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Welcome to the online home of SAAZ! |
The SAAZ Homebrew Club in Brevard County Florida is an AHA registered club. We sponsor a national competition every year in September/October. Social events include our Spring Party, Summer Party, Octoberfest, Pub Crawls and Christmas Party. We encourage and help new members in the art of homebrewing to further our mission of educating and promoting homebrewing and craft beers. We have members who make beer, wine and mead (honey wine) and are happy to share their knowledge. Our normal monthly meetings are the 3rd Sunday of the month at 2pm at various beer related locations around the county.Check the calendar for the next meeting location, or contact the club president at Prez@saaz.org if you are interested in attending. |
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SAAZ Forum Latest Topics |
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Upcoming Events |
| Wed, Jun 2nd, @6:30pm - 08:00PM - SAAZ Officer's Meeting |
| Sat, Jun 19th, @12:00pm - 05:00PM - SAAZ Summer Party |
| Wed, Jul 7th, @6:30pm - 08:00PM - SAAZ Officers Meeting |
| Sun, Jul 18th, @2:00pm - 04:00PM - SAAZ Monthly Meeting |
| Wed, Aug 4th, @6:30pm - 08:00PM - SAAZ Officer's Meeting |
| Sun, Aug 15th, @2:00pm - 04:00PM - SAAZ Monthly Meeting |
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Year End Update |
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Written by Sean
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Friday, 18 December 2009 16:41 |
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Officer’s Ballot:
Voting commenced, and all officers were voted in.
President (formerly Mac Monroe): Sean Gregg
1st VP (formerly Dani Paris-Exline): Dani Paris-Exline
2nd VP (formerly Mike Ellis): Joe Kintyhtt
Secretary (formerly Sean Gregg): Anne Gregg
Treasurer (formerly Michele Ellis): Glenn Exline
Newsletter Editor (formerly Glenn Exline): Matt Backus
Dues, Dues, Dues
SAAZ 2010 membership dues are….due! You can pay by Paypal on www.saaz.org or at any meeting or party.
January Meeting – STOUTS!!
January meeting location has been confirmed to be Cocoa Beach Brewing Company (150 North Atlantic Avenue) on Jan 17 at 2pm. January educational topic will be stouts! The club has offered to help Charlie and Jake’s formulate and brew a batch of stout. So, work on recipes and get your questions ready. We will (hopefully) arm you with enough information to go home and brew an excellent stout. We will then have members bring their homebrewed stouts and recipes to the Spring party for review. There we will formulate a recipe and work with Charlie and Jake’s to get it brewed. When brewing, keep in mind that C&J’s uses an all-grain system to make their beers. For a head start and more brewing knowledge, check out John Palmer’s book, How To Brew online. http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter19-3.html
Upcoming Competitions
AHA Club Only (The Session Challenge – English Brown Ales)
Every other month the AHA holds a club-only competition for a specific set of beers. The next one is for English Brown Ales. Each AHA-registered club is encouraged to send one entry to represent their club. If you would like to have your homebrew considered, please bring four bottles (two for in-club sampling, and two for sending if you are selected) to the January Meeting. For a list of upcoming styles and for more information see http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/competitions/club-only-competitions/schedule/2009-2010-competition-year
Best Florida Beer Competition
Hosted by Dunedin Brewer’s Guild. Entry Deadline February 10, 2010. Final Event February 27, 2010. Check http://www.dunedinbrewersguild.com for more info
Coconut Cup
Hosted by Miami Area Society of Homebrewers (MASH). Entry Deadline TBD, Final Event TBD. Check http://www.miami-homebrew.org/coconut.html for more info
Check the American Homebrewer’s Association website for upcoming AHA-sanctioned competitions. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/competitions/aha-bjcp-sanctioned-competition/calendar
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Last Updated ( Friday, 18 December 2009 16:47 )
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March E Blast |
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Written by Sean
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Thursday, 02 April 2009 20:13 |
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What’s new? Check out these new beers available at Sunseed Co-op in Port Canaveral: Dogfish Head Aprihop, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, Smuttynose Robust Porter, IPA, and Gravitation (Quad), Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti, Claymore Scotch Ale, Baltika #6 Baltic Porter, Mad River Serious Madness (Black IPA), Plank Dunkler Wiezenbock, Erie Brewing Maibock, Weyerbacher Insanity (Oak Aged BarleyWine), Ommegang Biere de Mars, Anchor Bock (First time in FL), Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (only 3 cases left), Sam Adams Imperial Series: Double Bock, Double Wit, Imperial Stout. WHEW! What a list! Also, Sunseed will be having a “Spring Cleaning” Sale next week, so be sure to check out the store. Matt has promised great deals! MISC There were a few people that inquired about the mixer/aerator that Ron and Paula Sup used to make their no-boil mead at the Spring Party. Ron was nice enough to provide a link to the item for sale at the Grape and Granary in Ohio. Matt is inquiring to see if he would be able to get these for sale at his store as well. http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/4,8425.html Upcoming competitions: The 14th annual Hurricane Blowoff(Palm Beach Draughtsmen) AHA Club-only: Extract Beers Entries are due May 2, 2009. This competition covers all BJCP beer categories (1-23); however, extract must make up more than 50% of the fermentables. Bring your entries to the April meeting for a mini-BOS round to determine which beer goes! AHA Nationals, http://www.beertown.org/events/nhc/index.html Look for more information regarding our normal April Meeting soon!
