Continue reading »]]> PRESS RELEASE

MENOMONIE HOMEBREWERS CELEBRATE AHA BIG BREW AT A NEW, LOCAL BUSINESS ON MAY 5
Making Beer at Home can be Easy, Fun and Educational

Homebrewing has been gaining much support as a fun hobby, an inexpensive way to make quality beer, and a fun way to show off to friends and family.  In 1988, May 7th was announced before Congress as National Homebrew Day. The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) created AHA Big Brew as an annual event to celebrate National Homebrew Day around the world. AHA Big Brew is held each year on the first Saturday in May. (Association, 2012)

On May 5th, the Menomonie Homebrewers Club would like to invite you to join us in celebrating the National Homebrew Day at Beverage Artisan on 310 Wilson Ave W. in Menomonie. Beverage Artisan is a small shop, owned by Doug Hyde, targeted at hobbyists interested in creating their own beer, wine, cheese and soda pop at home. The shop will be opening on Thursday, April 26, 2012.

The event was originally billed as “Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day,” by the American Homebrewers’ Association. This is the theme of the Big Brew for the Menomonie Homebrewers’ Club. We will have several people demonstrating the process of brewing a batch of beer at Beverage Artisan. Setup will begin at 11:00 AM and demonstrations will be staggered depending on the number of brewers available.
Brewing beer can be as detail-oriented as each brewer wants to make their own process. We will be showing that making a batch of beer does not have to be any more complicated than making a loaf of bread. With the right ingredients, all you do is follow the instructions and you are on your way to a great batch of beer.

In 2001, there were 1,864 participants at 182 sites worldwide. (Association, 2012)  In 2011, there were 6,700 people at 308 sites. (Association, 2012)  We hope you will join us in enjoyment of one of Wisconsin’s great pastimes.

If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule and interview with Jacob Woldstad, secretary of the Menomonie Homebrewers’ Club, please email me at Jake@Woldstad.net

Continue reading »]]>

Continue reading »]]> http://www.mhbrewers.com/?feed=rss2&p=582 0 http://www.mhbrewers.com/?p=580 http://www.mhbrewers.com/?p=580#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:02:30 +0000 admin http://www.mhbrewers.com/?p=580

Continue reading »]]> Meeting conducted by Jake Woldstad
Attendance: Jake W, Dave, Renee, Mark, Jacob V, Joe, Doug, Larry
Style of the Month – Style of the month was not presented
OLD BUSINESS
Big Brew – The Big Brew will be May 5
The Menomonie Farmer’s Market does not start until the end of May. The organizers also seemed opposed to allowing us to do a demonstration in the future.
Doug Hyde will be opening a homebrew/wine/distilling store in Menomonie named Beverage Artisan. It will be located at 310 W Wilson Street. He offered to allow us to hold the Big Brew in a green space adjacent to his shop.
Homebrew Legislation – The homebrew legislation was signed by Governor Walker and will go into effect on July 1, 2012. It will be legal to transport our homebrew.
New Glarus trip – The trip was a lot of fun. It was great to spend the day together and enjoy good beer, but there were a few opportunities for improvement:
• Better planning for food. Since the Grumpy Troll was not receptive to us stopping, we ate much later than planned.
• Scheduling: The brewery tour ran much longer than expected, delaying everything. Also, this caused us to have to pay extra for use of the bus.
• Seating in the bus was cramped, but the way the seats were organized was conducive to conversation.
There was definite interest in planning another trip for next year. Some ideas were: Marshfield, Point Brewery, Sand Creek Brewery, South Shore Brewery. Some of the closer breweries would make timing less critical.
Off Flavor Sampling – There is still one sampling kit left of the off-flavor kit. If you are interested, please contact Andy.
NEW BUSINESS
Change of Venue – Several members expressed dissatisfaction with Stout Ale House as a meeting place. The meeting was held in the dining area rather than a Skybox due to concern about attendance. The concern on my part was unwarranted. There were enough people. However, some members have not attended because they do not like the atmosphere of the Ale House.
There has been discussion about moving to the Raw Deal or another location. Other options mentioned were Skoog’s and Lazy Monk’s tap room. Alternating the meeting place between Menomonie and Eau Claire could draw more members and would allow our current Eau Claire members to have a break from driving to Menomonie sometimes.
FORUM ACTIVITY – The club forums have been pretty quiet recently. The idea was offered to approach nearby clubs and allow them to use our forum. This could be a good way to develop cooperation with other clubs.
Lazy Monk Brewing – Leos offered the use of his tap room for club meetings, events and competitions. The tap room will be opening in April and will have about 24 seats.
Gorst Valley Hops – Someone brought up the fact that Gorst Valley Hops will accept hops in 50-pound increments from small producers. Gorst Valley then inspects, pelletizes and sells the hops. If you have a lot of hops produced, you could investigate this option.
Ideas to improve the club
• Getting more people to brew the style of the month. It would be great to have several examples of the Style of the Month to taste and discuss.
• Sharing beer at the meetings. It was great when we got to share our beer and talk about how we brewed it.
• More social events. People really enjoy the opportunity to discuss beer with other beer lovers. It would be fun to have a calendar of events for people to plan to attend.
• Rhizome swap day – If people are growing hops, it could be fun to exchange for new varieties.
• Vance Creek Camp & Brew day – Joe offered to have everyone up to his place in Barron(?) for a day of brewing and socializing. Given the distance from Menomonie, he offered to let people camp on his property.
• Calendar of brew days – Have a schedule where people could sign up to host a brew day at their house. This would be a great opportunity to learn from others’ process and to socialize.
• Send out an email reminder a week before the meeting.
• Changing the meeting day. Is there a different day of the week that would fit better into peoples’ schedules? On the forum, a Saturday or Sunday meeting day was suggested. Other ideas?

