Mashing Maineiacs

OCTOBER 30th MEETING POSTPONED UNTIL NOVEMBER 6th DUE TO WEATHER.

The next meeting will be on Sunday November 6th at Garth Russell’s place in Standish.  He has already sent out directions via email so I won’t repeat them here.

Garth will be brewing an all-grain batch of Scottish ale using the brew-in-a-bag method.  Brew day starts at 10:00 AM.

If you can’t make it at 10:00 AM, the normal brew club meeting will be at 2:00 PM.

As usual, bring homebrew, if you have any ready, a glass, and something to throw on the grill if you wish.

Hope to see you on the 30th.

NEXT MEETING WILL BE AN OKTOBERFEST CELEBRATION – SEP 24TH AT 6:00 PM AT ANDY SOUZA’S in South Portland.  Significant others and friends are welcome.

If you have an Oktoberfest or other KEGGED homebrew, feel free to bring it, unless you will be policing your own bottles.  I think Andy is trying to minimize the cleanup.  Also, as usual, bring a chair and a glass

See Andy’s Facebook posting…

Hombrewed Oktoberfest beer will be served by The Portland Mashing Maineiacs homebrew club as well as Oktoberfestbier from the world famous Hofbrau Haus in Munich. We will have traditional Bavarian food, beer and music as well as a “gemutlichkeit,” feel. Dressing in Bavarian attire is strongly encouraged, Beer will be served in the traditional liter mugs. Please bring a liter mug if you can. Do not bring bottled beer. I’ll ask that people chip in for the keg in lieu of bring bottled beer. Feel free to bring sauaages for the grill or other snacks.

Hope to see you on the 24th!

-Chuck

The next club meeting will be on Sunday July 31^st at 2:00 PM at the home of club member Brian Farrell.

Brian has already sent directions via the club listserv.  If you need directions, please send an email to pmm@portlandmashingmaineiacs, and one of us will forward them to you.

As always, bring a beer glass and some homebrew or commercial beer to share, or just come by to socialize and talk about beer and brewing.  I’ll be bringing some Dunkelweizen from the March 2011 club brew day.

Possible agenda items:

– Oktoberfest brew for club-only or local competition this Fall?

– Club day trip on Aug 27, 2011.  If interested, please add your name to the signup sheet.  We are try to gauge interest and transportation requirements.  Gregg C. checking into transportation.

Tentative itinerary for Aug 27th:

10:30-11am- meet for homebrew toast and leave Portland (or other agreed upon meeting place)

11:30-1pm Lunch at Lion’s Pride in Brunswick

2:30-3:30 Tour and tasting at Oak Pond Brewing in Skowhegan

5:00-7:00 Dinner at Marshall Wharf in Belfast

9:30-Last call at Great Lost Bear in Portland

– AHA Rally at Allagash on Aug 24^th at 5:30 PM (Charlie Papazian will be there.)

– Other Ideas for another annual club event (i.e., in addition to annual brew day and club-only Oktoberfest competition).

– Suggestions for club website content.

– Other thoughts welcome.

I hope everyone has either already brewed their Oktoberfest bier or will be brewing it soon.

See you Maineiacs at the meeting!

– Chuck Warner

Gregg Carine will host the June 26th meeting.  Bring some homebrew to share or just come and talk about beer and brewing.

Possible Agenda Items:

– Upcoming Oktoberfest

– Next club brew day

– Recipe of the month (create a recipe that club members can brew in July and bring to a future meeting)

Due to the last Sunday of May falling on Memorial Day weekend, we will skip the May meeting.  Next meeting will be held on the last Sunday of June.  Location is still TBD so if you want to volunteer to host, please send an email to the listserve.  Have a great May and Memorial Day holiday!  See you in June.  Cheers!    – Chuck Warner

The April meeting will be held on Sunday, May 1st, due to Easter falling on the last Sunday of April.  Meeting time will be the usual 2:00 PM.

Location will be Steve Milks’ place in Sanford, ME.

Tentative Agenda:

Possible recipes for everyone to brew individually and bring to a meeting for comparison.

