Late Edition Out (of) the Wazoo - foamrangers.comAlso, we are well on the way to plan-ning for our...
Transcript of Late Edition Out (of) the Wazoo - foamrangers.comAlso, we are well on the way to plan-ning for our...
In March, we won the covetedBluebonnet stein. Quite a feat! Lastmonth, we took second at CrescentCity in New Orleans. Not bad at all(the home team Crescent City home-brewers stepped up to the plate). Wealso shipped about 90 entries toOrlando for the Sunshine Challenge.Also very good; we'll see how well wedo soon.
But, the busy part of the competitionschedule is winding down. Most of thelocals and MCAB qualifiers will bedone or entry deadlines passed by theend of the month. (KGB Big Batch ison June 6th with entries due by May28th and the Mashtronaut's LunarRendezbrew is on July 25th). AHASouth Regional have been judged(thanks to all of those that helped out;especially those that judged with lastminute's notice on Wednesday!) andwe'll all know the results before themeeting.
It seems like we've been focusing oncompetitions the last few months.Well, we have been; but, the first halfof the year is always stacked with GulfCoast competitions, other locals,AHA's, and MCAB qualifiers everyyear. Watch the schedule for the lastfew (MCAB VI is one - those brewerswith qualifiers know who they are).Also, we are well on the way to plan-ning for our competition, The Dixie
Cup, in October. Maybe we can getEd to write an article to give us anupdate so far …
Now we will have time to focus onother aspects of the club. Greathomebrew is always first priority, besure to bring some to the meetings,especially if it is in kegs! Brew-ins,First Sunday pub visits, and a fewextra meetings fit the bill well. In theworks for the rest of the year as ofright now: a July pool party meeting(more info soon!), a Foam Ranger-KGB-Mashtronaut joint meeting in May(at the KGBs home) and in August(sponsored by us), a San Antonio pubcrawl in August, and some sort of beereducation classes (BJCP or other-wise).
As far as brew-ins go, we have had anumber of scheduled ones each sec-ond Saturday in front of DeFalco's.We have also had a number at individ-ual's homes as well. On May First, wehad "the big one" outside of SaintArnold Brewery. It was truly an eventto be missed; the beer flowed and thewater did the same. We got at least 4inches of rain, the temperaturedropped at least 10 degrees, and thewind was howling at times (ask CzarDon about his canopy!). But, the bar-leywine flowed all day and we figuredout who the diehard brewers are.Foam Rangers brewing were myself,Bev, Joe Lindsey, and Colby Sheridan.The KGB had Czar Don and MOWWes brewing. At least 10 guys fromthe Golden Triangle in Beaumont werethere as well (talk about diehards!).Ed Moore and the KGB's Tim Whitefilled in dutifully as cooks. In all, webrewed about 80 gallons of beer!
Late Edition Volume 23, Number 5 - May 2004
In this Issue:
Out (of) theWazoo.................1
Bock BrewingTips......................3
Photopages...............5-7
Brewman.............8
Competition Corner................10
May meetingis
May 21stat DeFalco's
This is theThird
Friday!!!
By Mike Heniff,Grand Wazoo
Out (of) the Wazoo
The Brewsletter UrquellOfficial Organ of the
Foam Rangers Homebrew Club.
Was-Waz:Dr. Kuyler Doyle
Grand Wazoo:Mike [email protected]
Secondary Fermenter:Steve [email protected]
Scrivener:George [email protected]
Purser:Janet [email protected]
Competition Coordinator:Bev [email protected]
Bozo Head of Special Events:Scott [email protected]
Brewsletter Staff
Brewsletter Editor:David [email protected]
Ex-Editor:Bev [email protected]
Webmaster:Beto [email protected]
Mail Guru and Unix Geek:David [email protected]
The Brewsletter Urquell is pub-lished every month by the FoamRangers Homebrew Club, 8715Stella Link, Houston, Texas 77025
©2004 Foam RangersAll articles may be reprinted with-out permission, provided propercredit is given to both the authorand the Foam Rangers and a kegof really good homebrew is sent intribute.
