October 1998

[Greenblood]

Minutes of the September Meeting

Clean Up Crew: Robert J., Chris L., Chuck E., and Joe Y.- Thanks, guys!

New members: Tom Differding from Milwaukee, Xanthippe Stevens, Eric and Angela Jeppesen.

Treasurer's Report: $884.26 (including $1.80 interest).
Joe Yoder

Old Business:
Community Mercantile (as homebrew supplier) Committee: A list of suggestions was circulated; Guild members would receive discounts; Committee will give them finalized list

Lawrence.com: Paperwork submitted, link established!

New Business:
Bill Seibenaler showed up!

Lawrence Oktoberfest!!! September 25&26 at Burcham Park near Downtown - music, booths, and Free State beer! Lawrence Brewers Guild formed a committee (Jeff J., Chuck E., Doug H., Tim B., Andrew S.) to arrange logistics of LBJ's booth.

Mo-Kan Homebrew Competition Series: Majority vote indicated enough interest in forming a committee to look into the possibility of holding a competition. Committee members are: Jeff J. (head), Tim, Tom, and Chuck.

Brewmeister Brewfest: At Bacchus & Barleycorn in Shawnee - brew and food - real laid-back - Sept. 19 and Oct. 17.

Lending Library: Punishment for non-returns, book damage at Archivist's discretion (!?)


Commercial Tasting-Fruit Beers
Two Dogs-Orange Brew (Australia) One vote
"The kids love it!"
"Tastes like Tang."
"Does this have any alcohol in it?"
"What kinda beer has food coloring?"

75th Street-Royal Raspberry Wheat (Kansas City) Three votes
"No fruit."
"There's a razz-bite."

Beartooth-Cranberry Amber (Boulder, Colo.) Six votes (Winner!!)
"Bad twang."
"Tastes like prunes."
"Malty in front, fruit in the end."
"I like it."

Pyramid-Apricot Ale (Boulder) Four votes
"Tastes like apricot jam."
"Smells like human gases."
"It's good."
"Not as good as Rob Dewhurst's (x 12)"
"Too much apricot."

None of the Above: five votes

Next Month: Ciders

Robert Johnson-Secretary


Lawrence Brewers Guild Lending Library
Now available: (at a reduced deposit of $10 - less than the cover price!)

* Foster, Pale Ale
* Miller, Continental Pilsner
* Guinard, Lambic
* Fix, Vienna-Marzen Oktoberfest
* Foster, Porter
* Rajotte, Belgian Ale
* Warner, German Wheat Beer
* Noonan, Scotch Ale
* Richman, Bock (checked out until October meeting)
* Lewis, Stout
* Allen and Cantwell, Barley Wine
* Dornbusch (a Dusseldorf native), Altbier

Any suggestions for new Library purchases are always welcome (and subject only to Guild vote). The deposit can be cash or check- refund subject only to the undamaged return of the book at the following month's meeting.


The Hop Report Part III
Have you ever been the last person to leave a party and wasn't aware it ended an hour earlier? I know I have. Well it was deja vu all over again in my garden.

I was out of town for the first and third week of August and had to leave my hops in the care of our house-and-garden-sitter. All was tended to as well as could be while I was gone. But a couple days after I got back home, I noticed my hop cones were turning brown. Panic and disapointment set in.

After some research without answers, I called Bacchus and Barleycorn, where I had bought the rhizomes, for help. They told me I should have harvested already, and the hops were turning brown because they were past their prime. Panic was now gone, but disapointment still hovered like a black cloud. How could this be? Everything I read said that harvesting was at the end of August or early September. That is, of course if you live in Oregon, which I don't. D'oh.

I figured I lost about half of what I could have harvested, and immediately went out to salvage what was left. The final count from all the plants was half an ounce. They consisted of overly small, nonfragerant cones. Good for nothing except a learning experience.

The earlier harvesting time is painfully obvious to me now, and I am slowly coming out of my funk from the letdown. I take solace in being told by B&B that most people don't get anything to harvest the first year, so at least I can take comfort in knowing the vines are strong and take that as a positive sign for next year's potential crop.

