The February meeting of the First State Brewers was held at the home of Roy & Theresa Simonson.
During the meeting we were introduced to Steve Powell, owner of the new nanobrewery, Argilla Brewing Co. at Pietro’s Pizza, which is opening this month on Kirkwood Hwy.
On my way home from work on Friday 3/9, I stopped into the future home of Argilla Brewing Co. at Pietro’s Pizza. Steve Powell gave me a quick tour. He had 4 batches in fermenters that should be ready to serve when they open on the 19th! I can’t wait!
The turnout was fantastic, as we had a couple dozen people in attendance. I’m sure several people forgot to sign in, but the majority of attendees are listed below.
Also during the meeting, our club president, Kent Spriggs, described a how to build a kettle hop filter and used his laptop to play a Youtube video of the device being constructed. In case you missed it at the meeting, I inserted the video below. The video creator describes his project as follows:
You have to keep particulates from clogging your counterflow or plate chiller. Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep hops and hot break inside the kettle when draining. The commercial solution is over $50 but the materials should cost less than $15. This is a time consuming, but satisfying do it yourself project.
Here’s the attendance and beers brought by club members:
| Name | Beer |
|---|---|
| Scott Bieber | IPA, Kölsch |
| Mike Lanzi | Imperial Stout, Tripel, Robust Porter |
| Josh Roarty | American Pale Ale |
| Steve Powell | De Ranke XX Bitter Clone |
| Mike Kohler | Kölsch |
| Dan Wightman | Hop Nog IPA |
| Chris McBride | Cherry Rauchbier |
| Ben Selin | Oatmeal Coffee Stout |
| Nate Carey | Dominion Millenium Ale |
| Kevin Penoza | Dark Belgian Ale |
| Dinesh Indurth | White Belgian |
| David Francis | Popcorn's Dancing Outlaw Lager, Cool Runnings |
| Roy & Theresa Simonson | Banana Bread Beer, Pumkin Ale, Porter |
| JoeBob Jacobs | Wildoats Bourbon Oatmeal Stout, Belgian Honey Ale, Chimay Red Clone |
| Kent Spriggs | Dortmunder Export, Buckfast |
| Kevin Schatz | Fancy Pants Belgian |
| Monica Boyer | Dip :-) |
| John Boyer | Indian Brown Ale |
| Marty Drinan | Brown Ale |
| Seth Tolbert | A kilt |
At the January meeting, Scott Bieber showed off the plans he had to build a single-tier brew stand out of slotted angle steel. Scott made good on his plans and went to work. Here are some recent pics:
[nggallery id=28]
I have invited Ron Price, who is running for the AHA Governing Committee again this year.
If you are an AHA member, I urge you to vote for Ron here!
Save the date, Saturday, May 5, 2012, for the Big Brew!
JoeBob Jacobs, is once again hosting this event at his home in Newark, DE.
Setup of brewing systems will begin at 8:00 am. Brewing should begin shortly after the systems are setup.
Should be a lot of fun!
The March meeting of the First State Brewers will be held at the home of JoeBob Jacobs on Friday, 3/16/12 at 7:30 pm.
JoeBob lives at 648 Churchmans Rd, Newark DE 19702.
FSB CLUB EMAIL
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: [Website Contact] Home Brew Event
From: Cindy Small
Date: Sun, February 26, 2012 9:04 pm
To: scott@firststatebrewers.com
Greetings! We are planning the 3rd annual Delaware Wine & Beer Festival for Oct. 21. Don’t know if any of your members have attended, but we believe there’s a way to involve your organization. A home brew competition, offering you a booth, who knows! I would love to speak with you about the possibilities. Please email or call at 734-1736, or let me know how to contact you. Thanks in advance!
Cindy Small
Kent County Tourism
435 N. DuPont Highway
Dover, DE 19901
302-734-1736
http://www.visitdover.com
Csmall@visitdover.com
——– Reply ——–
From: Scott Bieber [mailto:scott@firststatebrewers.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2012 9:56 PM
To: Csmall@visitdover.com
Subject: RE: [Website Contact] Home Brew EventSounds interesting.I would have gone last year, but I was out of town that weekend.
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: RE: [Website Contact] Home Brew Event
From: “cindy small”
Date: Mon, February 27, 2012 9:01 am
To: “‘Scott Bieber'”
Scott, thanks for your response. Are you the person I should be talking with about some ideas?
Cindy Small
——– Reply ——–
From: Scott Bieber [mailto:scott@firststatebrewers.com]
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 10:45 AM
To: csmall@visitdover.com
Subject: RE: [Website Contact] Home Brew EventYes I am. What did you have in mind?
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: RE: [Website Contact] Home Brew Event
From: “cindy small”
Date: Mon, February 27, 2012 11:42 am
To: “‘Scott Bieber'”
Very open at this point. Could be a lot or a little. Some ideas:
1) Homebrew competition (meaning those entered would bring x number of bottles and we would have judges judge with some type of prizes — could become an annual part of the event, who knows).
2) Delaware Home Brewers set up an information booth to recruit members and educate folks
3) Delaware Home Brewers “sponsor” something like a bottle label design competition, or a label design competition among Delaware breweries, etc.
4) DE Home brewers volunteer at the event.
It just seems like a good partnership and tie-in. We had 1,500 attendees both years, so a great audience.
Cindy Small