Next meeting: April 17th 7:30 pm
Hopunion Jacket Still up for Grabs!

April 2003 Issue
Get your Alers stuff! Steins are back!

By Brian (I'd increase the gravity) Thatcher

Hopunion Jacket Still up for Grabs!

The Hopunion denim embroidered jacket will be raffled off at the April meeting.  Get your $2 tickets at Larry's the next time you visit. All proceeds go towards the club funds. You do not need to be present to win. Buy early, buy often!

Stout Hearted Men (and Women!)

This month we will be judging homebrewed stouts. Stouts of any style are welcome. This includes Irish Dry, Sweet, Oatmeal, Foreign Extra, and Imperial. So dig out those bottles and let's see a great turnout for the dark side.

Brew All That You Can Brew

National Homebrew day is May 3rd. The club usually gathers at Larry's that day for a group brew session. We will be discussing the plan for the big brew at this month's meeting. The official recipes from the AHA are given below. However, feel free to brew whatever you want if one of these doesn't suit your fancy. Brewing usually commences early, around 6 a.m.

Vagabond Gingered Ale - Extract
Malt/Extract
3.5 lbs. Dark Liquid Malt Extract
2.5 lbs. Dark Dry Malt Extract
0.75 lbs. Briess Caramel Malt 40L
0.5 lbs. Briess Chocolate Malt
Hops
2.0 oz. Cascade 5.0% AA 60 minutes (10 HBU)
1.0 oz. Willamette 5.0% AA 1 minute
Spice
3.0 oz. Freshly Grated Ginger Root 60 minutes
Yeast
Wyeast #1275 Thames Valley Ale Yeast
OG: 1.053
IBU: 35
SRM: 37

Directions
Steep crushed grains in 1.5 gallons of 150o F water for 30 minutes. Sparge with 0.5 gallons of 170º F water. Add extract and bring to a boil. Add cascade hops and ginger and boil for 59 minutes. Add Willamette hops and boil one minute more. Strain into a fermenter filled with 2.5 gallons of cold water. Top up to 5 gallons with cool water. When temperature is below 75º F, pitch yeast and aerate well. Ferment around 65º F. When fermentation is complete, bottle with 1.25 cups of dry malt extract or siphon into sanitized party pigs with 0.25-0.33 cups of dry malt extract in each. If you are kegging, pressurize to 2.7 volumes of CO2.

Vagabond Gingered Ale - All-Grain
Malt
7.5 lbs. Briess Pale Ale Malt
1.5 lbs. Briess Caramel Malt 40L
0.5 lbs. Briess Chocolate Malt
0.5 lbs. Briess Black Malt
Hops
1.5 oz. Cascade 5.0% AA 60 minutes (7.5 HBU)
1.0 oz. Willamette 5.0% AA 1 minute
Spice
3.0 oz. Freshly Grated Ginger Root 60 minutes
Yeast
Wyeast #1275 Thames Valley Ale Yeast
OG: 1.052
IBU: 36
SRM: 36

Directions
Mash grains at 150º F for 60 minutes, or until you get a negative iodine test. Mash out at 170º F and sparge with 170º F water. Collect enough run off to end up with 5 gallons after a 60-minute boil. Bring run off to a boil and add cascade hops and ginger. Boil for 59 minutes, add willamette hops and boil one minute more. Chill to below 75º F, add to fermenter, pitch yeast and aerate well. Ferment around 65º F. When fermentation is complete, bottle with 1.25 cups of dry malt extract or siphon into sanitized party pigs with 0.25-0.33 cups of dry malt extract in each. If you are kegging, pressurize to 2.7 volumes of CO2.

Anchor Steam Clone - Extract*
Malt/Extract
4 lbs. Light Liquid Malt Extract
2.25 lbs. Light Dry Malt Extract
14 oz. Briess Caramel 80L Malt
Hops
1.25 oz. Northern Brewer 8% AA (10 HBU) 60 minutes
0.5 oz. Northern Brewer 8% AA 15 minutes
0.5 oz. Northern Brewer 8% AA 1 minute
Yeast
Wyeast #2112 California Lager Yeast
OG: 1.053
IBU: 40
SRM: 11-13

Directions
Steep crushed caramel malt in 0.5 gallons of 150º F water for 20 minutes. Sparge with 0.5 gallons of 170º F water. Top water up to 2.5 gallons, add extract and bring to a boil. Add 1.25 oz of hops and boil for 45 minutes. Add another 0.5 oz of hops and boil for 14 minutes. Add remaining 0.5 oz of hops and boil one minute longer. Strain into a fermenter filled with 2.5 gallons of cool water. Add enough cool water to obtain 5 gallons. Once the wort temperature has dropped below 75º F, pitch yeast and aerate well. Ferment at 58-68º F. When fermentation is complete, bottle with 1.25 cups of dry malt extract or siphon into sanitized party pigs with 0.25-0.33 cups of dry malt extract in each. If you are kegging, pressurize to 2.8 volumes of CO2.

