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Green Bay Rackers
Homebrewers' Club
If you want it done right, you have to brew it yourself!

Strange Brew Review

The Newsletter of the Green Bay Rackers - - November 1998

Club News - Dues Renewal time!

It is once again time to renew your membership in the Green Bay Rackers homebrewing club. There is even more reason than ever to maintain your club membership in 1999!

I have made a tremendous effort to get some benefits for our club members. Thanks to the cooperation of a lot of different businesses, the Green Bay Rackers will enjoy some additional benefits in 1999:

1. Discounts on Brewing Supplies
(see the article later in this issue) LifeTools Adventure Outfitters, Homebrew Market, Galaxy Science & Hobby, Lakeshore Hobby Homebrew

2. Brewing Techniques magazine discounted subscription rate.
You will be able to obtain BT magazine at 22% off the usual rate. Member rate - $26.00 (new & renewal), Regularly $33.00

3. Free initial entry in TTO Contest
As always, members get their first entry in the Titletown Open HB contest free of charge. This year, we will also offer a reduced rate for subsequent entries at less than the cost for non-members.

4. Beer & Lunch / Hall Rental
As always, the commercial beers and lunch at our meetings are provided from our dues. It also pays to rent the union hall. This year, you will be receiving a laminated membership card that will be required for obtaining the discounts at brewing supply stores. I want to put these out during January, so I would like dues in not later that December 31st.

You will be receiving a renewal card in the mail in December as well. Dues ($20.00) can be mailed to:
Michael Conard, Secretary
1021 Juneau Street
Kewaunee, WI 54216
A big Rackers welcome goes out to Thomas Rueckl. Tom and his wife Nicole live in Luxemburg.

I'd also like to welcome Richard Stueven (I hope I got that spelling correct!) to the Green Bay area. He is the new brewer at Egan Brewing Company. Richard has called me to inform me that he is looking forward to getting involved with the club. You may want to check out his website at beerismylife.com he informs me he has his tasting notes on 3100 different beers from his notebooks. He will be setting up a link to our website from his Wisconsin page at that site. Great to have you in town, Richard! (Webmaster's note: you MUST check out Richard's [aka gak's] site. It is one of the finest--if not the finest--beer appreciation sites on the web.)

Club Discounts

The following homebrewing supply stores have responded to my inquiries about offering discounts to our members. They will require that you have your membership card with you to obtain the discounts. You will be receiving membership cards after the first of the year with your payment of the dues.
LifeTools Adventure Outfitters
930 Waube Lane, Green Bay
5% discount

Homebrew Market
520 E. Wisconsin Ave., Appleton
10% discount

Galaxy Science & Hobby
1607 N. Richmond St., Appleton
10% on all brewing supplies, including sale items

Lakeshore Hobby Homebrew
1021 Juneau St., Kewaunee
10% on all consumables, 5% on hard items

Our thanks to all of these businesses!

Publicity

Hey, did any of you check out the Green Bay News-Chronicle article in the November 4th issue? Ed Huyck did a real nice article on homebrewing, he even got most of the information correct! Of course, you can't help but miss my ugly face on the cover of the section - at least I didn't have a cigar in my mouth! This club owes a HUGE thanks to John Blohm, who graciously set up to do the brewing session at his home, and to Dale Dean who took time out of his schedule to help with the brew and get his picture in the article as well. The GBNC has put aside a bunch of copies of the section for me and I will pick them up. I hope to have a few laminated and put up in the homebrewing supply stores to help advertise the club and the hobby of homebrewing.

Briess Tour

Life Tools has TENTATIVELY set up a tour of Briess Malting Company, scheduled for January 30, 1999. The tour will begin at 9:00 AM and is limited to 24 people (two groups of 12). Sign-up sheet will be posted at LifeTools. Transportation will be on your own. We can discuss car pooling at our December meeting. Please be sure to sign up early at LifeTools.

Club Elections

Club elections will once again be coming up (I can't remember if that is in December or February). In any event, I'm announcing now that I would like to continue as club secretary for another year - now that I'm finally getting this thing down to a science!

