Greetings Brewers!
Our monthly meeting will be at McCall Collective Brewing. Please note that this is a change of venue from when we first published the monthly meeting event.
There is still time to register for Homebrew Con which will be hosted in Pittsburgh this year. Please follow the forum topic and post your questions / ideas in that space. We've registered our club for "club night" so begin planning your brewing so you have a keg to share! Instructions for keg labeling and drop off will be posted shortly to the forum.
We are going to have a busy next couple of months! It all starts with a Big Brew of a Ukrainian Golden Ale, hosted by Yergey Brewing on May 7th. We'll be brewing in a section of the brewery's parking lot and all ingredients and hot water will be provided. After a 45 minute boil with a bittering hop addition, all wort will be combined to finish off the final hop and spice additions and fermented at the brewery. The beer will be served during Lehigh Valley Beer Week (with a complementary crowler for each home brewer) and we've designed t-shirts to commemorate the event and to raise money for Ukraine.
A special thanks and shout out to Ellen Kalinosky for her creativity designing the shirts!
After Big Brew, we have a serving opportunity at the biannual covered bridge festival on June 3rd, followed by Homebrew Con later in the month. In July, we'll be participating in the Barrel Brew Challenge hosted by Keystone Homebrew Supply.
August is another full month: Malt Madness, BJCP tasting exam, and Clam Jam!
With so much activity coming up, the officers have decided to pull back on the number of HBoTY competitions this year, with the first event being a "brewer's choice" for the Covered Bridge festival. You don't need to donate an entire keg to participate - a panel of judges will evaluate all entries during the festival, judging based solely on the tastiness of the entries (as opposed to style guidelines).
Finally, for homebrewers looking to advance their technical brewing knowledge, OSU Professor, Dr. Tom Shellhammer, will be offering a 6 week online course and in-person lab:
BEER QUALITY AND ANALYSIS SERIES
Online Course: May 16 - June 19, 2022
Onsite Lab: June 20 - 24, 2022 | Corvallis, Oregon
The weather is getting warmer, so it's a perfect time to brew, brew, and brew some more...
John Litak
LVHB Club President
Future Meetings:
Meetings are open to anyone (21 and older) who home brews (beer, wine, cider, mead) or is interested in learning about home brewing. Our club has over 30 certified judges and several members who have "gone pro" by opening their own brewery, meadery, or distillery! - So bring your latest craft creation and get some constructive feedback and/or accolades!
UPCOMING CLUB EVENTS
Here are some upcoming events, we'll add more specifics as we work out the details for these events.
OUR BREWERS (are awesome!)
CLUB COMPETITIONS
Lehigh Valley Homebrewer of the Year
Check out the 2021 results / leaderboard here!
Upcoming Challenges:
Covered Bridge Festival - "Brewer's/Judge's Choice" - Judge Panel selects "favorite"
Malt Madness - "Go for Gold" - Style Guidelines
Clam Jam - "People's Choice" - Crowd votes
UPCOMING BJCP COMPETITIONS
Full list is available here.
Recommended Local Homebrew Competitions:
Competition | Date | Registrations Due |
Multiple Dates | 3/28/22 | |
4/30/2022 | 4/15/2022 | |
5/7/2022 (brew day or yeast pickup) & 6/18/2022 (Judging) | ASAP (limit of 20) | |
5/14/2022 | 4/16/2022 | |
8/20/2022 | TBD | |
8/28/2022 | TBD | |
10/1/2022 | 9/12/2022 | |
SCH ABC 15 | 11/12/2022 | 11/5/2022 |
12/03/2022 | 11/19/2022 |
OTHER CLUB INFO
The details for most of our happenings (news, events, etc.) will either be included in the monthly newsletter or will be found on the LVHB Website Club Info page. More random thoughts, photos, and links will be shared via the club Facebook page. Find photos of our brewing activities on Instagram! @lehighvalleyhomebrewers
LVHB T-Shirts
LVHB t-shirts are being redesigned...
Looking for a gift idea? How about an AHA Membership for yourself or your brewing buddy? Use our link (click the image below) and the club gets credit for your membership!
Member Benefits
Keystone Homebrew Supply offers 10% off online and in-store purchases for LVHB members as well as a points based loyalty reward program. They offer weekly local delivery on Saturday at Bonn Place in Bethlehem (just place your order by Thursday). Keystone offers full sacks of grain as well as a large selection of brewing and wine making equipment. Also, for most local competitions they provide a drop off point so you don't have to mail in your entries! https://www.keystonehomebrew.com/ Hop and Grain offers members 20% off purchases on their online store, free shipping and flexible local pick-up options. You'll find them very accommodating, even if you require a special order. https://hopandgrain.us/
There's no excuse not to brew because you can't get ingredients or equipment! Thank you to the local shops that support our club!
See all the benefits of membership as well as how to join here.