Maltose Falcons

Once again it looks like good ole ethanol works by causing us to miss out on details we normally obsess over:

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2010/08/17/the-truth-behind-beer...

Coming back from Minneapolis here's the big word...

Next year's AHA Conference is in our neighborhood - San Diego.

Yes, we'll be involved and brewing and who knows what else. So get ready and no excuses since you've got plenty of warning!

To watch the promotional video and get psyched: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJZCSb8oCWU

This is my first year growing hops. Got Cascade, planted in a perforated bucket for drainage and crown control. They have a southerly exposure and are pretty much just rocking along right now.

I thought I'd share with you this pic. See the two black marks? That's one day's growth up the rope. Damn, these things grow faster than I did as a teenager!

I know, there's no sense of scale in this photo, but that's 3 inches of growth in 24 hours! (or about an 1/8 of an inch per hour!)

You know Falcons' users can a link to the Falcons website? Check out our other "Beer Links" section.

All of these are added by you and me. You'll see multiple categories, but you can make them up as you go along. In fact if you look all the way down at the bottom, you'll see a new link from me in a new category "Brewing Articles" and it's a geat article trying to prove the efficacy of starters.

To add Links of your own:

The folks at Beer & Nosh posted this news today - Anchor's been sold!

http://beerandnosh.com/2010/04/anchor-brewing-sold/

Eep! - What will this mean for the future of the California Homebrew Club of the Year? What does this mean for all our friends at Anchor?

And see what I meant about us reaching that magic point for the first generation of craft brewers? Anderson Valley sold and now Anchor! It will be an interesting period to see the effect this has on the spirit of Craft Brewing

Ok, so in reality - it's not terribly new - we've been doing this for three years now as a pilot program to get entrants their scoresheets back as quickly as possible.

It's a beautiful day here in Pasadena. My thermometer in the garage reads 70F and there's a nice little breeze. Both dogs are bouncing around the yard and yapping, playing in the sun while I sit here writing and doing my day job as well (instead of a coffee break, I'm taking a brewing break!)

I started brewing late today and I'm doing a split Saison and Amber Belgian Speciality. (more on that later)

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6_s4FfjDuz-ZDEzYjRlNWQtOWVkYi00NWI...

How does this make you feel? Jason Alstrom of the BeerAdvocate brothers has a good point - we're reaching the point where many first generation brewers are thinking of retiring. If you don't have a successor in mind or an heir to throne, what happens?

From Julian down in the LBC (aka SacodeToro)

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/asm/ab_1551-1600/ab_1598_bill_2...

This is from Jim T Beal, the same state rep who keeps trying to pass huge alcohol tax increases. Write your rep and say no to the bill. Why?

Congrats to Skipp and Hank for representing the club so well. (http://quaff.org/AFC2010/winners.html)

Skipp tore things up with medals in the following

• IPA - 2nd Place
• Wood-Aged & Smoked Beers - 3rd Place
• Melomel - 2nd Place
• Cider / Perry - 1st Place

Hank scored a 2nd Place Ribbon for his Smoked Porter

Nice going you two!

Not to alarm anyone, but you may in the coming week find that maltosefalcons.com doesn't respond to your requests for more beer knowledge.

Why? In an effort to improve performance our hosting partner (BecoTech) is setting us up a little differently. When the dust settles out, the anticipated side effect is greater control and better responsiveness on the part of the website.

I'll post again when the transition is going to begin. When you see that post, just wait for the all clear and everything will be dandy.

First, the NY Times discovered growlers yesterday - Growlers, the New Old Beer Conveyance.

Jeremy and Steve continue to garner more press for their efforts - http://www.latimes.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=8f3a0e2e-4b58-4488-a2a0-42...

Congrats guys

DUI Offenders Ignition Interlock Device Pilot Project

So yesterday, the 12th, 30 of us gathered at the Home of the Stuffed Sandwich for our annual Xmas tasting. Sam and Marlene always generate a great list with a lot of oddities. In this case they managed to find 10 of 13 beers that I've never tried. See what you missed on a beautiful cold and rainy Los Angeles day?Good job by our new Activities Director Mike G for his work getting this event off the ground (and to our old AD - John Kaufman for getting things rolling)

Watch for this month's newsletter with Bruce Brode's tasting notes and official scores.

Jay Brooks of the Brookston Beer Bulletin is attempting to sort out what brands are controlled in the US by AB Inbev and MillerCoors.

Thanks to Pete Brown's blog for showing me this little slice of George Orwell's writing - The Moon Under Water.

If all you've ever read of Orwell is Animal Farm or 1984, then you've missed a fair amount of amazing political and literary writing.Even if you don't agree with Orwell's politics, I think most of us can agree with Orwell's sentiments on the pub. The question to you, my fellow Falcons, is what's your favorite pub experience?

First read the link:

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_0ff40f7a-d4d1-11de-afb...

Ok, done?

Seriously folks, if I read one more person saying that running a few gallons of boiling water through their CFC is sufficient to both clean and sanitize their chillers, I'm going to cry.

Look at the bottom of your kettles over time. See all that stuff in there? That same stuff (to a lesser extent) is forming in your CFC as well.

So, the Drew method  of cleaning and preparing a CFC.

1) Recirculate hot PBW (~140F) solution through a pump and the CFC assembly.

2) Circulate/Push hot water through the system for 5 minutes

Los Angeles just did the unthinkable - we had a Beer Week, actually a Beer 11 days. Sure there were glitches, but for a first year event it was amazingly smooth.