Big Brew Re-cap 2011

I spent a little time down in Santa Barbara so I didn't get a chance to post this years pictures of the Big Brew event hosted Seabright Brewery. But, better late than never. A handful of the zymurgeek club members participated by demonstrating different ways of brewing a batch of beer, including three extracts types and four all-grain brews.

Zymurgeeks

I decided not to haul my brew sculpture down there this year because it's a real pain to move around. Instead I mashed in a five gallon bucket and brewed a five gallon batch of Alt on a single burner. Easy and enjoyable and I got a great efficiency out of the bucket mash.

Seabright Brewery was generous to allow the use of their patio area and kept us happy with great beer. There was also a little homebrew to be had including Stout, Blonde ale and Lambik to name a few.

Aside from a stuck mash at one of the rigs, good time was had by all and another successful Big Brew. Looking forward to next year.





Megan with an extract batch





Preparing  for a stuck sparge



Mashing in a bucket



Looking over the process



Mashing in



Zymurgeeks making beer



California Homebrew Club Of The Year

The awards ceremony and luncheon for the California Homebrew Club of the Year winners was held again at Anchor Brewing in San Francisco and the winner is.... the Maltos Falcons, again. This Southern California club is huge with over 300 members and are very active in their communities and in the homebrewing arena so it's not surprising that they have now won this title seven times. There are so many members in this club that they have their own band which performed during the event and they were pretty good.

Anchor Brewing was a great host as usual and provided not only their regular line up of outstanding beers but debuted a brown ale that was excellent.

Anchor's brewer Ollie said "brew master Mark Carpenter's first brew and it's named after Gottlieb Breckle who bought a brewery in S.F. in 1871 which twenty five years later became Anchor Brewing. The Breckle Brown is kind of a 'hats off' to him because he started it all."

The Anchor website has more details on the the man that inspired the idea of Breckle's Brown

All those homebrewers that were in attendance were also served an amazing lunch of Tri-tip, BBQ chicken, mash potato's, corn on the cob and salad by Anchor employees. I attended with a few fellow Zymurgeeks and we scored a special tour of the facilities which included the room where the new owners were storing oak casks to later be used for holding their ever expanding line of distilled products. 

I appreciate Anchor Brewing for allowing me to be included and also, a special thanks goes out to Dave B. for being our designated driver.

Big Brew At Seabright Brewery

Big Brew was a challenge for me this year because it was the first batch of beer I’ve made since putting my brewing equipment in storage six months ago. I pulled it all out a few days early to take an inventory of what I needed and to make sure I was prepared for a day without mishaps. As it turns out, I only forgot a couple unessential components like my thermometer and clarifier.

The American Homebrewers Association event turned out to be a big success this year with six members of the Zymurgeeks homebrew club including myself, brewing batches of beer in the patio area of Seabright Brewery. The day was sunny and warm and we set up early to prepare our demonstrations for the amusement of the coming lunch crowd. Several of the AHA’s recommended recipes (Am. Wheat, Scottish ale and Oktoberfest) were brewed but I took a different path by brewing an organic pale ale. I decided that if I was going to make ten gallons of beer, that it ought to be something that I enjoy drinking and that would be good for the coming summer months. With an original gravity of 1.054 this should be a low alcohol easy drinking beer with bold citrus hop flavors.

While the day was enjoyable, the space was limited and I found myself feeling a little claustrophobic as I squeezed my way between brew rigs to plug into the electrical outlet and screw my water hose into the community splitter. Fortunately, plenty of homebrew was being shared to keep my sense of humor in tact. We all took up glasses of beer to make the national home brewers toast and it gave me pause to appreciate the camaraderie and shared interests of my local home brewing community.

When all was said and done, I hit my targeted gravity and my equipment performed perfectly despite the months it lay dormant in storage while I was in Mexico. The hard part was the clean up and jockeying my heavy brew sculpture out between tables which were filled with patrons enjoying their lunch.

It's Good To Be Back

Back in California and feeling a little dissoriented from the culture shock and the transition to an unknown future. Holed up for a week in the Rio Sands hotel in Aptos while Susan is in So. Ca. visiting with family. We will be house sitting these next six weeks and searching for a permanent home while we're at it. When we left California last year we gave up on the 'sure thing' house to return to, for various reason and so the challenge of finding a new place in the over crowded and over priced rental market of Santa Cruz county is upon us. Let us pray.

In the mean time, I've spent the last week and hundreds of dollars having repairs made to my car. Fixing mechanical failures because of the abuse it suffered exposed to the winter weather for the five months while I was in Mexico. Lesson learned - cover vehicle with a big blue tarp while away for any extended period of time.

On the up side, I'm really enjoying all the beers that now seem to be everywhere, enjoying beyond moderation to be frank. It's overwhelming to have such a great variety of fantastic beers after that dry spell I call Mexico. I went after my favorites right away, Sierra Nevada pale ale and Torpedo from the grocery store, Trumer Pils on draft at the nearby bistro and Pelican Pale ale at Seabright brewery. Not to mentions the beers that I've had chilled in my kegerator while I was gone, La Chouffe Golden, Affligem Double and Paulaner Salvator. Besides that, I've got twenty five gallons of homebrew that has been lagering this whole time including a year old 10%abv. Russian Imperial stout, a Weizenbock and a Schwarzbeir. As much as I like Mexico, Oh it's good to be back.

My upcoming beer activities begin with the American Homebrewers Associations Big Brew Day on May 1st. where I plan to brew with fellow Zymurgeeks homebrew club members at Seabright Brewery. I've also got the five weekend intensive brew course scheduled at Cabrillo College in July but first a beer tasting session at the end of June. If you're in the area and want to attend the Cabrillo College classes but have questions, please feel free to email me for more information.

