National Homebrew Club Ireland

What's everyone up for?

Think Keith (kaipee) had been talking about a build day?

I have missed the last load :-( So I'm up for absolutely anything!

Like Chris, I'm up for pretty much anything.

Had done bugger all brewing-wise since early December (Christmas, family stuff, etc completely taking over, spending endless evenings assembling kids' toys and then having to bite my tongue when effing Santa gets all the credit; that and the post-Christmas complete lack of motivation). But last night I finally got round to bottling my second batch of WOW, which had been sitting in a demijohn in the garage for about 7 weeks. During this mundane exercise I caught a glimpse of my as-yet unused malt mill and a fridge full of unopened bags of hops and suddenly experienced what can only be described as a brewing epiphany. I am reborn, as it were; praise be and that. Rarin' to go.
(the above phenomenon could be explained away by science i.e. the liver feeling rejuvenated having finally been allowed a few days off)

Any idea on dates?
My thought for January is maybe a sneaky evening in the Hudson to try a few brews, take stock and plan for the coming months? I think a brewday/equipment build day should closely follow.


Cheers,

-Lazarus aka Barry

night in hudson sounds great.

Nice one - sounds good!

There's talk of using the club meets as competition entry drop points so we could use this and the Feb one for these. I think the Vineyard (http://www.vineyardbelfast.co.uk/) are also up for acting as a drop point for anyone who can't make the meetings.

I'd be up for the Hudson

I would be interested in finding out more about these competition drops.  Always thought competitions was something we lacked a bit around here...but maybe I've just been missing something... :)

Anyone decided on a date for the Jan meet?

Praise be indeed Bazza. Let me know dates and ill try to make it. Brewed my second all grain on sunday past with the wife whinging  about it taking all day. I told her brew Day was in fact that. Its a another ipa with mosaic and centennial and some California ale yeast. Bubbling over nicely. My first batch had got better over time but just sunk the last one tonight. Major difference in colour from brown to clear bottles.

Just added a poll to see what suits! I assumed that tonight was out.

I've voted for the 24th, but honestly don't mind as long as it's not the 17th. That's the night before my Bday so I'll have other plans.

Night in the Hudson would be great - good opportunity to try some more beers and possibly get rid of more of my homemade wine!


O0

I voted for 17th and 31st, but can do the 24th as well, as long as they don't mind me showing up at my daughter's ballet class at 9:00 Saturday morning with drinky breath :-X

Was talking to Paddy the other night and we thought it'd be an idea to maybe have a sort of loose agenda for the Hudson meet. Nothing strict but just something to give a bit of focus or structure for the coming months.  We discussed the idea of having, if not a set date in the month (i.e. every first Friday) at least a planned date for a few months ahead, so we can make other plans around them rather than picking dates based on current plans. Any thoughts?

Agenda could be something like:

1. Catch up & drink beer
2. Samples
3. Plans for February: Brewday/Equipment build or both. Preferred venue & date
4. Samples/Drink beer
5. Plans for March: Brewday/Equipment build or both. Preferred venue & date
6. Samples/Drink beer
7. A.O.B./Future plans
8. Curry chip in Starlight on the Ormeau Road (optional)

Maybe even add a theme to these nights e.g. Matthew regales us with tales of working for Brewbot, Iain explains how wine can be made out of practically every household object, Barry explains 16th century crop rotation (while constantly suspiciously referring to a Wikipedia page on his phone).

Anyone got any thoughts?

Cheers,

-Barry

Quote from: Bazza on January 14, 2014, 01:57:46 PM

Agenda could be something like:

1. Catch up & drink beer
2. Samples
3. Plans for February: Brewday/Equipment build or both. Preferred venue & date
4. Samples/Drink beer
5. Plans for March: Brewday/Equipment build or both. Preferred venue & date
6. Samples/Drink beer
7. A.O.B./Future plans
8. Curry chip in Starlight on the Ormeau Road (optional)

Maybe even add a theme to these nights e.g. Matthew regales us with tales of working for Brewbot, Iain explains how wine can be made out of practically every household object, Barry explains 16th century crop rotation (while constantly suspiciously referring to a Wikipedia page on his phone).

