Hoppy days to all!
It is now mid-June, the Big Brew Maibocks should be done or near so; the Summer party is on July 13 at Darryl Hickey's house, where we will all be able to sample all the variations. My batch with the Bavarian Lager yeast never developed a big krausen and was still extremely sweet when I racked it to the secondary. It continued to ferment steadily at around 45 F, and I racked it again after about a month; it was much less sweet, but still the richness to be expected from the style. It is continuing to lager, and I will probably keg it and force carbonate the last weekend of the month, giving it two weeks to keg condition before the party.
Please start thinking what food you may want to bring to the Summer Solstice Party, we will be discussing more about the party at the next meeting. Please note that this month's meeting is at Gordon Biersch; I asked for the meeting room at the end of the bar, close by the brewery. By moving the meeting around a bit, I think we keep from "wearing out" any one place, and since we live in various places around the county, it gives folks a chance to have the meeting closer to them from time to time. We are always open to suggestions for places, realizing the need to be able to group together without too much noise to drown out the meeting. Please keep in mind to give some business to our hosts at each meeting.
On the competition front, the "Commander Saaz's Interplanetary Homebrew Blastofff" is coming on July 13, entries due by July 9. This is unfortunately the same day as the party, otherwise Aviva and I would be going up again this year. The SAAZ folks run a really fun event at a brewpub/BBQ place called Charlie and Jake's which has truly awesome food; it's worth checking out anytime you are in the Melbourne area. Last year, MASH members took several medals at this event; I encourage everyone to enter beers, and perhaps attend, judge or steward at this event in the future.
Again this month, I invite all to bring questions and experiences to present to the membership at our meetings. One thing I would like to here some discussion and tips on is conversion of a refrigerator to a "kegerator"; this is something I hope to be doing soon, as I have been kegging more of my beers as time goes on. Other suggestions for discussion are always welcome.
Brew on, brew better!
Pete Buschbaum