Little Mountain Hombrewing Club

February 20, 2016

-Finance report from Sam Puterbaugh

-Amanda Briggs de Lavini updated the club about the Akron Brew Tour. Based on feedback from club members, it will take place late Spring.

-Kirk Puterbaugh presented an update on the SMaSH beer tasting next month featuring experimental hop varieties. There are currently over twenty beers being brewed for the event. There is still time to brew a beer for next meeting, but time is of the essence so plan your brewing accordingly.

-Paul Klammer reviewed the BCJP test process and shared his score sheets with the club.

-Paul also reviewed the BJCP style for American Brown Ale, and the club tasted Brooklyn Brewery's Brown Ale. While the beer was true to style, the club felt the beer was missing some style points and was showing it's age in the flavor.

-Gino Lavini demonstrated how to build a mini-mash tun for small-batch brewing. He provided a list of the parts necessary along with their prices and showed how to convert the cooler .

February Social Event - Brim Kitchen + Brewery

June Akron Brewery Tour

May 16, 2016

- Nick Greco presented slides that explained the technical details of hope growing and analysis of the crop. Nick really knows a lot about this area and is a great resource for folks trying to understand hop contribution to their recipes as well as input for the home grower. Several members have participated in helping Nick at different points in his hop farming operation. Nick will share about future events that club members can participate in and it sounds like they will be well worth it and a great social experience as well.

- Sam presented on the stewarding process to prepare members who steward on their role. Stewards are our competitions front line for ensuring good score sheets and to keep the judging flowing smoothly. Sam's presentation is available as a file on the club facebook page.

- Paul and Mike presentated and update on the competition. Asked for more stewards and encouraged members to enter their beers.

- Paul presented a summary of his review of last year's score sheets. Some top line observations included: Experienced novice judges can reach the level of certified judges, bjcp judges do not maintain scoring at level required to pass exams (similar to driving/when's the last time you came to a compete stop at a stop sign when the intersection was obviously clear?), greatest omission is lack of words (it's hard to write about beer?), there is room for improvement and Paul is committed to seeing it happen at our competition over the next couple years.

- Joe Koss has been working hard and brought the Spike Brewing brew kettle that was donated for the competition.

April Social Event - Sibling Revelry

April 18, 2016

- Nick Greco gave and overview of his hop farm and shared sample brews and a hopped white wine he collaborated on with one of his neighbors on.

- Paul and Mike provided a King of the Mountain update.

March Social Event - Day trip to Staas Brewing in Delaware Ohio

March 21, 2016

- Guests included Andy Mitchell and Mike Ontolchik from SNOB's club. Andy brought his growler sized tiny keg which was very cool.

- Ed Hannan shared his thoughts about our founder, Joel Gayer. Joel founded the club and always stepped up to hel and advise. He was our critical support as new officers learned the ropes and established themselves. He was known to so many in the amateur and professional brewing community as someone who did everything they could to promote our hobby. Joel was a friendly, and positive person and his loss is immeasurable.

- Paul Klammer shared a brief update re King of the Mountain (Judge/Steward invite sent, first team meeting to be scheduled asap)

- Presentation by Paul Klammer on his experience with small batch brewing (2-1/2 gallon). Paul drinks almost all of his brewed beer himself. At the same time he likes to have a lot of choices, and to keep costs of equipment to a minimum (yeah, he's cheap). Over the last year since he started all grain brewing these priorities have led him to develop a number of space and cost saving measures that allow him to brew up to 4 batches of beer in one day with two sessions. In addition he has discovered that smaller batches have led to more brewing, faster learning, ability to redo things quickly to compare them, and development of a method of ferment temp control that allows for independent control of individual carboys for $25 per set up. So far the total cost of Paul's set up has been about $350. He is currently working on a solution for individual carboy cold temp control, streamlined bottling process, and automation/logging of fermentation using Arduino and/or Raspberry Pi systems.

March 18, 2016

The Little Mountain Homebrewing Club members are grateful to share the legacy our founder, Joel Gayer, left us to experience the goodness that is in all of us while we enjoy friendship and good beer.

February 15, 2016

- Heather reported on new balance including increase from paid dues in January.

- Kirk and Mike outlined the plan to do single style reviews and tasting panels as a recurring feature of future meetings

- Sam outlined the plan for the March social event to visit Staas brewery in Delaware. Members should check the Facebook event page for details and to r.s.v.p. for transportation and arrangements.