Cheers!
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 April 2009 20:18 )
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Winter Party and Holiday Ideas |
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Written by Sean
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Monday, 15 December 2008 19:56 |
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Well, the cold, err, cooler weather is among us and the Christmas Party has come to conclusion. Once again, Larry and Jill did a great job on the ham and turkey, and the side dishes were fabulous. Hopefully everyone had the chance to try the eggplant parmesan and those great potato casseroles.
As usual, there were a few fermented beverages consumed, with some of the highlights being Ron and Paula Sup’s plum wine, Mike Ellis’s braggots, and Dave Webb’s mead, just to name a few.
Annual elections were held with the results as follows: Mac was reelected as our fearless leader (president) for another year, as well as Mike (VP) and Michelle (treasurer) Ellis, Glenn Exline (newsletter), and Joe Kintyhtt (librarian). The new positions were Dani Parris-Exline as first VP and Sean Gregg as secretary.
With the holidays right around the corner, I thought I would take a minute to let you all know what I have been drooling over. Not so that you can buy it for me, but so that you might be able to buy it for your special brewer.
Oxygenation system. These things are cool! What’s better than watching bubbles in your wort? These systems either infuse pure oxygen or air into your wort before you pitch your yeast. This give those few billion yeast cells exactly what they need to do their job. Most systems are under $50 and available through places like morebeer.com.
Flasks. No, not the kind you buy and smuggle into sporting events, but Erlenmeyer flasks. These flasks are great for starters and storing yeast. Now that Sunseed Co-op has started a program to discount “old” yeast, you might want to go pick some up and make a starter to get your wort kicking sooner and better. Don’t be afraid of those vials once they go past their “best by” date. Instead, make a starter and get the yeast active and pitch it! Not too long ago, I ran across a White Labs 10 year anniversary blend that was almost two years past the “best by” date. Well, three days on a stir plate and some yeast nutrient later, I had krausen in the flask and beer about two weeks later. The price of Erlenmeyer flasks vary with their size, but a 1 liter flask should be enough to make most starters.
Honey, honey, honey. To some, the best, to others, the only ingredient in your fermented beverage! One of my favorite Belgian recipes uses 2 pounds of honey (Check the online forum for the recipe). And who doesn’t love mead? So, make sure you support our sponsors (and fellow member) and get some honey for your honey.
Of course, BEER! I thought I would try to start a regular section that highlighted some of the newer beers that our local stores are receiving. So without further ado…
What’s Hoppening?
I stopped by another one of our fabulous sponsors (Sunseed Co-op) a couple of weeks ago and here’s the new brews Matt has on his shelf. Bell’s Third Coast (old ale), Dogfish Head’s Old School, Raison D’Extra (yeah, almost 20% abv) and Theobroma, Shipyard’s Prelude, Longfellow, Barleywine, and Imperial Porter, Anchor’s Old Foghorn, Left Hand’s Warrior IPA (this stuff is so good, I got a keg! A really awesome fresh hop beer), Sam Adam’s Chocolate Bock, Eerie Brewing’s Misery IPA, Railbender Scottish, and Old Red. Some of the higher of the highlights I noticed were vintage 2007 Nice Chouffe, Left Hand Chainsaw (double sawtooth), and Highland’s mix 12 pack. Any of these great beers would fit nicely under your tree, or in your fridge! If you don’t live close to Sunseed you can also find a lot of these new and other great beers at another one of our sponsors, Florida Wine & Spirits in Titusville, Viera, and Palm Bay.
