July 2014 Meeting Minutes

ATF Homebrew Club

July 2014 Meeting Minutes

By Bryan Conway

Here’s the meeting minutes from the June gathering held at 1pm on July 20, 2014 at New Bern Homebrew Supply.

First of all, a thank you goes to Travis Watson for providing the location and Phil Smith for supplying the refreshments.  Although Travis was not able to be there, Luke and Megan opened the shop to us.

Introduction of Officers and Guests

We introduced the officers, held a roll call and the following members and guests were present at some point during the meeting:

Jeremy Davis

Phil Smith

Tim Martin

Terry Laurie

Gregg Bergquist

Rob Jones

Megan Henslick

Luke Henslick

Tim Dryden (new member)

Mike Dawson

Luke Dobbs

Bryan Conway

Pete Frye

Ben Chapman

Guests: none.

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

·         Jeremy - Shock Top Apple Wheat (commercial),

·         Phil - Apple cider (homebrew), Stout (homebrew),

·         Tim - Shiner Black Lager (commercial),

·         Rob - Ressurrection Rye (homebrew),

·         Terry - Shiner Pale Ale (commercial), Pale Ale (homebrew), Dale's Pale Ale (commercial),

·         Gregg - Duclaw Choco Peanut Porter (commercial), New Belgian Summer Helles (commercial),

·         Bryan - Belgian Dubbel (homebrew),

·         Luke D. - Sorachi Saison (homebrew),

·         Mike - Black IPA (homebrew), Brown Ale (homebrew),

·         Pete - Belgian Trippel (homebrew),

·         Ben - Black IPA (homebrew), Amber (homebrew),

Program Speaker/Tech Talk

Terry gave us a discussion about oxygenation and Luke D. discussed his current favorite hop variety, Sorachi Ace.  Very enlightening on both accounts. Scheduled tech talks:

• August – Mike Dawson
• September – Rob Jones
• October – need a volunteer
• November – need a volunteer

Treasurer's Report

Ben Chapman reported that we have somewhere north of the $1,000 mark before adding this year's CCBO entry fees. Exactly how much remains to be seen.

Old Business/Recent Events

Talked about Brew Bern and the impact the new tap towers had on the crowd. 

Committee updates

The Crystal Coast Brew Off Committee Chairman, Ben Chapman reported that we have 121 beers registered for the competition and a 150 entry cut off.  Set up will begin Friday night at 06:00 with a pre-judging to get some of the more oddball entries out of the way.  Everybody attending should be at the brewery at about 08:30 Saturday.  Raffle tickets will be 1$ = 1 ticket, 5$ = 6 tickets and 10$ = 15 tickets.  Larger items will be silent auctioned.

The Monthly Club Competition Committee Chairman, Terry Laurie, discussed the next comp to be held in September, covering Category 16 - Belgian and French, and Category 18 - Belgian Strong.

Homebrew Festival Committee Chairman Rob Jones talked some more about possible naming the festival for a charity for the homeless, "Homebrew for the Homeless".

New/Ongoing Business

The floor called for nominations for this month's "Brewer of the Month", and Tim Martin was selected.  Go to the website to see a quick bio on Tim's brewing career.

Bryan discussed the progress of the incorporation project.  A revised version of the clubs by-laws was posted on The Yahoo Groups page, the club website and Facebook.  The new by-laws will be voted on at the August meeting.

Pete Frey was unable to get into contact with Mark Vandersea regarding recovery of the old minutes book.  We'll try getting in touch with him another way.

Rob Jones discussed the September meeting and the proposition of conducting a stein bier brew day.  Rob has already collected the stones necessary and has a fire pit constructed.  Pete was asked about using his mash tun, Jeremy suggested he may have a metal grate for the project and Ben volunteered that he had wood.  Motion passed for the club to buy a sack of grain and it was agreed to meet at Rob's house for the September meeting.

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.  Looking into the possibility of Goose Creek on Hwy 24 unless anyone has a better idea.  Tentative date is likely to be in October.

Next Meeting will be at New Bern Home Brew Supply on Sunday, August 24 at 1:00 pm and will be sponsored by Mike Dawson.  With most of the members arriving for the meeting at 1:00 or close to it, it was agreed last month to try starting the meeting at 1pm instead of 12 noon.  I got a lot of good responses from it and based on the increased number of attendees, the Sunday format seems to be catching on.

Meeting sponsors:

·         August 2014 sponsor - Mike Dawson

·         September 2014 sponsor - Rob Jones

·         Oktoberfest 2014 sponsor - Dennis Overby

·         November 2014 sponsor – need a volunteer

·         December 2014 sponsor – need a volunteer

·         January 2015 sponsor - Tim?

Motion passed to adjourn the meeting and drink some beer!  18:33