Notice:
Calling all Foamrangers,please feel free to sub-mit any ideas for articlesor try writing an articleyourself for inclusion inyour brewsletter.
Page 2
I was stressing out a bit about havingtaken so long to complete this, butthen I remembered Dave certainlyisn't going to drive beyond the belt-way to kick my ass if it's not done, sowhy worry? Of course I have an obli-gation to act as the collective memo-ry of meetings past that quickly seemto grow hazy for some reason, and Iwill do my best to recollect what hap-pened with the aid of the illegiblenotes I took. The task made evenmore daunting by a late night visit toBJ's. Funny how they always seem tomake sense on the night of the meet-ing. The April meeting covered newsthat the Foamrangers almost sweptBluebonnet as everyone (well OKmainly Bev) hovered around the tro-phy/phallic symbol. There was sometalk of winning Homebrew Club of theYear and Mike winning Homebrewerof the Year. Reminders aboutCrescent City and Sunshine werenoted as was the next brew-in onMay 8th, a wheat beer. The last firstSunday at the Saucer was a tri-umphal success in that club memberstook the remainder of a keg ofSysiphus off the bar's hands. Thenext Sunday meeting was mentionedas being at BJ's at Clear Lake. Areminder about AHA's HomebrewDay at St. Arnolds also was men-tioned. Mike did his best to peddle T-shirts, glasses, and badges, but Idon't think he should quit his day job.The KGB also asked to inform every-one about the May 16th Steak outevent on the Northside. There weretoo many pack and ships to mention,but I am sure everyone is keeping up.
As a side note (and because Daveconstantly bitches about how shortmy section is), I decided to alsoshare some recent insights on the
world of beer beyond our heavilyguarded borders. This time I cancomment on the Middle East to somevery small degree. As I am writingthis I am on the plane back toHouston after about 25 hours of trav-el time originating in Tehran. Tehranas you might be aware has no beer,at least none with alcohol. They doproduce a number of non-alcoholicbeers, some of which also have fruitflavors, but all of which taste nothinglike real beer…not even close. Asdevout as the government thereclaims its citizens are it is amazinghow quickly they start to call flightattendants for all forms of alcohol assoon as the plane lifts off the groundfrom Mehrabad airport (I am being lit-eral here) and they don't stop drink-ing until the flight is over or atten-dants cut them off. Emirates Airlines,at least on most flights I went on,served Bud and Heineken. Also onmy agenda was Dubai which is aboutas western as you will find the region.In addition to a large number of Irishpubs, Dubai has a huge Indian popu-lation (that do all the work in thecountry), so there are a vast amountof Indian bars and loud Hindi discos(my hotel room was above one and Ithink I have permanent nerve dam-age). The main beers of choice inDubai are lagers and they import awide variety including Fosters, Becks,etc. In the Irish theme pubs you canfind Guinness and Kilkenny. One ofthe good ones is the Irish Village, asmall franchise in the country thatalso operates one in the airport thatstays open 24 hours around theclock. Beyond that as most peopleknow your best bet for beer is to saveyourself for a connection in Gatwickand hope you have time to headsomewhere like the Red Lion in theNorth terminal that serves cask ale atall hours. There is nothing like a cou-ple of Director's Best Bitters andscrambled eggs on toast at 7am.From what I remember they have sixcask ales on tap as well as Guinnessetc.
By George“Stu” West,Scrivener
The Brewsletter Urquell - Volume 23, Number 5 - May 2004
Beer of the MonthCalendar
January 16th, 2004Porter & Stout
Febrewary 20th, 2004Barleywine & Holiday
March 12th, 2004Belgian & Fruit Beers
April 16th, 2004Brown, Old & Scotch
May 21st, 2004Bock
June 18th, 2004Wheat Beers
July 16th, 2004Pilsner & Kolsch
August 20th, 2004Pale Ale & Bitter
September 17th, 2004Oktoberfest / Marzen
October 15th-16th, 2004Dixie Cup XXI
November 19th, 2004India Pale Ale
December 14thHomebrewer's Xmas Party
Page 3The Brewsletter Urquell - Volume 23, Number 5 - May 2004
Bavarian Lager yeast is the standardfor brewing clean German lagers; thebock style is no exception. WhiteLabs WLP830 German Lager yeast isa good substitute (it is probably thesame yeast!). A new yeast is avail-able from White Labs: German BockLager WLP833 which is reportedlyfrom Ayinger (this may be a Platinumseries yeast with seasonal availabili-ty).
