October 2023

What a fantastic time of year, Oktoberfests are all around, the leaves are changing, and Halloween is right around the corner. Hopefully everyone has had a chance to get out and see the amazing colors around us. Colorado is such an amazing place to be this time of year.

Monthly Meeting

• Date: October 14th

• Time: 11 am – 12 pm

• Location: Old 121

• Address: 1057 S Wadsworth Blvd, Lakewood, CO 80226

Ryan with Five Star Chemicals will be speaking to us about their company and products, including the importance of cleaning and sanitizing. Five Star is a full-service cleaning provider and proven leader since 1980, with a mission to provide the best cleaning and sanitizing products for all craft beverage industries, including breweries, wineries, distilleries, cideries, and home brewers.

Quarterly Happy Hour

• Date: October 24th

• Time: 6pm - 8 pm

• Location: Sunroom Brewing

• Address: 3242 S Acoma St, Englewood, CO 80110

Join us at Sunroom Brewing in Englewood, behind the Gothic Theater, where we’ll get to meet owner’s Melanie and Matthew. It will be a great evening just before the holiday season begins. Let’s have a pint or two together and get to know one another in Englewood and an iconic Colorado area.

December Quarterly Challenge

5th Anniversary Scale Up! Entries are for a hop forward beer. 

The winner of the December quarterly will win a scale up of their recipe at Old121, where the beer is served for their 5th anniversary party in March. To learn more and how to enter, click here. 

If you haven’t entered a quarterly challenge, it is easy, give it a try. You’ll receive feedback and get to have other club members taste your entry at our December meeting. It’s an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone and, who knows, you might win a scale up.

Education Corner

Here are a few basic tips that even the most advanced brewers consider when they brew: 

• Keep it simple. Less is often better. Before adding more and more, ask yourself, what is the ingredient’s purpose? Many of the best recipes are not complex and, just as in baking, more is not always better.

• Fresh ingredients. How does your malt smell and taste, do your hops smell fresh (or do they smell cheesy), and how old is your yeast (do you need a starter)? Great ferments start with fresh ingredients.

• Fermentation is king. Yeast makes the beer but the brewer makes the wort, controls brewing temperature, and must pitch enough healthy yeast.

• Document and keep organized records. Document items like mash liquor volumes, mash temperature fluctuations, pre-boil gravity, any gravity adjustments you made, original gravity, fermentation temperature, how long before you packaged from the fermenter, and final gravity. Consider keeping a document or “Brew logs” that has what you want to capture, so that you don’t forget. As you do this more, you’ll find that your list will keep growing. In mine, I even capture tasting notes.