September 2005

 

Editors Note: [Please submit any beer related information, jokes, comments, smart remarks, or articles to the newsletter editor at insubordin8n@gmail.com or call me at 688-8979. The ‘deadline’ is the 3rd Sunday of the month.]

 

HeyYa,

What a busy month this has been. Summer went and got its self in a big ‘ol hurry and is just about done, but not before our annual campout. Thanks and Cheers go to everyone that helped out and volunteered to pull this thing together. This years raffle brought in $235 to put in the kitty for future club events. A special hearty Thank You to Chuck Link for gathering up all the goodies for the raffle prizes.

 

Coming up next:

I.      On the fun list is a Tostada part at John Wilson’s. He will provide the tostadas, and you will bring your favorite toppings. Such as cheeses, veggies, meats, whatever. Also, to go along side there will be an informal hot sauce tasting. Bring those along to share or dare everyone to have a go. The festivities will get fired up around

5:00pm on Saturday September 10th.

 

II.     September is Oktoberfest time.  In Germany the official festival is held for three consecutive weekends, at Russ's it will be only held on one weekend day and that will be September 24th starting at 5:00 PM.  Tried to talk Amber into having an official one, but, she mentioned something about getting a life, or was that, a new wife? Of course, the beer theme of the night is Oktoberfest Style or any fall fest type of beer and the food will be German potluck, so get out Grandma Helga's old recipe book. Some German sausages will provided and possibly smoked pigs knuckle, if Chris can find some. If you brewed a beer for the event show up around 4:30 and we can get it set up on tap (keggerator or jockey box).  If you don't have a homebrewed Fest beer then check out some of the local stores.  I would think, the Bier Stein would have a good selection by then (sometimes they are sparse until later in the month), since they have about every other beer you can think of.  By the way we live off of River Road at 639 Kourt Drive, if you hit Grove then you have gone too far. Phone # 461-1548. 

 Prost! –Kaz

 

Garage Crawl

The club is working on putting together a Garage Crawl.  You are probably wondering what the hell is a Garage Crawl, well it will be just like a pub crawl, but instead of pubs and breweries we will be going to our club members garages for beer.  The idea originated last winter after a small group of us did a pub crawl in Portland with former member Todd Steele.  He mentioned that he rather go around to some of our garages and taste beer then go to pubs and that point some said "yeah, let's do a garage crawl"and at that point an idea was born.

Nothing has been finalized, but we are thinking about a Saturday in November, starting in the morning, so someone please brew a coffee beer for our first stop.  In order to make this event successful, we will need some of our members, that brew and have beer on tap, to volunteer as hosts.  If you are interested in hosting, please send me an email, so I can compile a list and develop itenerary.  I have not yet made contact with the bus driver, so things may change. 

 

Now for a word from Matt about Hop Madness:

 

Hop Madness 2005 turned out to be another big success this year! I lost
count of how many people were there but I’ve heard estimates of around
70.... thanks to Robin, Denny, Nate and Rob for helping make it all
happen... Even though our club was the ‘official’ sponsor, the entrance fees
more than covered the expenses and I was even able to kick in $100 for the
grounds crew up there at Brooks Tree Farm.

Denny put together a heckuva great bunch of prizes for our two comps at the
fest, Best Damn Hoppy Beer People’s Choice, and BDHB Judged...

Everyone survived and it looked like a good time was had by all.... Dan
Schultz of the OBC showed up and expressed an interest in taking charge next
year, so it looks like someone else is all ready to do all the heavy
lifting....
See you again next year!
Matt

Next we have a blog from Mitch Scheele and his views about Hop Madness:

 