To properly ferment a lager, the lageryeast should be pitched at 70 F.(Lager yeast can be pitched at fer-mentation temperature but the lagtime will be quite a bit longer.According to Dr. Chris White of WhiteLabs, ester production will not be highat the beginning of fermentation sothere is little risk of pitching at thehigher temperature.) At the first signof fermentation, begin lowering thetemperature 1 F per hour to 50 – 55 F.Ferment in the primary for two weeks.Some lager yeasts do not require adiacetyl rest. If you need to conduct adiacetyl rest (I would suggest to doso, regardless), raise the temperaturefor the last two days of the primaryfermentation to 70 F. For the second-ary fermentation, lower the tempera-ture 2 – 4 F per day until in the 32 –38 F range and hold for 1 – 2 weeks.Bottle or keg, either naturally or forcecarbonate (preferable force carbonatesince there will be very little yeast leftafter the secondary fermentation –add some yeast at bottling if you aregoing to naturally carbonate). Afterthe beer is carbonated, store at refrig-erator temperature for a few weeks toa few months before serving.
The focus of the bock style is themalt. Typically the malt bill is Munichmalt with Pilsner malt. Many brewershave problems converting an allMunich malt mash since the enzymesare at the very low end of the scale forbase malts. Pilsner malt (a goodGerman variety) should be used as atleast 10-30% of the grain bill in orderto provide enough enzymes to avoid atroublesome mash.
The traditional method to get theextremely strong and complex malti-ness of a bock is to perform a doubleor triple decoction mash. The highheat in the mash will cause sugarsand amino acids to combine to formthe trademark melanoidin character ofthe bock. “New Brewing Lager Beer”by Gregory Noonan describes theprocess on how to best performdecoction mashes (Dave Cato givessome good insight as well in hisrecipe below). For those lazy brewersthat don’t like to decoct (such asmyself), melanoidin malt is availableto provide some of the flavor that youtypically get from decoction mashing.Belgian aromatic malt is a decent sub-stitution as well.
Hop levels in a bock should be at aminimum. The IBUs are quite lowconsidering the gravity, the goal is tofocus on an intense maltiness.Choose a quality continental hop forbittering such as German Perle orHallertauer Tradition. For flavoring,avoid adding hops after 15 min (left toboil). At this point, stick with noblehops such as HallertuaerHershbrucker or Tettnanger.
Since bock is a lager style, a lageryeast and cold fermentation scheduleis a necessity. The Wyeast 2206
Brewing Tips for Bocksby Mike Heniff
cont on p11
Page 4 The Brewsletter Urquell - Volume 23, Number 5 - May 2004
History Lessonby Sean Lamb,Closet Historian
5 years ago...
In the Brewsletter Urquell Secondary fermenterVallhonrat admits that his tangential ramblingsare really a ruse to avoid being asked to run forGrandWazoo, and then delves into the mangin ofBockness. Bev's "Watch this space" takes upthe space fo two pages. GrandWazoo WaynesSmith is looking for email addreese for a fewgood men.
At the club meeting - Held a DeFalco's onRobinhood. Crescent City Competition winnerswere annoucned - Sly Bastards got somethingfor Barley Wine and Steam beer, as did BevBalckwood for IPS, "Sleazy Bastards forLousiana Toe Jam Ale" David Cato for GermanBock, and Jimmy Paige for AmberAle.
