Thus beginith the lesson...

Or at least the planning for a possible lesson.  Let me start at the beginning.

Back in October I started talking with the Co-Op on the possibilities of a beer brewing class.  I had liked to have it in conjunction to Learn to Homebrew Day.  I was told that I would be followed up with the following week.  Nothing.  I reached out to them.  There was some concern about having alcohol at the event.  I indicated that we didn't have to have beer there.  I also pointed out that until the yeast has time to convert the sugars to alcohol then there will be no alcohol for anyone to complain about.  Again, I was told that I would be followed up with the following week.  Again nothing.  After going round and round more than a couple of times I decided that they would contact me if they wanted it to happen and to not push the subject. 

However, I was speaking with another member of the Co-Op at their Harvest Picnic.  I'm not using his name because I'm not sure if he wants me to.  Regardless, he told me that if the class didn't work out at the Co-Op then he had an alternate venue.  Well, recently I saw him at the Co-Op and started the conversation.  He still likes the idea of the class.  We are aiming for spring - sometime in April - for the class to happen.  We both feel that there are people out there wanting to homebrew but are hesitant for whatever reason - uncertain about the process, ingredients, equipment, etc. We hope to be able to show interested people that it isn't really complicated and can be really fun.

Anyway, more on this as the day approaches.  Now, to spend more time on my other project...

The numbers are in...

As an experiment I decided to track my beer habits over the course of the year.  It's nothing to use a particular E-mail/calendar program to add entries indicating what you had to drink, when, and where.  The stats are in for January and I'm not too surprised. 

In January I had 14 beer tastes.  That's about one beer every two days.  Mostly I drink at home - a beer with dinner.  I did not have any repeats - all beers were unique to that month.  Three of the beers were new to me (Traquair 2010, Summit Imperial Pumpkin Porter, and Bell's Batch 10,000) and they were consumed early in the month.  I favor dark, rich flavored ales (black ales, porters, stouts).  Three of the beers were on tap (Guinness, Bell's Two Heart Ale, and Rogue's Mocah Porter). 

Looking at February so far I am behind - one beer every five days.  But we do have a brewing session coming up...

It's Time...

I'm already getting a little flack (all be it in jest) about the quantity of my postings.  I mean, come on...  Only two days old and you expect me to have a blog that can rival Wikipedia?  In time... Maybe...

First of all a little business.  We are planning a brewing session at the Brewhouse ( Brother Charles' cabin) on the afternoon of Sunday, February 20th.  We will be working on at least two recipes.  I know Brother Charles wants to work on his porter and Sister Marika and I would like to work on a stout.  Two reasons why the brewing session isn't the 13th: 1) Valentine's day weekend and 2) the inaugural meeting of the Southern Illinois Brewers group at Kindling from 2:00pm - 5:00pm.  I know a lot of people are working at getting this new group off the ground and I wanted my fellow Monks to attend if they wanted to.  If you head out there, say hi to Larry from the Reverend. 

I feel that a couple of shout outs are in order.  A virtual tip of the cap to those who came before me and inspired me.  First of all, my mentor and friend in beer - the guy who taught me homebrewing at his house - Shawn Connelly but you know him as the Beer Philosopher.  You can check out his blog or his social network - the Aleuminati (of which I am a member).  Secondly, another kindred spirit in beer and a real joy to brew with - Marika Josephson.  You can find her blog here.  Lastly (for now) a brother in beer and the real deal when it comes to religion - Chris Tessone.  You can find him here.

Sorry to say but that's it for now.  I have other activities to get to this evening.  For those of you who are prodding me with the blogging cattle prod, there will be more to come.

-Rev. Bobby Beerman
     Blessed be our brew

And so it begins...

You would think that a person who is a computer network engineer by day would embrace technology eagerly.  For some reason I'm not like that.  I have been sending out E-mails to a group of friends to let them know of events in the homebrewers group know as the CUF Monks.  At one point I had thought about blogging as a way to make it easier.  Recently, one of the members said, "It looks like a blog would be the perfect venue for these updates. And hey, they're free."  Thank you Grant.  That was the nudge that I needed. 

So, it is with a little hesitation that I finally enter the realm of blogging.  It sounds like something that belongs next door to the Bog of Eternal Stench.  I jest.  You'll get that a lot.  I don't really want to put too much here in the first post.  I'm just trying to get my feet wet. 

What is this blog going to be about?  Most importantly it will be about the activities of the homebrewers group that my friends of mine and I put together.  Are we the biggest in southern Illinois - no.  Is that our goal - no.  Our goal is to get together from time to time and brew some beer and... drink a few.  It takes beer to make beer!  I might also use it to highlight some of my beer efforts in the area and also some beer events.

I think that is enough for now.  There are times when the spirit moves me and I get a little long winded.  Any of the people on my normal E-mailing list can attest to this.  But for now, this will do.  There are lots of things going on but I will leave that for my second posting to this.

Go have a good, not so cold one.  If you like it, tell me about it.  There are many beers out there that I have yet to try (not many).  I'm always looking for something to try.

-Rev. Bobby Beerman
     Blessed be our brew!

PS. I will change the layout!!  I just clicked Preview and saw what it was like.  I have to change it!!  Maybe something nice and stout related.