Great night for an SOB meeting.
Thank you Fifth Ward for hosting our event
Great attendance with roughly 23 active participants as well as a couple very young ladies whom orchestrated a flawless Girl Scout cookie delivery.
We were also blessed with a couple new faces in the crowd
Kevin Noltemeyer representing the Sauk City Bluff Hoppers
Team visit from Al Grumann (former SOB) & Blake Schlaeppi
Mr. Bill Schwalbach. Long time SOB who we’ve not seen for quite some time. Welcome back, Bill.
And another gentleman of whom I did not catch a name. Prior attendee pre-covid. He appeared happy and that is good.
WHACHABREWIN
Travis – A post-Bare Bones Winter Beer Fest Creme Ale Belgian
Mark – American Pale Ale highlighted with Rosemary to celebrate his daughter’s graduation
Al & Blake – 60 (yes 60) gallons of Maibock generated from pure maple sap
Kevin – A Lambic, A Choc Cherry Porter…….. as well as others.
Kurt – He’s doing the finishing touches Lagering for the April 22 HH Hinder Headbutt Homebrew Competition
Brett – In the midst of pre-construction brewing scramble to fill every vessel possible. Has an American Blond, New Zeeland Pilzner, and others in the mix.
Lee – Continues in the never ending fermentables marathon with a Dunkle on deck and a Bohemian Dark Lager in the hole
Beer Share
This evening provided some generous shares by fellow SOBs.
Multi-Grain by Al & Blake
Sounds like they emptied the cupboard on this batch. (2-Row, Munich, wheat, Cara Munich, Rolled Oats, Rolled Rye, Wild Rice) Tasty concoction, fellas………..well done.
American Wheat Berry; compliments of Mr. Nick Tollefson.
His mixed berry adjuncts were a perfect compliment to the cascade & centennial hops. Well balanced!
Brett entertained with his Standard Blonde Abomination Amarillo (by morning) Hops provide a nice hint of a fruity finish.
The Backwoods Ale guys (Al and Blake) prompted round 2 with their German Festival Beer. This is not to be confused with an Octoberfest beer despite the Omega O-Fest yeast used in this recipe. Slightly under 5%ABV could make this a nice head-buzz session beer.
Lee (mega batch) Reiherzer delighted the crowd with a German (French) Altbier reminiscent of ventures to earths alt capital….Dusseldorf. Local water with articulated enhancements propelled this triple malt slurry into a VERY clean and crisp copper beauty.
Scott El Presidente shared some of the delights from round 3 of the Fellowship of the Barrel with his Pear Lambic. Aging this Sour/Lambic on Heritage pears produced a palate pleasing sweet/sour combo.
Nice to see multiple SOBs introducing personality into a baseline barrel brew.
Fox Valley Brewery Tour – April 15
Holy smokes…..seats sold out quicker than account closings at Silicon Valley Banks.
25 knowledge seeking brewing enthusiasts will ramble north to 4 prestigious Appleton breweries.
Bus will leave PROMPTLY at 10:30AM on Saturday, April 15. 10:31AM…………enjoy the walk.
Departure site is the Park/Ride just to the south of Bare Bones Brewery
(County Rd S & County Rd Y)
We will need to coordinate our lunch ahead of time so please indicate on the sign-up (in your email).
Sturgeon Spirits Craft Distillery
Yes, we are ready. Folks we are officially committed; lets get that SOB Whisky going
Here are some key dates:
March 17th (St. Patrick’s Day) – Grains available at The Cellar. These are all bagged and ready to go.
April 8th-16th – Brew on/between these dates to give optimal ferment times
April 22nd – 11:00AM we will be distilling our very own homebrew at Sturgeon Spirits Distillery
Procedural guidelines were shared at tonight’s meeting and emails dedicated to brewing participants is in circulation.
Currently 11 SOBs are signed up to brew roughly 50+ gallons of the following concoction:
GRAIN BILL:
9# Corn, 2# Mild Malt, 5# Distillers Malt, 2# Wheat, Amylase enzymes to fully convince the starch/sugar conversion during the Mash and then Red Star Dady Distillers yeast will unload its fury into an aggressive ferment.
Club members are welcome (and encouraged) to participate in this distilling process…..and what the heck………check the sign-up sheet and reach out to any participants if you want to also experience the brewing process.
40 gallons is required for the distilling process. Surplus will be hopped and prepped as beer and you can bet your boots this will be shared at an upcoming meeting.
Full progress will be communicated as we progress.
Big Brew Day
This May 6th the AHA (American Homebrewers Association) national event is rapidly approaching.
AHA is proposing a brew which is called NEARLY NIRVANA PALE ALE which is a clone of Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale (See overview below)
Not brewing???? Stop by and mingle with all your SOB friends and catch something to eat via the provisions of The Ginger German’s Gastro-Truck.
Let’s see who’s gonna do what. (sign up in email)
Education
Mr. Kurt Weina provided an overview to Lagering.
A bottom fermenting yeast (SAFLAGER™ W-34/70) will work well in a cooler environment
Mini fridge converted to host a carboy and improved temperature controls works perfect.
Pitch yeast at 55-60°Fdirectly onto wort
Cool temps to 48-50°F for two weeks
Cold crash for 4-6 weeks to acquire a clean/crisp brew
Further question to be directed to 1-800-Lager-God
Retired Equipment
Mr. Chris Julson has elected to exit the homebrewing hobby
In appreciation of SOBs assisting in liquidating many of his assets he has elected to donate a couple items for raffle, silent auction or whatever we please.
The following items were rapidly secured/purchased by some lucky SOBs
Seth: PH metering system
Bill: Vacuum Sealer.














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