HOPS – Homebrewers Of Pagosa Springs Greetings all, Can you believe summer is almost over? No really, think about it. The Solstice was back in June, so the days are already getting shorter. I wore a light jacket on my morning ride the other day. Break out your snowboards, winter is right around the corner! Time to start fattening up for the winter hibernation again. Which brings me to my next subject – bears. A stupid bear broke into our shop last night. “Yeah, so?” you say. It’s Pagosa, they’re everywhere. Well, this time it was a little different. You see, this is also the shop that houses our kegerator and all our brewing grains. Lucky for us, it found a 25lb sack of brown sugar and went to town on it, leaving the rest of our precious goodies alone. That stupid thing probably wandered around the forest for hours with a sugar high until it puked. I hope it did. Had I not been working on said kegerator mere hours before, I probably would have woken up and heard the ruckus. Then, armed with a dim flashlight, a semi-clean pair of whitey-tighteys and some rubber flip flops, I would have charged right at it (and possibly found myself up the creek without a mash paddle). If the thing didn’t die of laughter, it probably would have offered me a beer. After all, maybe it had good taste in choosing a beer shop to break into rather than a dumpster. For all I know he could turn into my new fuzzy beer drinking buddy. Maybe I’ll help him prepare for winter. Me and Mr. Bear, kicking it next to the kegerator with a frothy mug of Bourbon IPA. Actually, he would probably prefer the Honey Vanilla Porter. Sure beats twigs and berries! So, anyone have ideas on how to ferment a bunch of brown sugar only slightly soiled by bear drool? Cheers ~ Randini the Beer Spammer Tech Tip of the Day: To stir the mash, or not to stir the mash? That is the question at hand. There are different thoughts on this depending on what you aim to achieve, but most opinion out there is NOT to stir the mash. Those who claim you should stir the mash are primarily trying to get more fermentables out of the grain. While you may be able to achieve a small increase in fermentable sugar, the side affects may outweigh the benefits. By stirring the mash you disturb the grain bed, meaning you are whipping more debris, which will cloud your beer and add additional tannins to the beer. Stirring can also introduce oxygen, a precursor that could potentially oxidize the beer later on. Last thing is that stirring can also reduce head retention. So if you are really trying to get a little more sugar out of the batch I would say add more grain or even throw some extract at it, but leave the grain bed alone, man! Quote of the Day: My beers are cold and delicious. Fermented sustenance that quenches my thirst and numbs my senses. It is fragrant and hoppy, and may lead me to be sloppy, but rarely a fall I have taken. I drink of it often, and share it with others Friends and family, sisters and brothers Therefore I brew a lot, to keep fermenters full So we can party, markets bear, or markets bull - My cuz Rob, homebrewing in CT HOPS Meetings: A) Geek Night – Tonight, July 19th (group brew as well) B) County Fair Competition – The first week in August is the Archuleta county fair, and we need to have a big ol’ turn out for the beer, wine and mead competition. This year it is a BJCP sanctioned event, meaning if you win, you could have an opportunity to do a pro-am brew with Tony at Pagosa Brewing Co. There it is, I spilled the beans. Better than spilling the beerz. You will also get some great feedback on your entries, complete with pros and cons, and often great additional suggestions. RECAP OF PREVIOUS EVENTS: UPCOMING LOCAL NEWS & EVENTS: Pagosa Brewing Company News / Events: FRONT RANGE & BEYOND NEWS & EVENTS: The start date for Breckenridge to receive entries is July 11th, 2011 and we will stop accepting entries post-marked after July 20th, 2011. Judging will take place at the end of July with an Awards Ceremony to follow. Judges will choose the top beers in each of the three categories and from those top three a "Best Over-All" Winner will be announced. That brewer and his/her liquid will go down in Colorado Craft Brewing History as; "Breckenridge Brewery's 21st Anniversary Ale". The "Best Over-All" Winner will get to come to the Breckenridge Brewery's Main Production Facility in Denver, CO and brew their creation on our brew house for a release date TBA. They will then be able to enjoy it from the taps at our six Brew Pub locations across Colorado. I have the entry form and rules sheet if you are interested (Randy). Please mail or drop-off entries to Breckenridge Brewery at 471 Kalamath Street, Denver, CO 80204 ATTN: HOMEBREW (between July 11th and July 20th, 2011). Due to the specific and critical timeline of this opportunity, we are asking you to get this information out to your members quickly!!! We look forward to some great beers... Cheers and Good Luck! If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to respond to this email or call Todd Usry @ 303.803.1368 or skinsfan@breckenridgebrewery.com or John Jordan @ 303.803.1360 john@breckenridgebrewery.com Sara Barnett Marketing, Breckenridge Brewery mobile: 970.597.0203 direct: 800.328.6723 x106email: sarab@breckenridgebrewery.com FOR SALE / FOR FREE / WANTED: Anybody else have anything you want to list? Just lemme know and I will circulate your stuff around the universe. Well, my universe… UNSUBSCRIBE – But if you do, you wont know where the fun is. Kinda like Fuzzy. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy drank my beer. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t very friendly while he got pretty warm and fuzzy after raiding my beer shop. Fuzzy Wuzzy’s not invited over any more because he gets violent when he drinks and rips through doors. In fact, I unsubscribed him so he doesn’t know where the next beer event is. You don’t want that to happen to you. (Reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject Line to be removed. No hard feelings. Well, not many…)
* 8pm - Reggae DJ
* 9pm to late - Summit Dub Squad (from Flagstaff)
* "Reggae Red" Cask Ale (with some danky aromatics!)