For the rest of the growing season, I'll continue to tend the plants until they die back with the frost. When the vines are brown, I'll cut them down at the base, mulch them well and take down my riggings while dreaming of next year's harvest.

Barry Fitzgerald


LBG at Oktoberfest
Our booth was a HIT! But alas, Oktoberfest was not, at least not during the day. It seemed that most of the people there were workers, volunteers, band members - you get the picture. Doug, Tim and Andrew whipped up a Scottish ale without nearly as much trouble as was experienced at Big Brew '98. The only hitch came when the guys had to use some of the display liquid malt extract to bump up the specific gravity. A handful of people expressed more than a passing interest in our hobby - Roger, Anh and Sam should all be at the next meeting, so be nice to them, and we'll have three new members! If you hung around after dark, you were treated to the funkadelic vibe of Dr. Zhivegas. Disco never sounded or looked so good. If you get the chance, see these guys next time they make the trip from St. Louis. You WILL have a great time. Thanks to all of the members who volunteered to mind the booth and to all of the members who just came and hung around for a while. I had a great time!

Sherry Holub


Colorado Brewpubs
(How Lucky We Are to Have The Free State!

While my hops were dying on the vines at home, myself and the First Lady were out on a week-long jaunt in Colorado. What a beautiful state - and with a great reputation for brew pubs. Well, at least the mountains were great. Here are some notes and evaluations about seven pubs encountered on our journey.

Wynkoop: Located in the hip Lodo area of downtown Denver. The oldest brewpub in the state and named after the city's first sheriff. The IPA was excellent and served at cellar temp, unlike the lame Light Pale and Amber that were served "ice cold." A respectable Oatmeal Stout and average ESB. The Scottish was okay, but not close to style. This is the only place I have ever seen mead served. Maybe this is a good thing too, because it was more like a wine cooler than any mead I ever had. The food was excellent, and the service lame.

Il Vicino: In the small town of Salida, Il Vicino is a great pizza restaurant that makes great beer. Not a huge selection, but it was a small place. This brewpub loves hops and shows it in its ales. All of these beers had very strong flavors. No wimpy stuff here. The Kolsch had a very nice, slightly sweet front and surprisingly hoppy finish. The Pale had great balance and strong hop finish and the IPA was hop heaven. The brown was solid and fairly robust, while the only loser was, again, the Scottish Ale, which seemed slightly infected. In a dead town, on a Sunday night, this place was packed, so get there early.

Gore Range: Major culture shock ensued when going from small towns to the wealthy resort community of Edwards, outside Vail. Big place. Great mountain views from outdoor seating. Very good food and but only semi-decent beer. The Great Sex Honey Ale was voted first in the People's Choice category in the recent Colorado Brewers Festival. Let me say the votes could not have been from how it tasted. The Pale was thin. The Red better than most, but the Brown was great, and I don't even like browns. They were out of stout. The major drawback was that most of the ales were over-carbonated. The big plus was that our waiter suspected that we might be restaurant or travel critics, because we asked a lot of questions and were writing notes in a little notepad. Our service started out slow, but when he spotted the notepad, he was a very attentive nervous nelly. We did not get this kind of attention everywhere we went, but it was fun while it lasted.

Next month: Four more beers.

Barry Fitzgerald


Sanitation Update
Through the misfortune of one of Bacchus & Barleycorn's customers and Alberta's subsequent research, we've learned that one of the favorite sanitizer's used by homebrewers today may be less than effective under certain conditions. The sanitizer is iodophor. The condition is water with high pH.

If your pH is greater than 9, iodophor may not be effective in the recommended dosage. At that pH, the amber color will not be present and rather than kill the little beasties, it may become a breeding ground for them. The pH of water from Johnson County Water District #1 is always above 9, they say to keep down corrosion.

The solution to this beastly problem is to either lower the pH of the water or increase the amount of iodophor until the amber color is achieved. Lowering the pH even of large amounts of water can be accomplished via the addition of a small amount of acid. Some brewers think that phosphoric acid is the best for the job. I prefer to use an organic acid that isn't so corrosive, such as tartaric, malic or citric acid. Being a winemaker, I always have some on hand and literally a pinch of tartaric acid will lower the pH of five gallons of water from the 9+ range to the 7+ range, which is well within the desired level for use with iodophor.

