Old News
November through January 2007
January 7, 2008
Well, evidentally I'm not done webmastering yet. Sooooo here we go. President Ryan sent around an email announcing that the Christmas/Holiday/Festivus/Defenstration of Prague Party will be held at Ned Kelly's in Green Bay on Sunday, January 13, at noon. Please email Ryan if you are planning on attending and if you will have food to bring or stuff to supply for the raffle.
Don't forget about the club brew tomorrow hosted by Bob Franklin at the House of Homebrew. Be there!
December 31, 2007
They say that all good things much come to an end and so it is with 2007 and my webmastership of this very site. It's been a fun 10 years. I'll leave you with my annual New Year's Eve plea. Enjoy the evening, but if you plan on drinking, please set a designated driver or call a cab. We want to have you back in 2008. Let's . . . be careful out there . . .
Mike Conard sent along information about the annual Upper Mississippi Mash-Out to be held on January 25-26 in St. Paul. Check the website for more details. Hurry, though, since entries are due by January 12.
December 14, 2007
Bob Franklin has volunteered to take the January club brew. It will be held at the House of Homebrew. He is doing this despite the very real risk that some folks might spend money on his wide selection of homebrewing products. That's the kind of guy he is. Be there!
December 7, 2007
Matt Skaletski was elected webmaster pro tem at the December meeting. He has a lot of experience in this area and I'm sure will do a fine job. I've uploaded the site content to his servers. I'm not sure when the official transition will take place. For now, he has set up some forums for the club. Check them out and register! They should be far more useful than the old forums we used to have and hopefully more spam-free.
Also, we now have brewers for the club brews in May, July, September, and November. All other months are open for the taking! If you are interested (especially for January), email me.
December 5, 2007
As gak noted in his blog, today marks the 74th anniversary of the passing of the 21st amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Why is this a big deal? That amendment repealed the 18th amendment and brought "the Noble Experiment" that was Prohibition to an end.
December 2, 2007
Sorry I wasn't able to be at the meeting on Saturday. With the snow and this bug I've been fighting for a couple of weeks, I decided to stay put. I updated the schedule page for 2008. So far we have two club brew volunteers, yours truly in July and Trevor LaRene in November. All other months are free for the taking! I'm not sure if the Christmas/Holiday/Festivus party date is correct. Stay tuned.
Ed Mathis sent along some cool news that he won Best of Show at the Great Heron Homebrew Open and got to brew his beer at Central Waters brewpub. Ed has gotten to be the competition monster. Congrats once again!
November 3, 2007
David Oldenburg sends word that we will be meeting in the Frost Room at Titletown for our meeting on Tuesday. Be there!
President Ryan was "kind" enough to send even more bad news about temporary hop supply shortages:
This year's hop harvest will not yield enough hops to meet the world's demand for hops. Factors include farmers changing to more profitable crops, farmers selling land to developers, lower than anticipated 2007 harvest, and demand for particular hops in the Craft Brewing Industry. There are two things that will affect the home brewing industry. One is that prices are going up immediately. Second is that the selection of hops will decrease by almost 30-40%. High alpha hops will be in the shortest demand.
The hop industry has already reacted and has increased the amount of hops planned for planting in 2008. Things should be almost back to normal by next year at this time. The bottom line is that the cost of hops for a 5 gallon batch of beer will go up $1.00 - $2.00. Things could certainly be worse. Midwest will have plenty of hops available for 2008. The only thing different will be the decreased selection. There is already a little scare amongst the homebrewing community. Please don't over react to this hysteria.
So basically, expect some shortages but don't freak out.
November 1, 2007
Bob Franklin sent in this picture to prove that he has the best looking (and probably most expensive) brewery in the club. Pretty fancy brewing chairs, eh?
David Oldenburg sent this bit of information on a potential shortage of brewing supplies:
Unfortunately, due to a poor hop harvest this year, hops are very limited. Adventures in Homebrewing will be unable to sell hops in large quantities. We have been restricted by our wholesaler to a small number of available hops in quantities of 50 oz. per week or less. As an example of how bad the situation is - Saaz hops are not available until the 2008 crop. Not to be outdone, grains have suffered a similar fate. Grain prices have nearly doubled due to the explosion of new breweries, limited crops, bio-fuels, and the decline in strength of the American dollar. We do not suggest hoarding hops and grains at this time, as we expect a large release of both in the early months of 2008.