* Reggae Pizzas & Burgers too
We had a great meeting Monday night and sampled many fine meads and a few not-so-fine mead/wine blends. Sulfites can really hurt a mead don't you think! We also got to try Kevin's first homebrew, an IPA, and we encouraged Kevin to keep pursuing his homebrewing hobby...he's got a heck of a first brew!
Thanks to everyone who attended the meeting and helped make it a success. We will send out information soon about color group assignments and the upcoming styles of the month along with some guidelines for bringing beers to sample each month.
Enjoy the long holiday weekend over the Fourth and remember: Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew!
Cheers,
Jason
HOPS – Homebrewers Of Pagosa Springs
Greetings all,
Well we did it – we pulled it off! That great beer escapade called the Homebrew Hoedown. And we had a great time too! Lots of people, lots of fun and lots of beer, mead and other con-cock-sions (Really? Old Cock Ale? That was unexpected…) Oh come now, don’t be sad. There are plenty more beer events to come, for the summer is just beginning. From Rails & Ales, to Salida to the GABF, we gotta long way to go before this beer flame burns out. Check out more below to see what’s to come and I hope to catch up with you at some of them to share a beer together.
Cheers ~
Randini the Beer Spammer
Tech Tip of the Day: When you decide to brew a batch of beer, then get a hankerin’ to just up n’ chuck a rooster in that boilin’ wort, be sure to pluck ‘em first.
Quote of the Day: “You know, you do get a little more of the chicken aroma in this beer as it warms up…”
- Compliments of our new brew buddies from south of the border (CO border that is).
HOPS Meetings:
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HOPS – Old Business:
- Ok, so last month’s style of the month was IPA. Can I call a Do-Over? Not because we screwed it up, but because it ROCKED! Wait, this month is gonna rock too, so never mind…
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HOPS – New Business:
- Next Meeting: This coming Monday, the 27th is the next HOPS meeting, Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00 PM.
- Style of the Month: Mead. Oh yes, I said it. M E A D. I think that if some people weren’t such beer heads, they would probably turn into mead heads. I am one of those people. In fact, I may in fact be a mead-head in hiding. I don’t hide very well either.
- Club Member Cards: Be sure to get your club member cards at the next meeting so you get the HOPS discount at Pagosa Brewing during the meetings! Remember, dues paying members get employee discounts on food and drink during HOPS meetings.
- Discussion: Some ideas we want to go over include the following:
A) A rotating group for collecting the style of the month samples. That way collecting samples does not fall on the same people every month. I still need to do this, but I will get to it some day…
B) HOPS has a new Website! Check us out at www.pagosahops.org. Aren’t we official? Big thanks to Jason Cox for all the time and energy he put into this! Actually, regarding this new website, if you are reading this letter now then this effects you. Please scroll down and see how things have changed regarding you receiving the HOPS Brewsletter.
C) Geek Night – No really, some day we will get to this. Anyone wanna volunteer to host?
D) County Fair Competition – The first week in August is the Archuleta county fair, and we need to have a big ol’ turn out for the beer, wine and mead competition. This year we should be BJCP sanctioned, meaning if you win, you could have an opportunity to do a pro-am brew with Tony at Pagosa Brewing Co. There it is, I spilled the beans. Better than spilling the beerz.
RECAP OF PREVIOUS EVENTS:
- Previous HOPS Meeting Recap – IPA. I think I am still tasting hops from that session! If you missed it, then oh yes, you missed out!
