Old News
April through June 2005
June 11, 2005
I tweaked the new recipes page again. Besides being able to view the recipes in HTML, I've also got a link for plain text. The final version will only have one kind or another. The only advantage of HTML is being able to see the predicted color for the finished beer (which is a loose approximation at best). The disadvantage is that ProMash spits out ugly, non-standard HTML and the file size is about 30 times larger than plain text. Neither file is huge, but it seems silly to waste all of that space. Once again, let me know what you think.
June 10, 2005
In case you ProMash users didn't know about it already, the 2004 BJCP style guidelines are available for download. Just save it in the directory you installed ProMash in and tell it to overwrite the existing file.
Speaking of ProMash, I've been pondering how to redo our recipes section which is in serious need of some redoing. Amongst other things, I'd like to have each recipe available in ProMash format for downloading. If I did that, I would simply use ProMash's HTML export function to create a web version instead of doing them all by hand. I like the idea so much that I think I'll whip up a test page so I can show you what I'm thinking about.
Update! OK, here's my idea for a revamped recipes page. Let me know what you think. I would make a separate page for the Titletown Open Best of Show recipes. All other club-brew or Racker-submitted recipes would go on this page. Let me know what you think.
June 6, 2005
I got an email from the ALEs announcing that due to a lack of entries (!) the deadline for entering their competition has been extended to this Thursday, June 9. The judging will be on Saturday. Remember that this competition is a part of the Fox Valley Homebrew Inter-Club Competition Cup.
Mike Conard also sent around an email asking if anyone has 5-10 gallons of beer that they might be able to bring to Titletown on June 20 for their beer soirée. I will be there, but I don't have enough beer to bring. Titletown will provide grain as a replacement for those who bring beer. The festivities begin at 4:00 P.M. They will be brewing, giving tours, Dave Siegal will be giving a "beers around the world" class, and we'll be giving homebrew samples. The cost is $5 for mug club members and $10 for non-members. Email Mike if you have beer to spare ASAP.
Finally, Sprecher Brewing in Milwaukee announced that as a part of their annual Sprecherfest they will be having a homebrew competition. For more information check Sprecher's site or the Beer Barons of Milwaukee's site.
May 30, 2005
Congratulations go out to Trevor LaRene for winning a bronze and a "Best Black Beer" award and to Bob Franklin for winning two gold medals at the State Fair Competition!
I have had to disable Racker411. Unfortunately, some spammers have been posting garbage messages there. If I bring it back, it will be in an entirely different format that will require registration to post. We'll see if/when I get the time to do that.
May 20, 2005
Trevor LaRene sent an email around asking everyone to let him know if they will be coming to the club picnic or not. Make sure to return that email so that we can have an accurate count!
In what can only be a sign of the coming apocalypse, I brewed again on Tuesday. Yes, twice in the span of less than a week. This is another batch of Lambic that I will eventually mix with an older batch to make five gallons each of Gueuze and Kriek. I made a starter too for possibly yet another batch.
Since I brewed, why not head over to The House of Homebrew and spend ridiculous amounts of money on reasonably-priced brewing equipment and supplies? I used one of their big-ol' Wyeast smack packs for my Cream Ale and it worked surprisingly well. They're a little pricy, but since I didn't have time to make a starter, it was worth the money IMHO.
May 14, 2005
I don't want to terrify anyone, but I actually brewed beer on Wednesday--a Classic American Cream Ale. It is now happily bubbling in the fermenter. I'm hoping that it turns out to be reasonably non-toxic.
May 12, 2005
Evidently, the only score sheets from the Titletown Open that are at the House of Homebrew now are ones for Rackers members. I assume that means the others will be mailed out. Feel free to flog Mike for the confusion.
May 10, 2005
Sorry about the mistake in the script that I wrote to automagically display the next meeting time and date. I forgot to correct the special picnic exception. Thanks to David "Wilhelm" Oldenburg for pointing that out to me. The picnic will in fact be at Chuck Goluecke's palatial estate in Abrams on Saturday, June 4, beginning at noon.
Also, make sure that you check out the March 15-May 15, 2005, issue of Cream City Suds. It contains a nice article on Falls Brewing Company, the new brewery up here in Oconto Falls.
May 6, 2005
Congratulations go out to Jeff Bushner and Trevor LaRene for taking third place in the Belgian Strong Ale and Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer categories, respectively, in the first round of the National Homebrew Competition.
In case you didn't notice, I did in fact get the Titletown Open winners page updated and converted to the new format. You're welcome.
May 5, 2005
Mike sent a copy of the Titletown Open XI results in Adobe PDF format. I will be adding the winners to our usual winners page soon (as well as finally converting that page to the new format). Special congratulations go out to Jon Jorgensen for winning Best-of-Show with his American Barleywine.
Update May 12: This paragraph only applies to Rackers members. Mike also says that scoresheets and ribbons (where appropriate) will be available at the House of Homebrew on May 11. If you would like them mailed back to you, please email him.
May 2, 2005
Before I start getting emails, I will once again remind everybody that as soon as I get the results from the Titletown Open on Saturday, I will post them on this very site. If I haven't posted them, I don't have them yet.
Bob sent out directions to Jeremy LeMere's place for the club brew tomorrow. If you didn't receive them, give Bob a holler.
April 26, 2005
Don't forget that the Titletown Open is this Saturday!
Our esteemed President reminds one and all that we are sponsoring a bus to the Wisconsin Micro-Brewers Beer Fest in Chilton on May 22 with the help of our good friends at House of Homebrew, Hinterland Brewery, Titletown Brewing Company, and Slab City Brewery. The bus will leave from the north end of the parking lot at Titletown Brewing Company as soon as possible after 11:30 A.M., but no later than 11:45 A.M. The breweries mentioned above are contributing various consumables to make the trip more pleasant! Arrival back at Titletown will be sometime around 7:00 to 7:30 P.M. The cost is $35 and includes a round trip bus ride, admission to the beer fest, beverages, and possibly snacks on the bus. The sign-up sheet is at the House of Homebrew. You must sign up and pay by 7:00 P.M., May 4, so Bob has time to get the tickets.
Last, but certainly not least, I finally got around to added some pictures from our March club brew.
April 21, 2005
The Oconto County Brew Club has invited the Rackers to join them on Big Brew day, May 7, at Falls Brewing Company in Oconto Falls. Owner Tim Hudson is turning the brewery over to the OCBC for the day. They plan on brewing 200 gallons of Kölsch. They ask that you bring some beer to share and something to grill. Festivities will kick off around 9:00 A.M. and will run until, well, whenever. Falls Brewing is located on the west side of town on the corner of Highway 22 and County B. It is the former Hardee's building. There is also a Mobil station on that corner.
April 19, 2005
Hey kids! We may not have corny kegs (yet!) but we do have a line on some Sanke kegs. They can't be used for kegging anymore, but they make ideal brewpots. Check out our Sanke keg flier for all the details. Just in time for Mothers' Day!
April 18, 2005
Sorry about the prolonged delay in posting news. I've been pretty busy. Enough with the excuses, here's the news:
gak writes to say that while the William Kuether Brewing sale is almost complete, he has taken a job elsewhere. He will be moving to the Gottberg Brew Pub in Columbus, Nebraska. He will be at the Titletown Open, so you can say your farewells there. The Rackers wish gak the best and hope that this job doesn't freak out on him too.
The EAA's Hops and Props beer tasting event will be held on May 14. Tickets are $30 for EAA members and $35 for non-members in advance, $45 at the door.
The Beer Barons of Milwaukee's World of Beer festival will be held on May 1. Tickets are available through their website for $20.