February 2011 Newsletter

In this edition:

• Blowoff from the Prez
• Secretary’s Report
• Birthdays
• Next Meeting
• Planning for CSAAZ
• Dues are Due
• Upcoming Competitions
• Local Events
• Beers Available in the Area
• Beer Education
• Cooking with Beer
• Equipment For Sale
• SAAZ on Facebook
• Raffle
• Feedback

Blow off from the Prez

I won’t bore you guys with more ramblings, but be sure to read more below for information about our upcoming events and the next meeting at WOB Viera.

–Cheers, Sean

Secretary’s Report

Last meeting was a really exceptional time. If you didn’t have the pleasure of attending, my apologies. The Cocoa Beach Brewing Company opened their doors just for us. There was a good turn out from Saaz members and the facility was filled with people. Our President, Mr. Sean Gregg, gave an interesting brief lecture about the use of hops and the various hops types. The club even had the pleasure of adding several new members. As secretary, I decided to start taking pictures of the meetings. Expect some pictures posted to our website soon!

–Alex

February Birthdays – Happy Birthday!

Paul Bessler
Joseph French
Jennifer Folsom
Matthew Backus
Kaitlynn Gokey

Next Meeting – February 20th

This month’s meeting will be held on the back patio at:

World of Beer (Viera)
2290 Town Center Avenue Suite 119
Melbourne, FL
(321) 633-6665

As always the meeting will be Sunday February 20th at 2:00 pm. World of Beer does not serve food but there are several surrounding restaurants to order from. Menus will be available from your waiter/waitress. As always, bringing homebrew to share is strongly encouraged, but please respect our gracious host and leave commercial beers at home.

Planning for CSAAZ

We are looking for a volunteer willing to donate some air conditioned space to Commander SAAZ later this year. As Commander SAAZ entries arrive, we would need you to sort and store them for later judging. The entries typically take up rack space 16′ wide and 6′ tall. Please contact prez@saaz.org if you can help out the Commander!

Dues are Due

If you haven’t paid your dues, they are now late. 2011 Membership cards will be available at the meetings.

Individual Membership = $15
Couple’s Membership = $25
Lifetime Membership = $150

Dues can be paid to the Treasurer (Anne Gregg) at any club meeting or online at www.saaz.org via PayPal (it’s on the right side of the homepage).

You don’t want to miss out on the benefits of membership! Currently, SAAZ members get 15% off regular and happy hour prices at World of Beer Viera and 10% off regular priced beer at Broken Barrel in Palm Bay! It’s like free money! Tell your interested friends to join as well!

Upcoming Competitions

18th Annual Peach State Brew Off  (a Midsouth Series Competition)
Entry Fee: $7 per entry
Entry Deadline: 02/26/2011
Location: Atlanta, GA, US
website
Best Florida Beer Homebrewing Competition
Location: Tampa, FL, US
The entry deadline is Thursday February 10th  (registration began January 17th). First round judging will occur on Saturday Feb 12th, Saturday Feb 19th, and Sunday Feb 20th. Final judging and awards ceremony will both be held at the Yuengling Brewery hospitality house on Saturday February 26th.
website
NASA Inter Center Competition-5
Entry Fee: None (shipping only)
Entry Deadline: April 26, 2011
The competition will be on April 30, 2011 starting at 2pm ET (11am PT).  There will be a live internet video stream. Each NASA center or participating homebrew club can submit up to 2 entries per style.
This year’s styles (judged using BJCP guidelines) are European Amber Lager (style 3), India Pale Ale (style 14), and Mead (styles 24, 25, 26)
website

Consider shipping your beer to other national competitions. For a list of upcoming competitions go here.

Local Events

The Space Coast Craft Beer Festival at Broken Barrel (Mar 5)

Broken Barrel Tavern is hosting a craft beer festival with 50+ Breweries Pouring 100+ Beers on Saturday March 5th.
The event is from 1pm to 6pm with 1-2pm being reserved for VIP Guests Only. Tickets are $25 Pre-Sale / $35 @ Door / $60 VIP (Includes access to special session and rare beers). 100% of profits go to The Reality Check Program

For all ticket information & pre-purchase, call The Broken Barrel Tavern @ 321-728-4755. This event has a limited number of tickets and will surely sell out!!!

Second Annual Belgian Beer Fest at Coasters Pub (Feb 11-13)

Join them for an amazing weekend with 35 taps of Belgian beer and Belgian food specials! The dates are February 11th, 12th and 13th, 2011. That’s the Friday, Saturday and Sunday following the Super Bowl. Rare and obscure Belgian kegs are already on order, and while I don’t want to spill the beans on what will be offered until they arrive safely in the cooler, rest assured that you will not be disappointed.

