Before the May meeting, we were able to present East Side Neighborhood Services with a check for $1000 as the matching donation to the GoFundMe campaign. As of of their many programs supporting people across Hennepin County, this is the biggest way we can help this great organization. For example, $10 donated to ESNS is able to source 100 pounds of food for families and individuals — much more effective than donations of groceries directly.

We are lucky to have such a great partnership between the NBA and ESNS! Cheers!

Here is a summary of the other topics from the May monthly membership meeting:

• The Google Group email list and Discord server clean-up took place in April and May. Any non-renewing members were removed from these groups. Please contact club leadership at nba.operations@gmail.com if you have any problems accessing the club resources.
• We had a great turnout at the recent Taproom Takeover at Waldmann Brewing in St. Paul. Join us on the first Thursday in June at Alloy brewing to chat over a pint!
• Nick M. is scheduling the next club bike ride for likely early June. Keep an eye out for a tour of local taprooms in the next couple weeks.
• The Sour Times competition is open for registration with judging taking place in June. Get your entries registered today! Reach out to the club if you are interested and available to help judge or steward, too!
• Plans are in motion for a return of the Yeast Experiment! We are working with a few of our partners to see about brewing a big batch of wort where any member can get a few gallons to take home and ferment with a different yeast. The experiment will be to see how different the same beer turns out with one ingredient different — the yeast pitch! Keep an eye out for this brew day likely in June.
• The June education topic is an American classic: Cream Ale. Brew your favorite recipe of this style and bring it to the meeting where Perrin will be talking about the history and ingredients to this great summer beer.
• We also had some great discussion during Beginner’s Corner where no question is too simple and we can all learn from each other.
  • Mike asked for feedback on a yeast starter that did not seem to be doing anything
  • Austin G had questions about a Hazy IPA that turned out surprisingly bitter
  • Brady picked up a new gas regulator recently, so got some feedback on setting it up
  • Chris F heard a new term recently: first wort hop. This is adding hops to the boil kettle before/as the wort collection first starts running.
  • Adrian brought an experimental beer and talked a little about that process: the most imperial of stouts where he was targeting 20% ABV and only hit 16% when the terminal gravity stopped at 1.065 — yes, final gravity of 1.065!
  • Bill is looking for some new equipment, so asked the group the best place to find a reasonably-priced 2.5-3.0 gallon keg; based on experience, it is difficult to find these for any less than the price of a normal new 5 gallon keg.

Everyone is welcome to join the club monthly meetings (and other activities and events!) whenever available. We have members with experience from extract brewing through all-grain automated systems, so bring your questions (and homebrew to share if you want!) to join up with other brewers.

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Cheers! 🍻