Nice one Bazz-Meister. Sounds like a good idea. Perhaps a bit more organisation would work well - especially the idea of sorting out dates for the year - perhaps could do it on a six-month basis...

A planned date is a great idea - would definitely be better knowing when the next meet was in advance. We'd maybe have to be a bit flexible and stay aware of how many people can make it though.

Perhaps once a quarter we could choose a specialist hop of some description? Pick one (maybe even group buy to save on postage) then have people go off and do what they want with it and have a hop sample night before choosing the next one?

May encourage people to break out of their traditional styles, or experiment with non-standard hops in the style they like.

I like the specialist hop idea - so you'd make a beer using that specific hop?

Yeah, but style/yeast would be completely up to you. Doesn't have to be a single hop beer obviously

I went for the 31st.  The only day I am free but also pay day :)

Like the idea of a set day each month with flexability.

Would also love to get in on the specialist hops program.  Great way to break away from the norm :)

I like the idea of the specialist hop thing too, though I'm leaning more in favour of doing a single hop brew with the hop in question. Reason being it'd be a better indicator of how different yeast, malts, hop schedules, water, conditioning, etc can lead to a vastly differing range of beers using the same hop. Adding other hops to the equation, especially the big hitters like citra, armarillo NS, etc would really skew any results. Though, I suppose it all depends on what we want to get out of it ultimately. Beer, most likely :)

-Barry

I guess if you classified it as Bittering/flavour/aroma and then had it be your primary hop for that category?

All depends on the hop I guess! I agree regarding big hops totally killing the results.

From my view, the single hopping makes it more like a competition, while having it as a primary one allows people to get creative (and possibly totally f it all up) and opens more brew types up.

Either way, sounds like we have our first AOB for the next meeting!

Waiting to hear from the Hudson then can confirm this and get it on the calendar thingy!

Hope to make my first meet this month. Only getting in to AG brewing so hope to learn from you masters :)

Hopefully I'll actually make it to this one after not being able to make it to any last year

Finally got to speak to someone today and the Hudson is fully booked on the 31st. What does everyone want to do? They can fit us in on the Saturday 1st Feb or would everyone prefer a Friday?

Bummer. What about second place i.e. this coming Friday? I would guess, however, that most folk have now made other plans for that date.

Not a huge fan of doing it on a Saturday but can make an exception if it suits other folk.


Cheers for the update, Chris,

-Barry

Yeah I know - I doubt we can make any other dates. The 31st would have been perfect - will check this and let you all know.

Doesn't look like this Friday is free either - I have to check again tomorrow but they're pretty sure it isn't free.

Any thoughts?

How about the first 2 Fridays in February?

Failing that, is a different venue an option for this once, or is that being just a little disloyal? Can't think of too many places where the ale selection is as good. Don't much fancy JD's on a Friday night.

-Barry

Quote from: Bazza on January 21, 2014, 10:54:32 PM
How about the first 2 Fridays in February?

Failing that, is a different venue an option for this once, or is that being just a little disloyal? Can't think of too many places where the ale selection is as good. Don't much fancy JD's on a Friday night.

-Barry

I don't think any bar would be as accommodating - not at such short notice anyway! I guess this is an example of why sorting out dates in advance would be good - we could let the Hudson know far in advance, too.

What about a Saturday afternoon in the Hudson? It's always fairly empty out the back.

I prob can't do 31st actually, so not doing that would be good for me. I could do the 1st Feb during the day, although we're coming back to the Hudson that night for a 30th bday party so it'd be Hudson overkill!

Then the weekend after that Tamsin and I are going over to Cornwall to eat at Rick Stein's place and drink some St Austell brews... I'd be surprised if there's a date that does suit me after all...

What about this Saturday afternoon?

This has got quite messy so maybe put this meet back until February?

Agreed, Chris.

I DARE someone to say they can't do 14th Feb because it's Valentine's day  >:D


-Barry