D.U.F.F Club

DUFF Meeting on Friday

2012-01-04T07:25:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF Club Members

The January DUFF Club meeting will be held this Friday January 6th, 2012 at the home of Sandy and Mel Smith 6:00pm. Coordinates are 43.46,-90.132616 and address is E3698 County Road S. LaValle, Wi. 53941. Our home is approximately two miles east of Lime Ridge on county S or from Reedsburg, south 4 miles to county S, and then west for 8 miles. We are directly across form the intersection of County S and Three Culvert Rd.

Brings samples of your beer or wine and we will provide a light meal and snacks.

January is a good time to review where we've been as a club and where we would like to go in 2012 so bring your ideas for the new year. Hope to see everyone on Friday!

Mel

Next Duff Meeting in January

2011-12-01T01:16:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF Club members

The next DUFF Meeting will be held in January 2012, Friday the 6th of January 2012 at the home of Mel and Sandy Smith. This will be a planning session for the 2012 meeting and event schedule for our club. I'll send out invites and directions in January.

Looking forward to a Vineyard (grape) trimming lesson in February out at Guy Neau's place! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

If you have ideas or preferences for the new year, please attend, participate in the DUFF group on Google, or email me at mel4150091@gmail.com.

Cheers...!

Mel

November DUFF Meeting

2011-11-04T00:54:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club Members

The November DUFF Club Meeting will be held tonight, Friday, November 4th, 6:00 pm at Beezers in Hillsboro, Wisconsin. We have not reserved a room, but will just meet in the main dinning hall so try to arrive at or before 6:00pm so we know how big/many tables we'll need for our group. If enough people show up, maybe we can get a conference room otherwise we'll just take a table or two. You will be ordering off the menu and buying your own food and drinks.

This meeting is a casual outing but we do need to discuss where and when to hold the December DUFF meeting and the January Planning meeting for 2012. Also, if you have ideas for club activities or direction in 2012, come on out.

This is a No Homebrew Meeting night since we are meeting on the premises of a licensed establishment. In the future, 'Homebrew' will only be allowed/encouraged when we meet in homes or at a public park/facility where it is allowed... (or at least not too against the law!!!) Something we learned from this summer's Brew-at-the-Barn event. We want to enjoy our hobby but not jeopardize licensed establishments in the process.

I apologize for the late meeting announcements. The plans for tonight's meeting have just materialized on the DUFF club site. http://groups.google.com/group/duff-brew-club?hl=en Join us there for the most up-to-date club discussions.

Mel

You may email me at the above address or call 608-415-0091. Hope to see many club members this Friday in Hillsboro.

DUFF Meeting on the 7th is postponed

2011-10-04T22:11:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club Members

The Quarterly DUFF Meeting scheduled for this Friday in Camp Douglas is postponed and on hold for the time being. As happens from time to time, things come up and we all understand. I've posted the dilemma in the DUFF Group http://groups.google.com/group/duff-brew-club?hl=en and all are welcome to join the discussion there as we form a consensus on what we want to do.

Options that I see are:

Scrap the October meeting, we have tentative long-range meeting plans to fall back on:

November - Teach-a-friend to Home Brew event with Dave in charge of that.
December - Meeting at Steve and Marsha's in Mauston
January - Quarterly meeting.

Someone volunteer to host this Friday and we'll get out another email inviting members to meet at the new place.
Postpone the October meeting to new date and/or place.

So, the October meeting is currently on hold but I'll get out an email just as soon as we have a new plan of action.

Cheers!

Mel

September DUFF Meeting on the 9th

2011-08-30T20:23:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF members.

There has been a change from this coming Friday, to next Friday, September 9th, for the September DUFF meeting. We apologize for the late change.

The September meeting will be held at 6:00pm, Friday, September 9th at the home of Joe & Theresa Verbsky. Directions from Hillsboro... go south on 80 down past the hospital towards Richland Center. Go about 2 miles and turn right on Kouba valley Rd. Then go about 2.5 miles and turn left on McKenzie Road. Go up a hill, around a few corners and the road Y's... stay to the right or straight on Verbsky Ln. The farm is at the dead end of the road. Address for cell or satellite navigation is E16887 Verbsky Lane, Hillsboro, Wisconsin.

They are planning a Mexican menu and you can let them know if you plan to attend (or not) and anything you can do to assist by sending them an email in the correct email format @yahoo.com jverbsk. There is no formal business meeting planned for the night. Bring samples of your latest brews, brewing stories, or brew related topics of discussion.

See you all next Friday

Mel

August DUFF Meeting

2011-08-03T10:09:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club Members

The August DUFF meeting is this Friday, 5th of August, 2011, 6:00pm at the home of Jim and Kathy Kinsman. I don't think there is any pressing club business for this meeting just a great Friday evening for those who can make it. The following note about the meeting is from Jim:

We are still on for the meeting. Can't think of anything out of the ordinary, everyone should bring something to sample if able to. We should have all the toppings needed for the pizza, and hopefully enough dough to make a ton of em! Normal meeting time, but a touch early is fine. Oh, and if the weather is too bad, we have room in the basement for everyone.

Hopefully Manny and his wife can make it, they were here for the last pizza party you were at.

Directions to Jim's place: East of Reedsburg on Hy. 33 to the Rock Springs turn off, Highway 136. South 1/4 mile or so to the subdivision. The address is E 7233 N. oak crest dr. for those using a GPS. Hope to see everyone on Friday evening and if you think about it, give Jim a heads-up if you plan to attend or are unable to. Sandy and I should be there and I talked with Steve and Marsha who are also planning on coming. Marsha said she has some of their first beer to share as well.... can't wait to test that!

Mel

July DUFF Meeting this Friday

2011-06-27T11:47:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club members

The July DUFF meeting is this Friday 6:00pm at Fritz and Nancy's place in Mauston. 514 Maine Street, Mauston, Wi. Home phone 608 847 4123 Cell 608 547 7123 Heading north from downtown area on hwy 12/16 look for Grove Streetl eft on Grove Go over railroad tracks then 50 feet take right onto Maine Street second house from corner on leftt tan house green metal roof see ya there. Be advised that Hy 12 & 16 is tore up between Mauston and New Lisbon if anyone is coming from that direction.

Brats and hamburgers will be provided and you may bring chips or anything else along with your favorite homebrew.

Agenda for the evening:

Cream Ale Judging. If anyone's kit Cream ale is ready, or if you made your own, bring a sample for an informal judging. Feed back on the first club kit. Good idea? Bad idea? Should we do more? I still have ingredients left... aka. pilsen liquid malt and some specialty grains, hops, and yeast.

In addition, this is the quarterly planning meeting, so club business will be discussed. I received a note from Chad, I'll share it here:

Hi Guys,

My name is Chad Hoffer and I am the President of the Bull Falls Home

Brew Club up here in Wausau.

The reason I was trying to get a hold of someone in your club was

because I found out that we (Bull Falls Club) screw up big time. We

never invited any clubs to the Golden Growler (GG). I thought it had

been done back in October. I fund out on May 14th when I got a strange

email from Marc O'Brien at L.U.S.H. that we had not. He asked me what

was going on with the GG and I told him we were still on for June 4th

and he didn't even know we moved it to June.

I looked at your web site to see if there was any word about the GG, I

could not find any. Right now I know that CWDB, MASH and LUSH will be

there but I'm not sure about you guys or the Green Bay Rackers.

I understand if you don't have a beer for this year. I take full

responsibility for the screw up and just to let you know that I am

taking control of the event for 2012. We are planning on moving the

event to March and over to the Wausau Great Dane. We are still working

on the date. I will let you know that and the style.

I took down Mel's number and I will call it this week.

With the recent experience at the Barn, we need to discuss participation in events like the Golden Growler and other 'legal' aspects of our club activities, events, and homebrewer concerns.

Then there is the beer for the fall quarter, if I remember correctly, we were thinking of an October Fest beer???? If that is right, bring your thoughts, a recipe or other ideas about an October Fest beer.

We need to finalize plans for the next three months and look ahead to planning November, December, and January's DUFF Club activities.

August - Meeting will be held near Reedsburg at Jim and Kathy's place.

September - Joe's place near Hillsboro

October - Randy's place in Camp Douglas.

The July 1st meeting is an important meeting to attend as we consider all of the above club concerns. If you can't attend and have any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions that you feel are important for consideration, please send me a note: mel4150091 at g mail dot com and I can carry your thoughts to the meeting.

Have a great week and see you this Friday at Fritz & Nancy's place.

Mel

Big Brew this Saturday

2011-05-05T05:57:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Members

The Third Annual Big Brew is coming up on Saturday May, 7th. The official start-time is 10:00am but I'll be up heating water by 6:00 and folks usually begin arriving by 8:00 or 9:00. Come anytime of the day you are able to stop by.

The event is planned rain or shine and we'll make enough beer so that everyone that wants a portion of the 2011 Big Brew will get all they want!!! I have Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off as well and we'll make beer til the cows come home if we have to! The price will be determined by the cost of the ingredients, last year's was $1.25 a gallon or something like that, but the price of grains have risen slightly and I don't know what Jim had to spend on them.

The Official Big Brew is Porter but we have additional grains to make a secondary beer if necessary. I have Hops and Yeast available as well.

We will also be putting together Cream Ale kits for distribution to members who would like those. Cost for a Cream Ale kit will be $17.50 for the extract kit and less for the all-grain kits. So, there will be lots to do on Saturday.

If you are able to bring a dish-to-pass/chips/?????, that would be great. Sandy will have BBQ, Beans, and Potato Salad, the basics.

Directions to the Big Brew: Mel and Sandy's place on County Rd. S. 2 miles east of Lime Ridge, directly across from Three Culvert Road or from Reedsburg: State Rd. 23 south (at the west side Kwick Trip). Go about 4 miles to the top of the hill just past the wayside and turn right on County S. Go about 8 miles and the farm will be on the right side of the road. Call Mel at 608-415-0091 if you get lost.

Address for GPS: E3698 County Rd. S, LaValle, Wisconsin. 53941

See you all on Saturday.

Mel

April 2011, Meeting Notes

2011-04-09T06:59:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Members

The Quarterly meeting was held at Joe and Teresa's place over in the Hillsboro area on April 1st, what a wonderful time we had!

We held our first DUFF Club beer competition judging in quite a few years as we sampled and judged the beer entries for the winter/spring quarter beer, Maibock. Joe's beer was rated third, Randy's second, and Jim's was first place. This was an informal, fun, event with small prizes awarded as we critiqued each other's homebrew samples. We'll be doing that again each quarter, so if you missed out on this contest, you can get in on the fun at the next quarterly meeting in July.

The beer style for this next quarter 'May, June, and July' is Cream Ale. The Cream Ale Judging will be held at the July 1st meeting at Fritz's place in Mauston and DUFF Club Cream ale kits will be available starting May 7th, at the Big Brew. One of the events we will be doing during the Big brew is measuring out the ingredients for the Cream Ale kits. The price of the Extract cream Ale kit will be $17.50. The DUFF club will be making about $3.00 per kit and the members will be saving nearly $10 per kit over the mail-order & shipping price. It's a good deal for everyone. All-grain kits will also be available but I haven't calculated the price of those yet. If you want to order a kit, let me know how many you would like. I bought enough specialty grains and extract so that we could make about 30 kits.

The Beer style for the August, September, October Fall quarter will be October Fest and we plan to offer the same type of DUFF club kits for that as well. Please submit recipe suggestions so that supplies can be purchased and available for the October Kits in July.

The Big Brew is scheduled for May 7th at Sandy and Mel's farm near Lime Ridge. This is the third annual Big Brew we've held and the beer style we've selected this year for our club is Porter. There may be more than one Brew going that day so come out and join the fun and stay the night if you need to. The official start time is 10:00am but people come earlier and stay till all the beer is done. Let me know how much porter you would like so we can plan the Mash and the ingredients to purchase. I'll be sending out information as the day approaches or call me 608-415-0091 for information.

June - is the Brew at the Barn in Baraboo. If you plan on entering beer or wine, please let Christine know so she can make an introductory booklet for the event. There is a very convenient on-line form that you can complete here.

July - is the Quarterly meeting in Mauston at Fritz and Nancy's place. Judging of the Cream Ale enteries.

August - Meeting will be held near Reedsburg at Jim and Kathy's place.

September - Joe's place near Hillsboro

October - Randy's place in Camp Douglas.

I hope I've covered the highlights of the April meeting (missed the Hog's head episode but we'll all have to ask Kathy about that! Ha! Ha!). It's been a busy week and I'm off to Tomah this morning for the Barley and Hops Seminar.

Have a great day.

Mel

April DUFF Meeting

2011-03-28T07:47:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club Members

The DUFF Spring Quarterly planning meeting is this Friday, April 1st, 6:00pm at Joe and Teresa Verbsky's place near Hillsboro. Please let Joe and Teresa know if you plan to attend or cannot attend, so that they can make preparations. Send email, (in the correct format) to: @yahoo.com jverbsk. Don't miss this meeting if you want a voice on summer to fall DUFF activities but if you are unable to make the meeting, I do monitor and review the comments and discussions left on at the Google Group.Become a member there if you're not already and join the on-line discussions.

Directions to Joe & Teresa's. From Hillsboro, go south on 80, down past the hospital towards Richland Center. Go about 2 mi. turn right on Kouba valley rd. Then go about 2.5 mi. turn left on McKenzie rd. Go up a hill, around a few corners and the road y's. Stay to the right or straight on Verbsky ln. I'm at the dead end. The address for Tom Tom or Cell navigation is E16887 Verbsky Lane, Hillsboro, Wisconsin.

We are planning to judge the Club Winter beer competition. If you have a Maibock you want yours included but can not attend, let me know (in the correct format) @gmail.com mel4150091 and I'll try to arrange for someone close to you where you can drop it off or they can pick it up. First place gets their choice of one of my gourd birdhouses or a book! Maibock specs are here, and the judging sheets are here.

First DUFF Club beer kits will be Cream Ale. We'll talk about them at the meeting but you can go to this link to reserve one or as many as you want. We plan to put the kits together in April for distribution by the Big Brew day on May 7th.

