Tech Meeting Go'ers,
The time has come for my baby to start walk'in. I took on the tech meetings as I saw a need in the club for them and they have been well received.
My orignal goal on this was to continue to host them to get them off the ground and going and firmly entrenched in the club as a part of our monthly activities. That has been accomplished. It was always the intention that this event would be mobile as well as the social so that others could partipate in the leading and hosting of the meetings.
So, I am asking for people to sign up to either host tech meetings or to lead them. Please keep in mind that the numbers are always much smaller for the tech meetings. Usually anywhere from 3 - 12 people. We don't do food for this and we refrain from heavy nidulgence of beer. So all you really need to provide is a small amount of beer and the do some prep work on the tech topic you plan to lead.
If you are wanting to lead a topic but still do not have room for people in your home or have dead bodies barried in the basement that you don't want others to see, then please sign up here to lead one. My basement is always open and you can lead a tech meeting in my home in my basement. Please don't be shy here, this is a great way to learn some stuff if you are new brewer. You just pick a topic and spend 4 or 5 hours researching and putting mertials together and there you go, tech topic ready. I have learned a lot just by researching information to lead the tech meetings. So please sign up here if you have interest in hosting or leading a topic.
The meeting is usually the 1st Wed of the Month at 8PM. But there is an amount of flexibilty in that due to the smaller numbers.
Jeremy Orchuk
Anyone willing to Host Tech Meetings or Lead Topics
I'm always willing to host and/or lead a meeting. We can always further our look into water treatment, or I can also do a demo of Beersmith. For those who might be willing to host but are maybe not sure about leading a meeting: Keep in mind we can always do a tasting. Just pick a style and we can all bring examples to try.
On that note: I think several of us have Maibocks in the works. We could probably do a meeting on that in April or May.
On that note: I think several of us have Maibocks in the works. We could probably do a meeting on that in April or May.
Randy Carris
Randy All the Time Brewing
Randy All the Time Brewing
I would also like to either host or lead a meeting. I live in Center Point so may be a bit of a drive for some. I like Randy's idea of brewing software review. I have created a custom spreadsheet on Google Docs and could demo that as well. Maybe someone has ProMash and could show that as well. I also thought of doing a partial mash demo for those new to homebrewing or who would like to increase their knowledge and abilities. I am also dabbling in decoction mashing but that would take way too long during a meeting. I could present on the topic though if anyone is interested.
John Eikenberry
Hey guys,
As no one has chimed in other then you two, I was wondering if either of you wanted to lead the next tech meeting. Don't worry, the meeting is not tomorrow night. I pushed it back until next Wed. I can easly plan something but thought that I would see if either of you wanted to lead.
Now, since no one chimed in on hosting and I am not picking on either of you, but I was thinking maybe you could lead it at my place with both of you living fairly far out of town. We usually ownly get from 3 - 12 people to these anyway and I am thinking that you may not get anyone show unless the topic is a "kick'ass" type one that everyone wants to be a part of. Also this one starts later then the social meeting, so maybe we could do the next one at my home and I can poll to see if people would attend a meeting if it was more then 10 miles out of town.
You can lead and I will endeavor to provide any supplies that you need? Any takers?
As no one has chimed in other then you two, I was wondering if either of you wanted to lead the next tech meeting. Don't worry, the meeting is not tomorrow night. I pushed it back until next Wed. I can easly plan something but thought that I would see if either of you wanted to lead.
Now, since no one chimed in on hosting and I am not picking on either of you, but I was thinking maybe you could lead it at my place with both of you living fairly far out of town. We usually ownly get from 3 - 12 people to these anyway and I am thinking that you may not get anyone show unless the topic is a "kick'ass" type one that everyone wants to be a part of. Also this one starts later then the social meeting, so maybe we could do the next one at my home and I can poll to see if people would attend a meeting if it was more then 10 miles out of town.
You can lead and I will endeavor to provide any supplies that you need? Any takers?
CJ,
I've been working on a presentation for building a beer recipe from scratch. I'm having a few problems with it and wanted to make sure it was presentable before I offered it as a possible tech meeting topic. Iwon't be done with it this month but should have it available for review next month.
JB
I've been working on a presentation for building a beer recipe from scratch. I'm having a few problems with it and wanted to make sure it was presentable before I offered it as a possible tech meeting topic. Iwon't be done with it this month but should have it available for review next month.
JB
John Buck
Brother John's Brewing
The Monk at the Hartley Monastary
Brother John's Brewing
The Monk at the Hartley Monastary
Cool we look forward to it, please let me know how it progresses and give me a heads up a week or two before you are ready to present.jjbuck wrote:CJ,
I've been working on a presentation for building a beer recipe from scratch. I'm having a few problems with it and wanted to make sure it was presentable before I offered it as a possible tech meeting topic. Iwon't be done with it this month but should have it available for review next month.