Ideas for another annual club event, in addition to annual brew day and club-only Oktoberfest competition.

Suggestions for club website content.

As always, bring a beer glass and some homebrew or commercial beer to share.  If you want to bring snacks or something to throw on the grill, that’s great too.

– Club brew day was another smashing success.  We brewed 10 gallons each of a Czech Pilsner and a Dunkelweizen, and 5 gallons of a Pre-Prohibition Pilsner.

– We’ll decide how to distribute the final product, i.e., bottling or kegging.

– Brian F. suggested a cookout club meeting this summer (at his place maybe) where we drink some of the beer we brewed in March.

– The club malt order was finalized.  Thanks to everyone helping to make the process go smoothly.

– NEED A VOLUNTEER TO HOST THE APRIL MEETING.  We forgot to discuss THE LOCATION OF THE APRIL MEETING.  If you would like to volunteer to host the April brew club meeting, please send an email to the distribution or post a comment.

– If you have any other comments, please post them.  I did not take very good notes this month, and we were all pretty (happily) busy with brewing and the malt order.

Next meeting will be on March 27th at 2:00 PM at Andy Souza’s place.

Brew day will start at 10:00 AM, if you are planning to help with the brewing or just want to stop by. 

Agenda for Club Meeting

Finalize malt order.  Please bring payment.

Web site tutorial for editors.

Possible joint Oktoberfest event with Portland German Club.

Those of you who volunteered – please remember to bring a bottle of HG brew for Gregg Carine.

Possible recipes for everyone to brew individually and bring to a meeting for comparison.

For details on club brew day, see:

https://www.portlandmashingmaineiacs.com/club-brew-day-march-27-2011/

– Meeting was held 2/27/11 at Chuck Warner’s house.  We bottled two batches of the High Gravity Brew from Feb 2010 club brew day.  The kitchen ceiling will never be the same again!!

– Malt Order –

Since the meeting, decision was made to order from North Country Malt Supply:  http://www.countrymaltgroup.com/.

north_country_malt_catalogue_2011

Greg Norton created a signup sheet at following link:  http://bit.ly/fMr0mp.  Click edit and enter your info in the spreadsheet.

Please sign up for only full bags (55 lbs.)  If you want less than that amount, go ahead and fill in the spreadsheet and try to find someone willing to split a bag with you.  Andy Souza or Chuck Warner will place the order after the next club meeting and receipt of payment in full in advance (at next meeting). 

Nathan Sanborn of Rising Tide Brewing (http://www.risingtidebrewing.com/) has kindly volunteered to accept the malt delivery from North Country, and we will arrange a couple of dates/times for pickup.  If you are splitting a sack of grain with someone, you will need to make arrangements to split the malt after pickup.

– Did not get around to discussing possible recipes for everyone to brew individually and bring to a meeting for comparison.  Will discuss at future meeting.  It is not too early to start thinking about brewing your Oktoberfest / Marzen for the 2nd annual club competition in October.

– Possible joint event with the German Club in September or October (Andy

– Club Website –  We are still working on it, but making some progress.  Your input is welcome!  If you have suggestions for the site, please feel free to email the club distribution or post a comment.

– Next Meeting – Club Brew Day – Sunday March 27th, 2011 at Andy Souza’s place.  If you would like to help out with the brewing, we will being starting at 10:00 AM.  Otherwise, feel free to come by at 2:00 PM, the normal meeting time.  We will brew two 10-gallon batches:  a Czech Pilsner and a Dark Wheat Ale – both meant to be great for summertime quaffing.  Logistical details to follow via email.

– Meeting will be on the last Sunday of the month (2/27) at 2:00 PM at Chuck Warner’s house in South Portland.

– Agenda:

Bottling of the HG brew from Feb 2010 brew day.  Bring bottles and caps if you would like to take some home.  If anyone has a counter-pressure filler (beer gun) and would be willing to bring it, please email.

Details for club brew day in March.

Discuss possible recipes for everyone to brew individually and bring to a meeting for comparison.