Next Meeting -- January

The January style of the month is Porter and Imperial anything! If you have brewed any of these styles bring it in for us to sample. Justine has also acquired a very special beer that she plans to share with the group. Justine told me what kind of beer it is and I can say that I've never tried anything like it before.

At the meeting we will also discuss any beer / brewing related question you may have. We can also discuss any 2012 club activities (brewery tours, festivals, or road trips).

Thank you to Steve and Julie for hosting the December meeting!

New members are always welcome to join our club.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

I hope to see you at the meeting!

Competition Update

SOB's dominated their own competition, held at Worth Brewing in Northwood. John Barlow won 3 golds and a silver, Brian Davis a gold and 2 silvers Justine Jaspers won a gold and a silver, Dave Goplerud took home a gold, and Steve Johnson took three bronzes. Brian also won Best of Show with his Octoberfest.

Big Day Up North

Brian Davis took home 4 medals at the Great Northern Brew Ha Ha, 3 silvers and a gold. The gold was for a Weizenbock, and the silvers for Imperial Stout, Scotch Ale, and Black IPA (in the specialty catagory)

Gold For Uncle Walt

John Barlow continues to dominate the German Wheat catagory with his Uncle Walt's Weizenbock. This time it was the Hoppy Halloween Homebrew competition held in Fargo and put on by the Prairie Homebrewing Conmpanions.

SOB's Rock the Steele

JJ Teskey took home three ribbons and Brian Davis took two at this year's Steele County Homebrew Competition. JJ won a first for his Saison, a second for his Pilsner and a third for his Weizen. Brian took firsts for his Imperial Stout and Dortmunder. The Stout also took third in the Best of Show.

Bones From the Brew-Off

John Barlow took home two Bronze medals from the recent Boneyard Brew-Off hosted by the Boneyard Union of Zymurgical Zealots BUZZ(and you thought our acronym was silly!!)
John won for his Baltic Porter and Weizenbock, Way to go John!

Gold From the Garage

John Barlow's California Common won gold at the recent Champions of the Pint competition but on by the Garage Brewers Society in St. Louis.

Gold, Bronze at Mashness

The SOB's dominated the Stout category at the 2010 March Mashness in St. Cloud. Brian Davis took home the Gold and John Barlow the Bronze. Both entered an Imperial Stout.

Third At the Drunk Monk

A Dunkelweizen yielded the only medal for the SOB's Brian Davis at this year's Drunk Monk Challenge. He took a third with his dark German wheat beer.

Babble Brew-Off Brings Silvers

The Babble Brew-Off competition in Mundelien, IL awarded two 2nd places to the SOB's Brian Davis. He took ribbons in the Smoked Beers and Fruit Beers categories with a Smoked Wheat Beer and a Boysenberry Stout.

Three Bronze in Duluth

Brian Davis placed third in three categories at the Great Northern Brew Ha Ha. He won medals with his Boysenberry Stout, German Pilsner, and American Wheat beers.

Two Medals at the Mashout

John Barlow won the first medals of 2010 for the SOB's at the Upper Mississippi Mashout. He took home a silver for his Barley Wine and a bronze for his German Wheat.

Worth Brewing on Brewing TV!!

Brewing TV Episode 1.3 from Brewing TV on Vimeo.

Dr. John's Wort Chiller

I brew in my garage and the water source for wort cooling is 65 feet away, besides its winter and I didn't want to turn on the hose faucet. The cooling solution is not my idea, but it's the first time I tried it. It worked great. It consists of a large garbage can to hold water and ice blocks. Water flow is provided by an immersion pump (Menards $30). Garden hoses connect to the immersion chiller in the kettle. All water is recirculated and chilled with the ice blocks. I was able to drop the temperature of 6 gallons from boiling to pitching in about 15 minutes. However, I wanted to see how low it would go and was able to drop it to less than 50degrees F in 34 minutes. This really dropped a lot of solids out and the wort was very clear when I pitched the yeast. Time will tell if I dropped out any flavor.