Other Events -National Homebrew Day brew-inat St. Arnold is a big success. Phil Endacottorganized ti and over 200 gallons of brew weremade. 2ndary Vallhonarat and Steve Moore areclub emissaries to the Sunshine Cahllenge.
10 Years ago...
In the Brewsletter Urquell - Editor Ken Bakerkeeps packing the columns in. Grand WazooAutumn Moore covers teh club's activites. A col-umn on "Women and Brewing" - "News Shorts""Protalnd Brewing Goes Nationwide" CrazyHorseBanned In Minnesota" "Spread o MicrobrewersSpawns industy Suppliers" are all reprinted arti-cles ripped off by editor Baker. Kurt Keelnbenzrelatesthe apperance of the "Bard of Beer' MichaelJackso at DeFalco's and theGinegerman.Autumn Moore writes up Belignabeers.
At the club meeting - Held at the homne of Steveand Autumn Moore. Some shuffling of the officersresulted in Autumn Moore officially claimingWazhood and Sam Zbbia filling in as secondary.BVeers of the month were Celis White, GrimbergenDouble adn Triple, Duvel, Chimay Grand Reserve,Liefmans Goudenband and Kriek.
Other Events - The Jennings thing happened - thgeFoam Rangers lost the overall competition, espe-cially owing to the "ringer" the New Orleans crewbrought for the keg toss. Keeping with tradition, theFoam Rangers won every event involving beer.Houston's 1st brewpub opens - the VillageBrewery. St. Arnold Brewing opens.
15 Years ago...
In the Brewsletter Urquell - Grand Wazoo BradKraus usese the word "ASCII" and then begins atengential ramble that will not be parllelled foranother10 years. Dr. Strangebrew explains why a batch ofbeer that is both kegged and bottled tastes differ-ently. The 411 on pestering your state senatorabout the homebrew legislaiton is put into black andwhite.
At the club meeting - Held at Buck Wyckoff's houseway out west. Beer of the Monthwaws "Beers ofthe Pacific"
Other Events - The "Bock in the USSR" pub crawlwas held - the Gingerman, Munchies, Local CharmRover's Galss Hat and the Richmond Arms wereofficial stops.
20 Years ago...
In the Brewsletter Urquell - Results of the March inclub competition and "Mother Steinberg's GenuineSecret Kosher Recipe for Fickled Eggs" arehighlights.
At the club meeting - Held at the Gingerman -BOTM was german light lagers.
Other Events - 2nd annual pub crawl - Munchies,Elephant and Castle, Kenneally's the Ale House,Mr. Dunderbak's were vistied.
The Brewsletter Urquell - Volume 23, Number 5 - May 2004 Page 5
Wow! what was that a UFO?
Screw the UFO, I just saw a BeerGoddess!
Yeah, Yeah, there ain’t nosuch thing as BeerGoddesses!
Are you really a Beer Goddess? can youmeet me in that back room in 5? I don’t see no Beer Goddess, I’m
bummed about it too, man!
Scenes from theFlying Saucer...
Look Joe, if Ismile wideenough I couldhave a real liveBeer Goddesstonight!
I could care less aboutthat tart they call aBeer Goddess, I can’tdecide what to drink,dammit!
Page 6 The Brewsletter Urquell - Volume 23, Number 5 - May 2004
April Meeting Pix
I won the raffle, Woo hoo! Is there actually anything left in there, Mark?
So that’s why he shaves his head Synchonized posing, anyone? Could be in thenext Olympics.
They like it when grabbed this way...No, it’s much better grabbed like thisladdie!
Page 7The Brewsletter Urquell - Volume 23, Number 5 - May 2004
Homebrew Day - Noah’s Tale
5)made a “batch for the road”as rumors flew that BOM wasto be named 40 days & 40nights. But the skies cleared..
4) braved thestorm and...
1)The edict came down from above and the heavenspoured rain upon the hapless chosen few...
2)Two by two, they gathered. Noah, Gilligan, The Professor Barryann and The Skipper were all there...
3) They obediantlyloaded up thepickup ark...
