November 2014 Meeting Minutes

ATF Homebrew Club

November 2014 Meeting Minutes

By Tim Dryden

Here are the meeting minutes from the November gathering held at 1pm on November 23, 2014 at the New Bern Homebrew Supply store.

First of all, a thank you goes out to Megan for opening their great shop and providing us a location to get together.

Introduction of Officers and Guests

A roster of all club members/ guests was taken and is as follows:

Dick Weiss

Bryan Conway - President

Terry Laurie - Vice President

Rob Jones - Webmeister

Dawn Jones - Treasurer

Tim Dryden Secretary

Dennis Overby

Megan Henslick

Pete Frey

Tim Martin

JoEllen Essex

Joe Bratcher

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

●     Rob J. - Stein

●     Rob J. – B.U.C.K.

●     Tim D. - Oktoberfest (homebrew)

●     Tim D. - Pils (homebrew)

●     Bryan C. - American Pale Ale (homebrew)

●     Bryan C. - Robust Porter (homebrew)

●     Terry L. - Stein Brew (homebrew)

●     Terry L. - Brown Ale (homebrew)

●     Dennis O - Scottish (commercial)

●     Tim M, - IPA (Modus Hoperandi)

Monthly Club Competition

None

Program Speaker/Tech Talk

Tim D gave a class and guided a discussion on fermentation.

Scheduled tech talks:

●     February – Tim D

Treasurer's Report

Dawn provided a detailed treasurer’s report to all that were on hand.  The report showed that we have $1383.84 in the account and $66.04 in the cash box.

Old Business/Recent Events

-The Crystal Coast Hop Fest and Brew Durham festivals were a complete success.  A special thank you goes out to each brewer that participated. We truly were that talk of the festivals. 

-Stein Brew Sampling:  Each member that took a portion of the stein brew and brought one to this meeting discussed the yeast and fermentation technique that each had used to this point.  We sampled each version and compared each of the different styles.

Committee updates

Crystal Coast Brew Off Committee  - It was decided that the primary and secondary chairpersons will be selected and named during the January meeting.

Homebrew Festival Committee Chairman, Rob Jones, reported that we are in full swing scheduling and planning our homebrew festival with Habitat for Humanity.  This charity was started by President Jimmy Carter, who is also responsible for approving the legislation that allows us to legally enjoy our great hobby, so it is a fitting combination.  The chairman from Habitat for Humanity has already given us a hearty “yes” as to sponsoring our festival and we need to nail down a date and begin hammering out the details.  We are tentatively looking at September/ October 2015.

Judging Committee Chairman, Dennis Overby had a very detailed discussion about category 9C.  He offered a commercial Scottish Export 80/ and guided us through the process that a judge would use in scoring this beer.

New/Ongoing Business

-The elected officers met and agreed that the club would set a minimum checking account balance of $250.   The decision was also made to allow the officers to vote on and spend no more than $250 for any club needs without tabling a vote and receiving authorization from the club members at the next meeting.

-It was discussed that the club president needs to talk with a tax attorney/ CPA concerning establishing a 501c status.  Tim D agreed to head this up.  His wife is a bookkeeper in New Bern and had agreed to ask the CPA’s that she works with for guidance.

-There were two possible membership drives discussed.  Rob J and Tim D will be working to get a booth at the Farmers Market and sell items for the homebrew shop.  Bryan C discussed the possibility of hosting one or two (New Bern and Morehead City) beer tasting events.  Both of these events would get the club a lot of public exposure prior to the Homebrew Festival.

-The Christmas party was discussed.  Two possible dates were discussed, December 7 and 14^th. 

-It was decided that the monthly meetings would now be held on the third Sunday of each month.  The venue and date may shift due to non-availability/ holidays.

-Next years stein brew will be held in March/ April

-Brewers needed for the Jolly Skull Brew Fest, Saturday January 24th

Next Meeting:  Christmas Party

Meeting sponsors:

●     December 2014 - Tim D or the Home Brew Store

●     January 2015 - Tim M

●     February 2015 - Terry Laurie

●     March 2015 – Rob and Dawn Jones (Stein Brew)

Motion passed to adjourn the meeting and drink some beer!