First time attendee Pranab was welcomed to the group.
Derek H reported on the AHA Rally at Heretic Brewing in Fairfield, which included a free wort giveaway to anyone who brought a carboy or keg. About 10 Sudzers attended and 6 or 7 got the free wort, which has been fermented with various yeasts and added ingredients – will be fun to taste all the variations starting with truly identical wort. It’s like the biggest split batch experiment ever, since Heretic gave away 20+ bbls of wort, 5 gallons at a time.
Chris Q hosted a successful brew day on April 19. Chris provided tasty grilled refreshments and brewed a Northern English Brown Ale, while Doug attempted to recreate the amazing doppelbock from the spring 2010 club brew.
Thirsty Third Thursday meetup was scheduled for TL Beer Garden in Sunnyvale on May 15.
The date for the second club session beer competition judging was set for July 11 at 7 pm. This will take the place of our regular July meeting (moved to the second Friday to avoid meeting on July 4.) Ribbons will be awarded for the best hop forward beers and the best non-hop forward beers. All beers must be under 5% ABV to be submitted.
Derek H met the proprietors of the San Francisco Mead Company and will invite them to a future meeting.
Members-only event with the Siebel off flavors kit will be held May 16 at Nick’s house, 7 pm.
Justin gave a very informative presentation on mash temperature, which will be posted on the website soon.
Tyler visited the new Faction Brewing brewery and tasting room, and generously brought growlers of their pilsner, Winter IPA, and Carlo’s Stout to share.
Charles will do a presentation at the June meeting providing side by side comparisons of several beers in which batches were split in order to compare the effects of bottle conditioning vs keg conditioning.
Steve H has about 6 styrofoam wine shipping containers that someone can use for shipping or to keep beer/bombers semi-insulated. He will bring to June meeting.