No Straightjacketing at Hop Madness
by Mitch "Bockmeister" Scheele

It was one of the nicest Saturdays of the year, and I headed up to
Brooks with a Suzuki Sidekick crammed full of brewing equipment. Dave
"Freshops" Wills followed with a trailer carrying even more brewing
hardware, for me and other homebrewers. Dave is originally from (gasp!)
California, but he wIll certainly be given an "Honorary Native
Oregonian" award, for his many contributions to the Oregon beer
culture, if I ever get around to it.
With two prior years of experience at Madness, I quickly got that
strike water up to temp., and started the merry day of harvest ale
brewing. My grain bill consisted of 16 lbs. of Great Western pale malt,
and 4 lbs. each of Munich, Carapils, and 15L Crystal. I would have put
more grain in the mash tun if anyone had taken me up on my offer of
free wort, but there were no takers. If I brew next year, I'll be sure
to give more warning for any similar offer. I did have a couple gallons
of late-running wort that Jaws Joslyn snagged to add to his own brew.
Jaws definitely had as much fun as anyone, and maybe even more so. When
Dave returned with piles of Cascade, Crystal, and Willamette hop bines,
we were off and boiling. I stuck with Cascade and Crystal (at a 6-to-1,
wet-to-dry ratio) for my 15 gallons, since I already have Willamette in
my back yard. I aimed for an OG of 1050, but finished with one around
1045, which should make for a fine, even-more-hoppy beer.
First to conclude my brewing day, I skipped and "hopped" along to the
main event, with a bottle of water in one hand, and a beer glass in the
other. That water was part of the reason that I still had a smile on my
face the next morning. Loquacious Laura Fuller grilled up some kick-A
salmon, and long John Lund shared some excellent cobbed corn. Someone
made some very juicy brownies which will not soon be forgotten. Cascade
Brewers Society had the largest presence, and there were a fair number
of OBCers and folks from the new PDX brew club. I think that a dozen or
more brewers were making harvest ale, and I counted 31 tents for the
campout. Dogs attended in all shapes and sizes, and unfortunately a
couple of Jack Russels decided to jump a golden Cocker Spaniel. The
Cocker seemed to have come out okay; not so sure about the little
attackers. Sometimes you need to be careful, and think twice about whom
you plan to invade.
Winner of the "Best Damn Hoppy Beer" award was Russ Kazmierczak, and
no, I don't know how to pronounce it, either. Brew Crewer Dan Johnson
copped the "Peoples Choice" award, and he deserved it. Thanks again
Matt Jarvis for managing, Denny Conn for judge organizing, and to Ryan
LeCompte for hosting the insanity. If I left anyone out, I owe them a
beer.

Chris Studach had this to say about the recent King Estate article in The Register Guard:

 

To all home brewers, professionals, and plain old beer geeks everywhere:

Please read on, and hopefully let them know how you feel.

 

This past weekend, the Eugene Register Guard printed a large, front page article about the King Estate Winery’s huge, new wine tasting room, and restaurant.  As well, they covered the soon to be opened large farmers market, also on the estate’s grounds.

All of this is great.  Fresh organic produce raised on the estate, featured in a state of the art restaurant, with their world class wines is certainly a boon to the region, and a reason to get out in the countryside for a visit.  But, if you read carefully, the article continued on page 10, where it was announced that King Estate “might put in a brewery in the next several years”. 

It goes on to describe the state of the art, German-constructed brew house already on premises, and nearly installed, along with the beautiful distillery.  King Estate has completed their first plantings of all organic barley, and hops.

The intention is to be a completely self-sufficient maltings, hop farm, brewery, and distillery, specializing in Belgian style ales, several European lagers, including not only estate brandies, but also whiskies!!! 

Due to the extensive operations already underway, it seems the King Estate brain trust has developed a case of cold feet, and now is weakening on opening this incredible world class destination for lovers of all fermented beverages.

Please, if you would treasure such a destination in your own backyard, write them at info@kingestate.com.  If we let them know how much they would be appreciated, there is a much better chance of this actually becoming real, and much sooner.  And, urge your like-minded compatriots to do the same.

 

 

 

And Now a Word from President Robin Chitwood:

August 24, 2005

 

 

A lot of Oregonians say that fall is the best time of year here. It’s the season of long balmy days and harvest festivals. As in Bavaria, Oktoberfest is celebrated in Oregon in September. It’s called Oktoberfest because of when the traditional celebration ends, on the first Sunday of October and you have to count back sixteen days to figure out when it starts.

The Oktoberfest celebration began as a wedding party on October 12, 1810 when Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The party was given for all citizens of Bavaria in the fields outside the city gates of Munich. It lasted sixteen days with a horse race as the grand finale. The horse race was so popular that it became an annual event, which, in turn, gave rise to the Oktoberfest tradition.

A likely reason it became a tradition was that the wedding occurred at the time of year when all the beer left in the cellars from spring brewing had to be consumed to make room for the beers to be brewed in the fall. In those days there were laws in Germany forbidding brewers from making beer during the summer months because of the prevalence of bacterial infection in the beer.