Scheduled Business for the April 1st meeting:

Finalize the coming quarter activities and tentatively plan for the Third Quarter (August - October).
May 7th (Saturday) is the Big Brew day at Mel and Sandy's. We need to choose a beer style and order ingredients. The AHA recipes posted are: East India Pale Ale, Belgian Wit, or Porter. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org./pages/events/national-homebrew...
Also at this event we should be able to distribute summer beer kits & share hops rhizomes.
June – Homebrew Competition/M.S. fundraiser at the Barn, June 5th, 1 to 5 pm. This year will feature both Beer and Wine. Anyone planning to participate should have a five-gallon keg of beer or 2 cases of bottled beer to enter into the competition. Wine will also be included in this years event. A few bottle of each kind, maybe two to four should be enough.

Christin wanted a short biography from each homebrewer along with a description of the beer or wine you plan to bring, I made a Google Doc form to make it easier for everyone to fill out some suggested information for the program book that Christin wants to make for the event. All you have to do is go to this link and fill out the information as best you can and it'll all go into a spread sheet that can be forwarded to Christin. Please fill that out.

July 1st – Summer quarterly planning meeting for August, September, &
October, and tentative planning for fall quarter, November, December, &
January. Summer berry-wine-making should be in full swing with news from the
vineyards. We need to plan a location for the July meeting.
Make tentative plans for the 3rd quarter of 2011:

August -
September -
October -

I've probably left out a lot that should have been included in this note, so please show up this Friday night at Joe and Teresa's place. It will be a rewarding night just to see Joe's brewing crocks and their awesome Mountain Dog!

Mel

March DUFF meeting report

2011-03-07T04:01:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF members

We had a great time at the DUFF meeting in Hillsboro on Friday evening. Many of us agree that we will return to Beezers friendly atmosphere, excellent food, and a great staff! Thank you so much Joe and Theresa for introducing our club to this awesome local get-a-way!

As far as club business, we didn't cover too much. Jim is the new club treasurer just because he happened to be standing in the wrong place at the right time! We took up a collection to cover the cost of the conference room but when we went to pay, we were told we didn't have to pay for the room! Thanks so much, we are now eternally dedicated clients of Beezers!

Hillsboro is an awesome town and we are meeting there again next month at Joe and Therese's place. We've met some new homebrewers form the area, Al and Lori and were reunited with some old friends Ron and Carolyne.

We are planing to go ahead with a club beer kit for the next quarter. Cream ale is what I'm hearing. It was between a cream ale and wheat beer and if I understand correctly, the big brew in may is leaning toward a Wit. No recipes are posted yet, but if it is a Wit, then we'll make plenty of that in May so the kits will be Cream Ale. We need a base recipe for the kit so get online at the DUFF Google Group if you have some ideas. Purchases will have to be made in about 2 weeks in order to have the kits ready for distribution in April. Our club should be able to put together kits at a substantial savings to homebrewers and that is one thing that a beer club should offer its members. Cheep beer! Yes!

In addition, please begin brewing for the June fund raiser beer for the barn. 5 gallons of beer will get you entered. Also, Christin is going to put together a booklet with information about the homebrewers and the beer that they are entering. She would like a short biography - name, history of brewing, and if possible the beer you are making this year. Wines will also be included in this year's Barn fund raiser. Send information to studioc95@hotmail.com

As a club, lets really get behind this fundraiser this year and see what we can do to make it a greater success than last year!

I'll keep you updated on both the Barn fund raiser and the club kits for April. Let me know how many 5 gallon Cream ale kits you are interested in purchasing. I guarantee the price will be at least 25% less than retail, maybe more? and the club will make a small profit as well!

If you are interested in future DUFF club activities, please make sure you attend the April 1st Meeting at Joe and Therese's (directions will be sent out as the event draws near). This will be the spring quarterly meeting where we confirm activities for the Big Brew in May, and Jun and July DUFF events; and make preliminary plans for August, September, and October 2011! We should also be able to distribute Cream Ale kits to members who have requested them. The ingredient order and kit price will be available prior to the meeting.

Attached to this email are some photos from the March meeting at Beezers. Enjoy.!

Have a great week,

Mel

Friday DUFF meeting

2011-03-01T10:05:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF Club members

The March meeting (can you believe it's March already?) is this coming this Friday at Beezers in Hillsboro. March 4th, 2011, at 6:00 pm.

For most of us, coming from the east, you follow hyway 33 toward Hillsboro and before you even get to town, you'll see a Subway sandwich shop on the right. Beezers is right behind the Subway, and you take the next driveway after Subway or you can actually drive through the Subway parking lot to get in. See attached photo of the huge bar and outside of the hotel.

We have a few posters up around Hillsboro and there are 3 or 4 new couples from the Hillsboro area possibly attending, so a good showing from our regular members is important. We have a great conference room reserved for the meeting and we will be able to order food from the grill.

Let's come prepared to plan our first DUFF club quarterly beer kits. We've talked about a Cream Ale or Wheat beer, let's narrow that down to one and do it! We can also begin deciding on a beer style for the Big Brew coming up in just 60-some days, May 7th. This will be a great time for new brewers to get started so spread the word.

See you all on Friday and if possible, let's get a head count of how many might attend so we can let Beezers know how many to expect. Joe says they might want to put an extra wait-staff on but usually that wouldn't be needed. The room is plenty big though and will easily seat 50 so don't be afraid to invite a friend to this meeting.

Mel

February DUFF club meeting report

2011-02-08T12:26:00.001-06:00

The DUFF Club met at the Corner Pub in Reedsburg on Friday evening. We sampled Pete's micro-brewed beers. Personally, I thought the Rye Pale Ale was very good and after the first glass, I stuck with that beer through the evening as I enjoyed poor-man's lobster from the grill.

I hope I haven't forgotten anyone, but if my memory serves me correctly there were thirteen members present at the February meeting: Randy & Carolyn, Jim & Kathy, Christin & Mike, Joe & Theresa, Dave, Aaron, Fritz, Sandy, and I. We missed everyone that couldn't make it and look forward to seeing you all next month.

We didn't cover a lot of business at the February meeting, but Christin did give the following information about the Barn event held last June.

We helped raise nearly $2100 dollars for the Wisconsin MS Society with last year's Homebrew event at the Barn in Baraboo! According to Christin, this was by far the most successful fund-raising venture she has held so far.

Will we do it again this year? God willing and the creek don't rise, we will!

The Barn Homebrew competition & sampling will be held again on the first Sunday in June, the 5^th 2011. Christin wants to expand on what was done last year by publishing a book that includes information about each home-brewer and each home-brewed beer for distribution to the guests at the tasting. She's planning to start a web site for the event by next month.

Entrants should be able to provide 5 gallons of beer for tasting and donations to the Wisconsin MS Society are tax deductible.

A second item of business discussion was this fall's Fermentation Fest in Reedsburg, it'll be the weekend from the 7th through the 16th of October. How will the DUFF participate? Dave Dietz 608-963-4532 is the contact person for information on this event.

Our next meeting will take place in Hillsboro at Beezer's Hotel Bar and Grill on March 4th. A conference room has been reserved at the hotel from 6:00 to 9:00 pm for our meeting (in my name). The cost will be $35.00 and we may order off the grill and discretely bring homebrew samples to this meeting as I didn't really get into a discussion of that aspect of our meetings with the young lady taking the reservation.

If someone is good with designing fliers, we should try to get some out and tacked up on bulletin boards in the Hillsboro and surrounding area. Also, since one of the purposes of our club is to promote the hobby of homebrewing and the Hillsboro area is somewhat new territory for our meetings, I think we should use this meeting as an introductory event for any new-comers to the hobby of homebrewing. Maybe a basic display/presentation of how to make home-brewed beer and if no newcomers show up, a more in-depth presentation by some knowledgeable member of the club on some aspect of homebrewing???

A 15 to 30 minute educational demonstration and talk on some facet of homebrewing may be beneficial for our group and for future attendance at home-brew meetings. Anyone agree? Anyone want to tackle the first attempt? Give me a call or start a discussion on DUFF Facebook or DUFF Groups. I would be very interested in learning more about yeast, acid testing, the fine art of milling malt, or just a recap and articulation of the phases of lagering with respect to temperature and taste. So much to learn.... so little time!

Have a great week.

Mel

Ps. I generally send club emails with everyone's email address hidden for privacy. I left them visible today because some other club members need the list and this is the easiest to just share with everyone, so add the rest of the club members from this email to your contact list if you want or need them.

February Meeting this Friday

2011-01-31T08:39:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF Club

The February DUFF meeting will be this Friday, 6:00pm, at the Corner Pub in Reedsburg. 4th February 2011. This is an informal 'meet-up' type event, everyone is on their own for food and drinks from Pete's but no homebrew samples for this month.

I'm looking forward to ordering fish, sampling Pete's micro brews, and hearing how everyone else is coming along with their maibock beers. See you all on Friday.

Mel

DUFF meeting notes January 2011

2011-01-08T03:17:00.001-06:00

January DUFF Meeting

The first DUFF quarterly meeting of the year was held on Friday, 7 January 2010, at the home of Mel and Sandy Smith. In addition to laying out a meeting schedule for the coming months, we discussed how the DUFF club can help homebrewers save money by offering beer brewing kits at reduced prices to our members. The subject of membership dues was also brought up but no decision was made. Perhaps that will make a good discussion topic in the on-line DUFF Group forum or the DUFF Facebook Discussion?

Several members have started brewing Maibock beer. We will hold a club Maibock competition judging at the April meeting.

The DUFF club is going to begin encouraging brewing four beers a year, one for each quarter/season. We intend to offer style kits to interested club members. The winter/spring 2011 beer style chosen was Maibock but we did not get DUFF kits assembled in time for this beer, sorry! Future kits should save members substantial amounts of brewing dollars as the club purchases ingredients in bulk and we put kits together ourselves. Our first club kit will be offered in May at the Big Brew and judging will be held at the July 1^st meeting.

The beer style for the spring season has not been decided yet, so join the on-line conversations if you have a suggestion. We are thinking along the lines of something light for summer, and an extract brew so that everyone is able to participate. If this idea works and there is interest, we'll consider doing all-grain kits in the future as well.

Meeting Schedule

February 4th– is an informal night out in Reedsburg at the Corner Pub, everyone pays for their own meal and drinks. No Homebrew. We haven't asked for permission and assume homebrew samples would not be allowed. We plan to gather at 6:00pm and enjoy Fish, Pete's microbrews, and chill out for the night for a DUFF meet-up!

March 4th– Meeting in Hillsboro at Beezers Bar and Grill. The club will reserve the 'backroom' where food from the bar will be available. We will be able to bring homebrew samples to this meeting. We'll try to get some advertisements out to attract new homebrewers from the Hillsboro area.

April 1^st – Meeting at Verbsky's near Hillsboro. This will be the spring quarterly planning meeting where we finalize DUFF plans for May, June, and July and make tentative plans for August, September, and October. We'll also be holding our Maibock judging for the Winter 2011 club champion. We will take orders for summer beer kits and talk about our hops garden plans for 2011. The plans for the Big Brew should be finalized by this April meeting.

May 7^th (Saturday) is the Big Brew day at Mel and Sandy's. We have not decided on a beer style for the 2011 big brew. Also at this event we should be able to distribute summer beer kits & share hops rhizomes.

June – Homebrew Competition/M.S. fundraiser at the Barn? We haven't received information yet, but we believe this event will be happening again in 2011, so brew accordingly. It was fun event last year and we're all looking forward to doing it again. If you missed the fundraiser in 2010, there are lots of photos on DUFF Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111168845596732&v=photos

Anyone planning to participate should have a five-gallon keg of beer or 2 cases of bottled beer to enter into the competition if it goes as last year.

July 1^st – Summer quarterly planning meeting for August, September, & October, and tentative planning for fall quarter, November, December, & January. Summer berry-wine-making should be in full swing with news from the vineyards. We didn't decide on a location for the July meeting, any suggestions?

Everyone have a great weekend and stay warm! Have a homebrew!

Mel

January DUFF Meeting on Friday

2011-01-03T00:43:00.001-06:00

The following announcement was posted on DUFF Facebook and copy/pasted here. (If you're not familiar with the Facebook page you should check it out, there's a bunch of club photos, discussion page, events, and it's a great place to interact with club members.) The meeting will start at 6:00pm at Mel & Sandy's near Lime Ridge - directions below. Please let us know whether or not you can attend so we know how many to expect.

DUFF quarterly planning meeting, to confirm club meetings & events for...

February 4th Outing at Pete's in Reedsburg.
March 4th at Beezer's in Hillsboro
April 1st at Verbsky's

and to plan for May, June, and July events and meetings - 3rd annual Big Brew? contests? fund-raisers? Also to enjoy the fruits of the hobby of homebrewing.

Let's think about a club order for Maibock ingredients? Perhaps both grain and extract for some basic ingredient kits that will save club members who don't normally buy in bulk some money? Saving money should be one of the advantages of being a member of the DUFF homebrew club! Has anyone made a Maibock beer yet? Do you have a recipe suggestion to share?

How about a club or local contest with the spring Maibock beer challenge?

Please bring a sample of homebrew to share, but don't be shy if the holiday season has depleted your homebrew stocks or put a damper on your homebrew effort. Come on out and get inspired! Ha! Ha! I have a 2008 Samuel Adams American Homebrew winners six-pack to share: Double IPA, Traditional Bock, & Cranberry Wit in addition to an apple wine that I intend to carbonate before Friday.

Food will be served as I think it's better not to sample on an empty stomach.

From Lime Ridge... 2 miles East on Country Road S. From Reedsburg, south on state Hy. 23 to intersection of County S (about 3 miles). West on County S for about 8 miles. Farm on north side of road at intersection of Hy. S and Three Culvert Road.

Hope to see many friends on Friday.

Mel

December DUFF meeting

2010-11-30T10:32:00.000-06:00

Greetings DUFF Members

The December meeting is planned for this Friday, December 3, 2010, 6:00pm at the home of Randy Hoeth in Camp Douglas. The following is Randy's post from the DUFF group:

Hello group,
As I am listed to host the December meeting on the third, I was
wondering how many are planning to come. Still at 6pm I believe? For
those with a GPS I live at 107 Oakdale Road in Camp Douglas. Let me
know how many are planning to attend please.