Coasters has recently introduced an excellent rewards program to give loyal customers an extra thanks for coming in. Buy a Coasters VIP card for just $3 and then receive $10 in Coasters Bucks for every $100 you spend! That’s pretty much it. Your card will track your receipts, and each time you hit another $100 you get a $10 Gift Card!

Beers Available in the Area

Sunseed Food Co-op (Cape Canaveral) – website

Coasters Brew Pub (Indian Harbor Beach) – website

New on tap:

• Blue Point Rastafa Rye Ale
• Terrapin Hopsecutioner
• Cask – Blue Point Hoptical Illusion
  Dry hopped in the cask with Amarillo hops and served at cellar temperature. This won’t last long!

Beer Education

Growing Your Own Hops (from morebeer.com)

Growing your own hops at home is easy, fun, and very rewarding – especially if you brew your own beer at home. Hop Vines grow from a rhizome, which is essentially a piece of root taken from a larger, mature plant. The rhizome is planted in the ground in the late spring and small, green shoots pop out of the ground a few weeks later. A hop vine can be very vigorous, growing up to 2′ per week till the end of June when growth slows down and the plant enters into flowering stage.

When and How to Order Hop Rhizomes

Hop Rhizomes are available once per year, typically in March/April, after the farms dig up the rhizomes and ship them to suppliers. Pre-sales start in February and allows you to order the hop rhizomes in advance to make sure you can get the varieties you want. When you receive your hop rhizomes in the mail, keep them refrigerated (but not below freezing) and well ventilated until your soil is ready for planting.

Continue Reading…

Cooking with Beer

Beer Cheese Dip Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature / softened
• 1 package (1 ounce) ranch dressing dry mix
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 to 3 tsp chili powder (I prefer chipotle) depending on taste
• 1 beer

DIRECTIONS:

• In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and dressing mix. Mix thoroughly.
• Stir in Cheddar cheese, and then the chili powder (to taste – remember some chili will strengthen as the cheese dip sits).
• At this point you should have a lumpy mess.
• Take a taste of the cheese mixture and beer together to be sure they compliment each other.
• Slowly add the beer, a little at a time, until the desired consistency and flavor is reached.  You can have anything from a thick spread to a scoopable dip depending on the amount of beer added.
• Half a bottle will give you something between a dip and a spread.  Be sure to take your time with this step.  You can always add more beer later.
• Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, but overnight would be better.  Let this warm up a little before serving.
• Serve with chips or pretzels, on bagels, or as a topping for burgers and steak sandwiches.

Equipment For Sale

These items are typically offered for sale by club members. If you are interested in a particular item, please email prez@saaz.org and we will put you in contact with the seller of that item.

• 48qt cooler (you don’t want to use this as a mash tun!) (asking $5)
• Sanke keg (unmodified) (asking $50)
• Better bottles, ported, 5 gal (2)  with racking outlet valve assembly, re-useable top enclosure and 90 elbow. (asking $45 each)
• Better bottles, 6 gal as above (3). (asking $47 each)
• Better Bottle Big Blow closure. (asking $8)
• Propane burner and stand. (asking $28)
• SUS brew pot. (asking $20)
• Johnson Controls dial thermostat. (asking $25)
• Grain Insulated Steeping cooler with strainer and valve assembly. (asking $10)
• Temperature controlled fermenting boxes (2). (asking $25 each)
• Brew-magic RIMS Brewery Professional (asking $1,600)
• Blichmann Top Tier Modular Brewing Stand (asking $700)
• Brew-magic RIMs Wizard (asking $1000)
• Brew-magic Chill Wizard (asking $550)
• Brew-magic Fermenter (asking $400)
• Two Brew-magic Select Sankey Vessels (asking $500 for both)

If you have equipment you’d like to sell, give away, trade, or even find, email editor@saaz.org and we’ll try to list your offering/request in the next newsletter.

SAAZ on Facebook

Check us out on Facebook! We’re just getting things rolling there but Like our page and stay tuned for exciting things to come. Check it out here.

Raffle

Do you have some homebrew supplies that you don’t use anymore? Maybe you upgraded or maybe you prefer another product? Consider bringing your dusty supplies to the next meeting for the raffle. We have brewers of all experience levels, so I am sure we can put any brewing supplies to use!

Feedback

We need your help! We are very interesting in improving the club and we’d like to hear what you think. If you have comments or suggestions about the Newsletter, Website, Activities, or the Club in general, please send an email to editor@saaz.org.

All feedback is welcomed! For example you can:

• Share a topic for Beer Education
• Share your Review of a Beer
• Correct something in the newsletter or website
• Express a criticism about anything related to the club
• Offer a suggestion to improve the club