- June 11th Homebrew Hoedown – We had about 35 people turn up and we had a great time indeed. As you may have guessed, we saw a wide variety of beers and meads. Beer varieties included Pale Ales, Single Hop Ales, Honey Vanilla Porter, Bourbon IPA, Yarrow Beer, Green Chili Beer, Raspberry Cream Ale, Old Cock Ale (yes, a chicken in the brew), Saison, IPA and even more (sorry to those I forgot!). Of course Duane and Tracy drug out the loot with a huge variety of fine meads as well. Also thanks to the great support from local breweries, including Pagosa Brewing Co, San Luis Valley Brewing, Three Barrel Brewing, Ska Brewing and Steamworks Brewing. Thanks to all the sponsors for the great swag and thanks to all the people who traveled here to make the event great. We look forward to doing it again next year!
UPCOMING LOCAL EVENTS:
- Monday, – HOPS Meeting: This coming Monday is the HOPS Meeting. We will meet at Pagosa Brewing Company at 6:00 PM. This month we will be going over some of the upcoming events below and agenda items above, along with the Style of the Month. This time around the style is Mead! This takes tasting to a whole new level, so if you have not tried mead before (or even if you have) this is not a meeting to miss!
- July 2nd – Rales & Ales – From Alamosa to the middle of a field in the mountains, a train takes you to and from the event. This is a fun one, so check into it: http://www.riograndescenicrailroad.com/events/rails-a-ales-brewfest.html
- First Thursday Out – July 7thThe first Thursday 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 Farrago’s. See you there at 6:00!
- August 4-7 County Fair: Be sure to keep this event in mind – the homebrew, wine and mead competition is coming up and we want to have a great turn out!
- Latest News from Southwestern Breweries: Check out all the latest news from breweries around Durango, Farmington, Cortez, Silverton and beyond at Beer at 6512: http://beerat6512.blogspot.com/ . Latest news includes info about big events in Durango and Silverton, among others.
Pagosa Brewing Company News / Events:
- Summer Concert Series Starting Up! - Saturday, July 2nd - Big Circle TX (w/ members of The Wild Blooms!) 9:30p-Late with The Flying Elmos opening at 8:30p
Advance Tickets $10 (and may sell out!) Big Circle Tx, direct from Austin,Texas
will perform acoustic rock with a twist of blues. IndieWave says they're: "Beyond Cool !!!"
LOCAL NEWS:
- Beer Networking Website: Check out www.brewerfest.com to stay connected with homebrewers and beer lovers abroad. It’s like Facebook for beer lovers!
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HOPS Has A New Website: Go to www.pagosahops.org to check out all the latest happninz’ with your HOPS homies. You may be on the website reading this now. Then again you may not be. If you’re not, you probably ought to consider it. It rocks. Thanks again to Jason Cox for all the time and energy (inner-chi?) put into this!
OK, so here’s how this new website works (if I understand it all correctly). www.pagosahops.org is hosted by a site called posterous. This is a free site (which is cool for us) that allows us to send an email like this one to everyone on the list at once because it was posted on the website. If you reply to this email, it is posted on the website and everyone that is subscribed (that would be you and over 100 other groupies) would get a copy. So if you want the world (our world) to see your reply, then reply to this Brewsletter, (only positive feedback please, I am very sensitive! ;-)) But if you only want to reply to the Beer Spammer, then start a new email, don’t reply to this one. Got it? Groovage. If I screwed this up, Jason will reply and set me – and all of you – straight. If you have any other questions about how it all works, ask Jason at jason.cox@coxinnovations.com. Cheers!
FRONT RANGE & BEYOND NEWS & EVENTS:
- Brew Class & Hop School in Paonia, July 16-17 - Registration is open for the Brew Class and Hop School in Paonia, CO. Class will be held July 16-17 2011. I think there are some people in Pagosa that are interested in attending, so we might be able to get a group together for this one. More info here: http://www.coloradoorganichops.com/?page_id=157
- Breckenridge Homebrew Contest, July - Hear ye' Beer ye'! 2011 marks the 21st Anniversary of Breckenridge Brewery. To pay respect to our humble homebrew beginnings we are asking you, all Colorado Homebrewers, to create the recipe and assist in brewing our 21st Anniversary Ale.
The start date for Breckenridge to receive entries is July 11th, 2011 and we will stop accepting entries post-marked after July 20th, 2011. Judging will take place at the end of July with an Awards Ceremony to follow. Judges will choose the top beers in each of the three categories and from those top three a "Best Over-All" Winner will be announced. That brewer and his/her liquid will go down in Colorado Craft Brewing History as; "Breckenridge Brewery's 21st Anniversary Ale".
The "Best Over-All" Winner will get to come to the Breckenridge Brewery's Main Production Facility in Denver, CO and brew their creation on our brew house for a release date TBA. They will then be able to enjoy it from the taps at our six Brew Pub locations across Colorado.
I have the entry form and rules sheet if you are interested (Randy). Please mail or drop-off entries to Breckenridge Brewery at 471 Kalamath Street, Denver, CO 80204 ATTN: HOMEBREW (between July 11th and July 20th, 2011).