So please send a note to Randy, so that he and Carolyn know how many to plan for on Friday. The address slightly disguised is: randyh at mwt dot net

There is no specific club business planned for discussion at this meeting except we are planning to focus on the beer style Mia Bock. If anyone has any brewed, please bring a sample. I plan to purchase, and bring, a few samples of commercially produced Mia Bock so we all are familiar with the style. I'm wondering if this could result in an informal club competition in February or March of 2011? Sound like fun?

Come on out on Friday night. I and probably Sandy will be passing through Mauston on our way to Randy's place on Friday evening so if one or two people need a ride and are along the way, I'll be glad to pick you up and stay sober to return you safely home.

Happy Homebrewing!

Mel

November DUFF meeting

2010-11-02T08:59:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF members

The November DUFF meeting is a Brew event being held this Saturday at Dietz Design showroom, 448 South Albert Ave, Reedsburg Wisconsin. This is a good time to invite people that might be interested in the homebrewing process.

Directions:
Just turn south at the west side Quick Trip (State Hy. 23), and it will be on the right side of the road in 4 or 5 blocks near the thrift store. Even though the official time is 12:00 noon, Jim and others will be there early to begin mashing and heating water. I plan to go early since I have to leave for work around 1 pm.

The following is information about the event that Dave has posted on DUFF Groups:

Hi DUFF members, I hope you are all well and brewing lots of stuff.
Plans are still coming together for the Learn to Brew Day at my
business, DJ Dietz Designs, We will set up in the shop area which has
water, heat, floor drain, exhaust venting, and an overhead door in
case it's a nice day we can open it and let the sun in and mingle out
side. If it's bad weather we will had plenty of room inside with the
shop & showroom area able to hold folks who would like to sit and
visit if they wish. As mentioned in a earlier post, if someone would
like to demonstrate a 5 gal. batch on a stove top let me know this
week and I can wire up a stove in the brewing area for you. As of
right now I am planning on three brewing set ups; myself, CJ Hall and
Jim Kinsman. I anyone else would like to bring a brewing system
that's great, let me know so I can plan accordingly. If anyone wants
to do a wine or Mead, that would be great also. I know it's a lot of
work to bring gear somewhere else and then take it & the beer all home
again, so I sure appreciate the effort if you want to bring stuff.
But please don't let that stop you from coming on Sat. Nov. 6th to the
event. I hope we have lots of members come to meet & mingle with non-
brewers. This will be a great opportunity for the DUFF club to
introduce the hobby ( obsession ???) to others and possibly get some
new faces in our club. I will be bringing my chest freezer/
refrigerator to the shop to store kegs in. It's not nearly as nice
as Jim's ( yet). I will have three Belgian brews I did lately to
sample. If the members would like to bring some of their creations
to share with the guests, that would be great! I will have snacks for
for all, but if you have a particular dish you are proud of feel free
to bring it along. The event starts at Noon, but I am planning on
having CJ start brewing earlier so as to be in the boil stage by
then. That way guests who can't stay for the whole day can see most
of the brewing process. If anyone wants to come down early and help
set up please feel free to. I will be there by 8am. You might notice
that there is a $10 fee for the event, that is for the guests, the
DUFF members will not have to pay. Thanks for any and all help you
can provide. Contact me if you want 963-4532 or d...@djdietz.com
Here is a link to the Fermentation Fest site
http://www.wormfarminstitute.org/FFevent_landing.html

Saturday, November 6 · 12:00pm - 5:00pm

Come and see how fun and easy Home Brewing can be! We will have three brewers demonstrating the exciting hobby of Home Brewing. Samples & light snack will be available.

For other DUFF club news, please join and bookmark the DUFF Group and the Facebook DUFF homebrew club page.

Have a great day... remember to vote!

Mel Smith.

October DUFF meeting

2010-10-06T23:02:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Homebrewers

The October DUFF meeting will be held this coming Friday, October 8th, 6:00pm. at the home of Sandy and Mel Smith.

Directions: from Reedsburg travel south on highway 23 approximately 2 miles and turn right on County S, follow S for 8 miles and our house will by on the right side of the road, gray ranch style house, black roof and black shutters directly across from the intersection of Three Culvert Road.

From Lime Ridge, follow County S for two miles and the house will be on the left.

The plan for the evening is sharing and tasting homebrewed wine and beer around a bonfire, and a DUFF Club business meeting. Anyone interested in the hobby of homebrewing is encouraged to attend along with family and friends.

Don't leave without a free pumpkin, squash, gourd, or kitten for the kids!

Mel Smith

June DUFF event

2010-06-05T12:59:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club members

Hope to see everyone at the Barn in Baraboo tomorrow for the MS Benefit. There is no other meeting planned for June.

It's been a very busy spring for me. I'm still working on trellising some of my hops in between tending a gargantuan garden and clearing land. The small patch of barley that was just emerging on the day of the big brew is now 2 feet tall, but not showing heads of grain yet. It's going to be an exciting summer but not much time to spend on the computer.

There's a Facebook page... another Facebook page.... and here's an email from Christin with most of the information you'll need to get to the event in Baraboo on Sunday:

Hello, Brew Masters!!

I hope you are all looking forward to this weekend as much as I am!

Remember-this event is for FUN! No seriousness allowed!

Each ticket comes with a stub, which is a vote for 'Peoples Choice'. Bribery is encouraged. It's quite possible that additional 'votes' may be available for purchase as well, so remember to tell all your friends to come early and vote often!

I need to know what 'format' you are bringing the beer in-kegs, growlers, 12/22 oz bottles, etc. I would like to offer at auction a 6 pk. mix of beer, but this won't be possible if everyone brings kegs. (which is just fine too :)

Beer will be served ONLY to those with a wrist band. Please remember this-as there is an age issue.......and it's important that all participants get to try each brew. There should be no problem with having enough-but if you have someone who parks themselves in front of your tapper, be sure serve everyone else as well.

The event will be on the deck at The Barn. There will be 2 large tents set up, so unless there is horrific torrential storms, we'll be outside. Plan 'B' is to move it indoors, which has been considered, and planned accordingly if needed.

Do you want to bring your own tables, or should I set up tables out side, and if so, what size do you need? Do you need ice, and if so, how much? Coolers? etc. Tell me what you need and I'll have it there.

Also, please let me know how many different brews you are bringing. I think there should be about 15, but I've heard from one fellow that he dumped one batch out. (wow-how awful must THAT have been?!)

The event begins at 1, so if you could be on site around 12:30 to get set up, that would be perfect. If you'd like info about yourself/your beer on display, please send it to me, and I'll type it up and get in a plastic (beer proof) sleeve for your table.

Remember this is first attempt. I will ask you to fill out an 'exit poll' of sorts later-I'd really like to make this an annual event, and will look forward to hearing your feedback to make it better.

I did contact LD Carlson, and they were unable to contribute anything this year but are interested in next. There was a suggestion for Northern Brewers Supply to donate, but I have yet to hear back from them-so there may or may not be raffle items. This IS something that will be considered again for next year.

It may include home made wine next year-I didn't realize nearly all homebrewers make wine too. In a few years, perhaps expand with a bike ride, kayak race, or mud run. But that's down the road much further.

Thanks very much for participating in this fundraiser. Of course, I'm terribly biased, but I think this is a terrific charity. Multiple Sclerosis is a nasty disease that is soooo prevalent in Wisconsin. We have one of the highest rates in the US. (it's the brats/cheese/cheap awful beer/Packer combo, I'm pretty sure ;)

PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO CONTACT ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS!!

Christin

Christin Harding
Co-Captain, Sonic Streamers
studioc95@hotmail.com
608-963-9312

See you all on Sunday

Mel

Big Brew on Saturday

2010-04-28T00:37:00.000-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club Members

The 2010 Big Brew is coming up on May 1st 10am at Mel's house. We are located at 3698 County Road S, two miles east of Lime Ridge or 8 miles west of the junction of State highway 23 and county S, 4 miles south of Reedsburg on 23.

Weather

I've been monitoring the weather. This morning it looked like Saturday was a sure thing, beautiful day; now tonight, the chance of showers have switched back to 30% for Saturday! I guess we need to continue to watch the weather and hope for the best. Any question about whether or not to hold the brew, call my cell 608-415-0091. I will have the garage open to accommodate some adverse weather. The back-up brew date is Saturday May 15th (two weeks later).

The Plan

Assuming the best, I plan to have the water hot and ready to go at 10:00am on Saturday. We'll be mashing in the 55 gallon drum. If that's not enough beer, I plan to have a second 40 gallon mash ready to use as well and enough grain for that. I have 50 lbs. of Pilsner that hasn't been crushed and other odds and ends grains. (someone should bring a mill) Anyone that wants to mash or cook their own beer is welcome to do that also. The big mash should begin between 10 - 11am. Sparging by 12- 1pm. and cooking from 1-4pm, so if you can't be here all day, feel free to stop by when you can.

For those that want to have a portion of the big brew beer, you should bring your cooking equipment or a container that you can transport the wort home to cook. I do have 5 gallon Pepsi kegs that I can lend if you need something for transporting. We'll figure the cost of inexpedience and price per gallon on Saturday. Last year's cost was only $1.00 per gallon of wort but this years cost will be based on the actual cost which should be somewhere around the same price. Jim has picked up the grains and I don't know the bill for those.

To make beer after we mash the grain, you'll have to boil the wort and add the hops you want. I have plenty of Cascade hops if you want to use those and donate a couple bucks to the club. You'll also need yeast. Jim has some starters. I would have had more starter yeast, but encountered a problem with my stir magnets disintegrating in the starters I was making... had to dump them! So bring your cooker or a transport vessel, hops if you want something other than cascade, and have yeast ready when you get the wort home.

Accommodation

Food: Sandy will make/pick-up some sloppy Joe's, beans, and potato salad. If you want to add anything else feel free to bring anything. Beer or wine samples are also welcome. We have empty bed rooms should anyone not be road worthy. Have fun but be safe, Don't drive drunk!

Golden Growler Judging

Bring your Golden Growler contest beer entry also.

If you have no beer, wine, food, nor plans to make beer... feel free to come out and watch the fun anyway! We had a great time last year and made some great beer. I know there will be some new faces out here on Saturday. Invite/bring friends. The big brew is a great time to introduce new people the homebrew hobby.

See you all on Saturday

mel

April DUFF meeting

2010-04-12T10:45:00.001-05:00

April DUFF Meeting

The DUFF club's April meeting was held at the home of Fritz and Nancy in Mauston, Wisconsin. Attending were the hosts of the evening's gathering, Nancy & Fritz Klein, and guests Chris Lund, Kathy & Jim Kinsman, Joe Verbsky, Dan Bennish, Randy Hoeth, Sandy and Mel Smith. It was a beautiful spring evening gathered around a fire with the sounds of wind chimes in the air. We enjoyed brats & chips with condiments and an assortment of homebrew.

Wines that I recall included: Cranberry & strawberry (Fritz), Raspberry & Pumpkin (Joe), Dry Grape & Strawberry (Jim). Beers included a most excellent Belgium (Randy) and Vanilla Bourbon (Mel). Joe also brought a sample of the liquid sugar that some club members have purchased and Mel brought Cascade Hops Rhizomes for those that requested.

Golden Growler Competion

Are you planning to enter? Time is short, very short, so get your homebrew going for this competition if you haven't already. The event will take place May 22, 2010 and Club entries will be judged on May 1st, during the Big Brew. Winning brews will be transported to the event by someone... Here is a note from February:

MASH, DUFF, CWDB, Green Bay Rackers, and Bull Falls Homebrewers:

I'm happy to announce that the 2010 Golden Growler competition is set

for Saturday, May 22nd at Bull Falls Brewery in Wausau, Wisconsin.

There are 2 main categories of this competition: the Quest for the

Golden Growler and the People's Choice Awards.

The Quest for the Golden Growler features a selected beer style (this

year's style is Saison) in which each homebrew club is eligible to

enter up to (3) unique beers representing their club. These beers

will be evaluated and ranked with the highest combined scores

determining the winning homebrew club, who, in turn, get to have the

rights to the Golden Growler. Last year, Bull Falls Homebrewers won

with the California Common style of beer.

People's Choice will be run in a similar fashion to last year's event.

Note: There will be no BJCP-judged beers this year. The Saison for

the Golden Growler will be based off of the BJCP guidelines, but this

event is not recognized by the BJCP program. Likewise, the People's

Choice is just that- people's choice.

Official rules, specific times, costs, etc. will be (hopefully)

distributed by late March. I just wanted to send out a quick note to

notify the clubs that the Golden Growler is going forward and we are

looking forward to a great event!

Thank you,

Brett Danke

2010 Golden Growler Event Coordinator

Here is the Style:

16C. Saison

Aroma: High fruitiness with low to moderate hop aroma and moderate to no herb, spice and alcohol aroma. Fruity esters dominate the aroma and are often reminiscent of citrus fruits

such as oranges or lemons. A low to medium-high spicy or floral hop aroma is usually present. A moderate spice aroma (from actual spice additions and/or yeast-derived phenols) complements the other aromatics. When phenolics are present they tend to be peppery rather than clove-like. A low to moderate

sourness or acidity may be present, but should not overwhelm other characteristics. Spice, hop and sour aromatics typically increase with the strength of the beer. Alcohols are

soft, spicy and low in intensity, and should not be hot or solventy. The malt character is light. No diacetyl.

Appearance: Often a distinctive pale orange but may be golden or amber in color. There is no correlation between strength and color. Long-lasting, dense, rocky white to ivory head resulting in characteristic "Belgian lace" on the glass as it fades. Clarity is poor to good though haze is not unexpected in this type of unfiltered farmhouse beer. Effervescent.

