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The PSB Newsletter Club Meeting at Zorbas on Monday, August 11th. Be there at 6PM. Meeting Agenda: Pumps From the President:
The monthly brew sessions continue. Many thanks to Robin for hosting this past month. MALT’s BRBO competition is scheduled for September 13th. This is the third of five home brew competitions on the CBoY circuit. Get your beers ready and registered on-line. We will get all of our club’s entries delivered. Details to follow. The Charlotte Oktoberfest will soon be here. This event, scheduled for Saturday, September 27th, is hosted by the Charlotte home brew club, the Carolina Brew Masters. It is a fun event with so many home brewed, regional, national, and international beers, that one has a difficult time deciding which ones to sample. PSB will participate again this year. Club members that donate a keg will be given a ticket to get in. PSB is planning to rent a bus to go to Charlotte and return that evening. A sign-up sheet will be passed around at Monday’s meeting and also on the PSB forum. For those that would like to attend but are not donating beer, go to the Oktoberfest web site and purchase tickets immediately. They will sell out quickly! If you haven’t read Gerald Jowers’ most recent “Free Times” article, here it is: Our bulk grain purchase is due to arrive early this week. Those members that ordered have been notified. Get your money in. Pick up time and location will be announced. IT LOOKS LIKE PSBers HAVE SOME BREWING TO DO! Monday, August 11th is our next club meeting at Zorba’s. Dinner at 6:00, meeting at 7:00, and BE SURE TO BRING HOME BREW. Carl Foster/Prez Competition Corner:
The next Club-Only competition will be held in October in Michigan. We will judge those at our September meeting. That competition will be “Imperial Anything.” Acceptable categories include anything up to and including BJCP 23. Detailed information regarding OG, ABV, IBU, etc… WILL BE REQUIRED. Specifically include information relating to what makes the entry Imperial. Naturally big styles, dopplebock, eisenbock, and such, must have an OG equal to or greater than 1.100 and an ABV 10% or greater. With two months to go there is plenty of time to whip up one of the non-aging styles. Get busy and document the details. The annual Queen of Beer competition is set for October 25th with entries being accepted from 09/25 – 10/11. Their website will be up for registration on 09/01. This competition is exclusively for the fairer sex . Males are not permitted to assist the Brewatrix in any capacity except as a mule. Anything that requires brains over brawn is strictly prohibited. Lady PSBers break out the implements of your art and make us proud! Good luck and may Ninkasi smile on your heady endeavors!
So, how does one move wort from point “A” to point “B”? Gravity is a fine answer if your system is designed in a manner that allows the wort to move much like Newton’s apple. What if however, point “B” is higher than point “A”? Many brewer’s simple lift the kettle full of lovely wort to wherever it needs to be and brew on. Many other brewer’s utilize a simple and relatively inexpensive pump and consequently avoid lifting heavy and potentially dangerously hot wort. I know my old and decrepit back appreciates the simplicity of flipping a switch as opposed to lifting a kettle, much less a full one! I’ll outline a few of the available options and heartily welcome any comments involving other’s experiences with pumps. From the looks of the forum, many people are using them to pump cool water through a chiller; we’ll discuss that as well. Pete’s “Austin Power’s type usage” shall however be excluded from the conversation! Report from the VP of Social Events: Ahh, August. That time of year where the devil heat grips you by the throat, roasts the lint between your toes and generally wraps around you like a steamy moist woolen sleeping bag. What better why than to say “nuts to all that!” then by cooling off with beer?! Those who attended the July brewsession got to taste some fine beverages, including an 8 year old Cantillon Geuze (thanks Jim!) and the funky new Avery 15. Pretty sure there was a Shakespeare Stout in there too… thanks to Robin Dial for hosting! The August brewsession will be held at a location to be determined. This could be YOUR house! Check the forum for details. Several noteworthy events take place this month, including Brew at the Zoo (August 2nd), which will have finished by the time you read this. Check this one out: ALL ABOUT ROGUE It's that time of year again where we at Barley's celebrate one of our favorite breweries, Rogue Ales. Join us as we showcase fifteen (15) of Rogue's great beers, twelve (12) 12 of which on tap, with a very special rotating Rogue tap all month long with four (4) of their rarely seen brews! Call (864) 232-3706 for details. This event repeats on the 19th in case you can’t make the first one! Tickets are still available for the Asheville Brewgrass festival on September 20th! Don’t miss out if you wanted to hit this fine festival up this year. And Charlotte Oktoberfest is a mere two months away! What are you waiting for? Get to brewing!
Secretary/Treasurer's Report: PSB currently has $5088.46. We have 52 mumbers: Overdue: Due Now: Due September: Local Homebrew Store News Bet-Mar Liquid Hobby Shop We now stock an excellent antifoam agent. We used it in a brew recently -- no standing over the kettle to keep foam down, and no blow-off needed! Only $1.50 per 5 gm packet; food grade silcone by Dow Corning. Remember, we have "Better Bottle" PET carboys in 3, 5 & 6 gallon sizes. We are now sold out of 6.5 gallon carboys; it's unknown when/if they'll be available from the Italian manufacturer. Still 10% off for paid-up PSB members. Support your local homebrew store, © Palmetto State Brewers, Inc. |
