Bubblings From the Fermenter
Mark Tumarkin

This month Heather and Howard came back from the Great NorthWest to get married. They had asked me to make the wedding beer. (See the Kegs in Space article for more on the beer and my first adventure in kegging) Anyhow, everyone seemed to like the beer. Both kegs were drained dry -- but not before we had a chance to toast the bride and groom. My homebrewer's toast was 'May the beer be bitter and the marriage sweet.' Congratulations and Hoppiness to both of them, and to Janice Sue and George as well.

We had a great October meeting/Hoppy Halloween Party at Greg McGann's house. Greg and Sandra did a great decorating job, complete with spooky sound track. We blitzed through the business portion of the meeting pretty quickly in order to get to the fun stuff - beer and partying. But there were some important issues to deal with. Hogtown Brewers is now officially a non-profit corporation. This will allow us to be the beer vendor at the Medieval Faire (the only beer vendor I might add, so it should be a profitable boost to our treasury). More to come on that as the time gets closer. Erin also gave us a preliminary report on her research into possible sites for a spring camping trip -- but again more to come on that later. It was decided to send a contribution to the HBD Server Fund to say thanks since they are so generous in hosting our web site.

We also discussed the next couple of meetings. Since it's the holiday season we'll make a few changes. The November meeting will be combo meeting/party at Wayne & Sue's the weekend before Thanksgiving. Since the last Friday of the month is New Year's Eve, the December meeting will be held Jan 7 -- the first Friday in January. That's one way of avoiding Y2K issues -- just declare the first part of Jan to still be 1999. Think it'll work? Speaking of Y2K, we had a party crasher -- someone came in a great costume as the Millenium Bug. Nobody knows who she/he/it was, they just had some food and a few beers and then disappeared into the night.

We then moved on to the fun stuff. First, George and Bradley led a doctored beer tasting. They added some of the common beer flavors/faults to Miller Genuine Draft (someone said this was the 'Trick' part of ėtrick or treat') and gave us the opportunity to practice our tasting and identification skills. It was a lot of fun and probably will be repeated with different flavor additions in the near future. Sue then gave a presentation and tasting of Stouts. Between the beers sent down from New York by Jim Brangan and the good selection Sue found at the Wine & Cheese Gallery, we had a fantastic assortment of Stouts to enjoy. It certainly was a 'treat.' Then we just moved on to partying (as if we hadn't been doing that all along!). George & JS brought the remainder of the keg of SNPA left from Heather's wedding. So, along with some great homebrew and yummy food, there was no shortage of food or drink. I think everyone had a great time, I know I did.

On another note, it was a long, hot summer during which we were threatened with visits by several hurricanes, but luckily they each decided to pass us by for other locales. And now the cool fall weather has returned, and with it brewing season. It's hard to get serious about brewing during the hot weather, it's somehow easier just to settle down in the shade, or in the air conditioning, with a cold beer in hand and just contemplate future brew sessions and recipes. Well, now it's time to get out the propane burners and get those kettles boiling. If you're still brewing in your kitchen, get a propane burner and move outside. What better way to enjoy these glorious fall days? The weather we're getting now makes it worth putting up with the Florida summers, so I hope you're enjoying it.

Hopefully, you have been planning to brew some new recipes, or to make some slight changes to make your tried and true recipes even better. I hope you are thinking about entering those brews into some of the contests coming up in the next few months. Check out the Competition Corner for details on some of the upcoming contests. What I'd like you to think about is planning your brew sessions so that your beer will be at its best at the right time. Take a look at the dates of the upcoming contests and try to plan your brew schedule so that your beer will have time to mature or age as necessary. You want to give an IPA or Barley Wine time to age and mellow, whereas a hefeweizen is best drunk fresh. So plan your calendar accordingly and let's start letting these other clubs know that the Hogtown Brewers exist. Keep those fermenters bubbling.

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