Anchor Steam Clone - All Grain*
Malt
9 lbs. Briess Pale Ale Malt
14 oz. Briess Caramel 80L Malt
Hops
0.88 oz. Northern Brewer 8% AA (7 HBU) 60 minutes
0.5 oz. Northern Brewer 8% AA 15 minutes
0.5 oz. Northern Brewer 8% AA 1 minute
Yeast
Wyeast #2112 California Lager Yeast
OG: 1.053
IBU: 40
SRM: 11-13

Directions
Mash grains at 150º F for 60 minutes. Mash out at 170º F and sparge with 170º F water. Collect enough run off to end up with 5 gallons after a 60-minute boil. Bring run off to a boil, add 0.88 oz of hops and boil 45 minutes. Add another 0.5 oz of hops and boil for 14 minutes. Add remaining 0.5 oz of hops and boil one minute longer. Chill to below 75º F, add to fermenter, pitch yeast and aerate well. Ferment at 58-68º F. When fermentation is complete, bottle with 1.25 cups of dry malt extract or siphon into sanitized party pigs with 0.25-0.33 cups of dry malt extract in each. If you are kegging, pressurize to 2.8 volumes of CO2.
*Based on recipe found in Tess and Mark Szamatulski’s Clone Brews

Whiskeys of the World

The fourth annual Whiskies of the World Expo took place in San Francisco on the evening of March 22nd. I attended the event once again for a night of sampling great whisky. The main tasting hall probably had close to 150 different bottlings of whisky from bourbons to single malts, all available for enjoyment. I of course sampled my fair share of mostly single malts, but also gave a few blends and bourbons a try.

The highlight of the evening for me is the speaker forums. Every year there are representatives from various distilleries talking about their products and sharing some samples. I made to see two of the speakers and wanted to see a third, but by the time the first one let out, the next one was already full. The first was Jim McEwan from Bruichladdich, who is always an entertaining gentleman. He shared some of the Bruichladdich 10 year old, the 15 year old, the 1984 and the 1970. Since Jim ran a little long I could not make it to see Fergus Hartley from the Bowmore distillery.

Later in the evening David Cox from Macallan spoke about the Macallan Rare Malts Collection. Macallan went through their old stock of whiskey dating back to before 1940 and selected casks from each year to be bottled and vintage dated. We had the opportunity to sample the 1937 (the earliest available), the 1949, the 1954, the 1968, and the 1972 (the latest year bottled). All were very tasty. I think I need someone to buy me a bottle of the 1971 for Christmas.

Next year's event is scheduled for February 21st, 2004 which is a month earlier than it has been. Information is available at www.celticmalts.com.

Hops on Equinox

Seattle held its first Spring Beer festival called Hops on Equinox at Seattle Center on Friday and Saturday March 28th and 29th. Approximately 40 breweries took part in the festivities, which was a benefit for Northwest Folklife. There was a pretty good crowd there enjoying the beers. Among the favorites for me were the Dunkel and Marzen from Alpine Brewing, both very well made. If you have not yet tasted Snoqualmie Falls Spring Fever, I highly recommend it, it is in the style of a Belgian Saison. Elliot Bay's Anniversary Ale, a spiced Belgian Golden ale is also quite nice. An interesting (and good) beer was Scuttlebutt's Vanilla bean, a porter dry hopped with vanilla beans.

There were many more delicious beers to choose from. My only complaint was that there were no food vendors on site. We had to leave to get some dinner and then come back. Here's hoping that this becomes an annual event.

National Homebrew Competition

This is the first warning for the National Homebrew Competition. Entry for the regionals are due between April 9 - 18. The first round judging will take place from April 25 to May 4. The second round and awards will be June 19 - 21 at the AHA National Homebrewer's Conference in Chicago, IL.

Entries should be mailed to:

NHC 2003
F.H. Steinbart Inc.
234 S.E. 12th
Portland, OR 97214

For more information and entry forms go to: http://www.beertown.org/events/nhc/index.html
or look in the March/April issue of Zymurgy.

Monthly Meeting Schedule

Some of the events are tentative at this point and new ones may be added. There also seems to be a possibility of having a representative from Merchant du Vin at one of the meetings to talk and offer samples. We may also try to have one of the Ralph's from Hop Union over for a meeting.

Club Events Calendar

Upcoming Events

Spring Beer and Wine Fest, April 18th-19th
Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR
www.springbeerfest.com

Washington Summer Microbrew Festival, June 14th-15th
11am to 8pm
St Edward State Park, Kirkland
$12 advance, $15 at gate; 6 oz cup with 4 tickets
http://www.washingtonbrewfest.com/

Seattle International Beerfest, July 11th-13th
Mural Amphitheater, Seattle Center
http://www.seattlebeerfest.com

Oregon Brewers Festival, July 25th-27th
Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Portland, Oregon
http://www.oregonbrewfest.com/

Great British Beer Festival, August 5th - 9th
London Olympia in Kensington, West London
http://www.camra.org.uk/SHWebClass.asp?WCI=ShowCat&CatId=235

Great American Beer Festival, September 25th-277th
Colorado Convention Center, Denver, Colorado
http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/index.htm