JB
Wort Press? Sounds interesting and I have never heard of one. What is its function?johnnyik wrote:Sure, I'll help lead a tech meeting at your place Jeremy. Any ideas on a topic? I had a wort press built a while ago which is pretty cool but no other really cool brewing gadgets. I have the usual stir plate, 3 gal mash tun, and homemade maple mash paddle but nothing WOW. Any ideas?
On other topics there is a vast area of topics that can be chossen. Hop Profiling would be a good one. We could do an intoductory session and advanced one. There is a lot that could be done there, you could put together a document that details hop flavors, function (bitter, aroma, flavor), Substitutes, general AA and Cohumulon characteristics, etc... There is a lot that could be done there.
Another one that I have been iching to do is a malting your own grain meeting. Not particularly from stratch, but more tacking a 2-row and making it into munich, vienna, or something darker, even making roast malts with it. Darkening crystal and carmal malts and taking them from like a 40L to an 80L or 120L. This one is a little more complicated and would require more work, but I think it is well worth it. I know I have come across times when I didn't have as much in inventory as I thought and when I went to chrush my grains the night before noticed it when it was two late to order more.
Another great Malt related topic that I have thought about is making smoked grains. the types of smoked grains availible is severally lacking in comparision to the types of smoking woods that are available. I would love to do some trial and error with some smoked grains and get some recipes down for making an assortment of smoked grains. Smoked malts can be a wonderful addition to many beers and not just the smoked varity. You can do a light smoke on a grain then add a small amount of it to your beer to provide complexity in both aroma and flavor without adding a "Smokey" taste to the beer. This would be hard to put together but again I willing to help anyone who wants to put together these topics by doing trial and error work, putting together data, or helping in presenting data.
An easy topic to do is a comparision of brewers software available, as we progress with technology, more and more devices are avaiable and more and more software is written for brewers on them. Some of the software that is availble now is promash, beersmith, Brew Pilot (Palm), Brew Wizard, Homebrewers Assistant, Beer Alchemy, Suds, etc.... I have 3 different programs on my iPhone alone for brewing that I purchased and tried before I found one that I liked. So if we could compare and contrast the different advantages/disadvantages of each I think it would help new and even some of the older people in the club to a peice of software that is right for them. Things that could be detailed would be the GUI, calcs, eash of use, brew session flow, etc....
Another easy one is a simple style tasting. We have not had one in a while and they really do help a person to learn to appreciate a style. The last one we did was prior to our club Irish Red compitition, and I think the people who attended found an appreciation for the style, I know I did, Irish Reds are a style that I don't tend to lean towards, however, after the tasting and judging I realized that there are many variations of the style and that it is a good light drinking malty beverage. It still is not my favorite, but I did appreciate learning more about the style characterics and tasting them.
Another one that would be easy is an introduction to the BJCP guidelines. This one would be a good tech session as now that that tech meetings are coming along, the next thing I want to bring to the club is a BJCP exam study session. We have a large club and only 1 certified BJCP judge, which quite frankly is a little embarrasing. I know many members want to get certified. So I want to bring a bi-monthly study group to the club. We will study the guidelines for a 1 year, detailing history, characteristics, flavors, and ingrediant contributions. We will also build a contamination kit and learn to identify infections and contaminations. I think this would be an excellent next topic and we will use this as the kick off meeting of the study group, then the study group will seperate from the meeting.
If there is any topic that you are interested in learing about yourself, most likely others are interested in learning about it too. So try to think of stuff that interest you as a brewer. Post here if you have any topics that you feel you have some parssion about. Now that I think about it I do like the idea of the BJCP one as I want to get the BJCP meeting going shortly.
Hey, sorry about the non-clarification of a wort press. I was having issues getting whole hops to separate from the wort in the boil kettle and designed a wort press. I purchased stainless steel rods and tight mesh screen and had a welding shop in Marion make it for me. It is essentially a coffee press for wort. I press the strainer slowly down into the boil kettle when ready to rack to the fermenter. I then siphon off nearly trub-free wort! It's pretty cool but really only works with whole hops as the hop pellet material is so flipping small! By the way, does anyone have a good way to separate the hot break material from the wort before transfer? I've tried whirlpooling and siphoning, straining, and the wort press but still damn annoyed by the amount of stuff going into the primary!
Anyway, enough ranting. I think the BJCP meeting would be a good one with a style sampling mixed in. We could do some guideline reviews, brewing to style for competitions, and throw a judging of commercial examples in. Could be good right now to find some nice spring beers like pilsners, pale ales, bitters or ESB's, maybe even stouts as this is St. Paddys month. Talk about the style(s) try some commercial examples and judge them on BJCP scoresheets. I know I've never scored a beer before.