6) and the boys grinned hap-pily as Thing delivered the‘Beer Dove’ and...
7) it flew triumphantly over thesoggy bayou taking it’s maltypayload to the masses.
The Brewsletter Urquell - Volume 23, Number 5 - May 2004Page 8
Foam Ranger Events�
MayMay 15
Austin ZealotsHomebrew Inquisition
Austin, TX
May 21Monthly MeetingDeFalco’s 7pm
May 21-22Sunshine Challange
Orlando, FL
May 27Pack & Ship
Spirit of Free BeerDeFalco’s 6pm
May 28Entry Drop-off
KGB BBBBDeFalco’s BY 6pm
�
JuneJune 6
KGB BBBBStrong Belgians
DeFalco’s BY 6pm
June 12Brew-in
Rob KolacnyDeFalco’s 10am
June 13SECOND Sunday
Red Lion 4pm
June 17-19AHA National
Homebrew Comp.Las Vegas, NV
June 18Monthly MeetingDeFalco’s 7pm
Page 10 The Brewsletter Urquell - Volume 23, Number 5 - May 2004
So long, New Orleans. Good byeOrlando... While these grim state-ments haven't come anywhere neartrue just yet, I can't help but wonderif the handwriting isn't on the wallfor the Gulf Coast circuit. In someways, we have been the victims ofour own success. Dixie Cup wasalways big, but it wasn't ever over1000 beers, Bluebonnet wasalways big, but has approachedthat 1K milestone only rarely. NewOrleans was barely 250 beers lastyear and around 400 this year.They resorted to a variety of incen-tive programs to get their ownmembers to enter and were still dis-appointed in the results. Orlandohas always done well and is a greatparty in a great location, but thesame people end up running theshow year after year... it wearsthem down! Are they on their lastlegs? Crescent City is. We havelikely seen the last of the C-Cup.The Sunshine Challenge is facedwith a huge gap in their supportwith Ed & Rockey Measom bowingout of their leadership roles for thatevent.
Burnout happens.
It happens when brewers get tiredof making beer, or when the samepeople are called upon to makethings happen again and again.Thankfully, we have not reachedthat point yet, but the day maycome when it is true for us as well.It's when that next batch of beer isa chore to keg rather than a pleas-ure to anticipate or when the nextmeeting is a deadline rather than afun evening with your friends. It'swhen there are two volunteer spots
left on your sign-up sheet andnobody to fill them, which meansextra hours for you. Worst of all,it's when you've done your best tomake an event work and someonecomplains that it wasn't goodenough or that you did it wrong, orthat it was better last year.
I'm guilty of that last one and in ret-rospect, I did a disservice to us all. We had some concerns aboutCrescent City's incentive programswhich, in our eagerness to win backthe C-Cup, we let overpower ourcommon sense. We lost the battlefor the C-Cup, and then in criticiz-ing the way victory was won, wetook a chainsaw to the very supportthat made the event happen. Forthat, I am personally very sorry.I've been there, I've done the hardjobs and put in the long hours.When someone comes back to youwith a complaint about the event,it's a slap in the face. They maynot realize what went into it, butwhen something is put on with vol-unteer labor for the enjoyment ofothers, then only gross misrepre-sentation or negligence shouldmerit attacking those who gavetheir time and energy to make ithappen. Whether right or wrong,the New Orleans clubs were simplytrying to save the Crescent Citycompetition.
I will not say that my complaints willend up killing the Crescent Citycompetition. It was barely survivingalready, but the apology I madeabove was certainly necessary.So what's our fate? What is thefate of the Gulf Coast Circuit? IfNew Orleans leaves a hole in theschedule, who fills it? What abouttradition?
Change comes to all things and allorganizations. Anyone with asense of Foam Ranger history
CompetitionCornerby Bev Blackwood
cont on p11
BrewersAssistanceProgram
Need help brewing?
Contact one of thefollowing FoamRanger members:
Bev Blackwood713.432.1248 (H)713.927.4832 (C)Before 11:00 p.m.