Due to the specific and critical timeline of this opportunity, we are asking you to get this information out to your members quickly!!!
We look forward to some great beers... Cheers and Good Luck!
If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to respond to this email or call Todd Usry @ 303.803.1368 or skinsfan@breckenridgebrewery.com or John Jordan @ 303.803.1360 john@breckenridgebrewery.com
Sara Barnett
Marketing, Breckenridge Brewery
mobile: 970.597.0203
direct: 800.328.6723 x106email: sarab@breckenridgebrewery.com
- Foam Fest: 2011 Colorado State Fair Craft Beer Competition August 27th: If you want to enter your beer in the state fair you need to have it in by August 8th. Let me know (see note about our new website above if you reply to this email) if you are interested in more info.
- Resource for Finding Brewing Equipment - So you have been looking for good beer equipment and can’t take the time to search Craig’s List every day, right? Check out this new website. It’s like a Beer’s List. Good stuff getting added daily: http://primaryfermenter.com
FOR SALE / FOR FREE / WANTED:
- Free fridge to a good home. Perfect for making a kegerator. For more info contact yours truly, the Beer Spammer. (Ken, if you gotz dibz on this thang you best get on it!)
- Free Bottles - Need bottles? We have LOTS of extra around these parts. Let me know if you need any beer or wine bottles. For you, for free.
Anybody else have anything you want to list? Just lemme know and I will circulate your stuff around the universe. Well, my universe…
UNSUBSCRIBE – Bark, woof woof. Grrrr?
(Reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject Line to be removed. No hard feelings. Well, not many…)
We had a great homebrew gathering with over 35 people this weekend at the Pagosa Brewing Co. in beautiful Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Beer lovers from Bloomfield and Aztec, NM, Durango, Del Norte and of course Pagosa (and who knows where else!) joined together to celebrate zymurgy and its wonderful fruits. Best of all, the weather cooperated and we enjoyed a nice 80-degree day with light winds and wonderful company. Wow!
We will post some pictures of the event soon and I'm going to highlight a few points in the meantime. A number of very generous homebrewers and craft brewers brought tasty beverages to share and we had seven taps beers with more than 30 different bottles available. We even had the privilege to sample some simply delectable meads from an expert and legendary meadmaker here in Pagosa Springs.
Our door prizes included great gifts from local breweries including Ska, Steamworks, San Luis Valley Brewing and Three Barrel Brewing. Of course, Tony Simmons and the crew at Pagosa Brewing hosted our event and did a wonderful job serving us great food. Best of all, Tony and John Bricker, head brewer and owner of Three Barrel Brewing Co. in Del Norte, CO (try the Hop Trash if you can...awesome!), joined us to sample our homebrews and to offer advice and even share some of their rare creations. Woohoo!
Thanks again to everyone who helped make this event a roaring success and we look forward to getting together again soon. The homebrewing community in the Four Corners is alive and well and growing. Keep up the good work and happy fermenting!
Don't forget our 1st Annual Hops Homebrew Hoedown (Triple H) coming up tomorrow, June 11, from 1 - 4 pm at Pagosa Brewing Co. in Pagosa Springs, CO. Get more information on our events page at http://pagosahops.org/pages/events and we look forward to seeing you there!
The Homebrewers of Pagosa Springs (HOPS) homebrew club has a new website and email list at www.pagosahops.org. Go directly to the site to view club and event information, check out the monthly HOPS Brewsletter or post a homebrewing topic for discussion.
You can also easily and securely send emails to other club members using our private email address of pagosahops@posterous.com. All email messages sent to this address will go to the inbox of all club members and allow us to communicate quickly and easily. Better yet, every email message you send gets posted on our own website at http://pagosahops.org/. Pretty sweet, eh!
Enjoy the new site and send me any feedback you'd like to offer. You don't need to create an account with our site host, Posterous, to participate in discussions. You can just respond to email messages directly and everything will work out hunky dory. If you do want to manage your communication preferences, though, go to www.pagosahops.org and click Login in the upper-right corner of the page. You can then sign up with a Posterous account or even use your Facebook account for posting to our website directly and for managing your communication preferences.
Maybe best of all, pagosahops.org works with your mobile devices. Check out more info at http://help.posterous.com/tag/mobile.
>Cheers!
Well, I finally got off my duff and found what I think will be a good hosting platform for our homebrewing club's website. The software we're using, Posterous, has a blog-like interface for sharing content like the monthly brewsletters and it also enables club members to easily email each other without worrying about spam or keeping a private email address list. Cool, eh!
Take a few minutes to check out the site and feel free to email me at jcox@coxinnovations.com with any suggestions.
Cheers!
Jason