Flavor: Combination of fruity and spicy flavors supported by

a soft malt character, a low to moderate alcohol presence and tart sourness. Extremely high attenuation gives a characteristic dry finish. The fruitiness is frequently citrusy (orange- or lemon-like). The addition of one of more spices serve to add complexity, but shouldn't dominate in the balance. Low peppery yeast-derived phenols may be present instead of or in addition to spice additions; phenols tend to be lower than in

many other Belgian beers, and complement the bitterness. Hop flavor is low to moderate, and is generally spicy or earthy in character. Hop bitterness may be moderate to high, but should not overwhelm fruity esters, spices, and malt. Malt character is light but provides a sufficient background for the other flavors. A low to moderate tart sourness may be present, but should not overwhelm other flavors. Spices, hop bitterness and flavor, and sourness commonly increase with the strength of the beer while sweetness ecreases. No hot alcohol or solventy character. High carbonation, moderately sulfate water, and high attenuation give a very dry finish with a long, bitter, sometimes spicy aftertaste. The perceived bitterness is often higher than the IBU level would suggest. No diacetyl.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium body. Alcohol level can be medium to medium-high, though the warming character is low to medium. No hot alcohol or solventy character. Very high carbonation with an effervescent quality. There is enough prickly acidity on the tongue to balance the very dry finish. A low to moderate tart character may be present but should be refreshing and not to the point of puckering.

Overall Impression: A refreshing, medium to strong fruity/spicy ale with a distinctive yellow-orange color, highly carbonated, well hopped, and dry with a quenching acidity.

History: A seasonal summer style produced in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium. Originally brewed at the end of the cool season to last through the warmer months before refrigeration was common. It had to be sturdy enough to last for months but not too strong to be quenching and refreshing in the summer. It is now brewed year-round in tiny, artisanal breweries whose buildings reflect their origins as farmhouses.

Comments: Varying strength examples exist (table beers of about 5% strength, typical export beers of about 6.5%, and stronger versions of 8%+). Strong versions (6.5%-9.5%) and darker versions (copper to dark brown/black) should be entered as Belgian Specialty Ales (16E). Sweetness decreases and

spice, hop and sour character increases with strength. Herb and spice additions often reflect the indigenous varieties available at the brewery. High carbonation and extreme attenuation (85-95%) helps bring out the many flavors and to increase the perception of a dry finish. All of these beers share somewhat higher levels of acidity than other Belgian styles while the optional sour flavor is often a variable house character of a particular brewery.

Ingredients: Pilsner malt dominates the grist though a portion of Vienna and/or Munich malt contributes color and complexity. Sometimes contains other grains such as wheat and spelt. Adjuncts such as sugar and honey can also serve to add complexity and thin the body. Hop bitterness and flavor may be more noticeable than in many other Belgian styles. A saison is sometimes dry-hopped. Noble hops, Styrian or East Kent Goldings are commonly used. A wide variety of herbs and spices are often used to add complexity and uniqueness in the stronger versions, but should always meld well with the yeast and hop character. Varying degrees of acidity and/or sourness can be created by the use of gypsum, acidulated malt, a sour mash or Lactobacillus. Hard water, common to most of Wallonia, can accentuate the bitterness and dry finish.

Vital Statistics:

OG: 1.048 – 1.065 IBUs: 20 – 35

FG: 1.002 – 1.012 SRM: 5 – 14

ABV: 5 – 7%

Commercial Examples: Saison Dupont Vieille Provision; Fantôme Saison D'Erezée - Printemps; Saison de Pipaix; Saison Regal; Saison Voisin; Lefebvre Saison 1900; Ellezelloise Saison 2000; Saison Silly; Southampton Saison; New Belgium Saison; Pizza Port SPF 45; Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale; Ommegang

Hennepin

BJCP Style Guidelines — 2008 Edition

I plan to make a trip to Point Brew Supply on Tuesday, April 13th, for brewing supplies. If anyone else needs something, please call in your order and let me know, and I can pick it up and get it back to our area. My Cell is 608-415-0091, email ismel4150091@gmail.com I plan to be on the road and back on Tuesday morning. You can follow Point Brew on Facebook or visit their web site.

Big Brew

The Big Brew is planned for May 1st at Mel and Sandy's place but will be cancelled if it's a crappy day and rescheduled for 15th of May, two weeks later. Here is the AHA web page that includes links to recipes. We are planning on the American Craft Beer Wheat recipe. Other recipes suggested for the brew are Scottish Export 80 Shilling Ale and Rocktoberfest. In addition to the 55 gallon barral, a 'second' large brew using the 40 gallon cooler could be mashed if more people are interested in participation and want the beer, or a second type of beer. Please let me know in the next two weeks as plans should be completed and brewing ingredients will be purchased around April 23... eleven days away!

I will be busy getting the tanks set up in preparation for May 1st, so lets hope and pray for a beautiful day with fantastic weather.

Cheers

Mel

April DUFF Meeting

2010-04-08T08:30:00.003-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club members

The April meeting of the DUFF club will be held in Mauston, Wisconsin, at Fritz and Nancy's home, on Friday April 9th, 2010... 6:00 PM. We will be finalizing plans for the Big Brew on May 1st, and talking about the the MS Benefit in June. Also, if you have hops rhizomes to swap or share, this is the time of the year to do that.... I'll see what I can 'dig' up.

I'm including the following note from Fritz that was sent out yesterday but because to the storms and my satellite service, may or may not have reached anyone.

Nancy wants to serve brats & chips. If anyone would like to bring something that will go with brats that is there choice. I hope weather is good enough to have meeting in back yard area so we can have a fire on back patio. If warm enough will meet in garage . If not will meet in dinning area.
Address 514 Maine Street
Mauston
H 608 847 4123 Cell 608 547 7123
Heading north from downtown area on hwy 12/16 look for Grove Street
left on Grove Go over railroad tracks then 50 feet take right onto Maine Street
second house from corner on leftt tan house green metal roof see ya there

So if you have a chance, give a Fritz a call and let them know how many to expect. Sandy and I should be there Fritz. See you Tomorrow night.

DUFF Meeting this Friday

2010-04-07T11:50:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Members

I'm having difficulties trying to connect to the internet with my satelite connection, so using my phone, I'll forward what Fritz has sent:

Nancy wants to serve brats & chips. If anyone would like to bring something that will go with brats that is there choice. I hope weather is good enough to have meeting in back yard area so we can have a fire on back patio. If warm enough will meet in garage . If not will meet in dinning area.Address 514 Maine Street Mauston H 608 847 4123 Cell 608 547 7123Heading north from downtown area on hwy 12/16 look for Grove Streetleft on Grove Go over railroad tracks then 50 feet take right onto Maine Streetsecond house from corner on leftt tan house green metal roof see ya ther
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

March meeting report

2010-03-08T01:31:00.002-06:00

Greetings DUFF Club members

I've been lax on sending out follow up reports about our DUFF meeting to those that couldn't attend or couldn't remember what we covered. I hope to become a better person in that regard, so here is a rap up of the March meeting.

The March 2010 meeting was held at Mel and Sandy's place on Friday evening March 5^th, 10 members were present: Jim Kinsman, Fritz and Nancy Klein, Joe Verbsky, Ron Kannenberg, Bud (Kurt) Ihde, Steve & Marsha (last names, spelling, & email address?), Mel & Sandy Smith. We had a lite lunch prepared by Sandy and a lot of wine, beer, and …. Other stuff! I was able to share a trick that Jason Rops taught me for removing a cork from a bottle… very cool Jason! Thanks! We also had a pretty good 'meeting' as DUFF meetings usually go.

April

The next meeting is tentatively scheduled at Fritz and Nancy's place in Mauston. Since Good Friday & Easter occur on our normal first Friday meeting night, the meeting will be postponed one week until the second Friday. Fritz is going to check into getting that Friday, April 9^th off, and if all goes well, that's where/when the April meeting will be held, at Fritz's place. I'll post directions and the regular invitation around the 6^th or 7^th of April a few days prior to the meeting as usual. We should be making the final plans for the 'Big Brew at the April Meeting, and having further discussions about the Golden Growler Competition coming up in May, and the M.S. benefit in June 6^th.

May

May is 'Big Brew' month. The Big Brew will be held on Saturday, May 1^st or try again on May 2^nd in case of heavy rain if brewing is out of the question on the 1^st! We talked about the styles and have tentatively chosen the American Craft Beer Wheat as the one for this year's Big Brew. Depending on interest and orders for beer, the style and quantity of beer we brew may be adjusted. In addition to the 55 gallon barrels we used last year, I also have a 150 quart Coleman cooler that could mash an additional 40 gallons of wort in a different style if we choose, that could make around 100 gallons of beer in a single (2 container) mash. If we want more than 100 gallons, we could even use the second dairy cooler to do a larger mash. Since we're in the mood to brew and have things set-up, I'll be available on the 4^th-7^thof May to continue big brews for your summer drinking pleasure.

May is also the month for the Golden Growler competition. That will be held on May 22^nd in Wausau, and the entries for DUFF club will be judged and chosen during the Big Brew day. The beer style is Saison and will be judged according to the BJCP style guidelines but is not a BJCP sanctioned event. Also, there will be a people's choice competition. Entries will be transported to Wausau either by Mel, Fritz, or Jim sometime between the 13^th and the 20^th of May.

June

After recapturing the Golden Growler in May, the DUFF club will turn it's collective conscious toward the benefit for MS in June to be held at the Barn in Baraboo, Sunday, June 6^th. Those that want to enter should brew up 5 gallons of awesome beer for a competition that isn't to be taken too seriously! There will be 4 judges and 175 tickets sold! Christin is hoping for 15-20 entrants all bringing 5 gallons of beer….

Let's do the math. 20 x 5 = 100 gallons for 175 people…. That equals …. Holy crap! I think were going to have some drunk judges! Brew for drunks! Ha! Ha!

Anyway, that was about as far ahead as we thought last Friday evening. Kurt and I stayed up till past 10:30 discussing politics, natural health, gardens, Alaskan vacations and the good Lord only knows what else.

It was a fun night and if I got some of my facts jumbled up, please correct me, but this is as good of a recount of the evening's discussions as I can recall. See you all next month at Fritz's place in Mauston.

Mel

March DUFF Meeting

2010-03-03T07:53:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF Club Members

The March meeting is coming up on Friday evening the 5^th of March, 2010 at 6:00pm. The meeting will be hosted at the home of Mel and Sandy Smith, E3698 County Rd. S (2 miles east of Lime Ridge or 8 miles west of State Rd. 23 & Country S south of Reedsburg.) Cell phone 608-415-0091.

Agenda items include

The big brew
The Barn competition
Other 2010 competitions and club activities?

Sandy is planning some lite snacks for the evening along with our wine and beer samples. See you all on Friday evening.

Mel

January DUFF Outing Tomorrow - Friday

2010-01-07T10:01:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF

The January 'meeting' is coming up tomorrow Friday, January 8th, at 6:00 pm at the Barn Bar and Restaurant in Baraboo Wisconsin. I haven't made any special arrangements (Jim may have?), it's just come, bring your wife, kids, friends etc. and grab a table hopefully near everyone else. Here's an information page with map links to the Barn. I have no idea what kind of crowd we'll encounter but I've heard they have 150 or so different kinds of beer to try so we'll have something to do before and and after dinner.

Leave Homebrew at Home (or at least in the car!)

Unless we've been told that it's O.K. to bring samples of homebrew, I don't. Bars have important liquor licenses to maintain, and bringing and sharing un-taxed alcoholic beverages onto their property is something I leave up to them to decide if they are willing to permit. I have not heard an O.K. given at this outing, although they did allow us to bring samples at the outdoor brew this fall (but that was outside). To be on the safe side, check before bringing any homebrew inside the Barn.

Hops Boom or Bust?

I heard from another friend about a recent article in the La Crosse Tribune, like this one I think. Is this the beginning of a new hops craze? If it is, Gorst Valley seems to be out front and they'll be the ones making the money, those that join in the second wave or aren't in it for the long haul tend to be the losers. I had a good harvest of over eight pounds last year and will expand this year but nothing like an acre. Maybe I'll grow enough to help Pete make 'Wisconsin' brew?

I'll be digging Cascade rhizomes in a few months and should have some to share. Maybe we can plan a hops swap/brew day in the spring and invite other clubs and growers from around the state? My last homebrew was made with all my own Cascade and Glacier varieties and is a pretty good brew.

I want to plant a small patch of Barley this year as well. One of my goals is to make beer completely from scratch! I've got a bushel or so of seed around somewhere if I can find it, and I'll test the germination to see if it's still good. That should be fun!

See you all tomorrow evening.

Mel

December Meeting Canceled due to Snow Storm

2009-12-08T15:36:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF Club

I guess the winter snow storm has won tonight (Tuesday December 8, 2009). No DUFF meeting in Mauston. We'll see everyone in January for our winter outing at the Barn in Baraboo.

Mel

December DUFF meeting

2009-12-07T05:21:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF Club members

The December meeting will be held in Mauston at the Country Inn, 6:00 pm on Tuesday, December 8, 2009. This is the last Tuesday meeting. Starting in January 2010 meetings will be moved to Friday. Clinton is going to give a demonstration of how to test acid levels in wine. I'll have a Carr Valley Cheese gift box to present to the Country Inn Hotel Owners in appreciation of allowing us to meet there several times this past year, and we'll accept member donations toward that.

Please bring ideas for the winter/spring meetings and let's set a tentative calendar for meetings and events for at least the first half of 2010.

If you're not a member of DUFF Groups, please join on-line to keep up on Club information. I also have available invitations to the new Google Wave, if anyone is interested in that, it's a great tool for collaboration on events and documents. I need your gmail address to nominate you for a Wave account.

Here's a short discussion I initiated about a Christmas wish, one beer! Ha! Ha!! Anybody seen one of these? http://couleeregiononline.com/forums/santa-all-i-want-christmas-one-beer

Mel

RE: Pictures!

2009-11-13T18:29:00.000-06:00

Hey Mel,

Can’t figure out how to add pictures of my project to the Duff group site so I’ll attach them to this email. Maybe you could get them to post? All I need now is a “real good” deal on a couple of pumps.

Thanks,

Randy

November Meeting and Theft Alert

2009-11-11T14:36:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF Members

We had a great meeting last night at the Mauston Country Inn and an excellent turn-out. A heads-up on the next meeting, Tuesday the 8th of December, 6:00pm at Mauston Country Inn; Clinton will be sharing his knowledge with testing the acid level in wine. This will be the last Tuesday evening meeting as we will be switching to the first or second Friday of the month starting in 2010... first Friday of the month unless it clashes with a holiday. January's meeting will be at the Barn in Baraboo tentatively set for the Friday the 8th, 2010. A nice time to bring a friend, order a meal, and enjoy their large selection of beers.

