The meeting on November 19th was a very important one for the future of the club. We’re looking to increase participation in 2012, so we took some proactive measures to make sure that happens.

Conversation points of note:

• Elections: We decided on the club’s 2012 executive committee to disperse ownership of various responsibilities necessary to make things happen.
• Membership: In order to plan fun events for the club and get membership cards printed (which gets each member 10% off purchases at homebrew shops), we agreed that a small budget is necessary. Membership into the club will cost you a small annual fee of $20. Next year’s dues will be collected at the next meeting, Saturday 12/17, 4:00pm at Pracna.
• Agenda: We’ve had lots of great discussion at our meetings in 2011 but we lacked structure. During our November  meeting, we agreed upon a format for future meetings. Future meetings will run as follows: Continue reading November 19th meeting recap →

Here are my notes from our May meeting at Pracna on Main.   There was a few of us there, Andrew, Brian,  Nate, Chris, Kevin, Nick P (me), Brendan(?sp) and his daughter, Tim, Nick K. and Emily K.(showed up late, but with beers!).

We started it off with some general discussion about what’s going on with the club.  Trying to knock out details of Cherry picking in the Fall.  Trying to figure out a location for the July BBQ.   Trying to figure out how to create a website with a forum (your here aint ya?).

We sampled Tim’s Amber Ale that won 3rd place in the MN Craft Beer Week Homebrew contest!   It was fantastic, nutty, and malty.  He also sampled his oaked version which was even more delicious!

Then we went onto the Lambic tasting.  Bulldog NE had a Lambic blending class (which I attended along with Tim, and Megan).  They gave the remainder of the 5 gallon keg of Lambic to Pracna!   We sampled that as well as blended it 50/50 with a Lager.  Both versions fantastic.   A little girl may have accidentally sampled that straight up Lambic. 🙁  See didn’t like the EXTREME sourness and acidity of it.  What does she know at 16 months young anyways?!  Good work on that one B.

Then we went onto a prepared topic of Parti-gyle brewing as it pertains to Belgian Beers, and traditional Belgain brewing methods and styles.  Thanks for putting that together Nate!

We are going to be doing another brewing experiment similar to the Single Hop experiment.   This one is going to be a SUGAR EXPERIMENT!  We are putting together a Belgian Dubbel recipe that each brewer will be applying a different sugar too.

Note for attending Pracna meetings in the summer.  Be careful as whiplash seems to be an issue.  Stretching before meetings seems to be a necessity.