Club Calendar

December 5, Saturday - 1 P.M. Business Meeting at Green Bay Brewing Co. in Denmark.
January 5, Tuesday - 6 P.M. Club Brew, Musician's Union Hall. Co-Brewmasters: Jeff Rogers and Bob "Barley" Bultmann.
January 30, Saturday - 9 A.M. Briess Malt Tour sponsored by Life Tools (see article in club news)

BJCP Exam

by Mike Conard
The BJCP has several levels of judges based upon their experience and their knowledge of brewing as demonstrated by the exam score they obtain on the BJCP written examination. The levels of judges are as follows:

APPRENTICE JUDGE - someone who has taken the BJCP exam, but failed to score above 60 percent. No experience points are required, but the judge must maintain an active status.
RECOGNIZED JUDGE - minimum score of 60 percent on the exam. No experience points are necessary to attain this level.
CERTIFIED JUDGE - minimum score of 70 percent on the exam and at least five experience points, 2.5 of which must be judging points.
NATIONAL JUDGE - minimum score of 80 percent on the exam and at least 20 experience points, 10 of which must be judging points.
MASTER JUDGE - minimum score of 90 percent on the exam and at least 40 experience points, 20 of which must be judging points.
GRAND MASTER JUDGE - FIRST DEGREE - minimum score of 90 percent on the exam and at least 100 experience points, 50 of which must be judging points. A service requirement for the BJCP, to be determined by the Board on an individual basis, must also be fulfilled. Additional degrees can be earned in 100 experience point increments with additional service requirements.

Judges gain points by participating in judging contests as active judges. Judges can re-take the exam to try for a higher score after further study and preparation.

Beer Joke!

How to impress a woman: compliment her, cuddle her, kiss her, caress her, love her, stroke her, tease her, comfort her, protect her, hug her, hold her, spend money on her, wine & dine her, listen to her, care for her, stand by her, support her, go to the ends of the earth for her . . .

How to impress a man: Show up naked . . . with beer.

Problem Solving

Chlorine and chloramine are necessary evils in public water system. Chlorine is rapidly being replaced in many areas (even Oconto Falls!) with chloramine because it is more stable. Without these chemicals, all kinds of nasties would easily grow in our water and make us sick. With them, other problems arise. For the homebrewer chlorine and chloramine can cause problems because they can form chloraphenols, giving your beer that lovely sanitizer flavor.

What to do? Well, you could go all out and buy a charcoal-filtration unit. That will definitely take care of it for you. Unless you have a money tree in your backyard, this might not be the best situation. (Just a note: yes, Brita pitchers work nicely for this, but they recommend only filtering two gallons per day to maintain filter efficiency.)

As he has done so often in the past, A.J. deLange--frequent contributor to the Homebrew Digest Internet mailing list and occasional contributor to "Brewing Techniques"--has come to our collective rescue. His research indicates that you can effectively remove 3 mg/L of chloramine or 6 mg/L of chlorine from twenty gallons of water by adding a single 695 mg Campden tablet.

All you need to do is add the crushed Campden tablet to cold water, stir, and let it sit. The reaction takes place in a couple of minutes. Then you're ready to roll! This method will add a smidge more chloride, potassium, and sulfate to your water. If you are concerned about excess chlorine / chloramine you could use two or three tablets with little problem. People who are extremely sensitive to sulfites should use this method with caution, but home vintners regularly use one or two tablets per gallon!

There ya have it! It's simple, it's quick, it's effective, and it's cheap! What more could you want? For more information, go to the Homebrew Digest website and read issues #2837 and #2838.

Editors note: You can save time by not getting Campden tablets, and by getting sodium metabisulfite in powder form. It is available at most homebrew stores and you use 1/8 teaspoon in place of one tablet. Its the same stuff and you save the crushing. (Ever try to crush a Campden tablet? You need a hydraulic press, or at least a mortar & pestle!)

This article was submitted by our webmaster, Matt Arnold. Thanks Matt!

Recipes

Here it is, the award winning recipe from Paul Kerchefske's Liberty Pils that won BOS at our 1998 contest!

Ingredients:
9.5 lbs Briess 2-row
1.25 lbs Belgian Cara-Pils
3 oz. Liberty hops (5% alpha)
1/2 oz. Liberty Hops (2.8% alpha)
Wyeast 2278 liquid yeast pack

Process:
Single decoction mash (time not listed on the recipe sheet). Sparge out at boil for two hours, adding hops as follows: Liberty (5%) - 1/2 oz. at start of boil, 3/4 oz. during last 40 minutes of boil, 1.75 oz. during last 20 minutes of boil. Chill & pitch. Primary ferment for 14 days in glass, secondary for 14 days in glass. (Lagering temperature not recorded on the recipe form.) Dry hop for two weeks with the 2.8% alpha Liberty Pils.
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.015
Primed with 2.5 oz. pale malt extract.
Date brewed: 2/10/98
Judged on: 5/15/98

For more information, contact Paul Kerchefske at (920) 683-9346. Paul is a member of the Manty Malters HB club.