Theft Alert

Fritz reported that he visited the Coffee Connection in Baraboo this morning and learned that they had their nice Stainless Steel Fruit press stolen on Friday. Someone apparently just walked out the front door with it! I'm not exactly sure if this was the de-stemmer grape squisher thing or what, but if you hear of someone trying to sell or having recently acquired a large Stainless Steel fruit press, you may want to take some notes and pass the information on to the:
Coffee Bean Connection http://cbeanc.com
123 4th Street, Baraboo, WI 53913
608.355.9999
sales@cbeanc.com

This was an expensive item that they rented out for costumers to use and an investment on their part for us area homebrewers. Having some nob take personal possession was a crime committed against all of us that enjoy the convenience of having a local supply store, so let's keep alert and try to help nail the criminals responsible.

Happy brewing!

Mel

P.S. Keep up to date on DUFF Discussions by joining the DUFF Group at: http://groups.google.com/group/duff-brew-club

November Meeting on the 10th

2009-11-09T00:46:00.001-06:00

Greetings DUFF Club members

The November meeting will be held in Mauston at the Country Inn, 6:00 pm on Tuesday, November 10, 2009. Remember to bring some extra bottles of wine if you have them to donate to a worthy cause and a worthy guy. We'll explain more at the meeting.

If you're not a member of the DUFF Groups, you may have missed it so I'll say this again... A big congratulations go out to Joe, he made his first batch of homebrew beer this month!!! I'm excited and can't wait to give it a taste.

And last, here's a little about Wisconsin's craft brewers.

I picked the previous tip up from pretty neat guy that I'm following on Twitter, Fatty Matty, he's always got some good tweets like this last one... an add on Craig's list:

FREE BOX OF Special K BLUE BERRY- i put my ex out so no one eats it now just bought a couple weeks ago. I am by elver park on the west side!

See You all on Tuesday!

Mel

November 7th, Teach a friend to Homebrew day.

2009-10-21T12:09:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club members

Just noticed this morning that the 11th annual Home Brewers Association's Teach a Friend to Homebrew day is coming up in a couple of weeks. 7th November 2009. Here's a link.

Are you planning to brew in or around the first Saturday of November?

I know I need to get some brews going and I have that weekend off, so I guess participating in, blogging, tweeting, and facebooking about the event would be in order. I'm going to set my sites on brewing that weekend.

So here's a toast...

Thirsty days hath September,
April, June and November;
All the rest are thirsty too
Except for him who hath home brew!

Have a great week...

Mel

Hops history

2009-10-19T03:13:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Members

I found a web page by the Wisconsin Historical Society that includes an account of the hop culture in Sauk County during the 1860's and 70's, that would have been during the civil war and the time of Abe Lincoln. It opens to page 389 and the navigation links are in the left-hand column to continue reading the account by Mrs. Belle Cushman Bohn. We've talked some about when the hops boom occurred in our state and I guess this account sheds some light on the subject.

Mel

Notes from the October meeting

2009-10-13T23:25:00.002-05:00

Hey DUFF Club

Not everyone was able to attend the meeting or is on the DUFF Google Groups or DUFF Blog, so I thought I'd send out a follow-up email to Tuesday's meeting. I appologize to those that are and are recieving this for the third time... sorry! But here's a wrap-up of what we decided at the October DUFF Club meeting.....

October 2009 Meeting notes

The October 2009 meeting was held at the Mauston Country Inn on the
13th. Randy, Jim, Clinton and his two little ones and I were there.
Randy had some neat devices to show us that he had made - an
adjustable sparge and volume meter. I wasn't thinking and didn't get
pictures but I will. Sorry! Clinton had some pictures of the new
brewing stand he's making... awesome!!!

We talked some of recent club activities, the show in Racine Wisconsin
and the outdoor brew at The Barn in Baraboo. We also kind of planned
out the next few months meetings so folks will know in advance what
we're up to.

November 2009 - We'll be meeting at the Country in Mauston, 6:00pm on
November 10th. If you've brewed some extra wine over the summer and
want to share, we know of a worthy guy to share it with! Contact
Clinton or bring to the November meeting and we'll explain it there in
person.

December 2009 - We'll once again be meeting at the Country Inn, in
Mauston on December 8th at 6:00pm for a regular meeting. Nothing
special planned at this time but that's subject to change. Maybe it'll
be a good time to make some tentative meeting, brewing, and event
plans/goals for 2010 and access where we're at and where we're going?

January 2010 - New meeting nights on Friday! Meetings will be the
first Friday of the month in 2010 unless it's a holiday such as
January 1st (New Year's Day) and April 2nd (Good Friday) then we'll
move it to the second Friday of the month. We're going to give this a
try and see if more people can make the meetings.

January 8th, 2010 will be our first Friday night meeting and we'll
tentatively plan on an outing at the Barn Bar & Restaurant in Baraboo,
Wisconsin (Friday night fish fry!!!) for our winter holiday DUFF Club
Outing. They have about 130 differant beers there to try so line up a
designated driver!

2010 promises to be an important year for the DUFF homebrew club. With
the threat of a rising tax on beer, the economy in the dumps, and some
DUFF members sneaking off to the liquor store to buy store-bought
Schlitz and the like, we need to set up some Beer-brewing-intervention
teams and help more members get 'off the grid' homebrewingly speaking!
...More to come on that subject!!!

October DUFF meeting

2009-10-12T23:33:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF club members

Short notice this month- sorry, but the October meeting will be on Tuesday evening, 13 October 2009, 6:00pm at the Country Inn in Mauston Wisconsin. That's just off I-90/94, 69 mile mark, on highway 82.

It's been a busy summer for many with many home-hosted meetings, various shows, and our own beer and wine brewing adventures in addition to other life pursuits. If you can spare the time, stop by for the DUFF meeting and relax and share some homebrew! You deserve it!

Looking forward to seeing everyone, hearing (and sampling) what you're up to!

Mel

Hops Harvest 2009

2009-09-10T00:36:00.005-05:00

Hops Harvest 2009
by Mel Smith

It's Thursday, September 10th 2009 and the hops harvest is just beginning here in Sauk County, Wisconsin. My Hallertauer were the first to be ready to pick. I only have two vines and they are in their second year. I only harvested 2.1 oz. of those on Saturday, dried weight. A friend from the DUFF club shared some more Hallertauer with me - from the parent stock of my Hallertauer - and that amounted to 5.3 oz, so my total of Hallertauer for 2009 will be 7.4 oz! Wonderful!

The big harvest will be the Cascade. I planted three varieties of hops around the 21st of April, 2005. The Cascade have always grown the best, so I moved a few rhizomes (three each) of the Willamette (east side below the house) and the Glacier (West side below the house) up the hill near the Cascades to see if they would do better at that location. That move was made in 2008. I also expanded the Cascade plantings with a dozen more rhizomes taken from my own plants and I added Hallertauer hops from the father of a friend I work with. I also cleaned out the tree row and trellised the original Willamette and Glaciers a little better and they have done better this year, so I expect a little harvest from three varieties and big harvest from the cascade.

I picked cascade for several hours this evening. In the photos above you can see the mountain of hops growing around the tv tower and this was the main place where I picked. I put two buckets full of hops in the dehydrator which is actually two dehydrator trays stacked together. They've been drying since 5:00pm this evening at about 100 degrees. I'm never sure when the hops are really ready to pick. In the bucket, you can see some of the outer leaves beginning to turn brown and I think that's a good indication that they are ready. In some of the hops, I'm more sure that they are ready because they are light and papery. I'm concerned that I don't pick them too early and get a grassy taste.

After I put the two buckets full in the dehydrator, I picked 6 or 8 more buckets. I lost count. I put all of these extra hops on a plastic mesh over some wire shelving suspended between a table and the window ledge. I have a fan blowing underneath and another blowing over the top but no heat of course. I wanted to get these started drying, at least, and I'll finish them in the dehydrator. There's a lot more to pick.

Last year I made the mistake of cutting the vines and bringing them indoors in plastic containers. I didn't get to them as quickly as I had planned and when I finally did, many of the hops had developed mold. Even loosing those, I still harvested over four pounds in 2008 and I have hops left over. I want to be more careful this year and bring the whole crop to harvest, so I have more hops to share.

I really love the smell as I pick the hops, and when I go down in the basement... ahhh! It makes me want to brew a big IPA.

September DUFF Meeting

2009-09-04T21:33:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club

Just a reminder that the monthly meeting is coming up on Tuesday, September 8th, 6:00pm and will be held at the Pouillie home. The following is Clinton's invitation posted on the DUFF Group's web site, please join in there if you haven't already, so you can keep up with all the club talk. For those that are participants on DUFF Group and receive the posting notices, this email will just be a duplicate so kindly disregard.

See you all on Tuesday

Mel

Wow is it that time already? Tuesday, September 8; Lisa, Naome,
Weston, and I will be hosting the brew meeting at our house.
Realizing that we could never compete with that wonderful spread Jim
and Kathy put on last month, we will have a light meal with some
brats, dogs, and munchies. Bring your latest creations to sample and
we should be able to handle the rest. I have a hop harvest ale I have
been saving since last year that I will bring out to try. It was my
fist beer brewed with my own hops. I really wanted to have a big brew
day this month but with all the busy schedules we couldn't squeeze it
in. To start some thinking early I have a couple topics of discussion
this month. Be thinking about:
• Club booth at the Great Lakes Brew Fest
• Best way for drying home grown hops, how do you do it?
• Do you have to secondary ferment with ales? Eliminating this could
same time for the busy brewer.

We look forward to seeing everyone. For those that have not been to
my house directions are below.

From Mauston: Take 12 & 16 south out of Mauston toward Lindon
Station. Just as you get out of town take N to the left. Stay on N
for about 5 miles. You will come to a point where N takes a sharp
right turn (this is not the sharp right directly after the rail road
tracks) you want to go straight through that turn which will be 53rd
St. Our house will be the 5th house on the left. I will have our big
blue truck parked out by the road. Our fire number is W3784.

If you are taking K to Mauston, when you hit 12 &16 turn left and that
will take you to N. Turn right on to N and follow the same directions
as above.

Coming from Lindon Station take 12 & 16 toward Mauston. As soon as
you get out of town turn right onto N. Stay on N until you cross the
rail road tracks and drive over the interstate. About 1 mile after
you go over the interstate N will make a sharp turn to the left, you
want to turn right at that turn on to 53rd st. Directions are the
same as above from here.

Re: August Meeting on Tuesday 11th

2009-08-10T11:28:00.001-05:00

I'll be there

From: Melvin Smith <mel4150091@gmail.com>
To: duff-brew-club@googlegroups.com
Cc: duffclub.postit@blogger.com
Sent: Sunday, August 9, 2009 12:00:54 AM
Subject: August Meeting on Tuesday 11th

Greetings DUFF Club Members

The August meeting will be held on Tuesday evening, 11 August 2009 at the home of Jim & Kathy. In his own words, here is Jim's announcement.

Our plan is to have wood oven baked pizzas - make your own with our
ingredients. I will have an abundance of dough ready to be formed and
cooked up quickly. If the oven is hot, an eight inch pizza takes
about 70 to 80 seconds. Clinton knows that we can put on the feed
bag, so don't feel that you need to bring anything more than some beer
or wine to sample. If the weather is going to be bad, we will still
manage to make enough food for all. It would be nice to have a good
idea on how many to expect. Please let me know when you do? Thanks.

Jim
Looking forward to it.... really!

Please give Jim and Kathy a head's-up on your plans to attend or not.

Directions. Just East of the Country Club in Reedsburg on HWY 33.
Turn South on Hwy 136 to Rock Springs. At the top of the hill, there
is a turn to the right on Oak Crest Dr. This is a small subdivision.
There is a fork in the road immediately. Turn to the right. My house
is the fourth house on the left, if you count the one right at the
fork in the road. Large pine tree in the front yard, pole shed for a
garage. E7233 N Oak Crest Dr
Reedsburg Wi.
is the address. home phone is 524-5656 if anyone needs guidance for
any reason.

A reminder: the club web site: http://groups.google.com/group/duff-brew-club is easy to join and you'll be able to post comments and keep up to date on all the latest chatter and keep up to date on meeting plans or homebrew related information. Stop by, sign up!

August Meeting on Tuesday 11th

2009-08-09T00:00:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF Club Members

The August meeting will be held on Tuesday evening, 11 August 2009 at the home of Jim & Kathy. In his own words, here is Jim's announcement.

Our plan is to have wood oven baked pizzas - make your own with our
ingredients. I will have an abundance of dough ready to be formed and
cooked up quickly. If the oven is hot, an eight inch pizza takes
about 70 to 80 seconds. Clinton knows that we can put on the feed
bag, so don't feel that you need to bring anything more than some beer
or wine to sample. If the weather is going to be bad, we will still
manage to make enough food for all. It would be nice to have a good
idea on how many to expect. Please let me know when you do? Thanks.

Jim

Looking forward to it.... really!

Please give Jim and Kathy a head's-up on your plans to attend or not.

Directions. Just East of the Country Club in Reedsburg on HWY 33.
Turn South on Hwy 136 to Rock Springs. At the top of the hill, there
is a turn to the right on Oak Crest Dr. This is a small subdivision.
There is a fork in the road immediately. Turn to the right. My house
is the fourth house on the left, if you count the one right at the
fork in the road. Large pine tree in the front yard, pole shed for a
garage. E7233 N Oak Crest Dr
Reedsburg Wi.

is the address. home phone is 524-5656 if anyone needs guidance for
any reason.

July Meeting

2009-07-11T01:23:00.001-05:00

Greetings DUFF club members

Our next Meeting is coming up in few days, July 14, 2009, at the home of Randy Hoeth – Camp Douglas 6:00pm. Please let Randy know if you are a definite yes or a definite no, because he plans to order some Pizza's and needs to know how many will be there. Phone # listed below. Sandy and I will be there, so that's two Randy.

I'm looking forward to seeing Randy's hops and brewing stuff, and I'll have some ale and Lager beer made at the big brew in May to share and compare.

