🍻 Central Florida Home Brewers February 2020 Brewsletter 🍻

Focus 2020: A New Vision! - President Lori Warwick
As we enter into our 31st year, my goal for 2020 is to focus on a new vision of our club. New ideas, new methods (think Sous Vide!), Eduction and new events.
That begins with a whole new look! During our meeting in February, members will be presented with a new vision for the club logo and website. The board is so excited to share this with you and a special thanks to Matt Hunsworth for leading this project.
As you know, Matt is on the education committee and has been a tremendous asset to the club and I look forward to hearing new ideas from him.

Also new this year will be a change in format for Brew in the Park. The past several years has seen a decline in attendance so the board has discussed doing a group brew day at Community Brewhouse using their equipment instead. More will be discussed at the February Meeting but this will a great way for the club to get together, develop a recipe and brew on a bigger system. Ideas are either a wort distribution to take home and finish or a large batch to do for Sunshine Challenge.

I look forward to a successful 2020!
Lori

Message from our VP of Ales - Jim Gilson

Hello to all!
Competition Team: Thank you to John Lacona for accepting the role as Competition Team Leader.
This year we are going to try to make more effort to support fellow home brew clubs in the state with their competitions. I will make it a point to go out to Tampa, Gainesville and Cocoa Beach at least to help them judge the entries they get for their competitions. I will post to the club those dates I will be going, and you are welcome to ride along if you like.
We will be doing a Beer Train at least to the Hurricane Blowoff in Palm Beach. We plan on inviting local clubs that have entries to let us know and we will drive them down with our entries. Of course, the feasibility of this will be how many entries we will be transporting.
We are also going to try to host a judging session out of town for our Sunshine Challenge entries. Currently the idea is to have one each in Tampa and Gainesville.
If you have a beer, mead or cider that you are unsure of its merits or style and you would like some input then to bring it to one of our monthly meetings. We will judge the entry and give you feedback on BJCP score sheets and talk with you about it if you like. We may even be able to provide tips on what to change if something went wrong during the brewing process. When you arrive at the meeting make sure and let one of the board members know that you have a beer, mead or cider you want judged please.
Packing Parties, if anyone in the club plans on shipping an entry and you are not sure how to pack it please get in touch with me.
Education: Thank you to Matt Hunsworth for spearheading the efforts to have Beer Education classes before each of our General Meetings. This month’s class will be on Dry Hopping sensory training.
Hospitality: Thank you to Kathleen Gilson for stepping up to the Hospitality Team Leader position. We are putting together new packets for new members with updated information in them. If you bring a new or prospective club member please introduce them to either Kathleen or a Board Member.
Cheers! Jim
Upcoming Beer Education Classes
February: Learn Hop Characteristics by Dry Hopping Light Beer

March: Beersmith 3 Basics (Setting up equipment profiles, defaults, add-ins, inventory, and recipe design)

April or May: Preparation for the Sunshine Challenge: Preparing entries, Stewarding 101, Refresher on Score Sheets, and overview of the Event Calendar

Best Brew Days!
According to the 2020 The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the next best brew days are:

Best days to brew beer or cider
Feb 14, 2020
Feb 15, 2020
Mar 12, 2020
Mar 13, 2020
Apr 9, 2020

Now is the time to get those beers going for Stouts and Stogies March 7th, Pints and Paws March 21.

Upcoming Comps
Walk The Line On Barleywine 2020 Dec 5 2020, Entry Window 8/1-11/27
DBG Pepper Beer Comp 2020 Aug 30 2020 entry window 4/1-8/21
LauderAle 6th Annual HB Comp 2020 April 25 2020 Entry window now - 4/20
And of course Sunshine Challenge - More info below

Education Committee
Matt Hunsworth on our Education Committee will be teaching "Learning Hop Characteristics by Dry Hopping Bud LIght" at the February meeting.
Beer School starts at 3:30 pm and the general meeting will be at 4:15.

Class Highlights - Just to name a few!

Discussion on Dry Hopping - what it is, why and how it's done
Dry hopping process
Demonstration
Tasting

Anyone studying for BJCP or Cicerone Certification interested in trading home brews at the next meeting to practice evaluating and filling out score sheets with real world examples?

Upcoming Events!

February - President's Appreciation Party - February 2nd
March - Stouts and Stogies - Jim and Kathleen Gilson are hosting. Date March 7 or 14 as back up
May/June - Sunshine Challenge 2019 - we'll be asking for all hands on deck to assist with the event and judging! Sunshine Challenge date June 13.

Upcoming Competitions

The club is seeking a competition coordinator for 2020. Anyone interested please let a board member know at the next meeting. Duties would include keeping the club abreast of upcoming competitions, due dates, deadlines and helping set up beer trains.
Coconut Cup - Miami is open for registration. Competition is 2/22 and deadline to enter and submit entries is 1/24.

Sunshine Challenge 2020!

All hands on deck! We need to get the committee going for SSC2020.
With Homebrew Con on June 18-20 this year and a few of our members attending we have chosen June 13th as the date for this years Sunshine Challenge.
Entry would be April 1st through May 2nd. That will give us plenty of time to sort/label and judge!
Anyone who wishes to help out this year, please see a board member!
We will have regularly schedule meetings to discuss action items and needs for the competition.

Please see membership director Paul Warwick to update your contact information this month!

💲 Treasurer’s Report 💲

All members are able to review detailed reports, just ask the club Treasurer for a copy or email Paul at treasurer@cfhb.org

Upcoming Events!

Upcoming Competitions

Sunshine Challenge 2020!

Membership