Monthly Archives: May 2013

Iron Kettle 2013

When

Saturday June 8th
9am

Where

Dan France’s House
Hilliard

Address will be emailed to those who signup.

What

If you’ve seen the Iron Chef, then you understand the premise: you will be given a special, secret ingredient that you must use, but how you use it is up to you. Each team will be given the same ingredients kit to review, decide on a style, formulate a recipe, and brew the beer. You need not use all ingredients but MUST use the special ingredient and be sure to showcase it.

Brewers will need to arrive a little before 9am to get set up. At 9am, kits will be passed out and you can start formulating a recipe based on your ingredients. If your team is brewing a 10 gallon batch then be sure to tell the Iron Kettle organizers (Vic Gonzales/Dan France) so that they can be sure to have two kits for you.

Before brewing, each team must give a recipe sheet to the organizers. On it you will name your style, ingredients, hop schedule and any special notes. If you are splitting your batch and using different yeasts and/or dry hopping, list your intent for each of the beers in the notes. If you elect to deviate from your recipe while brewing, see the organizers to update your sheet. Brewers generally will take some time to review their ingredients and submit their recipes with the expectation that brewing will start by 10 or 11am.

This is a fun event to do in teams of two or more brewers. It’s also a chance for a brewer to introduce the hobby to someone who has shown interest in homebrewing.

Last of all rules are subject to change so don’t surprised if someone moved your cheese.

Beers will be judged at the summer picnic for bragging rights.

Kits

The kits will be all grain kits (no extract) and will include enough malt, hops and special ingredient to make a 5 gallon batch.

Yeast

Please bring 2 yeast strains for each kit. If you are brewing with a partner you can have up to 2 kits and 4 yeast strains. If a team is brewing 10 gallons and will divide the beer into two fermenters, which then will be taken home to ferment separately, each brewer is permitted (but not obligated) to use independent yeast strains. This may lead to some discussion on the team regarding what to brew based upon what the two members brought, but each of the brewers must state what yeast strain will be used prior to brewing. You are not required to pitch the yeast on-site, but be honest about what strain you will use at home. You may bring (and use) O2 or a fish pump for aeration.

Water

Do not bring your own water.

You will receive Hilliard water is on the soft side of city waters (Alkalinity of ~54 mo/L).

Do not bring your own water.

Do not bring your own water.

What You Bring

Anything you need to brew. If you brew outside with a burner at your house then you’ll probably need to bring all that plus a table of some sort to drain your mash tun/kettle.

The gear you would need includes but isn’t limited to:

  • Burner
  • Kettle
  • Mash Tun
  • Hot Liquor Tun
  • Propane Tank
  • Spoons, buckets, bags
  • Fermentation Vessel (Carboy/Bucket)
  • Star San/PBW
  • Gloves
  • Refractometer/Hydrometer/Graduated Cylinder
  • Yeast (up to two strains per kit)
  • Aquarium Pump/Oxygen Stone/Oxygen
  • Hoses/Splitters for Chilling.
  • Grain mill.

What We Provide

  • A kit that brews a 5 gallon batch. Kit includes the malt, hops and special ingredient.
  • Water. Don’t bring your own water. If you bring it we will dump it out in front of you.
  • Pre-Chiller Setup

What is Verboten

    • Your own water. See a pattern?
    • Any ingredients other than what comes in the kit. This includes fining agents, and elements to alter water chemistry.

Signup

May Meeting

As you may know our May meeting is a week earlier than normal to correspond with American Craft Beer Week and initiate the week’s events at Elevator Brewery.  Their week’s events are listed here.

Date/Time

Monday, May 13 2013
7pm

Location

Elevator Brewery (not restaurant)
165 N 4th Street
Downtown Columbus, OH


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Agenda

We have a special guest this month, Don Croucher has arrange for Dan Ramos, the Ohio state legislator who is sponsoring the proposed law to increase the ABV limit for beer in Ohio to 21% to come and speak to us at Elevator. He will speak about the law, the challenges, and the opportunities it presents. It should be a very interesting opportunity for us, and a chance for SODZ to develop a relationship with an interested party in the legislature.  We ask that questions be well reasoned, sensible, and on topic (let’s not get to “political”).  Thanks Don!

Our second talk will be by our very own homebrewer-gone-pro/membership director Mike Byrne.  He will be talking to us about setting up, balancing, and maintaining draft lines.

If you can go early I would encourage you to go to the restaurant at 161 N. High Street for dinner to show our gratitude.

See you there!

Sláinte!

-Will