The April meeting of the First State Brewers was held at the home of Scott Bieber. This was Gadget Night and members brought some interesting stuff!
Kent gave his welcome greeting, and reminded everyone that The Battle Brews entries are being accepted through June 1st, everyone is encouraged to enter their beers, even if they don’t think they’re very good, the feedback is definitely worth the $5 entry fee.
The Big Brew is being held at Scott Bieber’s house, this year the recommended recipes are an American Brown Ale and a Northern English Brown Ale, both recipes are available on the AHA website.
Scott & Tammy Perlot will host the May 18th meeting.
Chris Gimbernat volunteered to host June 15th @ his house located @ 274 Schoolhouse Rd, West Grove, PA 19390, phone # 610-869-8426
Jason volunteered to host July 20th.
Brian Light brought 8 copies of Homebrew TV DVD’s, a donation to the club was requested if a copy was taken.
Members are encouraged to join the AHA if they have not done so already, please use the banner at the top of the First State Brewers website home page, if a membership is purchased through there, a percentage of that money comes back to the club.
Now on Facebook we have a group called First State Brewer, please decline notices if don’t wish to receive them. (NOTE: You can turn off the annoying email notifications that Facebook sends by default!)
It is Gadget Night
Seth Tolbert brought a vintage refractometer with a leather carrying case, and his Beer Line Cleaner, which is a repurposed, unused Round-Up Garden Sprayer, the couplings were changed to fit the line posts.
Kent brought epoxy mixers which are available locally at Fastenal
David Francis brought his beer filter, it has KY connections and hooks directly to the keg
Brian Light brought a chamois carboy cleaner (basically a chamois on a stick) with the recommendation NOT to purchase, as they don’t work well at all. The chamois tends to ball up around the stick, not very effective for getting in corners & around the sides.
Brian also brought his gas burner that will bring 22 gallons to a boil in 13 minutes, it was purchased @ the Restaurant Supply Store on Rt 13, and the whole setup was $69.99,he also showed a wine thief, a hop bag, and a digital thermometer with a timer & magnet.
Next gadget was from Brian Verdine, he brought his self-made stir plate for yeast starters, it was made from a PC fan with speed control plus a switch, the magnets sit on the fan center.
Scott Bieber showed his March Pump made with cam lock fittings, silicone tubes with female ends, cam locks with male ends, the mast tun is a cooler with stainless steel braid. The counter flow chiller is 25ft hot water hose from Sears with copper coil inserted, all info for how to make this is on HomeBrewTalk.com.
Scott also talked about piggy backing his old immersion chiller through ice water first and then through the wort – works great! Helps speed up the cooling process.
Scott has also built a large fermentation chamber using an old dorm room refrigerator, it has a 3 ½ inch thick floor, the whole thing is insulated, can hold 3 – 6 gallon carboys (and then some) and has 2 inch thick foam insulation on the doors.
And lastly Scott showed his hop spider, which is a small stainless bucket with the bottom cut out, a hop bag attached, and long eye bolts to rest on the edge of his brew pot.
Scott Johnson checked in from Singapore via Seth Tolbert’s IPhone, and recommended the Speidel Braumeister, which is an electric all-grain brewing system that is great for people with very limited space, and can be found for sale online.
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Don’t forget to enter your brews into the Battle of the Brews competition at the Delaware State Fair! Last year Scott Bieber won a 2nd place ribbon in that competition for his Pumkin Ale. :-)
The Big Brew is May 5, 2012, 8am rain or shine, if it rains bring your pop-up canopy. This year the Big Brew will be at Scott Bieber’s house in Middletown, DE. Everyone is welcome to come out and enjoy the day whether you’re brewing or not!
Here’s the attendance and beers brought by club members. People need to be more legible when they write their name and beers on the sign-in sheet! LOL!
| Name | Beer |
|---|---|
| Scott & Tammy Perlot | Blueberry Wit, Blackberry Wit, Chamomile wheat, IPA |
| Brian Light | Honey Black Lager |
| David Reese | |
| Kent Spriggs | English Bitter, Dortmunder Lager, Brewskie the Elder |
| Moriah Guise, Brian Verdine | |
| John Zugger | Honey Havanero Pale Ale |
| Eric Williams | Stout, IPA, American Wheat, American Amber |
| Jason Breault | Irish Red |
| JoeBob Jacobs | Fest Bier, Big V Porter, Ragin' Bitch Clone, Belgian Strong Ale |
| Bill King | Bock |
| Seth Tolbert | Not a Scottish |
| Tehran Boyser | |
| Kevin Schatz | Sam Adams Homebrew, Grflash ? Wrecker (sp?) |
| Dan Wightman | Import Imperial Stout |
| David Francis | |
| Ben Selin | Sierra Nevada Torpedo |
| Marty Drinan | Dopplebock |
| Scott Bieber | Chocolate-Cherry Stout, IPA, British Mild |
| Chris Gimbernat |
The May Meeting of the First State Brewers will be held at the home of Tammy & Scott Perlot on Friday, May 18 at 7:30pm.
Tammy & Scott live at 44 West Mount Vernon Street, Smyrna, DE.
Directions are from the north – take 13 south into Smyrna turn right onto Glenwood Ave. ( there’s a McDonald’s on the right, turn @ that light), then at the first traffic light make a left onto Main Street, (Dover Credit Union on the left) turn right at the second street you come to, that is Mount Vernon Street (Delaware House on your left) pass the big Methodist church on the right we are on the corner at the end of that block on the right, ( Mt Vernon & Delaware St.) it’s the only house with cedar siding & a green roof, if there is no street parking, turn right on Delaware Street & park in the church parking lot just beyond our house.