Muskrat Mashers

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.

January meeting info 01.14.10

Happy New Year Mashers!   We’re going to kick this year off with a pretty awesome first meeting.   If you make any meeting this year, you’ll want to come to this one, as it’s going to be very educational.   Here’s the info:

Muskrat Mashers January 2010 meeting
Thursday January 14 – 6-8PM @ Harbor Inn & Ale

Topic:   Evaluating beer
Guest speaker – Fred Bonjour – Assistant Educaton Director BJCP, Exam grader, and judge (and avid homebrewer with several award winning recipes)

Many of us really enjoy our homebrew and other beer on a level that others don’t quite get. But what does it take to judge a beer? How good are we at picking up subtle notes of ingredients and off flavors? If we smell or taste something – can we describe it accurately? At this meeting, Fred will lead the discussion in the  process of evaluating beer – from appearance to aroma to taste. We plan to sample 3 different styles where Fred will give us just a briefing on what he teaches in the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP).

Any questions, email me at MuskratMashers@gmail.com.   See you all next week!

Muskrat Mashers 2010 meeting schedule

So everyone can mark their calendars, below is a list of dates for 2010’s Muskrat Mashers meetings.   Keep an eye on the site, or sign up for the email list (shoot me an email if you’re not on it) where you’ll receive monthly updates.  Locations to be determined, as we will probably mix up the meetings to do homebrew tastings, etc.

Meetings are from 6-8PM unless otherwise noted.
Of course for any questions, email me at:  muskratmashers@gmail.com.

January 14 – Harbor Inn & Ale
February 11
March 11
April 8
May 13
June 10
July 8
August 12
September 9
October 14
November 11
December 9

Happy Homebrew Holidays

Thanks to everyone for coming out to the gadget meeting in November.  We had some great demonstrations on brewing equipment (a couple of things I never even knew existed).   Very cool, we’ll try and do another gadget meeting next year sometime.

We will not be having our regular scheduled meeting this month, however we do plan on meeting up for some homebrews.   Please email me for more information.

Keep an eye on the site, as we’ll be posting info on the 2010 meeting schedule very soon.   If we don’t see you soon, I want to thank you for attending our meetings or signing up for the website in 2009.  We couldn’t have got this group started without all of you!    We look forward to doing a lot more with the group next year.  Keep an eye on the site for up-to-date brew club info.

Happy Holidays & keep on brewing!!

November meeting info 11.12.09

November meeting information:
Thursday, November 12  – 6-8 p.m.
@ Harbor Inn & Ale – 13993 Laplaisance Rd. Monroe, MI

Thanks again to Fred and Debbie for hosting the October Muskrat Mashers meeting at their brew shed.   We had a fantastic time, and there was plenty of homebrew shared.  Fred has built himself an amazing set up, I hope we can get out there again to visit and possibly see a brew session.

November meeting topic:  Gadgets!
- Every brewer has that one contraption that makes brewing easier.  If you have one to show off, bring it!  Members will be bringing various items they use, and discussing them with the group.   If you don’t have a contraption, don’t worry about it.  Show up, have a beer and learn some new things about the brewing process.

Remember, everyone from advanced to beginners are welcome to attend the meetings.  If you know anyone that brews or is interested in getting started in brewing, invite them out!

October meeting info 10.08.09

Field Trip!
We’ve been invited to tour the Rouse’s brew shed!

Thursday, October 8th 6-8 p.m.
18020 Kent Road Dundee, MI (click for map)

The Rouse’s brew shed is a 100 year old granary building converted into a brewery. They’ve officially called it “Independent Brewing.” Fred currently has a 20 gallon all-grain system with a conical fermenter to match.
Instead of having a specific meeting topic for October, I think we’ll spend the time asking Fred questions about his set up, and when we have time after, do some tasting.
Fred should have some beer available to sample, but feel free to bring some homebrew to share and discuss. Commercial beers of any specific style would be welcome too.

We’ll save the “gadgets” topic for the November meeting.   Any questions, let  me know!

muskratmashers@gmail.com

Growing your own hops – video

September Meeting: Growing your own hops!

Muskrat Mashers Meeting
Thursday, September 10, 2009
6-8 p.m. @ Harbor Inn & Ale

Thanks to those that attended the first of the adjusted meeting schedule.  We had a small turnout, but as always a great time.  Reminder to everyone, the meetings will fall on the second Thursday of every month, unless otherwise noted.   We will switch up the locations, so keep an eye on the emails or the website (muskratmashers.com) for details.

September meeting topic:   Growing and harvesting your own hops!
- I’ve wanted to get a topic of discussion going for each meeting, and now that I’ve had time to plan out a meeting, we’ve decided to focus the discussion on a single topic.  Since it’s hop harvest season, I figured this topic would be very fitting.
A couple members have offered to bring some dried hops, as well as pictures of the hops they’re growing.   We’ll discuss how and when to start the plants, when and where is best to grow them, and when/how to harvest them.   We’ll also discuss how best to use whole hops in your brews.

For those of you that I have not been in touch with that do grow your own hops, please bring some of the hops to show off, and whatever else you have to share with the group.
If anyone has literature or anything to share on the topic, please try and make some copies for the group, or send it my way prior to the meeting.

I’m looking forward to this discussion myself, as I am curious how everyone is using the hops in the beer.  I’ll post a thread on the forum where everyone can share more info we may not get to in the meeting.

One more thing! A local artist made us a logo.  Click here to see the art work, leave comments on the forum.

We’ll see everyone in a couple of weeks!   Contact Kevin or I if you have any questions.

August Meeting Notice!

Next meeting – this Thursday!!

Thursday August 13th – 6 – 8 p.m. @ Harbor Inn & Ale

For those of you that missed the tasting at Kevin  & Sarah’s, we had a great time and tasted many awesome homebrews (see picture).  I am thoroughly impressed with Monroe homebrewers, and have a lot to learn from you all on making good beer.    We’ll work on another tasting soon, maybe we can talk about that this Thursday.

See you all then!

-Rob

p.s.  A local artist created a logo for us!!   I’ll bring prints to this weeks meeting, and hopefully have something posted to the site soon.   I see T-Shirts in our future!!!