A lot of news recently about Buffalo Brewing, hopefully this is pleasant news for everyone involved. Sean Sweeney (no relation) one of the award winning homebrewers from the St. Louis Brews was invited to brew his Dubbel recipe at Buffalo Brewing about a month ago. Well, it’s ready to drink and to celebrate the occasion Buffalo is putting together a small get together on Wednesday, August 20th from 7PM to 9PM.

You can see photos of Sean brewing the Dubbel on the St. Louis Brews forum.

If you’ve ever been interested in homebrewing, all-grain brewing or if you’ve never brewed a lager this weekend provides you to get a firsthand opportunity to see brewing in action. Dave from St. Louis Wine and Beermaking will be hosting the St. Louis Brews homebrewing club for a homebrewing demonstration. Here’s some of the details provided by Dave:

Just wanted to let you know, the St. Louis Brews are going to be giving an all grain beer brewing demonstration at St. Louis Wine & Beermaking. The event will be held at the store (251 Lamp and Lantern Village, Chesterfield, MO 63017) from 9-3 and they will be making Oktoberfest and Kolsch. Several club members will be there with their setups. The event is free and open to the public, refreshments will be provided.

This is looking to be a beautiful weekend, may as well spend it brewing some beer with a great group of guys.

The St. Louis Brews homebrewing club is looking for a new meeting spot to hold their monthly meetings. They’ve got a few requirements for the space and I was hoping that the readers of STL Hops may be able them find a location. Here are the requirements:

• Must be able to bring in alcohol
• Preferably cheap (about $50 per meeting)
• Be able to accommodate 70-80 people
• A Kitchen
• Centrally Located (would be nice.)

Anyone have any suggestions?

The St. Louis Brews, one of the local St. Louis homebrewing clubs will be holding their monthly meeting tonight at the Annunciation Church in Webster Groves. The meeting starts at about 7PM. Tonight’s styles are as follows:

Cat. 1 Light Lager

• 1A. Lite American Lager
• 1B. Standard American Lager
• 1C. Premium American Lager

Cat. 2 Pilsner

• 2C. Classic American Pilsner

Cat. 4 Dark Lager

• 4A. Dark American Lager

Cat. 6 Light Hybrid Beer

• 6A. Cream Ale
• 6B. Blond Ale

Cat. 7 Amber Hybrid Beer

• 7B. California Common Beer

Cat. 10 American Ale

• 10A. American Pale Ale
• 10B. American Amber Ale
• 10C. American Brown

I will be bringing two beers for evaluation. It’s always an interesting experience and provides you with a lot of great feedback. If you’re looking to try some great beer tonight, this is your place.

If you’re one of those people who’s always wanted to get their homebrew on, but never knew where to start tomorrow is your best opportunity to learn how to turn grains and hops into beer. May 3rd marks the 29th anniversary of National Homebrew Day and to celebrate homebrewers are going to do what the do best, brew beer!

Each year on the first Saturday in May, homebrewers unite non-brewing and brewing friends and family to celebrate National Homebrew Day, joining with thousands of homebrewers from around the world in brewing the same recipes and sharing a simultaneous toast at noon Central Time.

Locally the two biggest homebrew clubs will be celebrating in two different locations. The Garage Brewers Society will be celebrating the event at O’Fallon Brewery while the St. Louis Brews will be brewing up a storm at Worm’s Way. Both locations will be offering up great food, great discussion and of course plenty of homebrew.

I mentioned this class about a month ago, but I think I’d give you a quick update. As of the time of this post, there are only 2 spots left in this class. If you’re interesting in learning the basics of homebrewing, here is a great chance to learn with a great teacher.

Dan George of the St. Louis Brews is holding a homebrewing class on March 1st from 9AM - 12:30PM at Forest Park Community College. He’s an excellent brewer and an all around nice guy. I’d also suggest that you attend some of the local homebrew club meetings. You’ll get a chance to meet other homebrewers, many of whom would be happy to help you out with your first brewing session.

Nate emailed me to ask:

I wanted to ask you, is there any place in Saint Louis to take homebrewing classes?  

As a matter of a fact there is.  Dan George of the St. Louis Brews is holding a homebrewing class on March 1st from 9AM - 12:30PM at Forest Park Community College.  He’s an excellent brewer and an all around nice guy.  I’d also suggest that you attend some of the local homebrew club meetings.  You’ll get a chance to meet other homebrewers, many of whom would be happy to help you out with your first brewing session.

I mentioned in last Friday’s Round-Up that I was participating in a couple of firsts in my short homebrewing career. I was entering my beer for the first time into a competition and I was judging in a homebrew competition for the first time ever. I was a little nervous leading up to the competition. I mean, who am I to judge someone else’s beer? But I was reassured that it’s good practice and all judges had to start somewhere.

First a little background on how a homebrew competition works. Each brewer enters their beer into the competition based on Beer Judge Certification Program’s (BJCP) style guidelines. (The BJCP is kind of a controversial entity for some in the beer world, but that’s another topic all together.) The judges then use the style guideline to determine if the beer submitted fits into the category. Beers are awarded points via five different components: Aroma (12 points), Appearance (3 points), Taste (20 points), Mouth Feel (5 points) and Overall Impression (10 points.) Here’s the score sheet for my Southern English Brown to give you a look at the judging process.

Read the rest…