The next meeting of the Heart River Home Brewers (AHA Club Number: 000163851) is scheduled for June 27th, 2013 at Custom Data World Headquarters 677 10th Street  Dickinson, North Dakota at 7:30 PM.

Present: Rocky Stoltz, Glen Bruhschwein, Chip Ford, Michael Kreitinger, Ryan Jilek, Dale Sattler, Marya Skaare and Jon Stika.

Discussed barrel beers.  Sampled Brown Ale from the barrel and found it had a microbial pellicule and a slightly earthy/sour aroma and flavor.  The group decided to let the beer remain in the barrel and perhaps develop into a beer similar to an Oud Bruin.  Tallied pledged contributions to Scotch Strong Ale (Wee Heavy) to be interred in the second, yet unused, wine barrel.  50 gallons have been pledged, so Ryan may communicate with the Muddy River Mashers club in Mandan, ND to see if any members would like to contribute 10 gallons to top up the barrel at 60 gallons. Ryan reported that the 15 gallons of Biere de Garde brewed by him, Jon and Rocky has been delivered to Philleos in Mandan to be barrel-aged with Biere de Garde brewed by the Muddy River Mashers club members.  Marya reported on the upcoming Blues & Brews event at the Biesiot Activity Center, June 1st.  Those serving beer at the event may arrive after 3PM to get set up.  Members were reminded of the ND Brewers campout at Sully Creek State park, June 21-23.

Jon Stika
Secretary

Brewing at Hawk’s Point 2013

Brewing Biere de Garde on Cinco de Mayo.

Present: Ryan Jilek, Joel Empter, Dale Sattler, Rocky Stoltz, Glen Bruhschwein, Jerry Ford, Alan Church, Jeremiah Thorpe, Paul Ellerkamp, Chip Ford and Jon Stika.

Discussed sharing hop rhizomes among members.  Jon reported that the Imperial Stout entry in the Eight Seconds of Froth competition would not be entered because of pickup issues.  Alan moved, seconded by Jeremiah that Jon contact the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) regarding the failure by the High Plains Drafters of Cheyenne, WY to uphold their commitment to collect entries in the 8 seconds of Froth competition as originally stated in the competition rules.  Motion passed.  Alan reported on the Outlaw Alcohol presentation made by members Jilek and Stika at the Albers Humanitites Festival at Dickinson State University on April 12th.  Discussed the next collective brew to age in the club’s wine barrel.  Jerry moved, seconded by Ryan that the next style to be brewed for the barrel be a Scotch Strong Ale (Wee Heavy) with any deficit made up by the club (brewed by volunteer members) or a member of the Muddy River Mashers of Mandan if necessary.  Motion passed.  Five-gallon batches of the beer will be brewed by Ryan, Jon, Jeremiah, Jerry, Glen, Alan, Rocky, Paul, Joel and Chip and be ready to transfer to the barrel by the July club meeting.  Discussed the upcoming Blues and Brews scheduled for June 1st at the Biesiot Activity Center.  Rocky, Dale, Ryan, Jeremiah, Paul and Jon plan to attend and serve their homemade beer/wine.  Discussed brewing a beer using second runnings from a big mash.  Jon reported that the beers brewed at Hawk’s Point for Blues and Brews have been kegged and connected to carbon dioxide for carbonation/maturation.

Present: Alan Church, Joel Empter, Ryan Jilek, Rocky Stoltz, Jerry Ford, Marcus Jackson and Jon Stika.

Discussed Albers Humanities Festival and the “Outlaw Alcohol: Chemistry and the Unintended Consequences of Prohibition” in which Ryan and Jon will be participating.  Discussed the 8 Seconds of Froth homebrew competition in Cheyenne, WY on May 11th.  Jon has entered several beers in the competition including the clubs’ barrel-aged Imperial Stout.  Discussed hops that could be grown at the Dickinson Research and Experiment Station.  Ryan, Rocky, Jerry and Jon plan to brew three beer kits at Hawks Point on April 5th.

