Mystic Krewe of Brew            January, 2005

Mystic Krewe of Brew

Meeting Minutes

January 20, 2005

    January’s meeting was held at the Abita Brew Pub and called to order by club president, Calvin Moorman. Vice President Jason Hayes, Treasurer Mike Owings and Secretary Larry Hartzog were in attendance.

The reading of the minutes were waived since it was acknowledged that members had been furnished the minutes on the announce site. Secretary

Larry Hartzog called for corrections and inclusions. No comments were noted and the minutes were approved as provided. A hard copy of the minutes was provided to the president. Treasurer Mike Owings presented the Treasurers report and passed it around for members to review. Membership approved report as provided and hard copy provided to the president.

Old Business:

March 19 and 20 was decided as the date for the MKOB Anniversary Party. Calvin reported that his research on using Bogue Falaya Park proved to be costly since there were fees for the park for day ($50/day) and night ($150 after 7PM) use plus paying for police. Russ reported on other alternative locations such as Land of Pines Camp Grounds ($50/ and plus $5/head), Slidell Parks ($100/day), and Heritage Park ($200/day). Fontainebleau Cabin or Pavilion became most viable option. Vote was made to stay with Fontainebleau and Russ would report back on availability.

Calvin announced that we would do the 15-gallon brew off for the 3-hop profile experiment at his house on Sunday January 30.

New business:

 Calvin reminded everyone that “Elvis” (AKA the Hobbling Hopster) would have his annual Toth Parade party at Brew Ha Ha at 11AM on Sunday February 6. Even in is weakened condition he has managed to put together 13 or more Kegs with the help of his brew buddies. NOT TO BE MISSED.

Jason noted that the Beer Olympics and Christmas party pictures are now on the web site http://www.mkob.com

Dis and Dat:

 For those of you that missed it we had a great brew off at Calvin’s’ for the Hop profiling experiment. Calvin, Larry, Clayton, Ron, Jason, Jim Cooper and the Shall family (Don, Devin and Trisha) participated in the brew. Aside from brewing we had serious eats including, stout chili, brats, taco dips stuffed bell peppers. The Moorman BREW SHED RULES! We also got a demo from Ron (MR. Gadget) on his new circulating pump. The pictures of the event are on the web.

Auctions and Raffles:

 Jim Boucher brought offered up some wild and crazy Greek Liquor for raffle. I believe George Parr won the raffle. Show and tell: Jim Cooper noted that the latest issue of Zymurgy listed all of the Great American Beer Fest medal winners and pointed out that the brewer from Beau Rivage Casino at the Coast Brewery picked up several medals for his beers. Maybe we need a road trip to check this out.

Nick Long demonstrated the “Ferma Tap” set up that could be used to convert a carboy to a conical fermenter by inverting a carboy and placing a stoppered tube in the neck so the yeast will catch on the shoulders of the carboy. Nick is working out some kinks in apparatus. Some were worried that yeast may stop up the fermentation tube and thus cause C0 2 build up to dangerous levels in the carboy. Others were not sure that slope of carboy shoulders was correct to stockpile yeast.

Great beers were enjoyed by all. We had 21 homebrews and 4 commercials. The beers ranged from Irish and English brown ales to English Black Ales provided by Calvin, Jason and Ron respectively.

Peter Caddo brewed up some great Imperial porter (Baltic Porter), Alt, Amber Ales, and unspiced pumpkin beer. Jim Cooper also served up a nice smoked beer as well as light and regular amber ale. Craig poured up his foreign stout and Mike Mitchell served his dry stout. Pat Haggarty provided us with a nicely spiced winter warmer. Larry also served a winter warmer spiced with fresh apples, brown sugar and allspice hence “Brown Betty Warmer”. As luck would have it Mike Owings was doing a little fridge cleaning and brought in a bounty of tasty brews, which included October fest, Helles, Maibock and Dopplebock. Elvis the Hobbling Hopster brought in a double IPA you could smell well before you got it near your mouth. However with my Belgian bias Elvis’s double triple Belgian ale was to die for. Jeff also provided us with his version of a awesome “winter defroster” actually made from very special treatment of vintage beers. If that wasn’t enough Jeff brought in some wonderful Dicks Barley wine weighing in at 10% alcohol. Dicks Brewing Co. in Centralia Washington crafted this little doozie. Jeff also provided the commercial hit of the night. This beer was appropriately named “THE BEAST” brewed by the Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder Colorado. This puppy will light your fire with 18.1% alcohol. This beer was dark, complex. Some of the listed ingredients include 2 row malted barley, honey malt, Belgian specialty grains such as aromatic, pale wheat, roasted wheat and special B. Hops include Magnum, Galena, Saaz, Halertau, Tetang, Hersbrocker. Brewing sugars include raisins, dates, blackstrap molasses, alfalfa honey, turbinado and dark Belgian candy sugar. Belgian yeast and another hellian yeast strain were also used. To cap off the night Dan Stein brought another Belgian and one of my favorites Delirium Noel. Thanks Dan enjoyed as always and keep those Belgians coming.

2005 Dues ($20.00) are due. If not attending meeting make checks payable to

MKOB and send to

Mike Owings
MKOB Treasurer
18 Glen Loop
Covington La. 70435

Meeting Adjourned

BEER TRIVIA:

Unlike wines, most beers should be stored upright to minimize oxidation and metal or plastic contamination from the cap. High-alcohol ales, however, which continue to ferment in their corked bottles, should be stored on their sides.

` Fermentably Yours,

Larry Hartzog