News

(From the Bronx Homebrewers…)

Hello there fellow brewers and beers lovers!

Summer is finally upon us, which means it’s time to gear up for the annual Brewnity Picnic at Croton Point Park, which will be hosted by the Bronx Homebrewers this year. The picnic will be taking place on Saturday, July 11th starting at11am and ending at sunset.

This is one of the most fun events of the year and is not to be missed. In the true spirit of Brewnity all local club members and their guests are invited. The picnic is potluck style and BYOB. There will be prizes for the following categories:

Best Meat Dish
Best Veggie Dish
Most Quaffable Summer Brew

We will be able to grill on-site and will have a tap board draft system on hand (and plenty of ice) so if you do have beer to share, all you need to bring is your keg(s) or bottles. We have limited taps available so if you are planning on bringing a keg it is important to sign up on the spreadsheet. In addition if you are bringing a pin lock keg make sure to bring your own connections. Any and all unique/interesting/delicious commercial beers are absolutely welcome too! The more we have to share, the merrier! It’s one of the very few local parks where you can drink openly outdoors without need of brown bags/secret stealth.

Croton Point Park is a little less than an hour away on Metro North (departing from Grand Central and getting off the train at Croton Harmon station), and to get to the picnic site you can either walk from the train station (20 min or so) or we’ll be arranging drivers to shuttle people to and fro at a couple of specific times during the day. We’ll be asking for a $5 contribution per person to help cover the cost of the site rental and basic stuff like plates/cups/napkins/ice/etc. Bringing your own drinking vessel will defray costs and be more environmentally friendly!!

In addition to celebrating beer and all it’s goodness we will also be raising money for Breast Cancer Research. We are looking for donations that will be auctioned and raffled off at the picnic. Please fill in items or services that you would like to donate on the spreadsheet below.

More reminders and details to come, but for now, please save the date and add your name to the sign-up sheet (even if you aren’t yet sure what you might be bringing). We need to try to get an accurate head count. Sign up sheet here:

Brewnity Picnic 2015 Sign Up

to recap:

What: Brewnity Picnic hosted by the Bronx Homebrewers
Where: Croton Point Park (click for google map), Pavillion 2
When: Saturday, Jul 11. From late morning (11am) until sunset
How to get there: Car of MetroNorth to Croton Harmon station (www.mta.info/mnr)
Parking Fees for drivers: $5 for residents, $10 for non-residents
What to bring: Homebrews, tasty dishes to share, $5 per person, outdoor fun things, games, etc.
Sign up here
Why: Because it’s awesome and gosh darn it so are you!

Hope to see you all there!

Beers,

Josh and the Bronx Homebrewers

Add yourself to the sign up sheet by 9am Sunday for next Monday’s sours competition.

Also, if you can come early, a few of us are going to talk about our web and social media presence starting at 6:30. At 7, we’ll taste three beers I’m bringing that were started from my sourdough bread starter, identical except for their primary fermentation temps, which were 40°, 58°, and 78°. It should help show not only the effect of temperature on yeast character but also how temp affects the balance of bugs and yeast.

The Brewnity benefit for the East Village is one month away, on Sunday, May 17 from 1-4pm (with a Jimmy’s No. 43, Burp Castle, and Standings crawl afterward).

You can:

1. Brew for the event, and sign up at the link below by 4/23
2. Buy tickets
3. Donate to the auction (includes opportunities to help Jimmy’s No. 43, Burp Castle, and Standings)

Brewnity presents Suds in Solidarity: A Homebrew Benefit For The East Village

Sunday, May 17
1pm – 4pm
Sixth Street Community Center
638 E 6th Street between Aves B & C

$25 in advance, $30 at the door
Your donation gains you entry to the 3-hour event and a plastic cup for samples.

All event proceeds will be donated to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City to aid those affected by the East Village explosion.

Tickets on sale now at: brownpapertickets.com/solidarityinsuds

Your donation grants you entry to the event and a plastic cup for free homebrew samples.
Event is indoors, rain or shine, and will expand outdoors if weather permits.

Also join the after party—a single building East 7th Street pub crawl at Jimmy’s No. 43, Burp Castle, and Standings lovingly known in the beer community as the “Brewmuda Triangle.”

For more information, please visit brewnity.com

Brewers, Volunteers, Additional Donations, Raffle Tickets

Brewers donating 5 or more gallons of beer may request complimentary admission. Brewers must sign up in advance at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hfCPJateqKw70ua0U6gbQPbsIeD8H8CQYoFYl9mESxo/viewform. Complimentary admission will be limited to a maximum of 18-20 brewers. Interested brewers should sign up no later than 10am, April 23. Complimentary tickets will be distributed evenly between clubs, and stores and clubs will be notified of their allowance by April 25.

Volunteers are needed to help with light work in half hour shifts on the day of the event. Volunteering guarantees the warm and fuzzy feeling of being a good person helping a worthy cause. Volunteers will also receive a complimentary Brewnity branded glass. One-hour and longer shifts are available for those seeking additional self-satisfaction. Interested volunteers should obtain a ticket and email Shannon Bowser shannon@bowser.org and Jon Luton jezcoe@gmail.com for details and to schedule a time.