- Kirk Puterbaugh shared his experience with making candi mostly for Belgian styles. He shared samples of homemade candi and actually made more during the meeting. Not hard (at least until it cools).

- Kimmie and Mike Davenport shared about how to use judging forms and tips about the judging process. We used their info during the tasting of several kolsches.

- Mike and Kirk provided 3 different Kolsch samples for members to review using bjcp checklist forms. We scored individually and shared scores within groups and then with the club. It was interesting to see the variances in individual scores while group scores seemed pretty consistent. Trying to describe the tasting experience was hard and helpful. We seemed to have a consensus that there is a 'traditional' German version on this style that is notably different from American versions.

- Lots of good beers shared afterwords and positive feedback on the tasting/judging.

Welcome to our two new paid members this month, Doug and Kristen Estes.

Kirk's Candi Sugar Recipe:

1 pound sugar (any kind, regular white sugar was used for the demonstration)

1/2 cup water

1/4 TBSP of cream of tarter

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and heat to 260-275 degrees, whenever the sugar reaches the upper limit of 275 degrees, add a tbsp of cool water to lower the temperature. Continue this for a minimum of 30 minutes for a light-colored candi sugar, longer for a darker color. When you have achieved the desired color, raise the temperature and heat the mixture to 302 degrees. Once it reaches temperature, pour the mixture into a shallow pan to cool. A silicone baking pan is HIGHLY recommended to keep the mixture from sticking to the pan. Once it cools, simply crack the sugar into smaller pieces for storage.

January 18, 2016

- New officers got their feet wet, though not sticky with beer.

- Ed Hannan shared about and opportunity to participate in shared ownership of Chardon Brew Works. Contact Mike Nedrow via their web site for more information.

- We did a structured tasting of member homebrews in groups and compared our result to establish that Nick Larkin had the high score for the evening.

December 11, 2015 Holiday party at Little Mountain Brewing

Little Mountain is always the perfect setting for our party and 2015 was no exception. Great food, welcoming, and comfortable.

November 21, 2016 social event - Flats Crawl

Started at Merwins Wharf for dinner and a selection of local craft brews. Outstanding local food and a modest but well chosen selection of local brews on tap. From there we headed to Brick and Barrel (a very short walk) to sample and converse with owner/brewer. Finally we visited Beer Heads and Portside Distillery on the up and coming north end or the flats.

November 16, 2015 club meeting

Treasurer report: + $150 from Vintage Ohio, - $40 reimbursement to Gary for picnic costs. Balance $1483.33

Review event page on Facebook for holiday party details including payment, date, time, bottle exchange, raffle etc. Post on page if you have questions.

Watch for social night announcement for 11/20 (this Friday).

Election results

President: Kirk Puterbaugh

Vice President: Mike Mocarski

Treasurer: Heather Hiros

Secretary: Adam Benedict

Entertainment Coordinator: Samantha Puterbaugh

Cider making presentation by Adam Benedict

Adam Benedict walked us through making a batch of cider using 5 gallons of grocery store bought pasteurized preservative free cider. Locally pressed juice is likely to have preservatives added that will inhibit or prevent fermentation. Pour high into a fermentation bucket to oxygenate. Store bought will be pure juice that benefits greatly from the addition of a broth of 3 cups water, one lime boiled and 4 bags of black tea added off heat to cool. This adds back acidity and tannin lost during juice processing. Cider lacks yeast nutrients which leads to yeast stress and related flavors that are undesirable in cider so it essential to add a teaspoon to a tablespoon of yeast nutrient (DAP). Adam likes to use English type ale yeast such as Safale 04 or Fermentis Nottingham for a dry finish. If you like sweeter cider look into back-sweetening techniques. If it is desired to add additional flavors such as cinnamon, this is best done after fermentation in secondary conditioning.

T-shirt contest won by Mark Bumpus for "10 cent beer night"

Members shared homebrew.

Welcome to John and Joe Erste!

October social event at The Cleveland Brewery

Members enjoyed current selections of on-site brewed beers including '185th Street Wheat', 'Celtic Warrior' red IPA, 'Cleveland Brewery Oktoberfest', 'Cleveland Cordial Chocolate Cherry Stout' and others. All quite good. It was definitely worthwhile visit and we recommend making a place on your schedule to stop in during the limited hours (Fridays 6-9 and check their FB page for others). John Fuderic and friends are great hosts to us and a crowd of dedicated regulars. Good restaurants nearby including The Standard next door and several others not much further.