You can also achieve a "killing" strength by adding 50% more iodophor. The choice is yours. I've most always used the color of the water to determine when I have added enough Iodophor because at my advanced age it's easier to see color density in five gallons of water than it is those little lines on the iodophor bottles. Anyway, a great big thanks to our Florida customer who brought this to our attention.

Jackie Rager (submitted by Pete Clouston)


A Journey to the Southend-Brewery, That Is
A while back Doug and I were in Charlotte, NC, visiting our friends, Brock and Diane. We told them that we were acting as roving reporters and that we needed to go to a microbrewery, and our meal was being subsidized by LBG. They immediately thought of this trendy old warehouse district brewery co-owned by the same folks who own the Carolina Panthers in the part of town called "Southend."

Southend Brewery and Smokehouse is, in case you couldn't guess, an old warehouse that has been funkified with custom copper hanging lamps that I think you could call "sculpture," that sponged-look paint on the walls like at Tellers, and an interesting color scheme heavy on the yellow/orange/copper theme. The place was really big and open, but you could sit at your table and not hear the people next to you. We went on Sunday, and I was surprised at how crowded it was, considering we were in the South. We all were impressed with the musical offerings - Al Green, Parliament and Isaac Hayes were some of the standouts. Our slick waiter informed us that they were the second largest microbrewery in the country since they are responsible for the Carolina Beers that are quite popular there.

On to the important stuff, though - BEER! We finally got a list to keep after badgering our waiter several times. (He was excited we were from Kansas.)

Brewmasters Pat Johnston and Rick Ainsworth offered up:

Bombay Pale Ale, which they describe as "not quite an IPA, but dry-hopping with Cascade and Mt. Hood gives this copper-colored ale a pleasingly full flavor."

Carolina Blonde-"A very drinkable beer styled after a Munich Helles beer. Cures Thirst Cold!"

Scarlet Ale-"A ruby red hue and a toasted malty palate."

Chocolate Ale-"A traditional English beer brewed in American style using a combination of lightly toasted and specialty roasted Belgian and Munich malts along with a touch of chocolate malt."

Friar Tuck's Oatmeal Stout-"A combination of pale malt, roasted barley, roasted malt and oatmeal produce a rich flavor, smooth mouthfeel and a crisp hop finish. It's not just for breakfast anymore!" (Voted best microbrew in Charlotte).

Ironman wheat-"A summer tradition returns, with a slice of lemon."

Carolina Light Blonde-"This beer has all the flavor of our Carolina Blonde, but with fewer calories."

We ordered a sampler and went from there. With our sampler we had the most ass-kickin' platter of nachos, which we followed up with a great meal.

Our thoughts on the beers:

Bombay Pale: No nose whatsoever, but great hop flavor and good body. 4 thumbs up. Carolina Blonde: Drinkable, nuthin' special. Scarlet Ale: Nice balance, beautiful color (I really liked this one). Chocolate Ale: Not much body = really thin, but a great chocolate taste. Friar Tuck's: Beautiful head! Excellent body. Doug sucked down a few of these, but I thought it tasted burnt and the roasted barley overpowered the oatmeal. Ironman Wheat: Good 'Merican wheat, very refreshing with the lemon (it was hotter than Hell and so humid it felt like being wrapped in a warm, wet blanket. HMM?) Carolina Light Blonde: Good, easy-drinking beer. Refreshing! We preferred the Light over the regular Carolina Blonde.

Overall , we had a great dining experience. To top it off, our waiter brought over a dish of the most incredible banana pudding in the world. Since Harley didn't want it and we had to let the waiter know that his gesture was thoughtful, we sacrificed our already swollen bellies and downed it. If you ever find yourself at Southend, make sure to leave time for the funky housewares/artsy stuff store next door; it's a trip.

Sherry Holub

Discount Days at Bacchus & Barleycorn
LBG members receive a 10% discount from Bacchus & Barleycorn, October 5-10. Please show membership card or bring newsletter. Bacchus & Barleycorn is located at 6633 Nieman Rd. in Shawnee (913-962-2501).