Muskrat Mashers

Muskrat Mashers – September 2010 Meeting Info

How to make Hard Cider!
Thursday, September 9th – 6-8PM
@ Price’s Orchard in Newport, MI (click here for a map)
Price’s Orchard – 8696 US Turnpike Newport, MI 48166  734-586-2459

Come on out and listen to a chat about how to make your own homemade hard cider.  We will be sampling some hard cider.  Feel free to bring your homebrew also to share!

Any questions, contact Rob.  See you next week!

Learn to homebrew!

We’re doing some testing with Google AdWords, so we may be seeing some new visitors to the site.  For those arriving at the Monroe, MI Muskrat Mashers page for the first time, welcome!   Muskrat Mashers is a local homebrew club started in 2009.  We are still a new club but are growing by the month.  We have had many great events, and in a years time, have had some very educational and fun meetings.

We are a very diverse club.  We have advanced brewers, and some that are just starting out.  If homebrewing is something you’ve thought about, but have been nervous about leaping into it, then please contact us via the forum or email, and we’ll put your mind at ease on just how easy it is to make your own beer.   If you’re an advanced brewer, we’d love to have your knowledge as part of the group.  Several of us are still learning all of the aspects to brewing so the more experience the better!

Our next meeting will be Thursday, September 9th.  Keep an eye on the site for info on location as we’ve yet to determine exactly where we are going to have it.   We welcome new brewers or anyone interested in considering brewing, so please shoot us an email or join us at the next meeting!

Muskrat Mashers – August 2010 Meeting Info

August Meeting – Friday August 13 – 6 – 9PM

Location: Nash’s in Monroe! (email me for directions)

Topic: Off flavors:  Ever wonder why your beer came out tasting funky?  For this meeting we’ll be re-creating some of the most common off flavors.  We’ll be tasting them and discussing the cause of each and tips to avoid these off flavors.
If you have some bad bottles stored away, bring them to the meeting.  If we have time we’ll try to get everyone tasting your bad or off flavor beer, and try to best analyze it.    Should be a fun and informative meeting!

What to bring: If you have a great beer on tap or bottled, bring some to share.  We’ll need it after tasting a bunch of off flavor beers. 

As always, check out the Muskrat Mashers Website for brewing discussions and more.
See you next week!

Muskrat Mashers – July 2010 Meeting Info

July Meeting – Friday July 9th – 6 – 8PM

Location: Fred’s in Dundee! (email me for directions) – For those of you that have not been out to Fred’s, he has one of the most impressive brew setups I’ve ever seen, housed in his very own brewing shed. It’s a must see if you can make it out.

Topic: Carbonating your beer. From proper dispensing hose length, transferring from keg to keg, attaching multiple kegs together to blending kegs. Questions on carbonating? Bring them to this meeting!

What to bring: Fred is serving up his famous pulled pork sandwiches. Everyone please bring a dish of snacks or something to pass.
Beer: Fred will have a beer on tap, but please bring a beer to share, either a homebrew or a favorite store bought brew.

As always, check out the Muskrat Mashers Website for brewing discussions and more.
See you next week!

Muskrat Mashers – June 2010 Meeting Info

Date/Time: Thursday, June 10th, 6-8PM

Location: Rob’s Garage (Dayton Road Brewing) – email me for directions

Topic: Mash Efficiency – Ever wonder what your mash efficiency is or how to calculate it, or better yet, why even worry about this number?    We’ll spend some time Thursday discussing the various aspects of mash or brewhouse efficiency.

Bring some homebrew to share!    See you then.

Muskrat Mashers – May 2010 meeting info

Date/Time: Friday, May 14th 6-9PM

Location: Mike & Kathy’s – Monroe, MI (email me if you plan to attend and need directions)

Topic: Beer judging – To follow up on our January meeting, we thought it would be fun and educational to fill out score sheets on some of the clubs homebrew.   We’d like to try to try to do two different beers, we’ll fill out sheets and go around discussing points of each one. We need a couple volunteers (beer submissions) for this. If you submit your beer, just remember, we’re all amateur judges but it will be nice to get some straight up opinions on our beer.   We’ll be doing more of these in the future, maybe eventually every other meeting – I think it will really help in improving our techniques.    Also, if you made an American Ale, bring it (or any other beer you have on tap!).

