What are the origins of cream ale and what makes this corn-adjunct beer special? The education topic for the monthly club meeting on Thursday, June 16 will cover this distinctly-American beer style. Bring some from your favorite recipe (or tasting glasses if you do not have any ready) and we can talk about this.
All are welcome to join any of the club meetings and events. We have members of all skill levels and backgrounds to learn together about beer and brewing. Stop by a meeting, Taproom Takeover, or other event to meet up and learn more.
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!
President Aaron D. presenting the $1000 matching donation to Mary from ESNS
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.
Homebrew recipe development is more than just selecting malt, hops, and yeast. The education topic at the May monthly meeting will be talking about those decisions and how to find the right balance and flavors. Brewers of all skill levels are welcome to join at East Side Neighborhood Services in Northeast Minneapolis on Thursday, May 19 7-9pm. Bring your recipe development questions and suggestions!
Entry registration is now open for the Sour Times homebrew competition! Pull out your best SOUR, WILD, and FUNKY beers and get them registered at SourTimesNBA.com today! Space is limited to 100 entries in the European Sour, American Wild, and a couple Historical and Local styles. There were many great entries last time and we look forward to seeing what you are going to enter!
It was another full night at our latest meeting. We are grateful to have Two Track Malting dial into the meeting to talk about their processes and products along with a few beers brewed by members with Two Track Okefenokee Pale — an American Bitter, SMaSH Pale Ale, Rye IPA, and New Zealand Pilsner. They make amazing malt products, so keep an eye out — and ask you local retailer — about stocking some!
Here are some notes from the business portion of the meeting:
We are cleaning up the Google Group used for the email list and club knowledge base access. If you have not yet paid your 2022 dues, please check that email and reach out to club leadership. Unpaid accounts will be removed from the Google Group soon.
We had a couple in-person events recently
Taproom Takeover at Fat Pants in Eden Prairie. A number of members got together for a pint, a bite, and social hour. We will be at Waldmann in St. Paul the first week of May. Check out the Club Calendar for a full schedule.
The first bike ride was a success with stops at Wooden Ship, Steel Toe, and LynLake. Plans are being formed for potentially two rides in May: a longer ride west of the city and a ride into St. Paul for the Bad Weather Arcade Bay event. Fill up your tires and join the rides!
A few members of the club will be at HomebrewCon in Pittsburgh in June. Say hello if you run us — and, more importantly, check out the education session on sour beer blending!
With more events happening this year again, we are also thinking of some ideas for a field trip, potentially to Duluth for All Pints North, Fargo breweries, Schell’s Oktoberfest, or somewhere else around the region. Previous trips have been to Mighty Axe Hops, Schell’s, and Rahr Malting.
The Sour Times competition is open for account registration with entries open through May and judging in the first half of June. Check out the competition site for more details.
Planning for the 2022 Yeast Experiment is underway. Ideally we will find a way to brew ourselves or work with a brewery partner to create a batch of middle-of-the-road wort where different yeast strains will provide different results. We are targeting the beers to be shared at the July meeting as the experiment topic.
In closing, we would like to give a shout out to the Primary Fermenters homebrew club. They recently announced they are shutting down operations. The NBA has been lucky enough to partner with them for events like Brew For Good and they will surely be missed. We are lucky to have so many other clubs in the area including St. Paul Homebrew Club and Minnesota Home Brewers Association.
Our friends at Two Track Malting will dial into the monthly meeting on Thu Apr 21 7-9pm to talk about their operation and excellent malts. As a sponsor of the 2021 NBA Homebrew Competition, they donated a bag of their Okefenokee Pale that a few members used to brew a few malt-forward beers to showcase the grain and the differences in its application.
Two Track Malting
Stop by East Side Neighborhood Services for the monthly meeting and see what makes the difference in Two Track malts. See you there!
Starting in April, Nick M is planning club events for bicycle rides between local breweries. These will focus on social rides with slow, short trips between taprooms. The first ride is targeting April 9 or 16 with more trips planned throughout the summer.
Pedal Pint Pedal – Summertime Taproom Tours by Bicycle
All are welcome to join. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more details as plans are finalized. Cheers!
Pull out your sour, wild, and funky beers and get them ready for the next edition of the NBA Sour Times competition. Entries open on May 1 with judging taking place in early June.
We are starting to plan some warm-weather events and activities, so read on to see what we have been up to and where we will be going this year!
The fundraiser for East Side Neighborhood Servicesis continuing through the end of the month. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far! We are at $930 so far and the club will be matching up to $1000! ESNS, our home for many years, is a great organization and deserves the support to keep helping our community!
Planning for the Sour Times Homebrew Competition of sour, wild, and funky beers has kicked off and we plan to make that happen in a few months. Keep an eye out on all the club channels for more news to enter your beers or to help judge!
There is a spate of barrel transfers happening this spring. The barrel program is open to any active members and include both sour and whiskey barrels for some amazing beers!
The George Dickel Dark Sour barrel was transferred in February, creating excellent beer as always. It was refilled with more Dark Sour.
Next up will be one of the French Oak lambic-style barrels.
Our Rittenhouse Rye barrel will be transferring the Imperial Stout out in the next few months and another beer — style to be determined — will fill it up again.
HOBO — Honey Oak Barrel One — is due for transfer again in early Summer.
The Communication Committee met recently to make sure we are focusing on the right channels and communication within the club and to partners and potential members. If anyone is interested in helping with that communication to manage social media or add blog posts to the website, please reach out to Jason B.
We have some exciting education topics on the calendar. At each monthly meeting there is an education topic (styles, process, equipment, etc.) or an experiment (ingredients, process, variables, etc.) to help the club expand our knowledge and think about beer in new ways to improve what we make.
The March meeting landed on St. Patrick’s Day, so we focused on Irish beer styles. Brady and Richard each made and Irish Red. Jason, Jim, and Aaron each made an Irish Stout. We talked about Export/Extra Stout, but did not have an examples. It was a great discussion around these classic styles.
In April, we will have a guest speaker from Two Track Malting to talk about their products and process. A few members will be brewing malt-forward beers with their Okefenokee pale malt to share during that discussion.
Coming up in May, Jim I will discuss his process around recipe development, how and why he makes decisions for malt, hops, yeast, and water profile, and we will discuss how others approach this topic.
There are many other exciting education topics coming up this year, too!
All are welcome to join the club! Feel free to stop by a monthly Taproom Takeover social hour or monthly meeting if you are interested in learning more about the club before becoming a member. Active members are able to use the club equipment including a 30-gallon brew system, six-tap jockey box, a tools library, book library, and access to the club hive mind through the email distribution list and Discord server.
Follow us on this blog, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates. The Club Calendar also shows our upcoming meetings and events. The club benefits everyone from new brewers starting a first batch to seasoned veterans looking to hone their skills and get feedback on new styles and techniques.
Next week is the monthly club meeting, which lands on St. Patrick’s Day! Let’s chat about Irish Beer styles and share our own recipes. All are welcome to join and learn about what makes Irish Red Ale, the difference between Dry Stout and Extra Stout, and how these beers compare!
Bring some tasting glasses and stop by East Side Neighborhood Services on Thu Mar 17 at 7pm to join in! Sláinte! 🍀