Jon Stika
Secretary

Present: Ryan Jilek, Chip Ford, Joel Emter, Rocky Stoltz, Chris Scharpf, Alan Church, Michael Kreitinger, Paul Ellerkamp, Jerry Ford, Jon Stika and guest Marya Skaare, Associate Director of Alumni Relations, Dickinson State University Alumni & Foundation.

Marya led a discussion on the 2012 Blues & Brews event scheduled for June 1st at the Biesiot Activity Center in Dickinson.  The club agreed to assist the Foundation by brewing three kit beers to be served at the event.  Jon will work to coordinate ordering the kits, scheduling a time to brew them and getting the registration form to HRHB members as well as ND Brewers.

Discussed the ND Brewers campout.  At last years campout, the consensus was for the HRHB to organize a location and date in western ND.  Jon and Ryan will work on determining a location and date for the event.

Jon Stika
Secretary

Jeremiah, Jerry, Chip, Jon, Alan, (Rocky behind the camera) and Ryan transferred Imperial Stout out of the used wine barrel and refilled it with Brown Ale on the last of January 2013.

Present: Chip Ford, Jerry Ford, Alan Church, Joel Empter, Rocky Stoltz, Michael Kreitinger, Ryan Jilek, Dale Sattler, Paul Ellerkamp, Jeremiah Thorpe and Jon Stika.

Jerry Ford, Alan Church, Rocky Stoltz, Michael Kreitinger, Ryan Jilek, Paul Ellerkamp and  Jeremiah Thorpe delivered quantities of Brown Ale for barrel aging.

Rocky provided a Treasurer’s report showing a balance of $725.65.

Rocky circulated and completed paperwork for the club to retain its’ non-profit status with the state of North Dakota.

Jon reported that he has been promoted to the rank of “Certified” beer judge with the Beer Judge Certification Program.

Discussed transfer of barrel beers.  Thursday, January 31^st was tentatively set as the date to transfer Imperial Stout out of the barrel into shareholders vessels and transfer Brown Ale into the barrel for aging.

Elections were held for Vice President, Treasurer and Members at Large.  Ryan was nominated by Michael and Michael nominated by Rocky for Vice President.  Rocky moved that nominations cease, seconded by Alan, motion passed.  President Ford called for a voice vote which elected Michael Kreitinger as the new Vice President.  Alan nominated Rocky for Treasurer.  Michael moved that nominations cease and unanimous ballot be cast for Rocky, seconded by Alan, motion passed.  Rocky will continue to serve as club Treasurer.  Rocky nominated Jeremiah for Member at Large, seconded by Paul.  Ryan nominated Alan for Member at Large, seconded by Michael.  Dale moved that nominations cease and unanimous ballot be cast for Jeremiah and Alan, seconded by Ryan, motion passed.  Jeremiah and Alan are Members at Large.

Discussed malting, home grown hops, wine grape varieties suited to North Dakota and Belgian yeast strains.

Rocky brought a Chokecherry Wheat beer, Ryan brought samples of experimental beers from Budweiser and some of his home-brewed “Hop Concentrate”, Paul brought an ale from Saint Somewhere brewery, Chip brought  an Abbey Dubbel, Jon brought a barrel-aged Scottish 80 Ale, Alan brought Goose Island Mild Winter ale, Dale brought spiced wine and lime wine.

Jon Stika
Secretary

At the monthly meeting of the Heart River Homebrewers last night we collected all the members beer for the next filling of our Cabernet barrel. Although it was slightly after several members left for the evening we did tap into the current offerings to make sure they were worthy. The 60 gallons of imperial stout that has been resting in there since August 26th has blossomed into a very fine beer. The roasted malts have really balanced out nicely. The delicate subtleties of the cabernet and oak have worked their way nicely into the malty base. This was from a room temp barrel and not carbonated.

The successor for the imperial stout in the barrel will be a brown ale that we collaboratively on a recipe and brewed. There will be 10 different batches of brown ale going in from 8 different brewers. We will be dumping and kegging the stout and putting in the brown Thursday evening the 31st. So samples should start becoming available from the contributing members within a few weeks.

For those who missed the tasting last night at the meeting you’ll see that your club president Jerry didn’t let the spilled imperial stout go to waste. Like a true boy scout the improvised straw made from a pen made handy work of slurping up the spilled stout!