Monroe Muskrat Mashers celebrate National Homebrew Day – May 1, 2010

In 1988, May 7th was announced before Congress as National Homebrew Day. The American Homebrewers Association created Big Brew as an annual event to celebrate National Homebrew Day not only in the United States, but around the world. Big Brew is held each year on the first Saturday in May. – AHA

Join Monroe, MI local homebrewing club Muskrat Mashers as they brew several batches of beer in the parking lot of Harbor Inn & Ale, located on Laplaisance Road in Monroe, MI. Handouts will be available for anyone interested in learning the hobby, as well as open invitations to future Muskrat Mashers meetings.  Local brewers are welcome to join us – please contact us at the email below for info.

Brewing kicks off at 10AM and will last most of the day. Stay for lunch @ Harbor Inn & Ale and enjoy one of their many Michigan made craft beers on tap.

For more information, see http://muskratmashers.com/ or email muskratmashers@gmail.com

April Meeting Info: 04.08.10 – 6-8PM – Monroe, MI

Thursday April 8th 6-8PM @ Willy’s Lounge (click here for directions).

April 2010 Meeting Agenda:
- Announcements
- Yeast Starters discussion / Demo / Stir Plates
- What have you brewed lately discussion

How to Make a Yeast Starter – Video

March Meeting Info: 03.11.10 – 6-8PM (Original Gravity Brewing Co.)

Thanks to everyone that attended the January meeting at Maumee Bay Brewing in Toledo.  We had a fantastic turnout, and some good times.  There was some great discussion on club brew competitions, free 1/2 lb. bags of hops were handed out (don’t forget to thank Brad @ OG!) and some of the members got to meet a local Toledo celebrity.

Our initial round of club brew competition will be more of a test run to establish how we are going to do them within our club.  Check out the thread started within the forums to offer suggestions and to pick a style for our club test run.

Don’t forget, the Big Brew – AHA National Homebrew Day on May 1st.  There is a thread started within the forums.  We were thinking of maybe asking a local business/restaurant to hold the event at their business and invite the public out to watch.  If we can secure a location, we’ll let everyone know.  Otherwise, Adventures in Homebrewing holds a wonderful event each year.

Finally, the upcoming meeting will be held at Original Gravity Brewing Company in Milan, MI (March 11th 6-8PM).  Brad Sancho, owner and head brewer has graciously offered to take us on a brewery tour.   If all of you aren’t aware, Brad is a homebrewer who’s gone pro.  He originally (and still uses it for small batches) brewed on a homemade brew system making 10 gallon batches; moving on to using the much larger scale equipment he’s using today.    Brad will be walking us through a brew day, showing us how each piece of equipment works.  Think of your questions now and bring a camera so you can get your picture taken next to the giant “BEER” sign.      Directions to Original Gravity Brewing (click here).

See you all in March!

February Meeting Info: 02.11.10 (Maumee Bay Brewing Co.)

Thanks everyone for attending the January meeting.  Thanks especially to Fred Bonjur for taking the time out of his busy schedule to spend time talking  about beer styles and how to rate them.  We’ll definitely try and have Fred back in the future.

To mix things up a bit, the next couple of meetings are going to be road trips.  Here’s the info on February’s meeting:

Muskrat Mashers – February Meeting
Thursday, February 11th, 6-8PM
@ Maumee Bay Brewing Co.  Toledo, OH (click for directions)

Agenda:
- Announce 2010 board elections
- Future meeting locations
- Beer festivals upcoming – MBG / Toledo
- Main discussion:  Homebrew competitions / Club competitions.
- March meeting @ Original Gravity in Milan, MI

Please RSVP if you are coming so I can make arrangements for seating.  There will be a thread on the forum which you can leave a comment on.  Otherwise, shoot me an email or give me a call.