The traditional Oktoberfest beer is Marzen, meaning, “March” in German. That was the last month beer could be brewed before the hot weather set in. The medium strength red-amber lager has a toasty malt flavor and low hop bitterness similar to a Vienna lager. Draft versions of the traditional Marzen are still brewed for Oktoberfest by most of the big Munich breweries along with paler versions more suitable to the tourist market. About 30% of the annual production of the Munich breweries is consumed in the two weeks of Oktoberfest.

Today’s Oktoberfest is a thoroughly commercial rout of epic proportions with huge brewery tents, oom-pah bands and carnival rides. So what can seven million people wash down with 700,000 liters of Oktoberfest beer? The answer is 600,000 chickens, 180,000 pairs of pork sausages, 100,000 pork knuckles and 84 oxen.

Augustiner, Hacker-Pshorr, Lowenbrau, Hoffbrau, Paulaner and Spaten are the traditional brewers of Oktoberfest beer. Paulaner Oktoberfest-Marzen and Spaten Ur-Marzen are distributed in the U.S.

There are Oktoberfest celebrations all over North America in the fall. Over 700,000 people turn out for the event in Cincinnati. In Oregon the German-American community of Mt. Angel will celebrate its 40th Oktoberfest this year from September 10th through the 18th. Unfortunately, their featured beers are PBR and Becks. So much for tradition. The Eugene Oktoberfest is happening at St. Mark Catholic Church, 1760 Echo Hollow Road on Sept. 9th, 10, and 11th. There will be food and live music. Bottled and keg beer will be provided by The Bier Stein. Check out the ad in Eugene Weekly or the website at www.eugeneoktoberfest.com . Other Oregon Oktoberfest celebrations are happening in Sandy and Wolf Creek. Of course, the one with the best beer will be in Eugene at Russ and Amber Kazmierczak’s house on the 24th of September. Here’s your chance to celebrate with authentic Marzen beer and avoid the hubbub in Munich.

Cheers, RC

 

For all those that brew, I still have a large number of yeast slants to pick from. This hasn’t really been put to use, and I can only brew so much at a time. If you are at all interested in getting a slant, let me know. I’m also more than happy to answer any questions about stepping up a slant to a pitchable amount os yeast. It’s not that hard, really.

 

 Please feel free to call or email me if you are in need of a yeast slant. I culture them in slants and the process to step them up into pitchable amounts of yeast is very simple. I am more than willing to help with any questions you may have on the subject. Hm: 688-8979 email: insubordin8n@gmail.com

 

Here is a list of yeasts I have in the Bank:

BrewTek CL-50 California Pub Ale

WL004 Irish Ale

WLP510 Bastogue Ale

WLP013 London Ale

WLP565 Saison I

WLP036 Dusseldorf Alt

WLP007 Dry English Ale

WLP838 South German Lager

WLP Brettanomyces Bruxellensis

WLP029 Kolsch Ale

WY1762 Belgian Abbey II

WY2206 Bavarian Lager 

WY2042 Danish Lager

WY3787 Hi Gravity Trappist Ale

WY3068 Weihenstephan Wheat

Wy2112 California Lager

WY1728 Scottish Ale

Sierra Neveda Pale Ale (same as WL001, or WY1056)

Rogue's Pacman

La Chouffe's yeast

WY3822 Dutch Castle Yeast (Kasteel)

Orval yeast from the bottle

WL041 Pacific Ale

 

WY3944 Belgian White

Wy2001 Urquell Pils

Wy2002 Gambrinus Lager

Delerium Tremens, bottle cultured

 

New Additions:

Wy3763 Roselare yeast

 

 

PLEASE PAY YOUR DUES !!

Haven't paid your dues this year?  Please send a check for $20 (per household) made out to "Cascade Brewers Society" to Lori Liudahl, c/o CBS, 1037 Berntzen Rd. Eugene, OR 97402.

Also, don’t forget that our club website is growing bigger every day! See what Denny has done with www.hbd.org/cascade

 

 


Club Information:  For over 20 years, Cascade Brewers Society is a sometimes formal, but mostly informal club devoted to the appreciation and art of creating fine alcoholic beverages (you know; beer, mead, cider, and wine). For more information regarding the Cascade Brewers Society, please contact Robin Chitwood at 342-2397.