The next meeting of the Heart River Home Brewers (AHA Club Number: 000163851) is scheduled for Thursday, April 24th, 2014 at Custom Data World Headquarters, 677 10th St East, Dickinson, North Dakota at 7:30 PM.

Glen, Alicia, Jerry, Jon and Lindsey watch kettles of boiling wort during the 2014 Hawk’s Point brew session on April 4th in the Hawk’s Point kitchen.  The brew crew (back) Jerry, Ryan, Glen (front) Jon & Rocky.

Present: Ryan Jilek, Jerry Ford, Joel Empter, Rocky Stoltz, Michael Kreitinger, Glen Bruhschwein, Steve Klicker and Jon Stika.

Discussed upcoming brew session at Hawk’s Point to brew three kit beers for Hawk’s Point to serve at Blues and Brews on June 7th.  Ryan has the kits.  Members will bring brew kettles, wort chillers and other gear and meet at Hawk’s Point at 6PM and begin brewing at 7PM.  Ryan reported that Custom Design in Dickinson has the club logo digitized and should be ready to embroider the design on shirts for members who wish to do so.  The ND Brewers Campout is set for June 20-22 at Wolf Creek on Lake Sacagawea.  The Knights of Columbus “A Knight’s Brew” is scheduled for September 20th.

Jon Stika
Secretary

Present: Jerry Ford, Steve Klicker, Paul Ellerkamp, Glen Bruhschwein, Rocky Stoltz, Ryan Jilek, Alan Church, Michael Kreitinger, Jeremiah Thorpe, Alicia Erickson and Jon Stika.

Discussed barrel cleaning.  Jon and Ryan will determine a day when it will be warm enough to pressure wash the inside of the club barrels at Ryan’s house.  After Jon and Ryan get the barrels cleaned, a date will be determined when Old Ale will be brewed by club members to fill one of the barrels.  Ryan will check on digitized club logo for embroidered shirts.  Alicia informed the group that the Dickinson State University Foundation “Blues and Brews” will be held at the Biesoit Activities Center on the DSU campus on June 7th.  Rockpile Energy will be a major sponsor.  Alicia invited the club to again participate in serving homebrewed beer at the event.  Discussed club assisting with brewing beers for the Foundation to be served at the event.  Alicia will determine three beers to be brewed for the Foundation and check with Ryan before ordering the kits.  Club members will determine a date in March to brew the beers.  Ryan moved that club members in good standing (dues paid) would only be charged $10 for a subscription to Brew Your Own as part of the group discount subscription recently submitted by Rocky.  Motion seconded by Rocky.  Motion passed.  Rocky collected dues from several members and payment for BYO subscriptions from those included in the group BYO deal.  Ciders and beers brought by members were sampled and evaluated.

Jon Stika
Secretary

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

Rocky collected dues from those present.  Rocky completed paperwork to renew club non-profit status with the state of North Dakota for another year.  Ryan reported on HRHB logo shirts.  Ryan moved to pay Custom Design to to re-digitize the club logo so they could produce embroidered garments.  Seconded by Alan.  Motion carried.  The Wee Heavy in club barrel #2 was distributed to share holders.  Elections were held for club President and Secretary.  Ryan moved that a unanimous ballot be cast for Jerry Ford to continue as President and Jon Stika to continue as Secretary.  Seconded by Glen. Motion passed.  Rocky provided a Treasurer’s report.  Discussed barrel cleaning, wort aeration and yeast pitching rates.  Evaluated and discussed several beers brought by members in attendance.

Jon Stika
Secretary

Present: Jerry Ford, Ryan Jilek and Jon Stika.

Discussed the Radegast Club of the Year competition.  Jon will complete an entry for the club.  Discussed embroidered club shirts.  Jon provided Ryan with the electronic files of the club image that are formatted to run an automated embroidery machine.  Ryan will check with local businesses to see who could embroider the image onto shirts and the cost thereof.  Discussed cleaning the club barrels.  Barrel 1 is empty but not cleaned and Barrel 2 is full of Wee Heavy.  It was suggested that distribution of the Wee Heavy out of Barrel 2 take place at the next club meeting on January 23^rd if Rocky is willing to host the meeting at his house where Barrel 2 currently resides.  It was also suggested that after the Wee Heavy is removed from Barrel 2, that both barrels be taken to a self-serve car wash and be pressure rinsed to remove as much yeast and trub as possible.  The barrels could then be stored in Ryan’s Quonset until spring when the barrels could be properly cleaned and sanitized before aging the next beer.  Therefore, the Old Ale that was determined to be the next beer to be aged in a club barrel would not need to be brewed until spring when a barrel would be ready to accept the beer.  The business of election of a President and Secretary and collection of dues was tabled until the January meeting.

Jon Stika Secretary

Present: Ryan Jilek, Rocky Stoltz, Jerry Ford, Alan Church, Paul Ellerkamp, Jeremiah Thorpe, Paul Ellerkamp and Jon Stika.