Now, I've really got to get back to drinking some more of this beer!

Competition Heats Up

The Santa Cruz County Fair will be held next week and the homebrew competition sponsered by the Zymurgeeks homebrew club is under way. ;lkj;lkj number of beers were entered by asdfsd homebrewers, the largest entrants in the history of the event and many of us were gathered around a keg of Stout anticipating the results coming in from the judges. I had entered six beers this year and the following are the scores for each

• Dry stout


• Amer. Pale Ale


• Eng. IPA with Rye


• Dunkel Weizen


• Imperial Stout

Zymurgeeks at the Capitola Book Cafe

In an effort to create community and to support a local business, the Zymurgeek homebrew club http://www.zymurgeeks.org/ gave a presentation Wednesday night at the Capitola Book Cafe http://www.capitolabookcafe.com/ drawing a large and supportive crowd. With the rapid expansion of on-line book sales through businesses like Amazon and mega retailers like Borders, the small local book stores are fighting an up hill battle to keep their customer loyalty and entice new patrons. As unfortunate as this is, it is becoming the norm regarding small, independent retailers of all kinds and can be seen in every town in America. It seems the days of small town America are over. I'm not going to belabor a point that has been hashed and re-hashed in the daily news and blog forums and is obvious to most but, I will point out that when a person buys goods on line or from a gianormous box store, the money spent leaves the community, etching away at the local commerce. This erosion of the local economy not only effects every ones financial livelihood but maybe more importantly, undermines the quality of our lives by creating a separation that isolates us from each other.

To begin the evening, several members gave talks on beer taxes and the daunting prospects for a huge tax increase in Oregon followed by a brief overview of how to get started brewing with malt extract. As the presenters talked, a variety of brewing books were discussed and pointed out as available to purchase or special order. A large number of books were taken home that evening.

Then we poured home brew to all interested. We had about 8 kegs of beer on tap and a keg of mead all donated by the club members. The audience was impressed and lingered to taste and ask questions about home brewing, the club and our connection with the Capitola Book Cafe. At the end of the evening, we gathered our mostly empty kegs to head home and congratulated each other on a successful event. I look forward to the next opportunity to build alliances, and connect with my neighbors while supporting a local business through home brewed beer.

Comment below to share your ideas of creating community.

The Value Of A Homebrewing Club

The Zymurgeeks homebrew club http://www.zymurgeeks.org/ met at my house a couple of weeks ago and afterwords it got me thinking about the value and importance of brewing clubs and why I think a homebrewer should join their local brew club.



When I first started brewing beer at home I heard through the local homebrew store that a homebrewers group existed in the area. I'm not much of a joiner and tend to

be suspicious of the idea that groups of people are able to collectively accomplish anything of value. I tend to be of the opinion that the larger and more urgent the group, the more adverse the impact on the rest of us. So of course I didn't see the point in participating at the time. I'm not sure what compelled me to go to that first meeting, it most likely was cautious curiosity. Whatever the reason, I showed up and let down my guard.

In retrospect I now see the importance of involving myself with my fellow homebrewers. A large part of the development of my homebrewing skills is from the direct influence of members in my club. Their sincere approvals when I shared a particularly good beer I made and the hesitant criticisms when it was lacking. I've learned to consider it all. Conversely, through the course of my years of membership, I have acquired the subtle art of critiquing fellow members brews with honest opinions while being constructive and sensitive (a good thing to know how to use in my everyday life). The shared information from members that have been brewing far longer than I, was and still is very helpful in my ongoing brewing development. In fact each member, whether a seasoned veteran or novice newbie is a valuable asset in terms of the wealth of knowledge and information that they bring to the collective. Additionally, friendships grow from sharing our ideas and of course our homebrew.

Other important incentives to joining a homebrew club are:

• the occasional opportunities to exchange equipment and materials. The grain mill I use today is one I got from another member for $20. It took a little renovation, but works like a charm.


• having a resource for qualified and valued opinions about your beer. Several of the member of Zymurgeeks are competition judges.


• a place to give back to the homebrewing community by helping others. Regularly, different members will volunteer to make the long journey to the wholesaler for group buys.


• staying informed about brewing events and competitions


• challenging your personal limitations in a group of supportive peers.


• learning from others experiences to keep from making the same mistakes.


• getting to check out other brewers gadgets and beer making do-dads.


• participating in pub crawls and brewery tours. If you work it right, you won't have to drive, freeing you up to indulge.

I'm sure I haven't covered all the reason for being in a brew group but these are enough for me to participate despite my reservations about groups.

Please add to the list of reasons in the comment section.

Beers on oak

As zymurgeeks, we meet once a month to share and discuss the fruits of our brewing efforts and enjoy the company of people passionate about the hobby we enjoy the most in our lives. This month we met at member Brad's house for his homemade porter infused chili and and to partake in an assortment of oak aged beers presented by Dave Bossie. I can appreciate oak flavor in beer just like I appreciate the history from which those flavors are derived. The flavors of a time before the advent of stainless steel when the typical fermenting vessels were necessarily made of hardwood. But I have to say that I have a problem when the dominant flavor in a beer is of the vessel in which it is matured. Fortunately, all of the beers we tasted had supportive flavors of oak, adding to the character and complexity of the beer rather than overpowering. I was impressed with the Stone Brewing's 'Arrogant Bastard Oak' www.stonebrew.com/oaked/ as having a balance of malt and oak flavors with good hop bitterness. The other beers I tasted, the oak was subdued. Those beers include Petrus Oud Bruin http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/718/2479 which is a very nice Flanders sour and the J. W Lees 'Harvest Ale' http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/178/705 that had a bourbon/malt character and hints of a subtle oak flavor.


Recently returned from

Octoberfest in Munich,

Steve pours a beer.