This poll does not mean we are changing anything.  Please vote though.  Last year we saw a significant decrease in members coming to the monthly meetings during the Summer months.   This is understandable because it’s how we do in MN.   We go up to cabins, and hit the lake, and BBQ when the weather is nice.   It’s Minnesota living at it’s finest!   This is just to get a feel for if people would rather meet during the week or not during the summer months so that we have something to discuss at our next meeting.  I’d hate to see all of the strides we’ve been taking as a club come to a screeching halt like they did last Summer.    It’s possible that this year Saturday’s work great for people and last year was an anomaly.  We shall see as long as everyone VOTES!

[polldaddy poll=6080120]

Per usual, the meeting is at Pracna on Main in Northeast Minneapolis, starting at 4:00pm sharp. Agenda posted here:

• Introductions/misc. (5 min.)
• Announcements/upcoming events/new business (15 min.)
  • Mid-month meet-up recap (non-profit discussion?)
  • Hand out membership cards to those who have paid dues
  • Sign that you’ve read the by-laws
  • Upcoming competitions
    • http://nordeastbrewersalliance.org/upcoming-competitions/
• Group experiments update (5 min.)
  • Barrel-aging project update [Andrew N. and Nick]
  • Bring $25 if you want in. You’ll also be asked to contribute 5 gallons of wort at a later date.
• Financial Report (5 min.)
  • Banking situation update [Matt]
• Education session (20 min.)
  • “Building a Dual Stage Temperature Controller (for your Fermentation Chamber)” [Andrew W.] Continue reading February 18th Meeting Agenda →

Per usual, the meeting is at Pracna on Main in Northeast Minneapolis, starting at 4:00pm sharp. Agenda posted here: Continue reading January 21st meeting agenda →

Meeting starts at 4:00pm, Pracna on Main in Northeast Minneapolis.

• Introductions/misc. (5 min.)
• Announcements/upcoming events/new business (15 min.)
• Collect 2012 membership dues, $20.00
• Group experiments update (5 min.)
• Nick to discuss the barrel-aging project
• Bring $25 if you want in. You’ll also be asked to contribute 5 gallons of wort at a later date.
• Financial Report (5 min.)
• Matt to discuss our banking situation
• Education session (20 min.)
• Nick Pederson will discuss decoction mashing
• General Q&A (10 min.)
• Break (5 min.)
• Tasting/group critique (20 min.)
• Grant – Belgian dubbel
• Tim S. – Schwartz bier
• Nick K. – Imperial IPA
• Nick P. – Belgian Tripel/DIPA
• What’s on tap? (5 min.) Suggest items of discussion for next month.
• Social hour/open discussion

It seems that the club has taken a toll on us this summer.   With so many events, weekends up north, and just in general…other things to do…. this club really took a beating in the participation department.    We clearly need to come up with ways to keep people more active in the club.

This months meeting we will be discusing ways to get things rolling a little bit more.   Here are some ideas that I think we should be considering, deciding upon, and then following through on!

1. $Club fee!$   Although times are tough and some people may be turned off by a club fee, I think that it will also do many good things for the Northeast Homebrew Club.   For one, we will be able to buy some things for the club.  Shirts, stickers, spare equipment.   We can think about buying equipment eventually for a Big Brew Set-up.   Barrels for a club Barrel aging project, money to rent a bus to go visit a brewery (can you say Schell’s in the summer time, or during Bock fest!)  For two…I think that people will feel more urgency to show up to meetings if they’ve invested a little money into it!

2. Special Events – Brewery tours (or even help brew at a Brewery, aka, Fulton(?)).  Visit a Hop Farm, or a the Rahr fields of Barley!

3. Competitions –  Club only competitions as well as any AHA sactioned event.  (I think a really fun idea would be to have every member create one style (say American Brown Ale) t0 style…. and then we all enter our beer into one competition and for that style.   Try and take 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place!

4. Experiments – We did the great hops experiment, but the funny thing was, only the 8 brewers that brewed Single Hop versions for that experiment showed up for the tasting.   It could’ve been a great learning experience for everyone.  At least the 8 of us got to taste the difference.    Don’t get me wrong, it was a huge success, but that was the only real experiment we’ve been able to pull off.

5. Education – We all want to learn.  We all have something we can teach.   Whether it’s extremely technical yeast info,  water adjustments, or how to make better extracts, I feel we need to take this up a notch!

***When I originally helped start this group last year with Nathan, I really just wanted to have a place for Northeast Homebrewers to come together and hang out.   That was fine for the first few months.   It turns out that it seems like we need to have much more STRUCTURE for this to be a group where people actually want to participate.   We will be stepping the club up a notch in 2012 …that is….if that’s what we all decide we want to do!

Cheers,

Nick Pederson

612.965.1144

pederson.nick@gmail.com

June 18th is the Stone Arch Festival and Pracna will be absolutely packed to the gills so we were set with either changing the location, or changing the date.   We’ve decided to go with June 25th, the following weekend.   This  may end up being the day that we pick cherries.   That depends on how the cherries ripen.  Some people may be conflicted as that is the same day as the St. Paul Beer Fest.   That was a fantastic Beer Fest last year, but if you aren’t going to make it to St. Paul but still want to talk shop for a few hours…come on out to the meeting!

June 25th

Pracna on Main (back room)

4pm “SHARP” – 6pm

We will be discussing ways to improve your Extract beers.   Another topic that will be touched on hopefully in depth is water chemistry.    This is one I personally can’t miss!   I needs to know!

Cheers,

Nick