For our February meeting, we visited our friends at Barncat Artisan Ales in Cambridge. At this meeting, we distributed the goodies of two bulk buys, had two excellent presentations on hops and were updated on club news. The club announcements covered
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- True Grist has gotten faster. Thanks to Ryan truegrist.ca is working smoother than ever.
- Honey bulk buy. This year’s bulk buy was organized with Dave from Beekeeping it Real who supplied us with over 400 pounds of Wildflower and Goldenrod raw honey.
- Hop bulk buy. It was the second time that we organized our local hop buy with Scott from Hayhoe Hops. He delivered us over 40 pounds of Ontario grown hops.
- Homebrew competitions:
- Thanks to Jamie we sent 26 entries on the way to the Cowtown Yeast Wranglers Homebrew Roundup in Calgary which account for 5% of all registered entries. Special thanks also to SFBC who kindly let us use them as a drop-off location for all our entries.
- Upcoming Competitions
- Registration details for ALES Open Homebrew Competitions TBD, but entries will be due in Saskatchewan on April 18 which will mean early April drop off window for us ($5/entry). Full details TBD.
- SFBC X Barncat BIG announced their winter competition. Rush and get your entry tickets before they sell out. Submission Deadline is Saturday, April 20 at 4:00pm
- BLAZING PADDLES will be our very own True Grist homebrew competition. It will be BJCP sanctions and we will need your help. If you are interested in the BJCP, now would be the time to give that online exam a shot. Jamie is our competition organizer, speak with him if you’d like to help out. Our submission deadline will likely be early summer, we will keep you posted.
- TRUE Brewer. Mike Hurst’s Rauchbier is being brewed this month at Rhythm and Brews! We’ll plan a meetup around the beer’s release.
- True Grist’s Beer Wars X Block Three. Most of the teams have successfully completed their brew day. Team submissions are due at the next meeting, please remember to bring at least 4 bottles (and more to share). Thanks also to Escarpment Labs for generously sponsoring the yeast.
- Canadian National Homebrew Day. The Canadian Homebrewers Association is finalizing the details of the first annual Canadian National Homebrew Day! True Grist along with many other Canadian homebrew clubs will participate. Details TBD.
Scott from Hayhoe Hops gave us an in-depth presentation on growing hops in Ontario. Hayhoe Hops is a family owned farm located in Elgin county near the north shore of Lake Erie. Scott walked us step-by-step through the hop year and explained how to successfully grow hops, what it involves to keep pests at bay, and detailed the harvest and processing season.
Jeremey from Barncat Artisanal Ales took over where Scott left off and presented on the ins and outs of dry-hopping. Jeremey explained why to avoid dry-hopping at high krausen and instead focus on late additions, the advantages of a single over multiple dry-hop additions, and why to cold crash before adding your hops.
Of course, there was plenty of homebrew to go around as well! See you all in March!
