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March 2021 Lehigh Valley Homebrewers Newsletter

Writer's picture: John LitakJohn Litak



Greetings Brewers! I hope everyone has been staying safe and looking forward to getting back together in-person. There's hope! If vaccines continue to be more and more available, perhaps we'll be able to resume a traditional in-person meeting sometime this summer. Unfortunately, the National Homebrew Conference felt that holding the full conference in San Diego this June would still be too risky. They will be hosting the conference online again this year. I would still encourage signing up to gain access to the educational presentations.


I'd like to thank our guest speakers from the February meeting; we were jam packed with content! Special thanks to Rick Theiner, Greg Edwards, and Matt McCall for joining us last time - see below for links to the presentations. I'd also like to thank all our members who renewed their memberships for 2021! We'll be sharing the results of the accompanying member survey at our next meeting.


I'm very excited to see all the responses for the first flight of the Homebrewer of the Year club competition! Currently we have 15 entries and we have again partnered with Gallows Hill to help safely manage the logistics of collection and judging. Dan will be sending entrants more specific instructions including your labeling instructions. There's still time to register if you haven't RSVP'd yet. I hope everyone views these internal club competitions as not just a way to compete for fortune and glory (lol), but also to grow your brewing skills. I had never brewed these styles before and acted on a tip from our treasurer, Steve, who suggested that the yeast cake from a Scottish Light would be a great starter for a Wee Heavy. Having never brewed a Wee Heavy before either, I was up for the challenge! Steve was right, and my Wee Heavy was actively fermenting in just a few hours. It finished up at 10.25%, and I hope to be able to share it with you soon!


Please check out the new "One and Done" competition below - If you've been starving for some beer feedback from a local competition at a low cost entry fee, this is it! Register before it fills up!


John Litak

LVHB Club President



Future Meetings:

March 30th - Zoom - RSVP Here Beer Homework:

  • Coffee Beers, please select any of the following:

    • Weyerbacher Gam-Gam's Coffee Double IPA (Coming soon to their tap room)

    • Hijinx Morning Mayhem

    • Hop Hill Morning Blonde

    • Wallenpaupack Nitro Coffee Cream Ale

    • Night Shift Wide Awake

    • Carton Regular Coffee

    • Other Coffee beer of your choice!


The March Meeting Agenda will feature:

  • Special Guest from Fieldstone Coffee Roasters to talk about pairing coffee with beer

  • Results from Round 1 of the Homebrewer of the Year (Scottish Light & Dark Milds)

  • Results from the Membership Survey

  • Group Discussion on Water pH


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!

 

Meeting Minutes


February Meeting - Tuesday, 23 February 2021


For February, we continued with our zoom virtual meetings. We had 35 Zoom participants. Our Agenda included:


  • Announcements and updates on club activities and competitions.

  • Style Deep Dives: English Dark Mild and English Brown Ales

  • Special Guest Presenter: Rick Theiner, LOGIC, Inc.

  • Special Guest: Matt McCall of McCall Collective Brewing

  • Special Guest: Greg Edwards from POWER Interfaith Lehigh Valley


Here are the presentations from the meeting:


General Notes, Black is Beautiful, and Style Deep Dive: Cream Ale and American Light Lager




Applied Sanitation in Homebrewing Fermentation Hobbies (Plus Passivation)





 

UPCOMING CLUB EVENTS

Here are some upcoming events, we'll add more specifics as we work out the details for these events.


  • Big Brew - May 2021

  • BJCP Classes - July/August 2021 - Sign-ups now available! (limited spots available! Note, if you plan on taking the test, you'll need to RSVP to both events)

  • Members Picnic - Summer 2021

  • Malt Madness - August 2021

  • Learn to Homebrew Day - November 2021

  • Holiday Party - December 2021


 

OUR BREWERS (are awesome)


Join us at the next meeting to hear about the successes and contributions of our brewers to the homebrew and professional brewing community.


Competitions:



Congratulations to Joe Kalinosky and Ryan Celia on their medal winning beers!






 

CLUB COMPETITIONS


Lehigh Valley Homebrewer of the Year

The first flight of our brand new competition is due for judging. Please RSVP on the events page if you intend to enter to receive your entry numbers and labeling instructions. Drop off window is Sunday, March 21st through Saturday March 27th. Bonus for participants: We've left a can of New Glarus Cream Ale for each participant courtesy of the club and our VP, Ken Solt! Remember to pick it up when you drop off your entries.

Check out the details here.



 

UPCOMING BJCP COMPETITIONS

Full list is available here.


One and Done

This is a new experimental competition intended to test out some alternative competition and judging software. It's capped at 200 entries but as of this week only about half full. I expect to see lots of Dark Milds and Scottish Lights from the club in this competition! If anyone needs help getting their entries to Keystone, please let an officer know!

  • Registration: Open until full.

  • Shipping Window (Keystone Homebrew drop-off is available): Receive by March 28th

  • Judging: April 3rd - April 17th

  • $4/entry - CHEAP!

  • https://beerawardsplatform.com/one-and-done



National Homebrew Competition

  • Registration: Closed

  • Shipping Window (all entries must be shipped): March 29th - April 9th

  • Judging: April 26th - May 2nd

  • $29/entry

  • https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/national-homebrew-competition/


 

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 for 2021.



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.



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