Continue reading »]]> Another one our members is expanding their passion of homebrewing into a full on business venture. Club member Doug Hyde will be opening up a Homebrew supply shop right here in Menomonie hopefully later this month.  The business is going to be called Beverage Artisan and will be located at 310 Wilson Ave W.  Currently the website is under construction but feel free to visit it to check things out over at http://beverageartisan.com/ .  We look forward to the opening of Doug’s shop and wish him the greatest of success with his new business.

Continue reading »]]> On Monday, April 2, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law Senate Bill 395, which lifts current restrictions that prohibit homebrew from being transported outside of the home where it was made. The new law will go into effect within 90 days after being published by the Wisconsin Secretary of State.

It is a momentous day for us Wisconsin Homebrewers it is finally legal to transport our homebrew out of our homes.  So go forth and deliver a homebrew to friend or family member to share and celebrate.

Continue reading »]]> MHB Meeting, March 5, 2012

Meeting conducted by Andy Gibson – President
Attendance: Jake W, Kris B, Mike N, Mark S, Leos F, Jacob V, Ron & Becky J, Chuck K, Andy G, Bob H, Joe P
Style of the Month – North German Alt Bier, sampled Alaska Brewing’s Amber. The consensus seemed to be that the Alaskan Amber did not have enough hop bitterness and was too sweet.
Electric brewing – Using a heatstick to speed up heating your water and maintain a boil is an option. Make sure you are extra careful since you are using electricity around water. Use only GFI-protected outlets. Here are the instructions I used to build mine: http://www.3d0g.net/brewing/heatstick and I will try to remember to bring it to the April meeting. The total cost was around $60.
One way to help speed up your brew day if you use water straight from your tap is to take your water out of your hot tap. Starting to heat your water from 120 degrees F rather than groundwater temperatures will make a huge difference.

Electric heating elements tend to cost less per BTU as you are brewing because all the energy is being transferred directly to the liquid rather than with a propane burner that heats the air to heat the kettle to heat the water/wort. The initial investment can be much higher, however, as all-electric brew systems cost $1000 or more.

Big Brew – The Big Brew will be May 5
Joe Plouff will be contacting the Menomonie Farmer’s Market to see if we can do a demonstration of the brewing process. Concerns are water & open flame. Also, no alcohol would be able to be consumed at the demonstration, but we could go to Das Bieerhaus afterward.
The suggestion was made we try to plan a club event so we can brew and sample together, since it is a lot of fun to brew together.

Homebrew Legislation – The Assembly was slated to vote on the homebrew legislation on Tuesday March 6. Maybe we could all brew together to celebrate passage!
New Glarus trip – Big changes to the itinerary
Matt Schmick contacted us to say they suggest we get there by 10 so that we don’t pick up too many people from the general public, which would limit our access to certain areas. Since New Glarus is the focus of the trip, we will change our schedule. The new itinerary:
• Leave from the McDonald’s on Truax by 6:30am
• Arrive in New Glarus approximately 10 am
• Leave NG approximately noon
• Eat lunch at The Grump Troll
• Stop at the Moose Jaw in the Dells on the way back
• Back around 6 pm
Since we will be eating lunch later, make sure you bring snacks and food to hold you over until then.
Kris will be cashing checks on Friday so we can pay the driver. Everyone who could go paid, even Leos!
Lazy Monk Brewing – Leos mentioned that they have been invited to many festivals this year. If you are interested in helping, contact him.
Off Flavor Sampling – There is still one sampling kit left of the off-flavor kit. If you are interested, please contact Andy.

