This is the HOTV Brewsletter
VOLUME XXII, NUMBER 10
October 2002

PRESIDENT:
Royal Willard
(541) 752-8900
VICE PRESIDENT:
Scott Leonard
(541) 752-0780
NEWSLETTER EDITOR:
Mare Goeger
(541) 928-5023
ASSISTANT NEWSLETTER EDITOR:
Mike Bennett
(541) 741-2226
CLUB TREASURER:
Lee Smith
(541) 926-2286
FESTIVAL DIRECTOR:
Joel Rea
(541) 758-1674

THIS MONTH'S MEETING

The Heart of the Valley Homebrew Club meets on the third Wednesday of each month, alternating between Corvallis and Albany. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, October 16, at 7:00 p.m. at the home of Barry Schwartz, 620 NW 10th, in Corvallis.

Here's Barry's own personalized directions:

Coming from Hwy 34, stay on Harrison, turn right on 10th. Go three blocks, yellow house w/ white trim is on the left side. Park on the street wherever you can.

From Hwy 20, turn right after Golf City to get to Circle Blvd, don't go Downtown. Turn left onto 9th street at Circle Blvd intersection. Turn right onto Buchanan and Left onto 10th. Yellow house w/ white trim will be 6-8 blocks up on the right side. Park on street wherever you can.

Anyone who lives in Corvallis and cannot find my house, needs to move. It's on 10th between Polk and Tyler.

LAST MONTH'S MEETING
by Mare Goeger

The September HOTV meeting was held at the home of Doug and Mare Goeger. Prior to the formal meeting we feasted on homemade pizza provided by Helen Smith and other yummy snacks. When President Royal called the group to order, little did he know that he was about to embark on possibly the longest business meeting in recent history. Luckily there was lots of homebrew, bottled microbrews and Oregon Trader beer to sustain club members through the lengthy discussions. The most heated topic of debate was the 2003 Oregon Homebrew Festival. Joel Rea, Festival Chair, surfaced topics such as 1) changing the venue from the Benton County Fairgrounds to a site occupied by a new Corvallis winery in the vicinity of 5th and Buchanan, 2) altering the format of the festival by conducting preliminary judging earlier in the week in order to promote a 21st birthday party atmosphere on the Saturday, 3) inviting local food/beer vendors, and 4) changing the date of the festival since our fest now seems to be last on the calendar and we may also be losing participants due to the nice weather in early May. Like many other non-HOTV meetings that we've all attended, nothing concrete was decided, so a subcommittee was formed to address these burning issues. Other business included a treasurers report by Lee Smith, indicating that the coffers are not exactly full; a pitch by Royal for people to join AHA; and discussion regarding HOTV's poor showing at festivals in recent years. Numbers of beers entered by HOTV club members is exceedingly low, and other clubs have taken advantage by flooding some of the poorly represented categories, thereby carrying off most of the medals. The complaint that we have grown away from a beer brewing club to a beer drinking club surfaced once again.

SEPTEMBER LITTER REPORT
by Lee Smith

Once again our litter crew met, on the 21st, under ideal weather conditions; blue skies and balmy temperatures. We gathered 33 bags of trash, then retired to Hyak Park to discuss the ins and outs of picking up litter and how to resolve other worldly events. Joining us for the first time was Dave Zelazek, de facto member and husband of Chris, and non-member Sean Dunn. Sean works for Hewlett-Packard and is here from Ireland for a year or more stay at the Corvallis facility. Our thanks to both of these friends for helping out. Sean pumped his fat tire bike a total of 15 miles in order to meet us at the park, an effort that wears me out just thinking about it! The rest of the crew consisted of Doug and Mare Goeger, Jim Cantey, John Sterner, Jerry Malloy and Lee Smith. In addition to some White Ale from Oregon Trail Brewery, Mare brought along some bread and a cucumber dip and I brought an apple pie that Helen baked but didn't think met her standards. I can tell you, it sure met ours! It looks like our next pick-up date will be December 21. That's getting close to the holidays and can be changed if necessary. More later.

A TIMELY REMINDER
requested by Lee Smith

Hey all you members out there! It's that time again. HOTV membership dues paid before December 31, 2002 are only $12. Those of you wishing to contribute more, by waiting until 2003 rolls around will have to fork over $15. That's just the way it is.

EDITOR'S NOTE

In response to some requests for more brewing education, I would like to introduce a new section for the Brewsletter that will appear from time to time. It's gonna be called "Beer Class". Whether this will add more class to your beer, or be a drudge like sitting through an hour of Kendall's history lecture, remains to be seen. It is my intention that this section contain contributions from members in their areas of expertise or knowledge. So if you know anything about anything at all, expect me to solicit an article from you at some point. If you don't know anything, you better read this section whenever it appears.

So just as a warm-up, for those new members, and for those oldsters who haven't brewed in a loooong time, our first "Beer Class" is an easy one. It is a list of the equipment owned by the membership that is available for loan to any currently-paid member. Contact Lee Smith at leebrews@comcast.net or at 541-926-2286. Maybe this will get you thinking about whipping up a new batch without having to own a lot of fancy equipment.

RIMS
(Recirculating Infusion Mash System)

Motorized Grain Mill

CO2 Kit (contains 5 lb bottle, regulator, and accessories)

O2 Bottle with infusion stone.

Counter-pressure Bottle Filler

Low-pressure Burner with regulator and hose.

Bench Capper

The club also has a large collection of Zymurgy magazines. There are great articles on brewing techniques and tons of recipes. Anyone wanting to browse, can contact Mare Goeger at mdgoeger@proaxis.com or at 541/928-5023.

A CONTRIBUTION FROM KENDALL

Utah Beer Festival Watered Down (AP) Salt Lake City, September 23, 2002

Some Western beer brewers avoided a Utah beer festival this weekend because state liquor laws would have required them to water down their lagers and ales. There were 60 different beers from 20 different breweries Saturday at the annual Gallivan Centerās Brewers Festival in Salt Lake City. Some of them were from out of state.

But Eric Dunlap, brewing manager for Red Rock Brewing Company in Salt Lake City, said there are a lot of breweries that didn't show up because they do not make beer with 3.2 percent alcohol" Utahās legal limit. "We're missing a lot of great breweries," Dunlap said. There are a lot who specialize in styles that aren't here."

Kevin Compton, former head brewer for Uinta Brewing Company in Salt Lake City, says that thanks to the liquor laws here "It's like the Iron Curtain. It's the Zion Curtain."