May 2014 Meeting Minutes

ATF Homebrew Club

May 2014 Meeting Minutes

By Bryan Conway

Here’s the meeting minutes from the May gathering held at 12pm on May 18, 2014 at New Bern Homebrew Supply.

First of all, a thank you goes to Travis Watson for providing the location and Bryan Conway for supplying the pizza.

Introduction of Officers and Guests

We introduced the officers, held a roll call and the following members and guests were present:

Bryan Conway

Jeremy Davis

Pete Frye

Rob Jones

Tim Martin

Mike Dawson

Dennis Overby

Guests: (actually opened the shop to us in Travis’ absence)

Luke Henslick

Megan Henslick

If anyone was accidentally excluded or a mistake to the list noted, please let me know and I will correct the minutes.

Brews Available for Sampling at the Meeting

·         Bryan – Rob’s Partigyle,

·         Rob – Berlinerweisse,

·         Bryan – Irish Red,

·         Jeremy – Irish Stout,

·         Mike – Oatmeal Stout,

·         Rob – Resurrection Rye,

·         Luke – Pale Ale,

·         Megan – Cider,

·         Brian – Sorachi Ace SMASH,

·         Dennis – 2X Black IPA,

·         Pete – Imperial Pale Lager

·         Tim – Sam Adams Rebel IPA.

Program Speaker/Tech Talk

Rob Jones touched back on the stir plates that he is building.  His newest model is remote controlled!  Next month’s tech Talk will be presented by Terry Laurie.

Scheduled tech talks:

• June talk – Terry Laurie.
• July talk – need a volunteer
• August – Mike Dawson
• September – need a volunteer
• October – need a volunteer

Treasurer's Report

Ben Chapman was unavailable due to illness.  Concern was noted by some of the membership about the lack of information on the club’s finances.  Questions were posed to the President as to his oversight of the finances.  Efforts will be made to gather more detailed information as to the disposition of last year’s entry fees and the current balance in the club’s accounts.

Committee updates

The Crystal Coast Brew Off Committee Chairman, Ben Chapman was unavailable for an update.

The Monthly Club Competition Committee Chairman, Terry Laurie was unavailable for comment but the next comp will be held at next month’s meeting.

Homebrew Festival Committee Chairman Rob Jones reported that the Farmer’s Market in New Bern was contacted in regards to the possibility of having a Homebrewer’s Festival at that location.  The costs breakdown as $700 up front, this includes a $50 non-refundable deposit and a 300 cleaning deposit that will be refunded if the market is cleaned to the satisfaction of the management.  This would result in a total cost of $400 if the market can be cleaned properly and we would have Friday to have the event.  The market would have to be ready for the vendors to arrive by 6:00 am.  A conversation with the local authorities has yielded a positive note thus far as to whether or not the festival would be allowed.

Old Business/Recent Events

May 3^rd “Big Brew Day” – Everybody participating had a great time.  Thanks to Pete for accommodating the event with his equipment and location.  We will be sampling the results of the brew for months to come.

New/Ongoing Business

Rob called for nominations for this month's "Brewer of the Month" page and Pete Frey was selected.  Go to the website to see a quick bio on Pete.

Joe’s homebrew demonstration at Coastal Beverage was postponed until the fall.  A lack of interest by the target employees at the company prompted management to reevaluate their approach.

Bryan discusses the progress of the incorporation project.  One thing that is needed is a modification of the clubs by-laws to add the necessary language and clauses.  Following the current by-laws, a committee was formed.  Rob Jones, Jeremy Davis and Dennis Overby volunteered to join the committee.  

Brew Bern 2014 is almost here (June 28^th).  Dustin has invited and we have graciously accepted.  The following members volunteered to attend with beer to serve:

·         New Bern Homebrew Supply – 2 beers

·         Dennis Overby – Dixie Hill Pale Ale

·         Pete Frey – Brewery 99 – 1 beer

·         Bryan Conway – 1 beer

·         Rob Jones – Resurrection Rye

·         Tim Martin – Little Dog Pale Ale

Also discussed was the possibility of selling pretzel necklaces and some of our t-shirts at events, approved.  Also approved was a motion to order more business cards to hand out at the festival as our current supply quickly disappeared. 

Tim showed everyone a rendering of a nice serving station/tap tower he is willing to build for the club to use at such events.  All that would need to be procured by the club is the necessary plumbing and connectors.  Purchase of the necessary parts were put up to a vote and passed. 

Reapproached was the idea of purchasing a new, larger banner for the club to display.  After a small amount of discussion and pointing out the fact that Travis donated toward that specific cause, it was agreed to go ahead with a new banner.

A Camping trip/Homebrew Party was proposed based on what the Maltose Falcons Club in San Francisco does three times a year.  The Falcons have three major homebrew parties each year and camp out as a group.  The members walk from camp site to camp site sharing homebrew and enjoying each other’s company.  A couple of members agree to look into some local camp grounds to see if they would allow such an event.  Tentative date is likely to be in October.

Next Meeting will be at New Bern Home Brew Supply and will be held on Sunday, June 22^nd at 12:00 noon and will be sponsored by Ben Chapman.  The relaxed atmosphere of the Sunday format was nice and members present agreed to continue.   With only 9 attendees, a slight drop in attendance was expected for the first month or two.  Compared to past attendance though (April had 11 in attendance, March had 11 and February had 13), the difference was not earth shattering but we’ll see what the future brings.

Meeting sponsors:

·         June 2014 sponsor - Ben Chapman

·         July 2014 sponsor - Phil Smith

·         August 2014 sponsor - Mike Dawson

·         September 2014 sponsor - need a volunteer

·         Oktoberfest 2014 sponsor - Dennis Overby

·         November 2014 sponsor – need a volunteer

Motion made to adjourn the meeting, drink some beer and eat some pizza….PASSED!