Continue reading »]]> Meeting conducted by Andy Gibson – President

Attendance: Jake W, Kris B, Mike N, Tom H, Sheri H, Jacob V, Mark S, Bob H

Welcome to new members Dvae H & Renee. It was great to get to meet you, and we look forward to getting to know you better.

We also had some guests from the Chippewa Valley Better Brewers club in Eau Claire. Bob S, Jeff L and Bret S attended the meeting. We are looking forward to engaging with CVBB more frequently.

Old business:
Attendance has been dropping for the last few months, when winter is usually when our club has the best attendance. What can we do to draw in more members? What aren’t you getting from the club that would help you enjoy the hobby more?

Homebrew Legislation – Contact your state senator and representative to ask them to support Senate Bill 395 and Assembly Bill 521. These bills would allow us to legally share our homebrew outside of our homes.

New Glarus trip is on March 10. We have put down a deposit for the bus, now we need to fill the seats! The cost is $65 per person if we get 15 people but will drop to $55 if we can get 18, which is the maximum capacity. It is legal for us to consume alcohol on the bus, so this is a great way to do a beer trip! Make sure you get your money to Kris to reserve your spot. Mail your money to Kris Bertelsen, 2717 12th St., Eau Claire, WI, 54703. He will hold the checks until the event.
Preliminary itinerary(March 10):
• 8AM – Leave Eau Claire, location to be determined. Contact Andy or Kris if you know of a good public spot.
• Lunch in Mt Horeb at The Grumpy Troll
• Drive to New Glarus and tour the brewery
• Drive to Madison for dinner at the Ale Asylum
• Return to Eau Claire approximately 8 PM.
Remember the cost of food and beverages is not included, the $65 is only to cover the cost of transportation, so make sure you have a plan for your food & drinks that day. Also, please arrange your own sober cab to drive you home. Contact nearby members and maybe you can arrange a ride-share.

New business

Introductions – Lots of new faces this month. Two new members and 3 visitors. It was great to have so many at the meeting.

Swap meet for the April meeting. If you have equipment you no longer use or ingredients you want to sell before they go bad, bring them to the meeting and sell them to someone who needs them. Money tied up in unused equipment could buy ingredients for your next batch!

Big Brew – The AHA Big Brew will be Saturday, May 3, 2012. The Chippewa Valley Better Brewers did a brew at the Eau Claire Farmer’s Market last year and plan to return there this year. They found it to be a great fit and got a lot of interest. There was interest in doing a brew at the Farmer’s Market in Menomonie and heading to Das Bierhaus afterward. Since the meeting, Joe Plouff has expressed interest in helping plan the Big Brew.

Membership - Please let us know what would make the club more valuable to you, and what do you think would attract new members? Post ideas to the forum or contact a club officer.

The business meeting was closed and the off-flavor tasting commenced. We used “The Enthusiast” kit from the American Homebrewer’s Association, dissolving the flavors in Miller High Life. Some of the off-flavors were very subtle and some were downright revolting. One of the interesting observations was that it was great to taste the off flavors to have an idea of what people are talking about when discussing off flavors, but there were flavors present in their homebrew they still couldn’t identify.

After the tasting, it was good to sit and chat with everyone while enjoying some good beer to cleanse our tastebuds.
See you on March 5 for the meeting and March 10 for the New Glarus trip!

Continue reading »]]> On February 6th during our regularly scheduled meeting we will be conducting a special off flavor tasting event.  The club has purchased The Enthusiast: Beer Taste Troubleshooting Kit from the American Homebrewers Assoication, the kit is designed to help a brewer diagnose problems during brewing.   The Enthusiast contains a range of flavours that replicate the specific flavours that occur when there are problems during brewing.

The kit retails for $190.00 so the club will be asking for donations to help cover a portion of the kit’s cost.

If you are planning on attending the tasting we politely ask that you not wear any strong cologne or perfume to the event.  Also for those who arrive early it is recommended that you don’t drink or eat any strong flavored foods for this can interfere with your ability to taste certain flavors.

Thanks,

Andy Gibson
MHB Club President