As I mentioned above, Matt has started a great discount deal ($4.99) for some of the White Labs vials that have passed their “best by” date. Also, Sunseed is still the cheapest place I have seen yeast; cheaper than any online retailer, and you don’t have to worry about your yeast sleeping in the back of some big brown truck at 100+ degrees for a couple of days or more. Matt also ordered about 15 pounds of hops for the store, and rumor is that they will be more sensibly priced than some of these places charging $4.99 an ounce!
Sunseed is now open on Sundays from 11am-4pm, so you can stop by on your way to the monthly meetings if you come from the north part of the county.
I ran across a great book recently, too. It’s titled “Beer Captured” by Tess and Mark Szamatulski. This is a book of mostly clone recipes (Goose Island’s Honkers Ale, Delirium Tremens, and Rogue Dead Guy Ale to name a few), but there are also sections covering beer and food pairing, hop reference guide, grain and yeast charts, and water profiles from famous brewing locations. The book is so great that we have a new copy in our library!
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February E-blast |
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Written by Sean
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Friday, 27 February 2009 07:08 |
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What’s New
Welcome to our second e-blast update. Responses were positive to the last one, so I thought I would try my hand at another – which could be dangerous!!
The warm weather came, left, came back, and may leave again. Otherwise, it is the time of the year we call February. We will be having our Spring Party at Rotary Park in Suntree on Saturday March 21. As usual, bring a covered dish or desert, some ice, and of course, beer is welcome! Festivities start around noon, but help in setting up is welcome earlier.
Sponsor’s Update
Sunseed Co-op
Thanks to everyone who showed up at the brewing demonstration at Sunseed in Port Canaveral. Turnout was very good and I believe we now have a few new brewing members. After some small complications with the grain mill, Matt brewed an all-grain English bitter. Glenn and Dani brewed two meads, one no-boil. I brewed an all extract Belgian Wit. I believe Matt will be bottling the bitter soon, so hopefully we can get him to share some with us at the Spring Party. I got bored the other night and decided to dump in two cans of cherry puree into the wit. I hope it to be ready for the spring party.
I spoke with one of the Sunseed board members, Sean, and we are planning on holding the AHA Big Brew Day in May there as well. Since Sunseed is organic and earth friendly oriented, we spoke about holding an event the weekend before Earth Day. That is still in the work, but watch for more details in the near future.
Matt has been doing a great job at getting in new and limited-release beers. Some of the limited-release beers are Brooklyn Local 2, Terrapin Side Project Dos Cocoas, and Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2009 edition. I had a bottle of the Dos Cocoas over this weekend and really enjoyed it. Some of the new beers: Sierra Nevada ESB and Torpedo (IPA), Weyerbacher Fireside, Coney Island Human Blockhead, Ommegang Bier De Mars, and Struise Black Albert (a 13% Belgian Imperial Stout).
Florida Wine & Spirits
First, some sad news. FW&S closed their store in Titusville earlier this year. However, the Viera and Palm Bay stores are open and kicking! Also, we have decided to hold our March Board meeting at FW&S in Viera.
Now, the good news! Some of the new beers there are carrying: Dixie Brewing, Unibroue Chambly Noir, Leinenkugels 1888 Bock, Kwak, and Blue Moon Sampler packs. FW&S is still one of the only places I have seen Sam Adams Imperial Pilsner, and I believe they are down to their last two or three cases. This beer is definitely a hop explosion! They are now discounting their selection of “Winter Seasonals” (aka Christmas beers) 20%. This includes Dogfish Punkin’, Ridgeway Brewing’s Bad Elf Series, and Corsendonk Christmas Ale and many others.
An interesting side note I found on Shelton Bros (they import Ridgeway as well as many other great beers) Website: Seriously Bad Elf has been banned in Connecticut! That little red speck you see in the background of the label? Why, that's none other than Kris Kringle, Santa Claus, who, according to the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, cannot appear on a beer label. By the way, you can buy Seriously Bad Elf in Massachusetts. And New York. And Rhode Island. But please do not carry the offending bottles across state lines.
Coconut Cup Update
Glenn and Dani went down to Miami for the Coconut Cup. Turnout was good and the results are available on the MASH website. SAAZ did very well, with our own Apiarist, Dave Webb, taking Best of Show for Mead. Overall, SAAZ finished third in overall points. Big thanks to Dani and Glenn for all of their help. Look for results early next week from the Tampa/Dunedin Best Florida Beer Championship as well. |
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Pay Your Dues!! |
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Back by popular demand, you can once again pay your dues online via PayPal. Just select the type of membership (Individual, Family, or Lifetime) and click the "Pay Now" button to pay via PayPal.
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