Anyway, enough ranting. I think the BJCP meeting would be a good one with a style sampling mixed in. We could do some guideline reviews, brewing to style for competitions, and throw a judging of commercial examples in. Could be good right now to find some nice spring beers like pilsners, pale ales, bitters or ESB's, maybe even stouts as this is St. Paddys month. Talk about the style(s) try some commercial examples and judge them on BJCP scoresheets. I know I've never scored a beer before.
John Eikenberry
Hey, sorry about the non-clarification of a wort press. I was having issues getting whole hops to separate from the wort in the boil kettle and designed a wort press. I purchased stainless steel rods and tight mesh screen and had a welding shop in Marion make it for me. It is essentially a coffee press for wort. I press the strainer slowly down into the boil kettle when ready to rack to the fermenter. I then siphon off nearly trub-free wort! It's pretty cool but really only works with whole hops as the hop pellet material is so flipping small! By the way, does anyone have a good way to separate the hot break material from the wort before transfer? I've tried whirlpooling and siphoning, straining, and the wort press but still damn annoyed by the amount of stuff going into the primary!
Anyway, enough ranting. I think the BJCP meeting would be a good one with a style sampling mixed in. We could do some guideline reviews, brewing to style for competitions, and throw a judging of commercial examples in. Could be good right now to find some nice spring beers like pilsners, pale ales, bitters or ESB's, maybe even stouts as this is St. Paddys month. Talk about the style(s) try some commercial examples and judge them on BJCP scoresheets. I know I've never scored a beer before.
Anyway, enough ranting. I think the BJCP meeting would be a good one with a style sampling mixed in. We could do some guideline reviews, brewing to style for competitions, and throw a judging of commercial examples in. Could be good right now to find some nice spring beers like pilsners, pale ales, bitters or ESB's, maybe even stouts as this is St. Paddys month. Talk about the style(s) try some commercial examples and judge them on BJCP scoresheets. I know I've never scored a beer before.
John Eikenberry
I should've chimed in on this before. We could always do a "show and tell" style meeting at some time too. I'm thinking bring gadgets and equipment that we've built ourselves. I know we all have things we've designed and built that would maybe not be worth an entire meeting but we could collaborate to show off our handiwork.
Ok, so I launched a study group post in the members only forums about the study group and the the tech meeting being the kick off event for the the BJCP study group. Do you wish to lead this one or wait for the next event?johnnyik wrote:Hey, sorry about the non-clarification of a wort press. I was having issues getting whole hops to separate from the wort in the boil kettle and designed a wort press. I purchased stainless steel rods and tight mesh screen and had a welding shop in Marion make it for me. It is essentially a coffee press for wort. I press the strainer slowly down into the boil kettle when ready to rack to the fermenter. I then siphon off nearly trub-free wort! It's pretty cool but really only works with whole hops as the hop pellet material is so flipping small! By the way, does anyone have a good way to separate the hot break material from the wort before transfer? I've tried whirlpooling and siphoning, straining, and the wort press but still damn annoyed by the amount of stuff going into the primary!
Anyway, enough ranting. I think the BJCP meeting would be a good one with a style sampling mixed in. We could do some guideline reviews, brewing to style for competitions, and throw a judging of commercial examples in. Could be good right now to find some nice spring beers like pilsners, pale ales, bitters or ESB's, maybe even stouts as this is St. Paddys month. Talk about the style(s) try some commercial examples and judge them on BJCP scoresheets. I know I've never scored a beer before.
I will help you prepare the materials for this or any other meeting meeting, so do not feel like you will be left out to dry to present this. I will put together the presentation materials if you wish. I do think trying to score stuff might be a little much for the first meeting. I think the best thing to do is just give out the style guildline for the beer and try to identify the flavors and aromas and other traits listed in the BJCP. The last time we did a a judging meeting, we judged 4 beers and that took like 3 1/2 to 4 hours (and there is other material that needs to be presented). We could maybe do one as an example for the kick-off.
Are you interested?
Last edited by BrewHound on Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
That does sound like a good one and an easy one, I am going to shelf this for a month or two, we will definitely do it as this would be a good no prep meeting and I like to have a couple of these up my sleve for my lazy periods. Which lets face means we will do it very soon!kjball wrote:I should've chimed in on this before. We could always do a "show and tell" style meeting at some time too. I'm thinking bring gadgets and equipment that we've built ourselves. I know we all have things we've designed and built that would maybe not be worth an entire meeting but we could collaborate to show off our handiwork.
Yeah, I'd love to help with this Wednesday's meeting. We should pick a style and a couple classic commercial examples to try and start the talk about the BJCP guidelines. Could be just an informal starting point for the format for future meetings on classic styles, tastings, and judging. What style should we start with? Start at the beginning of the book, category 1a? We could probably skip category 1 as we've all had light american lagers. I've never had a Dortmunder export, though?
John Eikenberry