We're tasting stouts for our HOPS meeting this evening at Pagosa Brewing Company at 6 pm. We didn't saddle a color group with the responsibility for beer so please bring an interesting stout to share (2 12-oz bottles or a single bomber) and we'll try them along w/ the great stouts the brewery has on tap right now.
See you tonight!
Don't forget that we have a HOPS meeting tomorrow at 6 pm at Pagosa Brewing Co. We will taste lagers of all types and it will be a good opportunity to learn more about these bottom-fermented beverages. Check out categories 1-5 of the BJCP style guidelines for more information about lagers: http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php.
Cheers!
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
I've sent an email specifically to my Green Team about the tasty brews we need to provide at the August meeting, but I figure it wouldn't hurt to share the little bit of research I've done with everyone and see if anyone has some more beer to contribute. (and this way I should be covered if my first email happened to end up in my team members' spam folder)
WikipediaBJCP 2008 Style Guide German Beer InstituteMy Summary: Basically, back in the good ole days they couldn't/wouldn't make beer during the summer months. Beer production stopped in March and the batches were stored in caves with ice blocks. To last through several months of storage, the beer was often strong or well-hopped. Before the brewing season opened up again—got hopping ;)—in October, they had to throw a party to clean out the barrels and get brewing again. The style is characterized by a medium to full body, a malty flavor and a clean dry finish.I was really surprised at the extensive list of examples in the Wikipedia link above. Check it out. Feel free to reply if you've got something that you want to contribute (and if you can't make the meeting, I'd be happy to schedule a pick-up---within reason I know this is going out to the internet). That way we can try and get a broad sampling. Happy Beer Hunting.