Kuyler Doyle713.523.8379 (H)832.566.1197 (C)Before 10:00 p.m.
Mike Heniff281.489.3762 (H)281.474.1537 (W)Before 9:00 p.m.
Joe Lindsey409.925.4664 (H)409.763.2366 (W)Joe Never Sleeps
Jimmy Paige281.894.0307 (H)832.576.6191 (C)Before 10:00 p.m.
Ron Solis281.324.7157 (H)Before 9:30 p.m.
Jim Youngmeyer713.667.0455 (H)713.267.5108 (W)Before 9:30 p.m.
Please respect theirstated time prefer-ences when calling!
DeFalco's713.668.9440Business Hours only
Page 11The Brewsletter Urquell - Volume 23, Number 5 - May 2004
Traditional Bock (5 gallons) by Dave Cato
OG: 1.066FG: 1.015IBU: 25
0.75 oz. Tettnanger (4.3%) for 60 min.1.5 oz. Hersbrucker (3.2%) for 60 min.0.5 oz. Hersbrucker (3.2%) for 30 min.
Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager yeast
Note: All malts and hops are German (thisis a German beer after all) and you willdecoct!
Mash in with 4.5 gal. hot liquor for a striketemp of 104F. Rest 30 min. before pulling30% of the mash for the first decoction.Heat the decoction to 149F and rest 30min. then raise to 160F and rest another30 min. or until conversion is complete;then boil for 10 min. Return the decoctionto the rest mash which should bring thetemp to 131F; rest 10 min. before pulling30% of the mash for the second decoction.Repeat the first decoction schedule.Return the decoction to the rest mashwhich should bring the temp to 149F; rest10 min. before pulling 40% of the mash forthe final decoction. Heat the decoction to160F and rest 30 min. or until conversionis complete, then boil for 10 min. Returnthe decoction to the rest mash whichshould bring the temp to 168F. Rest 10min. before beginning the sparge.
knows that. This club is not the clubit was a decade ago or even 5 yearsago. The club we see today will notbe the club we see in five years. Itwill hopefully be even better, but itcan just as easily be worse. Thesame is true for the competitivelandscape. Take the MCAB.. It isnow entering its seventh year and isa cornerstone of our club's competi-tive strategy. It assures theBluebonnet and Sunshine competi-tions that there will always be FoamRanger entries, regardless of theexistence of the Gulf Coast Circuit.The Cactus Challenge has risen tobecome a major event for both theHouston and Dallas area clubs. TheBig Batch Brew Bash is far andaway the largest event of its kind,and shows no sign of slowing down.It's a challenging landscape compet-itively and one which offers us manyopportunities to grow in our ownbackyard. The same is true inFlorida, with the Sunshine Challengebeing the crown jewel of that state'smany events. Do I advocate destroy-ing what we have? Of course not. Ijust think we need to look ahead tosee what change may bring us as ahomebrewing community. Only byrecognizing that change will come,whether we want it to or not, can webe prepared to face the future as aclub and as a competition.
cont from p10
11.0 lb. Light Munich2.0 lb. Pils0.5 lb. Dark Crystal0.5 lb. Light Crystal
cont from p3
The Foam Rangers Homebrew ClubHouston, Texas Brewsletter office8715 Stella LinkHouston, Texas 77025
Monthly MeetingMay 21st@ DeFalco’s
BRING A LOAD OF BEER!!!!!
Membership Fees: (per year) $20.00 Individual / $30.00 Family
Paid between December 1 & December 31 $18.00 / $27.00 (Pay early and save!)Paid between January 1 & March 31 $20.00 / $30.00Paid between April 1 & June 30 $17.50 / $26.25Paid between July 1 & September 30 $15.00 / $22.50Paid between October 1 & November 30 $20.00 / $30.00 (Includes the next year!)
Please make checks payable to: The Foam RangersBring this form (and your payment) to the next club meeting, drop it off at DeFalco's or send it to:The Foam Rangers, 8715 Stella Link, Houston, Texas 77025-3401
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