HOPS – Homebrewers Of Pagosa Springs
Hello HOPS Heads,
So there I am, alone, at night, in the middle of the forest in northern Arizona, staring at one big cock-eyed boar. I’m holding my mountain bike between it and myself, as if my bike somehow just turned into the Great Wall of China, only with reflectors and pedals. The swine snorts at me. I snort back. We were sizing each other up. Who was tougher? Who was uglier? Who smelled worse? Neither of us were swayed - it was a stand off. Moments like these make me ponder life and its intricacies. How does one decision made hours, days or months before direct us into completely random situations later on? The results of those decisions are adventurous at times, other times disastrous. Kind of like brewing outside of the box. Ya win some, ya lose some, but when you win it is usually a triumphant experience. I recently had a Stone collaboration beer called La Citrueille Celeste de Citracado that was brewed with pumpkins, yams, toasted fenugreek, lemon verbena and birch bark (yes, all in the same beer). Now this is brewing out of the box taken to a new level! Leave it to Stone Brewing. While the beer was, well, interesting, I still applaud them for going out on a limb. I mean, this is America. We wrote the rules on breaking the rules (or something like that) and brewing should be no exception! Experiment on, even if it means potentially pissing off some Belgian monk living in a cave brewing the exact same recipe for the last 1000 years. Some times the decision to go out on a limb during a brew can result in some great beer. Dry hop your stout with mint leaves. Add a couple of drops of vanilla in a few of those pale ales when bottling. Throw a lasagna in your boil and let me know how it ends up. Be adventurous. My decision to go for a night-time mountain bike cruise after drinking (somewhat heavily) with a bunch of buddies resulted in a rather awkward meeting with a hairy beast in the dark. Your experiments in brewing should rarely end up that churlish. Then again, considering some of the people I brew with, a similar situation is entirely possible after a few too many homebrews on brew-day. In any case, give it a whirl. What have you got to lose? It might be an award winner!
Until next time, cheers and happy fermenting ~
Randini the Beer Spammer
Tech Tip of the Day: Mashing Grains – Mash temperatures can greatly affect the way your beer ferments, tastes and its body. (I will generalize this as much as possible.) Mashing is normally done between 145 and 158 degrees. As the crushed grains soak in water, an enzymatic process begins converting the starch into sugar. To quote Charlie Papazian’s The Complete Joy of Homebrewing: “In general, the higher mash temperatures will produce dextrinous (heavy-bodied beer) worts in a very short, active period, while lower temperatures product more fermentable (lighter-bodied, more alcoholic beer) worts over a longer period.” For those of you brewing with extract and are eyeballing stepping up your brewing a notch by heading toward all grain, you may want to consider some partial mash recipes and play with mashing. This is a great way to get more experimental with your beer and get a taste of the all grain mashing process without diving into the equipment investment.
Quote of the Day: Did you ever walk in a room and forget why you walked in? I think that's how dogs spend their lives. – Sue Murphy
(Editor’s note: Homebrewers wouldn’t know anything about that kind of behavior, now would we? ;-) Randini)
HOPS Meetings:
- HOPS – New Business:
- Next Meeting: Tuesday, the 24th is the next HOPS meeting, Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00 PM. The YELLOW COLOR GROUP is up, so if you are in this group, make sure you have been in touch with your Color Group Leader (Jason) to find out what is in the pipeline.
- Style of the Month: Stout
- Discussion: Some ideas we want to go over include the following:
A) Membership Dues – Time for us to squeeze some money out of you!
B) Durango Pub Crawl, May 12th – we are meeting with the Animas Alers homebrew club in Durango for presentations, brewery tours and sampling. Discussion will include hotel info, carpooling, etc.
C) Other upcoming events found below.
UPCOMING LOCAL NEWS & EVENTS:
- Tuesday, April 24th – HOPS Meeting: This coming Tuesday is the HOPS Meeting (normally the fourth Tuesday of the month). We will meet at Pagosa Brewing Company at 6:00 PM. This month we will be going over some of the upcoming events and agenda items above, along with the Style of the Month. This time is Stouts. For more info on these styles, check out the descriptions listed on the BJCP website here: http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php. Check out the posts from local liquor stores on our website at www.pagosahops.org to see what is in stock.
- First Friday Out, May 4th – The first Friday of the month we like to drink beer. Ok, we like to drink beer more often than that, but we usually get together somewhere around town, and this time around we will meet at the Pagosa Bar. See you there at 6:00!
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AHA Big Brew Day, Saturday May 5th – AHA Big Brew is a celebration of National Homebrew Day (May 7). Each year homebrewers around the world invite family and friends to their brewing site on the first Saturday in May to celebrate the holiday. Everyone is encouraged to help out with the brew, enjoy the fun and join in on a world-wide toast at noon CDT. For more info go here:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org./pages/events/national-homebrew-day
We will be brewing at Pagosa Brewing Co again this year. To encourage attendance, they are offering a "Big Brew Discount" to all participants (both HOPS Members and not) during the event. This would include:
$1 off house beers
$2 off whole pizzas
- Durango Homebrew Gathering / Pub Crawl, May 12th –The Animas Alers Homebrew Club in Durango is hosting a pub crawl / homebrew / brewery event. This will probably include a homebrew tasting at Ska, along with tours & presentations then followed by a tour of beer spots including other breweries and Lady Falc’s. More details at our meeting tomorrow!