Directions and phone numbers that follow are from Randy:

My address for those with GPS is 107 Oakdale Road, Camp Douglas, WI. 54618 Phone: 427-3607

From I90, Exit 55, proceed west on 12/16 approx ¼ mile and turn into Camp Douglas on Cty C, going across the bridge over the railroad. Do a sweeping left hand turn following the signs for "C" which will take you back under that same bridge. After going under the bridge, continue west on "C" or "Oakdale Road" for another ¼ mile and find my house on the left. It's the white ranch style across from the tennis court in the village park.

If you're coming from the Hustler direction up Cty "A", continue through town and watch for the right hand turn on "C" which again turns into Oakdale Road and proceed as above, under the bridge and to my house.

From Tomah on 12/16, you will be making a right on Cty "C" to go across the same above mentioned bridge and same directions as from I90.

If you're coming from any other direction, I hope you have a GPS.

Randy

See you all on Tuesday. If anyone would like to catch a ride with Sandy and I, call 608-415-0091. We'll probably go through La Valle to Mauston and hit I-90/94. Anywhere we can meet along the way to arrive at 6:00pm would be fine and we have room for two.

Mel Smith

May Meeting Tuesday 12th May 2009

2009-05-11T23:34:00.001-05:00

Greetings

The DUFF meeting will be held at the Mauston Country Inn on Tuesday May 12th, 2009 - 6:00 PM. We will pick and discuss entrants for the Golden Growler Challenge and maybe have some samples/photos from the big brew held last Saturday???

Sorry for the short notice this month, it's turning into a very busy month.

Mel

Fwd: Home Brew Charity

2009-05-04T09:22:00.002-05:00

Mel

Could you please distribute this information to all of the club members? The Society of Oshkosh Brewers (SOB's) is having a charity beer festival this summer in Oshkosh. Every beer there will be a Home Brew and we think that this is the first event like this in the state. For more information, go to http://www.realsob.org/HomebrewEvent/index.php I will be donating two 5 gallon batches of a California Common and a German Blond Wheat and possibly some Cherry Kolch.

Jim Boda

inspire industries, LLC

Mel,

March DUFF meeting

2009-03-07T00:58:00.000-06:00

Greetings DUFF Club Members

The March meeting will be held on Tuesday March 10, 2009, at the home of Mel and Sandy Smith - 6:00pm. Kids, spouses, friends, new or ‘old’ brewers are all welcome. Meet Puff, the puppy and check out my brewing stuff.

In addition to beer & wine tasting (bring samples) and club discussions….

Pepsi Kegs will be here ready for pick up for those that ordered them.... and there are a few extra, I think, that are unspoken for. If anyone wants more, get hold of Clint.

The ‘Monster Mash’ barrel will be here to look at and evaluate. Suggestions are welcome /sought before we finish and test it – I’ll probably try a batch before the first big Mash in April? May? June? I forget? But I think it’ll work! I also have the dairy coolers and it should be light out with daylight savings time in effect, if anyone wants to see those.

We are planning a light lunch for a dozen or so in the basement on the order of BBQ, potato salad, beans, chips, and jell-o.

From Reedsburg, it’s about:

· 4 miles south of town on highway 23

· Right (west) on County Road S for 8 miles

· House on Right at the intersection of County S and 3 culvert Road.

· Blue Fire # sign E3698 - Grey ranch style house with Black roof and Black window shutters and wooden deck on front of house.

From La Valle:

· Highway 58 south through Ironton and about a mile past Ironton to highway G turn off to the left (south) toward Lime Ridge.

· Follow G south for about 5 miles to Lime Ridge.

· In Lime Ridge, left on County Road S (east) for two miles

· House on Left at the intersection of County S and 3 culvert Road.

· Blue Fire # sign E3698 - Grey ranch style house with Black roof and Black window shutters and wooden deck on front of house.

Home phone is 608-986-5701.

Cell phone is 608-415-0091.

Feel free to call for additional information, directions, or to let us know if you are not able to make it or find many extra friends so we can make sure we have enough food for all to enjoy. Spare rooms are always available if anyone wants/needs to spend the night!

February Meeting

2009-02-07T10:58:00.001-06:00

Greetings D.U.F.F. members

February’s meeting will be held this coming Tuesday, 10Feb 2009, 6:00 pm at the Burr Oak Winery. The winery is 5 miles west of Mauston on 12/16 from Division street stop in downtown Mauston. It’s on the left side of the road (south) and you will pass by Rural Welding, True Gas, and the road to the Mauston-New Lisbon Airport before arriving at Burr Oak.

The Owner, Steve Kennedy, will answer questions and I’m sure tell us a great deal about his operation and experience in the vineyard. I’ve asked to tell us about pruning and things that we should be doing with grapes this time of year.

Home brew samples are welcome as usual at this meeting.

Please try to make this meeting, bring a friend, and consider trying a bottle or two of Burr Oak’s wines. This is a great opportunity to hear from a person that has planted a vineyard from the first vines to a successful local Wisconsin winery. Anyone interested in doing the same will not want to miss this meeting.

D.U.F.F. business items will include further planning on the ‘big brew’ and updates on competition.

See you all on Tuesday.

Mel

January DUFF Meeting

2009-01-12T00:51:00.000-06:00

Greetings Homebrewers

Just a reminder that the January 13, 2009 meeting of the DUFF Homebrew club will be held this Tuesday evening 6:00 PM at the Country Inn & Suits, Mauston Wisconsin. Bring your samples of California Common if you have them or anything else that you have brewed up.

Items on the agenda will be competition brew events coming up this winter/spring and the first BIG club brew this spring. That is going to be a fun event! I’ll bring my lap top on Tuesday with the pro-mash program, so if want to start running some sample brews and think about what it will take to do a monster mash, we can.

Also, one of Sandy’s co-worker’s sister is into graphic design and has offered to do a beer labels for me. That might be a neat thing for a club label for our monster brews... ?

New club web site? I’ve been dabbling with something called Joomla. I’m making another web site for another project and it might be just the thing we want for the DUFF club. Professional look with integrated forum and events calendar (Agora and JEvents). Here is a site that uses it My Wisconsin. I’ve been in contact with this sites creator up in Hayward and he seems real willing to assist with any question about how to set stuff up. This is the site I’ve been working on for religious/homechurch purposes Narrows Creek. It has a lot of the original preloaded stuff in it yet, but I’m making changes everyday and hope to figure out how to get the Agora forum and the JEvents calendar up and running. If I can do that or if anyone else knows or can work with Joomla, I think it would be the perfect content management software for what we need our club web site to do. It’s free though I choose to purchase a template for the Narrows Creek page.

Hope to see everyone on Tuesday night. Dress warm!

Mel

December DUFF Meeting P.S.

2008-12-05T07:26:00.001-06:00

P.S. Remember you can keep up to date and join in club chat by joining the DUFF Group.

2008-12-05T07:21:00.001-06:00

December DUFF Club Meeting

The Dells Unified Frequent Fermenters will meet this coming Tuesday, December 9, 2008; 6:00 P.M. at Moose Jaw in Lake Delton Wisconsin. Plan on Dutch Treat Pizza, sampling whatever Jamie has brewed up or what ever else strikes your fancy and fits your budget.

Last time we met there, we gathered in the basement.

This is a great time to invite a friend and bring the family.

The agenda for the evening is to kick back, relive the great moments of this past year and think about the New Year coming while enjoying pizza and beer in the company of friends. So, bring your photos, cameras, stories, and dreams; but we will have to leave the homebrew at home for this meeting.

See you all this coming Tuesday!

Mel Smith

November DUFF Meeting

2008-11-09T10:32:00.000-06:00

Greetings Fellow Homebrewers

The November meeting of the DUFF Brew club will be at the Home of Clinton and Lisa Pouillie, on Tuesday the 11^th. 6:00pm. We had talked some of meeting at Moose Jaw but we didn’t get those plans finalized in time, so...

Lisa is making Pizza and your welcome to add chips, pretzels, and of course homebrew. Even interesting commercial brews... has anyone had the resurrected Schlitz? I hear it is pretty good. Anyway, just come out on Tuesday evening!

Directions from Mauston:

· Take highway 12 & 16 toward Lyndon Station.

· Turn left (North) on Country N follow for about 4 miles. You will cross the interstate once, if you cross it twice you’ve gone too far.

· When N makes a hard right turn, go strait ahead on 53 street instead for about 1 mile.

· Lisa and Clinton’s house will be the last house on the left. White. Fire # W 3784

If you have questions, get lost etc., the Pouillie’s home phone # is 847-5908 and Clinton’s cell (which does not pick up well at the house) is 608-853-0555.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday evening and new friends are always welcome to come and join the gathering of homebrewers.

Things to talk about are the December meeting arrangements, next years competition beer ‘California Common’, and building the DUFFZILLA homebrew system – I’ve acquired two old half-barrels and may have two more and a ¼ barrel in the pipe-line!

Mel Smith

FW: Me and my team.

2008-10-30T11:07:00.001-05:00

The Following Brewing story was written by Clinton from the DUFF Brew club.
I thought it was interesting and forwarded it to the Blog.

-----Original Message-----
From: duff-brew-club@googlegroups.com
[mailto:duff-brew-club@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Clinton
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 10:37 AM
To: DUFF Brew Club
Subject: Me and my team.

Yes! I finally got to brew again. Tuesday night Lisa did not have to
work, awesome, now we got some time I thought. So late Monday night I
set up all the equipment and crushed all the grain after the kids had
gone to bed. Slowly I am getting my "Man Cave" set up. Brewing in
one corner, work bench in another and bar in-between the two. Anyway,
I called home Tuesday as I left work and Lisa started heating up the
water. When I got home it was say hi to the kids and let the mashing
begin. Once we got it going I could play with the kids and work a
little bit more on cleaning up and organizing. I am also starting to
think about the best brew setup ever, and I am getting a lot of
ideas. It wasn't long and the sparge was over. At that point Lisa
took off to do some shopping and left me with my 2 brewing buddies,
Naome and Weston (at least that is want Naome says we are). Everything
went great with both the kids and the beer. Naome, as always, was
egger to help and Weston was doing his part by not being to cranky.

I bet by now you are wondering what beer I brewed. Well I made what I
am calling a Harvest Ale. It is a high octane beer, dark gold in
color, low IBU's (only 20 or so), and lots of hop aroma. I used all
the home grown hops from Mel and the little that I got to brew a beer
that celebrates the hop harvest season. My though is each year I am
going to brew a beer using just the hops that I grow to brew a one of
a kind beer. I though this is a good way to use hops when I don't
really now the alpha numbers. Each year it well change. Maybe as a
club we should think about having some kind of event celebrating
hops. It is good a reason as any to drink and brew together. Kind of
like the harvest party that Burr Oak has.

Anyway I was just so excited that we have a beer going I had to write
about it. For now that is all from the Brewn' Buddies'

Cranberry Wine

2008-10-29T00:42:00.006-05:00

Cranberry Wine 2008

by Mel Smith

I received about 25 lbs of Cranberries from a friend that works in the cranberry bogs during harvest (picked up and delivered to me by another friend) on Thursday evening October 23, 2008.

On Saturday evening, I cleaned the berries. I spent two or three hours rinsing and picking stems and leaves from the berries. The weather was cool, probably in the thirties or even the twenties at night, so I left the pale of berries outside during this time.

On Monday evening October 27, 2008 I spent another 5 or 6 hours sorting out the white or light colored berries and putting the good ones through the food processor. I tried to chop them as course as possible while still making sure every berry was cut some. They were about the coarseness of coleslaw and I placed them in my 15-gallon fermentor.

(The picture of the white berries in the bucket are the ones I threw away. I kept the redder berries and the ones with no soft spots but with all of those berries, I wasn't overly particular.)

This is approximately the recipe I used.

20-24 lbs of fresh Cranberries (Stevens variety) coarsely chopped

6 lbs. of Golden Raisons whole

21 lbs of granulated sugar

8 campden tablets - crushed

7 teaspoons of yeast nutrient

5 teaspoons of yeast energizer

2 teaspoons of pectic enzyme

9 teaspoons of acid blend

7 gallons of water

Everything was placed in the primary fermentor and stirred well. The picture of the blue fermentor with a few berries in the bottom as I began my project of sorting, chopping and adding the other ingredients to make the cranberry wine.

24 hours later, I added

Lalivin K1-V1116 Champaign yeast, 2 packets

The following evening 10/28/2008 23:30 pm I hydrated 2 packets of Lalivin K1-V1116 Champaign yeast by pouring them into a bowl of 101 degree water and leaving sit for 45 minutes. I had planned for only a 15 minute hydration, but at 15 minutes and then at 30 minutes I still had a little pile of dry yeast floating in the water. Each time I jiggled the bowl until I thought the yeast was all wet, and then set my timer for another 15 minutes. That’s how it ended up taking 45 minutes to hydrate the yeast. I then poured the hydrated yeast into the primary fermentor and stirred the mash briskly.

I had stirred the must before adding the yeast and tested the specific gravity. It was slightly lower than I wanted 1.104 instead of the 1.110 to 1.115 that I was shooting for, but I think that is O.K., as I will have to have more sugar additions anyway. I’m using a Champaign yeast but know people prefer a sweat wine, so it will take a lot more sugar and be a high alcohol wine before it becomes a sweat one. Also, I have heard that if the must is too sweat, the yeast might have problems taking off, so I am O.K. with the 1.104 original gravity.

During the next five to seven days, I will stir the must daily, watch for signs that fermentation has began, and try to plan how to squeeze all the juice from the fruit when its time, but that is all for tonight. I'm going to enjoy a glass of mead I made in January of 2007 and turn in for the night.

The Coolest Beer Club Ever!

2008-10-16T04:27:00.003-05:00

If you could imagine the coolest beer club ever, what would it be like? I asked myself that question as I thought about where DUFF Club is going in the next few months, the next year, the next five years and beyond. Technically, I suppose it’s called a vision or mission but really all it comes down to is this, what would the coolest beer club ever look like and how can we become that club?

First equipment, I think the coolest beer club ever would have some really cool equipment that members could use just for being members of the club. This would be stuff that one person alone might only be able to dream about having but the club would have it all, and members could use it or rent it sometimes.