Transferred Brown Ale out of barrel #1 into members kegs, buckets and carboys.  Jilek reported that barrel cleaning supplies have been delivered to him by member Bruhschwein.  Date will need to be set to transfer Scotch Strong Ale out of barrel #2 (currently at Stoltz’) and to clean both barrels.  This date will most likely be in December.  Jon will poll members for dates.  Members wishing to contribute to the next barrel beer are encouraged to brew an Old Ale to put into one of the club barrels in January 2014. 

Discussed having shirts made with an embroidered Heart River Home Brewers logo.  Jon will check to see if Mrs. Barros will provide the digital file of the club logo used to embroider Jon’s shirt to the club and at what cost (if any).  This would allow shirts to be embroidered locally.  To date; Rocky Stoltz, Joel Empter, Jeremiah Thorpe, Ryan Jilek, Jerry Ford, Glen Bruhschwein and Chip Ford have expressed interest in purchasing a shirt with the club logo. 

Jon shared the judging results of beers he entered into Hoppy Halloween last month.  The beers included the club barrel-aged Imperial Stout and the homemade malt/homegrown hops/wild yeast beer co-brewed by Jerry, Alan and Jon.  None of Jon’s beers won awards, but a Barley Wine entered by Ryan took a third place.  Ryan has a copy of Stan Hieronymus’ presentation on wheat beers and hopping from Hoppy Halloween that he could share with those interested.

Motion by Rocky, seconded by Jeremiah for the club to reimburse Paul Ellerkamp for pizza purchased for the November meeting/barrel beer transfer.  Motion passed.

Beers brought for sampling: New Belgium Lips of Faith Pluot – Ryan, home-brewed Chokecherry Wheat – Rocky, Wychwood Hobgoblin – Jerry and home-brewed Biere de Garde aged in a wine barrel in cooperation with the Muddy River Mashers of Mandan– Jon.   

Jon Stika Secretary

Present: Jerry Ford, Rocky Stoltz, Ryan Jilek, Glen Bruhschwein, Joel Empter and Jon Stika.

Discussed embroidered “Heart River Home Brewers” shirts.  Jon will send a message out to members to get a count on shirts desired then an order will be consolidated.  It was decided that the club will supply shirts to be delivered to the embroiderer in Bismarck.

Jon will send out a poll to determine dates to remove Brown Ale from barrel 1.  Motion by Jilek, seconded by Bruhschwein that the club would purchase the necessary chemicals to clean and sanitize the club barrels before the next beers are placed in them.  Motion passed.  Jilek will determine necessary chemicals and quantities and notify Bruhschwein, so the chemicals can be picked up in Minneapolis in the next couple weeks.  Old Ale will be placed in barrel 1 after the Brown ale is removed and the barrel sanitized.  It is anticipated that the Old Ale will be placed in Barrel 1 in late December.

Stika reported that he is scheduled to judge at the Hoppy Halloween homebrew competition in Fargo October 25 & 26.  Jilek is scheduled to steward at same competition October 26.

Jon Stika
Secretary

Ryan, Rocky and Jon transported the batches of Scotch Strong Ale (Wee Heavy) to Rocky’s, sanitized the second club barrel, hauled everything down into Rocky’s cellar and racked each batch into the barrel for aging.

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

Ryan shared a Spruce-tip seasoned Cream Ale from the Corvallis, OR homebrew club and his own Double IPA.  Jon shared a bottle of Rogue Voodoo maple bacon ale and his own Classic American Pilsner.  Rocky shared his own Scottish 60 Shilling Ale.  Mike shared his own IPA.  Joel shared his own Hot Chocolate Stout.  Alan shared his own Pale Ale.  Ryan moved, seconded by Paul to tentatively set the date for the club potluck picnic for September 21st.  Motion passed.  Jon will poll the members to see if that date or another date would work best.  Mike shared a poster for the K of C Knight’s Brew scheduled for September 12th at 6PM at the Dickinson Recreation Center.  The majority of the Scotch Strong Ale (Wee Heavy) has been assembled at Custom Data to be transferred into the second club barrel in the near future.  Sampled the Brown Ale currently aging in the first club barrel and discussed timing of withdrawing the beer into contributors shares for bottling.  No date was agreed upon to withdraw the beer from the barrel at this time.

Jon Stika
Secretary

Present: Rocky Stoltz, Jerry Ford, Ryan Jilek, Chip Ford and Jon Stika.

Rocky reported on the ND Brewers campout at Sully Creek State Park.  Rocky provided a Treasurer’s report.  Sampled Brown Ale from the barrel.  The sourness has mellowed, a slight vanilla/oak flavor is present, malt flavor medium/low and body is a bit thin.  Overall the beer is taking on the characteristics of an Oud Bruin or Flanders Red.  It was decided to allow the beer to age further.  The K of C Beer Taste is scheduled for September 12th as a  BJCP sanctioned competition.  Also discussed production and logistics for filling second wine barrel with Scotch Strong Ale.

Jon Stika
Secretary