The Dozer

August, 2001

We think that August was the all time record turn-out for a DOZE meeting. We had 24 members show up at B3 for the monthly meeting. And even better, 3 of them were women. That's is probaby an all time record as well.

I didn't know that there were that many people interested in learning about the process of making malt which was the scheduled talk for the session (and the one before that - where we had the 2nd biggest crowd - it's a popular topic).

Even Mike Milem showed up .... though there were rumors that he may not have heard about the talk, but just showed up to taste the Belgians.

Oh, yeah ... tasting the Belgians. We did that too. Thanks to Ray for bringing the commercial samples and to Mike, Mike, Scott and Bob for bringing the samples for judging.

The final tally went this way... Mike M's blanche or witbier is the entry for the "other" category. Mike S's smooth, clean but light double-and-a-half is the entry in the "double" category and Bob and Scott are going to meritage their efforts into an awesome "tripel."

There was the usual tasting of some fine homebrews. A note here: Jason scraped together some lawn cuttings and tree trimmings and threw in some lavendar and rosemary (I think). I wasn't really crazy about the result, but I admire your spirit man !! Keep it up, that's the real soul of home brewing.

The Sept 24 meeting will be at the B3 shop. There will be plenty of lies and stories about the Norcal Brewfest. Nobody will remember what really happened. Olin will be talking about tricks, techniques and gadgets. For those of you who missed it, we may have an encore presentation of the malting process.

I can't attribute our August turnout just to the popularity of the topic of making malt and the Belgian tasting. It has also been due to the efforts of Scott and Bob and Chris and Olin and the rest of the B3 staff at getting the word out and making our presence known.

Good job everybody !!

October 21, Sunday morning, starting around 10 a.m. we will be partnering with A.J. Phair brewing company and making a 260 gallon batch of a club brew. For some of our newer brewers, it is a great way to see how a small commercial brewery works.

Members will also be bringing their own gear and brewing 5 and 10 gallon batches so it is a good opportunity to see how it is done and to take part if you want.

We will be brewing all day so just show up. Last time we BBQ'd burgers and dogs and food was plentiful and for $10, anybody could take home 5 gallons of beer.

We will work out the details at the Sept meeting. Until then here are a couple of pictures from Big Brew 1:
Checking water samples
Cleaning out the mash