Bay Area Mashers Homebrew Club

Author: Gene Wood

  • Style of the Quarter – Q2 2015

    Rye Beer!

    Hey all – the votes are in, and Rye came away as the clear favorite when selecting the special ingredient for this round of SOQ.  Here are a few more details so you can start your brew planning:

    Comp info:

    • Make the best darn beer with rye in it that you can!
    • Pick any style you like, and incorporate rye however you’d like, and in whatever quantity seems best.
    • Entries will be judged against both 1) the base style specified; and 2) the nature of the rye character in your beer.

    Comp timing:

    Entries due to Oak Barrel no later than Thursday, June 4th.  Brewing sometime in the next 3 weeks will be the prudent approach.

  • English Pale SOQ Winners

    For those not at last month’s meeting, please join me in congratulating our winners of the English Pale SOQ.  With 18 entries from the club, there was some quite stiff competition, and many great beers.

    1st place:  Zack Bassett (and 2nd place overall in category!)
    2nd place:  Tim Milliken
    3rd place:  Chris Niggel

    Gift cards from Oak Barrel will be sent thru the mail for all those that registered as a BAM member and entered a beer in the category.

    Cheers,

    Brian
    SOQ Coordinator

  • April 2015 Meeting

    Hey BAMers, just in time for Session Fest, we’ve lined up a excellent (and appropriate) talk for this month’s meeting. We’re very lucky to have Mike “Tasty” McDole from the homebrewing club DOZE (and BAM) come talk about session beers at April’s meeting, on April 9th at Faction Brewing in Alameda.

    Mike will be focusing on session IPAs, but specifically mentioned that lots of styles are session beers that people don’t talk about. We should have some industry examples to try, maybe a mix of one or two session IPAs and one or two more overlooked ones.

    Some come ready to drink (and learn about) some session beers, as well as all the other delicious creations from the other members. Don’t forget your tasting glass and we’ll see you at Faction. Cheers!

  • March 2015 Meeting

    Hello BAMers!  As per the results of last month’s survey, BAM now has a permanent home for its meetings (at least for as far as we can see in the future) at Faction Brewing in Alameda (2501 Monarch Street, Alameda, CA 94501). Our upcoming meeting will be on Thursday, March 12th at 7pm. Social starts at 7pm, meeting at 7:30pm. New and curious members always welcome.

    This month we’re getting a little out there, with Brian giving a tour of the world of sake and what it’s like to try homebrewing it. He’ll have some recently completed brew, as well as some commercial examples for the uninitiated.

    I’m sure there will also be some updates about the upcoming World Cup Competition that BAM is hosting this month. More details can be found at http://www.worldcupofbeer.com/.

    UPDATE: Slides from Brian’s presentation on sake are available here.

  • February 2015 Meeting

    Hello BAMers!  This month’s meeting will once again be at Faction Brewing in Alameda (2501 Monarch Street, Alameda, CA 94501) on Thursday, February 12th at 7pm.  Gene will be unable to attend, and Mike is going to be busy with SF Beer Week, so Matt has volunteered to facilitate this month’s meeting.  The presentation that we’ll be having is on the current SOQ style, which is English Pale Ales.  Jason Davis from BAM will be giving a presentation on this topic, and we’ll have commercial examples to use as a basis of comparison.  Just a reminder, this SOQ is being folded into the World Cup of Beers competition, so the due date to turn in properly carbonated bottles is March 4th.  More details can be found at http://www.worldcupofbeer.com/.

    Additionally, please attend this month’s meeting as we will be voting on a permanent home for BAM meetings.  The choices as it stands now are either Faction Brewing or Ale Industries.

    If you have any questions, feel free to contact Matt, Gene, or any of the other officers.

    UPDATE: Here are the slides from Jason’s awesome presentation on English Pale Ales.

  • Brewing Automation

    Thanks to Chris Niggel for a great presentation at our first meeting of 2015 on how to automate your brewing setup.

    His slides are available here.

    Lots of exciting announcements (World Cup!), SOQ winners, and many great beers were had by all. See you next month!

  • Style of the Quarter – Q1 2015

    English Pale Ale

    We’re doing thing a bit differently this month. We’ll be partnering with the upcoming World Cup of Beer competition for the Q1 2015 Style of the Quarter. What this means is you’ll actually be submitting your beers to World Cup to be professionally judged through that contest, as opposed to judged strictly through BAM. Since it does cost money to enter World Cup, all entrants will receive a $10 gift card to Oak Barrel (bring copy of entry form to March meeting, or see Brian Buckingham). More details:

    • Competition category: Brew any of the 3 styles within the English Pale Ale category (BJCP category 8)
    • Registration between Jan 19 – March 4
    • www.worldcupofbeer.com for full details

    SOQ winners will be decided based on highest scoring from World Cup judging, with standard 1st thru 3rd prizes being awarded. So, even if you don’t place at World Cup, you may still win the club competition.

    Happy brewing!

  • Christmas Party 2014

    Hey BAMers!  It’s that wonderful time of year when we homebrewers get together and spread holiday cheer by sharing tasty libations with each other.  This year the Christmas party will be at Faction Brewing on Saturday December 13th at 2pm.  The address for those that need it is: 2501 Monarch St, Alameda, CA 94501

    Please take note that this will take the place of the normal Thursday meeting for December.

    Please also take note that there are specific parking directions!  We will be having the party in the main hangar on the opposite side from the tasting room.  Claudia asks that we park on that side of the building and not in the main parking lot.  She will have the hangar doors cracked open for us to enter through.  The goal is to not to disturb their regular Saturday tasting room business.
    The Christmas party is typically a potluck, so please bring a dish and beverages to share with everyone.  I have the BAM picnic supplies, so we’ll be set for plates, plasticware, etc.  If anyone needs a ride, try to coordinate it through our Facebook page. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to email BAM officers’ list (officers@bayareamashers.org) or post on Facebook. We hope to see everyone there!

  • Learn To Homebrew Day 2014

    LTHD2014-poster

    Never homebrewed before?

    Here’s your chance to see it in action and help out on a brew. Saturday November 1st is 2014 Learn To Homebrew Day. Here’s how it works :

    Current Bay Area Mashers will be organizing brewdays at their houses and around town. The locations and times will be posted here (below) along with their contact info. Email them saying you’d like to attend and they’ll reply with directions and details. Meetup on Saturday, learn how homebrewing works and help out with the brew!

    Learn To Homebrew Day Locations

    Contact any of the hosts to join in the fun!

    Are you a BAM homebrewer?

    If you’d like to organize a brew day on Learn To Homebrew Day here’s what to do :

    1. Email the officers saying that you’re going to host a brew day on Saturday. Provide the street address that you’ll be brewing at.
    2. Register your Learn To Homebrew Day (use this page as the “website” field http://www.bayareamashers.org/blog/2014/10/27/learn-to-homebrew-day-2014/ )
    3. Find 3 (or more) people who haven’t brewed before to join you. These can be people you already know or people who contact you from the club or both.
    4. Keep your receipts for your materials.
    5. Take some photos and either share them in the Facebook group, in the Flickr group, or send them to the officers.

    In return, the club will reimburse you for your materials costs (up to $50).

  • November 2014 Meeting

    Next month we’ll be hosting the meeting back at Faction Brewing in Alameda.

    The head brewer, Rodger Davis, will give us a tour of the facility and talk about the process of starting up his brewery. Bring your brewery related questions, a cup, and of course some homebrew to share. Should be a great meeting!

    Also, if you’re participating in Matt’s yeast offer, remember to bring your cash and cooler (see his email for more details).