The equipment might be acquired by group efforts, combined talents, or pooled resources. One member might have a source for stainless steel, another might have the equipment and knowledge to cut and weld, and a third might have the engineering skills to design and draw up the plans for an item. Together, a team might be able to achieve things that any one person working alone would find hard to do. Another option is simply to purchase items as a group.

This equipment would help its members brew the best beer and wine ever and win awards! It could also help the club raise money without the need for charging membership dues by charging rent on some of the equipment.

Second supplies, I think the coolest beer club ever would help its members acquire brewing supplies as a brewing co-op. Group buying, bulk buying, and ever alert for sales and good deals would help defray hobby costs for its members. Rather than just paying dues to be a member of a club, being a member of the coolest beer club ever would be a financial asset for its members.

Next education and encouragement, I think the coolest beer club ever would be a source for knowledge about brewing high quality homebrew. Their education program would help initiate new brewers and hone the skills of the experienced ones. Through challenging competition and on-going education, members of the coolest beer club ever would win awards, have beers named after them, and have Samuel Adams calling up for advice on how to brew better beer!

The coolest beer club ever would definitely write a book that may or may not make it on the New York Times bestseller list. Probably not, but who is to say? Many church groups, school music departments, and even families publish their own cookbooks, why shouldn’t the DUFF beer club? I think we should begin saving our great beer recipes, great brewing stories, and unique brewing tips and tricks for the book! I believe this might be a unique way to raise money in the future, selling on ebay, area brew stores, and at competition events.

As I think about the future, I would like the DUFF Homebrew Club to become a club that is a real asset to be our members because it will help them to make great homebrew, give everyone access to equipment that they could not afford on their own, and help hold down the costs of our hobby. We will also share our knowledge, experience, and encourage others in becoming great homebrewers.

Some people live by the motto, “If you can’t learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.” A funny saying but too many folks (myself at times) take this funny saying to heart and give homebrewing a bad name! The DUFF Homebrew Club should be all about learning to enjoy doing our hobby really well. We have some great brewers in our midst, and I hope I can be counted in their number someday.

October 4, Brewery Tour

2008-10-08T21:02:00.020-05:00

Milwaukee Brewery Tour by Mel Smith

It was Six-forty-five in the morning when I stepped out of the house, an early hour for me. There was frost on the grass and on my car left parked outside the garage. It was the first frost of the fall, I think, because the morning glories died after that.

We met at McDonald's in Lake Delton next to Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Fritz, Nancy, Clint, Lisa, Naomi, Sandy, and I. Clint had been sick on Friday, the day before, and Lisa had worked third shift before coming out on Saturday morning. Sandy and I had been over in Sauk City for a karaoke debut the evening before and hadn’t gotten home until around 11:00 PM, but after hearing Clint and Lisa’s story, I stopped feeling sorry for myself. At Eight O-clock, we left for Milwaukee.

When we arrived at Miller Brewery shortly after 10 AM, there was a short line at the door but only because they were just opening; by the time we parked, the line had dissipated and we walked directly up to the counter for our passes for the first tour at 10:30.

The next three pictures are from inside Miller Brewery. The copper lauter tuns are where the grains are soaked in hot water to turn the starch to sugar, and then the sugars are rinsed from the grains to produce the sweet wort. There were 56 steps (I counted them) from the street up to the room where these pictures were taken. The wort is cooled, transferred to the brew kettles (stainless steel tanks) and yeast is added. During fermentation, yeast eats the sugar and produces CO2 and alcohol.

The girl in the Brewer shirt is Maggie, our tour guide. She made the tour funny as well as informative. She said that they make 1/2 million cases of beer a day and that 96% of it is shipped out in trucks, 250 a day!

At our next stop, Lake Front Brewery, our tour guide there said that Miller Brewery probably spills more beer than Lake Front produces! Whether true or not I wouldn't hazard to guess.

From the 8th floor overlooking the brew kettles, we walked back down, crossed the street and walked another block or so to the old underground caves. Before refrigeration, the caves were packed with ice in the winter and barrels of beer were stored in the cool underground. Miller was big enough to employ a full time cooper, a man that made the wooden barrels. I didn't notice during the tour that these barrels along the wall leading to the cave had displays inside. Only afterward looking at the pictures did I notice the miniature display of a barrel maker at work inside the window on this barrel. My other photos inside the cave didn't turnout too well, so you'll have to take the tour yourself if you want to see more.

Finally, there is the sampling at the end of the tour. Miller gives you 3 (8oz?) samples. For a free tour, that's a pretty good deal!

Lakefront Brewery

A few miles over toward the Lake, we arrived at Lakefront Brewery. Lakefront was started by a couple of homebrewers that really got into their hobby. In my opinion, the operation still reflects that. There is a jumble of tanks of all sizes and a general look of a business with growth in progress. I thought the 3 stooges painted on the end of some tanks was a nice touch and in another photo, you see the fermenting beer with the CO2 being vented into a bucket like any homebrewer would do (Miller captures their CO2 and sells it as a by-product).

In spite of their small size, Lakefront attracts crowds of people. We arrived shortly after they opened Saturday Afternoon and again we walked right in but later as we were leaving, the line to get in was out the door. They offer a good tour and I think the 'ball room' is nearly as big as the brewery room. Maybe some people just show up because it's a pretty cheap place to drink? $6 dollars gets you 4 beer samples, the tour, and you get to keep a really nice glass. Being a homebrewer, I liked Lakefront's beer better than Miller's. I settled on Riverwest Stein Lager an amber beer with a touch of unmalted barly! There's an idea I've never thought of... unmalted barly! I'll have to try that.

What could top the tour of two breweries but a stop at Usinger's meat market in downtown Milwaukee. Sandy and I bought some Old World Summer Sausage, bacon, and some beef stix. After that, we pulled into the Old Country Buffet in Brookfield, stuffed ourselves, and then made one final stop at the Delafield Brewhaus.

Stuffed to the max! We left Delafield at 5:45 and were back in Lake Delton by 7:00 pm. I wasn't really watching the time anymore, but it was a fun day. I trust everyone else enjoyed themselves as well.

I have many more photos but I must have reached some kind of limit for this post, I don't seem to be able to up-load anymore.

Oh! One last thing, in the first photo, I'm sandwiched between two cute babes. The one on my left (your right) is Sandy my wife, the one on my right (far left) is our really cool Lakefront tour guide Katie. Thanks Katie for just being you and doing a great tour! And thanks for standing in the photo with the DUFF Homebrew club from up near Wisconsin Dells. Also, thanks for signing my "Wisconsin Beer Guide - A Trave Companion" book, I'll treasure it always!

Cheers!

Milwaukee Brewery Tour Outing and other club news

2008-09-25T02:57:00.000-05:00

Greetings Everyone

I know Fritz has contacted most everyone by phone or email, but he ask me to send out an additional invitation to make sure everyone has heard about the brewery tour coming up in a little over a week.

We are planning to meet early 7:30 am at Lake Delton Wal-Mart. At this time, I do not know that 15 people have committed to attend, so we cannot make reservations for our tour. Therefore, we should still try to arrive early and get in line at Miller Brewery... the first tour, I think? I believe they begin giving tours at 10:30 am, but I am unable to get into their web site... not old enough I guess! Ha! Ha! http://www.millercoors.com/AgeVerification.aspx Besides the hour tour, they have a gift shop.

Lake Front Brewery is our second brew tour for the day and they list tours at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 pm for Saturday the 4^th. http://www.lakefrontbrewery.com .

So, unless things change in the coming week, let’s plan on being at Wal-Mart by 7:30 am. Grab a bite to eat at Mc Donald’s and depart by 7:45 – 8:00 at the latest. Bring a book or beer magazine to read in case we have to wait in line for a while. My phone number is 608-415-0091 so anyone can call for updates or to contact on Saturday morning if you are running late or cannot locate the group. Anyone want to join in along the way can call as well for our whereabouts.

Car-pooling, Stops along the way, eating, etc. will pretty much be played by ear as we go, I guess, unless Fritz or someone else has a plan. Fritz has a van and we’ll have Sandy’s Corolla if needed.

Because of the October 4^th outing, we will not be having our regular monthly meeting that would have been on the 14^th of the October. The next thing on the calendar is the AHA Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day on November 1^st. I’m tentatively thinking of doing an all-grain demo that Saturday and inviting in anyone that wants to watch beer being made. Our next regular monthly meeting is scheduled for Tuesday November 11. Does anyone have ideas for that one?

I met Mike Setterquist the other night (Tuesday) on my way back from Point Brew Supply. He’s working over at Home Depot in Lake Delton 3-11pm and says Hi to all. He probably can’t make it on the 4^th he said.

Katina Buttera has changed the store hours at Point Brew Supply, in part, so people like us can make it up there. On Tuesday & Thursdays they are open from 12- 8 pm.

She said that Travis was in the other day and wondering how to contact our club. It’s nearly time to begin planning for next years Golden Growler competition and they were wondering whether we were going to be involved. I gave our club web address, but I’m still not clear over all there is to do with that. I keep hearing different things. I see they have the Golden Growler at Point Brew Supply, which is as good a place to keep it as any.

Have a great weekend.

Mel

September DUFF Meeting tomorrow, change of location.

2008-09-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

Greetings to all

The September meeting of the DUFF Homebrew Club will be held tomorrow at The Home of Mel and Sandy Smith. Not at the Country Inn in Mauston.

For directions, you may call 608-415-0091 or log onto Mapquest here: http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=LaValle&state=WI&address=E3698+County+Road+S&zipcode=53941 . From Reedsburg, it is approximately 3 miles south on Highway. 23, right 8 miles on country road S to the farm. Grey ranch house with black shutters directly across from Three Culvert Road intersection.

Time is Tuesday, September 9^th^,2008 from 6:00 pm. till 8:00 pm. but anyone is welcome to come early or stay late.

Simple meal provided: Snacks, potato salad, beans, brats, and hotdogs will be provided.

Beer: Don’t worry about bringing sample of homebrew if you don’t have any, we will have some craft beers to try. If you have homebrew, by all means bring some, but don’t let not having any samples keep you from this meeting.

Meeting agenda:

· Enjoy a fall bonfire with some beer cooking on the side in a quiet peaceful valley.

· Maybe discuss where the DUFF Club has been and where we are going as a club.

· Destroy a couple of computers just for fun! Find the rare-earth magnets in the hard-drives.

· Give away some hops! I have some of last years Cascade and a new crop on the way.

· Talk about California Common and sample some more Anchor Steam Beer as we think about brewing and winning the spring competition in Wausau.

If you cannot attend the meeting, you can still stay up to date and participate on-line by joining the DUFF Brew Club Group (it’s free!) or read the Duff Brew Club Blog (it’s free and worth every penny you paid for it!) Be sure to log on to the group and read Clint’s announcement about the new baby! It’s awesome news but I’ll let Clint tell it.

Hope to see and hear from many of you in the coming weeks.

Sincerely yours,

Mel Smith

California Common

2008-08-25T00:28:00.022-05:00

I spent the night of August 22 cooking beer. It took longer than usual because it’s been several months since I made beer and all of my equipment had to be thoroughly cleaned; and that, after I found each piece! Notice my official DUFF Club brewing hat as I add water to the kettle, it adds that... 'something special?' to my home brews!

On Friday night, I made a peculiar kind of beer called California Common. It’s one of the few beers that is uniquely an American contribution to the beer world. California Common was called Steam Beer in its early days but today’s style, epitomized by Anchor Steam Beer, is superior to its cheap progenitor.

California Common style beer is made by using lager yeast but at the higher temperature typically used to produce ales. This allowed San Franciscans to enjoy a lager beer of sorts before refrigeration came to the west coast of America, and it allows home brewers today to do the same, make a lager beer at ale temperatures. A cool basement is all one needs for the perfect environment to brew California Common style beer.

I have the lager hole! The lager hole's first purpose was for a sump-pump in my basement, but the sump pump hole has only had water in it twice since we built the house seven years ago, and we never bought a sump pump. In the winter, the temperature in the lager hole is 53 degrees, perfect for making a real lager beer but now at the end of August, its up to 64 degrees, a great temperature for making California Common beer.

So there's my carboy, down in the dark cool hole in the basement floor. The wort is alive. It's a world of water, sugars, hops, carbon dioxide, and a growing population of alcohol. There is a frothy head of foam over a floor of yeast in

that reddish-brown
world-of-wort. Chunks of 'stuff' driven by bubbles of CO2 are propelled toward the surface only to be caught by gravity and pulled back to the bottom of the carboy. Yeast rules in the little world of wort.

I used Wyeast 2112 California Lager yeast, a smack pack. I pulled it from the fridge and activated it on Thursday night, a day before I brewed the beer. By early Saturday morning when I finished cooking, the packet was full and tight with pressure. I pitched most of the yeast in the freshly cooked and cooled wort, but I snitched a little tablespoon or so, and put it in an old White Lab bottle.

By Sunday morning, I finished making a crude stir plate. My stir plate is made from an old transformer, a D.C. voltage converter, an old D.C. portable heater fan, and a cow magnet.

I also incorporated 3 of my wife's coffee cups and a little cutting board. It's not a very fancy set-up, but it is stirring the yeast and it hasn't burned the house down... yet! It's held together with electrical tape, spring clamps, hot glue, and the force of gravity! I tried to buy a real stir plate off from ebay last night but lost that action. I'll keep trying as I think my wife wants her coffee cups back.

For now, it looks like I have a pretty good start on my first batch of California Common Home brew for the competition next April and a few billion more cells of California Lager yeast for when I try my next all-grain entry. Cheers!

The hobby of home brewing is more than just a quest to make great beer and wine, it's a chance to experiment, invent, enjoy friends, and most of all to have fun. Never forget to have joy in your life and especially have joy in your hobbies.

"Bless the Lord, Oh my soul... He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart." Psalm 104: 1-15

Visit a Vineyard.

2008-08-20T01:16:00.004-05:00

Did you know that Wisconsin has 33 wineries? I'm sure there are countless more little private vineyards, but 33 are listed at Catch wine's web site. Every other State's wineries are listed there as well for those not living in Wisconsin.

