free to bring other interesting brews
you’ve picked up. Don’t have a beer to bring? Please bring some snacks
to share.

On March 8, about 30 Sudzers took a bus tour to visit the breweries of the Santa Cruz coast. We had the opportunity to sample brews and talk with the brewers and/or owners of Santa Cruz Aleworks, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, Discretion Brewing, and Seabright Brewery.

A few sample photos are included below, but you can see many more pictures courtesy of Paul S and Derek W at the Sudzers Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/siliconvalleysudzers/sets/72157642454144895/