New Guy?....

[Ben Thinkin]

Hey everyone, Im in Turlock and after listening to podcasts out the wazoo for a year I finally picked up a kit and jus tbottled my second batch the other day. I was kinda lookin around to see what clubs were around here and here I am! I was hoping I could find my way into a couple of club meetings at some point and see what its all about. Where do you all meet at, and when and so forth?

Thanks

Ben

[Brickhouse]

Welcome!

We meet the first tuesday of each month at Barley & Wine in Modesto. Barley & Wine‎ is located at 1125 Lone Palm Ave # C, Modesto, CA‎,  Phone is (209) 523-2739‎.

We just had a meeting last night with close to our normal turn out (11 brewers) and had a good time talking about yeast, brewing equipment and brewing in general.  We also (of course) shared some homebrew and drank some commercial examples.  We have some fun activities in the works.  Next month we will have a group brew where we will brew a "hobo brew".   A hobo brew is an exercise in recipe formulation.  Participants bring left over malt, yeast, hops, etc., and dump it on a table.  Then from those mystery ingredients a recipe is formulated and brewed and then shared at the next meeting.

During February's meeting we will have our normal informal brewing discussions, but I'll also present a short class on how to make on the fly adjustments to your preboil gravity and post boil gravity so that you ferment the beer you intended to brew.  We've had many other presentations in the past, such as how to calibrate your thermometers, yeast harvesting, recipe formulation etc.

Keep an eye on our forum for updates and of course let us know what you are brewing.  We love to talk about, pontificate, and discuss the fine points of brewing.  I think you'll find that we have a real depth of experience in our club that will be invaluable as you grow as a brewer.  As evidence of that fact, we have three BJCP judges in our group: Wayne, who has over 30 years of brewing experience, Dano and myself.

Since you are located in Turlock you have another option.  The Central Valley Brewer's Guild (http://www.centralvalleybrewersguild.com/) has a good group of brewers that are also pretty active.  I don't know what activities, if any, they have in the works, but they are a good group of people.  I see that they did not have a meeting scheduled for January.  Of course, if anyone asked I'd have to say the Modesto Masher's brew better beer .  If you check them out, let them know that I put in a good word for them.

[BrewerDano]

Well, Thomas stole the words outta my mouth!  He is our resident scientist, when it comes to brewing, and has the bulk of technical knowledge.

Join us for a meeting!  It's always fun and informative about many aspects of brewing.  Feel free to send any of us a PM (private message) about any question you may have.





And for those members wondering: "Where was Dano on Tuesday?"  Dano slept right thru the alarm and phone calls set for the meeting.  Alas, is the fate of graveyard shift workers...  Get what sleep you can.  Unfortunately, sometimes, at the expense of your friends. 

[Brickhouse]

   Sleep is a very high priority!  But your presence was missed.  See you at the group brew.

[Ben Thinkin]

Thanks guys, I look forward to the upcoming meetings and I will probably troll around here a bit and catch my bearings until then.

Thanks!!