Catch Wine's web site is pretty neat in that it gives directions to each winery, tells a little about it, and how far you are from the next one! They also offer you the option leaving reviews of a Winery after you visit. Write some stuff in a journal or leave a photo for others to see. I plan to start doing a few reviews of the wineries around me.

I had a great time a few weeks ago when my daughter took me on a tour of three of the local wineries. I bought some great local wines and plan to go back now and make it my business to visit and post my reviews of a few of the vineyards in my neighborhood. I know, it'll be a dirty job but someones got to do it! Now that I've had a little introduction I know more what to look for, what to remember to take along (note pad and camera), and maybe hook up with some others from the DUFF club that would like to begin this labor of love.

I'll let you know when and how to join me. This weekend from August 21st through the 26th will include a few excursions for anyone that wants to join in. I'll try to add my plans here at least 24 hours in advance. Tomorrow I'll start mapping, planning, and posting but it's too late tonight.

May 13 DUFF Meeting

2008-04-21T22:46:00.004-05:00

Remember, May 13 meeting in Mauston, Wisconsin - 6:00pm at the Country Inn just off I-90/94 on hwy. 82.

Post comments here for agenda items.

Golden Growler trophy will be there for all to admire.

DUFF wins the Golden Growler!

2008-04-20T22:08:00.013-05:00

Congratulations DUFF members! You won the Golden Growler in 2008! Jason VanPee Won 1st place! Jim Kinsman 2nd place! and Dave Yardley Placed 6th! But that's not all. Everyone that served as judges at the March meeting picked the winners (even if we did have them in a different order) and everyone that has been involved in meeting, brewing, and tasting was no doubt an inspiration to these fine brewers in our group... but wait! (Group picture above left to right Jim, Clint, Dave, Lisa, Fritz, and Mel)

That's still not all!

Besides the Golden Growler competition there was a AHA/BJCP Competition held as well (American Homebrewers Association/Beer Judge Certification Program). There were seven categories:

Light Ales & Lagers
Pale Ales
Mild Amber and Brown
Wheat and Rye Beers
Dark Beers
Strong and Smoked beers
Belgium and French Ales

Jim Walker took first place with his Irish Red Ale and third place with his Belgian Heavy., Jim Kinsman took 1st place with his Belgium Dubbel Ale. All together, this was a fantastic showing for our first entry into this competition and it shows the great potential and talent that we have within our ranks.

If all that isn't enough to get you pumped, one of DUFF clubs suggestions for next year's beer style for the Golden Growler competition was drawn; next year we will be brewing California Common or steam beer! So, if you have a cache of Norther Brewer hops hang on to them. They will be needed for brewing the club entries. If you know anyone that has Northern Brewer Hops Rhizomes get them and lets get them planted. There is still time for a small harvest this fall.

Here is a report from Chanel 7 t.v. out of Wausau about the Event and here is a the Bull Falls report on the Best of Show competition.

Wausau Bound

Fritz, Jim and I piled into my V.W. early Saturday morning and set out for Wausau. We tried to stop for breakfast at the Pioneer in Westfield I think but the place was packed, so we ended up at a McDonald's in Plover while we waited for Point Brew Supply to open.

We met Tina at Point Brew Supply, bought a few bags of corks, wine kit, and other odds and ends and then we're back on the road to Wausau. We arrived around noon, met up with Dave, Clint and Lisa and relaxed at the bar in the Hereford and Hops waiting for the results of the competition.

Judging

With nearly 80 beers entered from four states, the judging took a great deal of time. Raffle tickets were sold and winners were drawn for a couple tables full of prizes while some of the judging was occurring. Spectators were invited to sit in on the final judging for the Best of the show and about 15 of us took the opportunity to watch as the four judges carried out their task.

Also, while the judges were busy rating homebrew, the rest of us were offered a tour of the brewing sections of the Hereford and Hops brew pub. From the grain room in the basement to the brewing room tanks, filters, heaters and coolers, Kevin Bowen the former brewmaster for the Hereford & Hops gave a very informative tour and answered many questions.

Update from Jim in Wausau

2008-04-15T00:23:00.002-05:00

Well, here is an update from Jim in Wausau. I guess the judging for the club competition was to take place last weekend but it is postponed until this coming weekend (April 19th) along with the BJCP sanctioned competition. Here is Jim's note posted on the DUFF Brew Club Group page:

Well, got the beers up to Wausau with no problems. Even had time
to stop in at the Point Brewing Supply homebrew store. Talked with
Travis and some of the member of the club up there. All really nice
guys.
Only problem was, one of their judges for the club event wasn't
going to make it. We went back to the Hereford And Hops on Sunday to
see if they were going to have the judging then, but it wasn't going
to happen. The plan is to have the judging take place next Saturday,
on the 19th along with the rest of the competition.
When we left the Hereford And Hops on Saturday, the members of
the club gave us directions to a new brewery in Wausau. The Bull
Falls Brewery. We went to it, as they have a tasting room set up.
They pretty much serve you beer as in a brew pub. No food on service,
but plenty of shelled peanuts. You will need to check it out when you
go up there. They have their beer on tap in various bars through
Wausau.
I will see what happens this next week at work. I would like to
go back up there, as I didn't get to see how the judging goes or
anything.
Jim

Thanks Jim for keeping us informed, mel.

April Meeting Notes

2008-04-08T23:58:00.003-05:00

8 people attended the April meeting at the Mauston Country Inn & Suits as we prepare for the Golden Growler competition coming up on the 19th in Wausau. In addition to the 3 American IPA's entered representing the DUFF club, there will be at least 2 Cream Ales, 1 Double, and probably more entries before the contest begins. Several samples were taste-tested.

Several club members are planning to head out to Wausau on Friday and stay overnight, while I and Fritz are planning to leave Saturday and return Saturday night. I won't be sampling but driving, so if anyone else is up to a long ride in VW, you may contact me 608-415-0091 for the two remaining seats.

Coming Events

One topic that was discussed at the April meeting was a group brew session in June. This brew session will probably be held at a members home to be decided at the May meeting. July may include a group outing.

Also, if you need ingredients or supplies you may bring your shopping list (and money) to the May meeting and someone will do a supply run to Point Brew Supply in time for the group brew day in June if not sooner.

Books

Look forward to a book review of "The Joy of Home Brewing" on this site by Clint in the coming days. Also the book "Radical Brewing" by Randy Mosher was given thumbs up by Jason.

April Meeting Reminder

2008-04-07T20:28:00.001-05:00

DUFF (Dells Unified Frequent Fermenters)will meet April 8th, 6:00 pm at The Country Inn & Suits, Mauston Wisconsin. (In the back meeting room). (Just off I-90/94 at the Mauston exit 69)

We talk about homebrewing, hops growing, vineyards, anything to do with homebrewing as a hobby. This meeting's main topic will the upcoming Golden Growler competition in Wausau.

Those interested in any aspect of the art & hobby of homebrewing are welcome to attend and become acquainted with the local community of homebrewers.

Our Web site is: http://duffbrewclub.blogspot.com or visit DUFF Group at http://groups.google.com/group/duff-brew-club .

Golden Growler Homebrewing Challenge

2008-03-18T13:59:00.004-05:00

As DUFF members prepare for attending Golden Growler Homebrewing Challenge, there are several items that may require your attention.

First, Jim Kinsman would like to have an estimate of the number of beers that he will be transporting to Wausau. You can read and respond to his post here.

Lisa has passed along the following information about room accommodations at the Courtyard Marriott next door to the Hereford and Hops. Notice: you have only until the 21st for these rates. About two more days!

Earliest Arrival Date Scheduled: 04/18/08
Latest Departure date scheduled: 04/20/08
Group Block Cut-off date: 03/21/08
Total number of rooms in block: 15
Room Rate: $89 + tax per night for standard room
Payment type: Individual
Reservation type: Individual
Notes: Breakfast Buffet available from 7:00 am-11:00 am
$8.95/adults and $3.95/4-12 yrs of age
A la Carte available as well

Courtyard by Marriott
1000 S 22nd Avenue
Wausau WI 54401
715.849.2124 ph 715.849.2227 fax
To make reservations: Call the hotel at 715.849.2124 and ask for the
Brew Masters Hereford & Hops group block by
03/21/08

The Hereford and Hops Steakhouse & Brewpub, where the competition is being held, was founded in 2000 and has an annual production of 850 barrels of beer (about the same as Moose Jaw). They have won the Silver Medal at Great American Beer Festival for their Dunkel Lager and their Blond Bock in 2002 & 2003 respectively under former brewmaster Kevin Eichelberger. The current brewmaster is Kevin Bowen. Some of their staple beers include: a golden ale - Whitetail ale, in Irish red - Cleary Red, a stout - Black Springs, and a german Pilsner - Piva Bohemia. (Revolinski 149-150)

Perhaps we could send some empty growlers along to the competion for some sample at the May meeting?

Schedule of events:

FRIDAY, APRIL 18
7pm - 9pm - Reception for judges/stewards/volunteers/entrants/sponsors ONLY
Free homebrew and munchies
Rub elbows with sponsors, professional brewers, and other homebrew fanatics!

SATURDAY, APRIL 19
8am - Breakfast for judges/stewards/volunteers (provided by Hereford & Hops)
9am - 10:30am - 1st flight judging
11am 12:00 pm - 2nd flight judging
12pm - lunch for judges/stewards/volunteers/sponsors (provided by Hereford & Hops)
12:30pm - Best of Show judging
1pm - Brewery Tours begin (1 every half hour. Last tour at 1:30pm.) Open to public.
2pm - Q&A with Herefor & Hops Brewmaster, Kevin Bowen. Open to public.
3pm - Awards Ceremony. Open to public.
1st thru 3rd place winners across all 7 categories
Results of the inter-club brew to style competition
Best of Show

Free homebrew sampling available the entire time.

Sponsors' booths on site.

Works consulted
Revolinski, Kevin. The Wisconsin Beer Guide - a travel companion. first. McFarland: Tynan's Independent Media, 2006.

Building a Stir Plate

2008-03-14T08:25:00.000-05:00

By mel

In addition to judging the eight entries into the Golden Growler Home brew beer competition at the March meeting of the DUFF club, club members also got a look at Jim Kinsman's homemade stir plate. "What is a stir Plate?" you ask.

A stir plate consists of spinning permanent magnets placed beneath a flask. The flask contains liquid and a stir magnet. The spinning magnets beneath the flask cause the stir magnet within the flask to rotate and keep the solution continually rich in oxygen. One can buy commercial stir plates for the Home Brewer such as Northern Brewer's units costing from $96.99 to $201.99 or separate stir plate replacement magnets for $6.50 - $6.99 but much of the fun in home brewing is building our own equipment.

Why use a stir plate? Because yeast that is grown in an oxygen rich environment will have a 10 to 15 fold increase in the number of yeast cells due to the continuous agitation/aeration. Yeast can grow in an aerobic or anaerobic (with or without oxygen) environment. When it has lots of oxygen, it reproduces and converts sugar to carbon dioxide and water, when it does not have oxygen it converts the sugar incompletely and much more slowly to ethanol and carbon dioxide. Optimal yeast growth and fermentation are two completely different processes and is the reason why you want high oxygen when making a yeast starter but no oxygen when fermenting your wort.

Now back to Jim Kinsman's home made stir plate. The components include a DC fan motor from an old computer, a DC plug in transformer, a couple little circle magnets glued onto the fan blade, a rheostat, most of these components are mounted in a rubber maid type bowl.

The lid is placed on the bowl and the flask sets on top. If you look closely at the photo on the right, you will see the vortex created in the water as the magnet spins in the flask. (one magnet, though spinning, seems caught in still motion at the bottom of the flask while a second is lying on the counter to the left of the flask.)

Thanks Jim for the education and demonstration of your stir plate and to the article, "Yeast Propagation and Maintenance, Principles and Practices" for helping me understand this subject.

Works consulted:

Raines-Casselman, MB. "Yeast Propagation and Maintenance Principals and Practices." 25 Mar 2005 accessed on 14 Mar 2008 http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/MB_Raines_Guide_to_Yeast_Culturing.php .

DUFF Web Site

2008-03-06T02:11:00.001-06:00

Dear DUFF member

This note is in regard to a DUFF club web site.

Greetings to all members of the DUFF homebrew club, for those that were at the last meeting, you may remember that we talked a little about setting up a web-site for the DUFF club. Jason Van Pee was looking into that project, but he is now contemplating relocating to the Green Bay area in the coming months and has indicated that although he will help where he can, perhaps someone else should be appointed for this task. In addition, Jason will be in Kentucky and not able to attend the March DUFF meeting.

Until we can find someone to set up a web site, I suggest we utilize some free web resource by Google that will provide an internet presence, enable group communication, on-line recipe sharing, and discussions among members.

Free web site option

I have opened a Google Blog and a Google Group. They each allow Free discussions and photos to be posted by members along with some other features. If you have time before the next meeting, please visit one or both of these web sites, become a member of the blog and/or group, and test them out a little with a post or comment. I think these sites can get us by ‘for free’ until someone is able to build and maintain something better. I’ve posted a few things as examples.

The blog is here: http://duffbrewclub.blogspot.com

The Group is here: http://groups.google.com/group/duff-brew-club

I have some other personal blogs at: http://augustshouse.blogspot.com (I have more pictures and an article about Bockfest there) and http://augustsgarden.blogspot.com (that I just began) and you can see other examples of formats, photos, surveys, links, and text.

See you on Tuesday!

Thanks for reading this note. I hope to see you all at the next DUFF meeting in Mauston but if you can’t make the meeting, please post a note on one of the DUFF Brew Club ‘sample sites’ and I’ll make sure your words are shared with the group.

Tuesday March 11, 2008 at 6:00 pm. Country Inn & Suits, Mauston. Right off the interstate on Hyw. 82 north side of the Road next to Taco Bill I think?

Mel

D.U.F.F. March meeting

2008-03-04T10:01:00.000-06:00

March 11, 2008 @ 6:00 pm we will hold the the monthly meeting at the Country Inn & Suits in Mauston Wisconsin; we meet in one of the back conference rooms

We will be picking the 3 finalist for the Golden-Grawler-competition. We will also be talking about the event's particulars. Hope to see you all there.

Lyndon Station Brewfest in September 2007.