- Hooch Brew Off, June 16th in Durango – The event that throws a wrench in your typical judging – this is more like a prison party without the convicts. Brew up your own hooch and bring it to this one of a kind event. For more info go to: http://pagosahops.org/#!/houch-brew-off-on-june-16th-durango
- Archuleta County Fair, August 2-5 – Be sure to keep in mind the beer competition for the Fair this year!
For the Calendar:
- April 24: HOPS Meeting – Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00
- May 5: Big Brew Day – Pagosa Brewing Co, Group Homebrew
- May 12: Durango Pub Crawl with the Animas Alers
- May 14-20: American Craft Beer Week
- May 22: HOPS Meeting – Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00
- June 2: Four Corners Homebrew Gathering – Aztec
- June 16: Hooch Brew Off – Durango
- June 26: HOPS Meeting – Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00
- June 21-23: National Homebrewers Conference
- July 14: Salida Brewer’s Rendezvous
- July 24: HOPS Meeting – Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00
- August 2-5: Archuleta County Fair – Beer, wine and mead competition
- August 4: Mead Day
- October 11-13: Great American Beer Festival - Denver
- November 3: Learn to Homebrew Day
NEWS:
- Ska 2012 GABF Pro-Am Homebrew Competition: Here is an email from Ska regarding the homebrew competition coming up:
Greetings Homebrewers!
Happy 2012 to all! Just wanted to let everyone know that we will be holding our annual GABF Pro-Am HomebrewCompetition during American Craft Beer Week again. The dates for American Craft Beer Week are May 14-20, 2012. Registration will begin in mid-late February but just wanted to touch base with everyone so you could begin to plan ahead. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Kristen Muraro
Events Coordinator
Ska Brewing Co.
Office: 970-247-5792 Ext: 35
Cell: 970-946-0715
225 Girard St.
Durango, Colorado 81303
- Hop Rhizomes Available – If you are looking to grow your own hops, Tony with Pagosa Brewing Co has sent some information on getting a wide variety at pretty good prices. They normally take about two years to get established. If you are interested in getting some let me know. They are about $2.50 each (unless you order 40 ormore) and they have a wide variety to choose from.
- Beer News Around Durango – For the latest news on the beer scene in Durango, check out http://beerat6512.blogspot.com/. Our neighbors to the West have a great beer town, along with some great writers and this is a fun place to check up on the happninz. Erich Hennig, my brew-brotha-from-anotha-motha just joined the team. Check it out – I think you will enjoy it!
Pagosa Brewing Company News / Events:
THIS WEEK ONLY!
"Growler Amnesty" Week!
Get into Spring Cleaning...
Bring in your empty PBC Growlers for Full Credit on your bill!
(at $3.50 value) And, of course, we always offer refills too!
THIS WEEK ONLY!
"Bike to the Brewery" Week!
Bike to the brewery and receive
VIP parking & door prizes all week!
~ On Tap Beginning of April ~
Alpine Abbey Blonde
Based on the Monastic Abbey biers of Belgium... These world-class biers are brewed by Trappist Monks to support their Abbeys and Monasteries. For authenticity, we procured our yeast from one of these Abbeys, copied their water profile, and imported specialty malts and hops from Belgium. Alpine Abbey Blonde has a wonderfully complex aroma of light fruit and subtle spice, and it finishes exceptionally dry and smooth.
À votre santé! (To Your Health!)! ~ On Tap Middle of April ~
Double Black
Imperial Black IPA - One of the most extreme, and yet deceptively quaffable IPA's we’ve ever crafted. As such, we call it Double Black and it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s got an amazing balance of black malts and hops with an intense depth of character of rich malts, but not too heavy. First featured during the Opening Reception at the Big Beer Festival in Vail in January 2011.
FRONT RANGE & BEYOND NEWS & EVENTS:
- Salida Brewer’s Rendezvous – July 14th (One of the coolest beer fests in CO if you ask me. And yes, I heard you askin.)
- Great American Beer Festival – October 11-13. http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/
FOR SALE / FOR FREE / WANTED:
- Fridge (Great for a Kegerator) – If a HOPS member is interested in building a kegerator I found a free fridge that would be great for the job. Email me for more info – randy@speeddirect.com. Again, don’t reply to this email or you will send it to every beer drinking fool on the planet. Really.
Anybody else have anything you want to list? Beer related or not, just lemme know and I will circulate your stuff around the universe. Well, my universe…
Links:
- Homebrewing News – A website started by our buddy Bill Downs here in the Four Corners area that focuses on product reviews and more: www.homebrewingnews.com
- Local Beerlover Networking Website: Check out www.brewerfest.com for a social beer lover’s networking site. It works kinda like Facebook, only without all the loser teenagers counting how many totally irrelevant “friends” they can amass proving how completely lame they are. This site is actually cool! (Yes, a big fan of Facepuke here…) Joseph from Pagosa Brewing started this one up and it has some great photos of HOPS junk, plus it is free to join! Sign in and rock out with your beer out.
UNSUBSCRIBE – But if you do, one hairy cock-eyed beast will show up in the middle of the night. And I can not say if it will be a cock-eyed boar or a fellow homebrewer. Either way, it aint gonna be purdy…