Jimmy’s No. 43, Burp Castle, and Standings have long been a hub of NYC homebrewing and were closed for two weeks following the explosion. We hope to collect donations from homebrewers to buy gift certificates to those bars and to then include those certificates in the Suds in Solidary raffle. Money raised for the purchase of the gift certificates will support the bars, and all raffle ticket proceeds will be donated to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City; East Village Building Collapse fund. If you’d like to contribute toward the purchase of these gift certificates, please contact Alex Kalaf alex.kalaf@gmail.com.

Congratulations to Jeff for winning the Whitbread competition with his English Mild. Ballots and tasting notes are on Google Drive.

Our next competition is our second annual in-club sours contest at the June 1 meeting. There’s still plenty of time to brew a kettle sour, so get planning!

We’re continuing our brewery visit/social nights on the third Monday of the month. April 20, we’ll gather at Dirck the Norseman/Greenpoint Beer and Ale Co. around 7:15 or 7:30 before a 7:45 or 8pm tour with Chris, Erik, and/or Jeff.

As mentioned at last night’s meeting, registration to compete in NHC 2015 opened up yesterday and will end on February 8. You do not need to brew by then—this is just to register. Entries will be judged using the 2008 BJCP style guidelines; the new style system is not in effect yet.

At this point, all you need to do is enter the number of beers that you’d like to enter (up to six) and select a primary judging center and alternates. You’ll receive a notification by Feb 17 with the number of entries that you’re permitted to enter, along with your judging center.

For those selected, you’ll need to drop off or ship two 12 oz bottles for each entry between March 2 and 11. If you move on to nationals, you’ll be notified where and when to ship three additional 12 oz bottles. The drop-off and shipping location for NYC is Singlecut in Astoria, 19-33 37th Street.

For those who are already AHA members, check your spam or promo folders, as you should have received a link yesterday to the registration page. If not, sign up for AHA if you’d like to enter.

Full details are at http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/competitions/national-homebrew-competition/competition-information/

Brewnity at the Bell House is happening on February 22, with all proceeds going to City Harvest.  One month in advance, January 22, is the deadline to sign up to bring beer before the Brewsers comps might be given to another club.  So far, we have 6 people signed up to pour at the Brewsers booth.  At least a few more people have told me they’re planning to bring something, so sign up soon!  Bring 5+ gallons to get a full comp, or sign up to bring less, and as long as a few people do that, we can work that into a discount by sharing a comp.

If you or your friends aren’t brewing for the event, you can buy tickets now, starting at just $25.

Represent the Brewsers at the Brewnity Benefit, 2/22

The Brewnity event is fast approaching. There is a group of us already committed to brewing for this but we have space for more of us to join in. If you brew 5 gallons to pour at the event then you will receive a free ticket. Please sign up with the event coordinators directly, but also add your name to our club list so that we can coordinate equipment needs. These events are always a blast and I hope we can have a strong presence!

Additional tickets can be purchased via Eventbrite.

Greetings Brewsers!

Hopefully everyone is enjoying their festive season. Whatever you choose to celebrate, even if it’s just time off work, here’s hoping it’s safe, fulfilling, and filled with great beer.

January Meeting, 1/5

When we all emerge on the other side in the new year, we will gather for our monthly meeting at Browerij Lane on Monday, January 5 at 7pm.  Greg Doroski will be joining us to get us up to speed on his new brewpub Threes and share some of his vast experience with us.

January 5th is also our Brett meeting. Bring anything that has been in contact with the lovely yeast, whether that be primary, secondary, or bottled with Brettanomyces. Add your info to the signup sheet by January 2.

Holiday Party, 1/11

Our annual Brewsers holiday party will be at Browerij Lane on Sunday January 11th from 1-5pm. If you have a keg or some bottles to share, set them aside and we will coordinate the details closer to the date.

February Yeast Experiment

We’re trying a new yeast experiment in February. Everyone brews the same recipe and chooses a different yeast. Visit the sign up form to claim your yeast(s) and for the recipe.

Single malt/single hop ballots are available on Google Drive.

The Brewnity club night benefit for City Harvest was postponed from early November to either February 15 or February 22.

As always, anyone can update the spreadsheet of upcoming meeting plans.  We don’t have much planned for our November meeting, so if anyone wants to add a speaker or lead a discussion or tasting, please add it.  The following few months have plans, but no one has signed up to get feedback on a beer.  Add yourself if you like.  We’ve started having a feedback session at 7pm or even a few minutes before, so that meetings start on time but people running late don’t miss speakers, contests, etc.

Other upcoming meeting plans include:

• December – winter beer focus.  We’ll taste a variety of winter beers, from dark lagers to spiced stouts, both commercial and homebrewed, and talk about how to make winter styles that taste more like beer than like pastries.  Talk to Jeff or Joe if you want to contribute beer, lead part of the discussion, or suggest a commercial beer.
• January – Brettanomyces contest.  Enter any beer fermented in full or in part by Brett.
• February – Yeast experiment. Not a contest with a winner, so we’ll take notes but talk about our beers and yeast more than we would in a competition.  We’ll do a group buy for grain and hops and then everyone who wants can make beers identical except for the yeast strain used.  Mlore info and a sign up coming soon.
• June – sours contest