Hi,
We'll be doing Stout Night again this year, one of our seasonal events that showcases our members' beers. Last year was a great line up and included coffee stouts, peanut butter porters, session stouts, barreled stouts, etc...
I want to go ahead and get some interest from people for brewing beer for this year since many stouts need time to develop post-fermentation. I'd encourage anyone who wants to donate to go ahead and get started if they're doing a batch that would need aging. I'll update this list as interest is expressed. I'd like to expand offerings this year to include beers like Black IPAs and other Black varieties of non-stout beers. David brought a dunkelweizen last year which worked great. I think it will help balance out the menu for people. This early posting is to warn people who would want to make a high-gravity brew that they might want to start their beer now. But keep in mind that if you're brewing one of these alternative beers like a Dunkelweizen or black ipa that you might want to brew your beer much closer to the event. Some lower alcohol beers aren't meant for aging. If you have any questions, let me know.
Date is to be decided but expect it to be sometime in mid-January.
1. flux capacitor- breakfast Stout- Featuring Wormhole's new self-roasted Coffee (on Milwaulkee) - Daniel
2. tethered Horses- A barrel-aged oatmeal chocolate stout blended with an aged mixture of barrel-aged barleywine, old ale, and double ipa. - Daniel
3. Malort Stout- A stout aged on Malort soaked oak chips. - Daniel
4. Coconut Stout- Dave Williams
5. Black IPA- Dave Williams
6. Not sure what- Mark Walters
7. Belgian Dark Strong Ale- Adam
8. Chocolate Walnut Stout- Rich
9. Orange Stout- Jim
10. Oyster Stout- Pete
11. Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout- Jeff Whelpley
12.Baltic Porter Lager Dan
13.Return of the Velvet Elvis Ed Nash
14.wheat wine (black)- Bill Sansom
15. Milk Stout -James
16. Scotch Smoked Stout- 7 %, Chris and Jess Murphy
17. The Anti-Goose- (BCS clone)- Daniel
18. Organic Coffee stout- Stephen lane
19. Almond joy- Stephen lane
20. Peppermint Stout- Pete
21. KBS Clone- Whiskey-Barrel Aged Breakfast Stout (Koval)- Bill Mason
22. Cherry Stout?- Daniel?
Here's a link to the volunteer page: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnPoI4zb3g1BdHZEU0ZfMUUtRXpXQi04U095VXBTMVE#gid=0
updated thread to say that the event will take place mid-January, and also to note the following: "This early posting is to warn people who would want to make a high-gravity brew that they might want to start their beer now. But keep in mind that if you're brewing one of these alternative beers like a Dunkelweizen or black ipa that you might want to brew your beer much closer to the event. Some lower alcohol beers aren't meant for aging. If you have any questions, let me know."
Also... If anyone has any suggestions or ideas for how to improve stout night over last year, I'm open to suggestions. My ideas so far include the following: 1. Make water, cider, and hot chocolate widely available. 2. Plan to have a lot more chili than we had last year, 3. Improve the tent set-up that we had last year, 4. Plan for some sort of entertainment, whether it be a real dj or a live act.
Velvet Elvis coming....
im building a starter for a baltic porter...ill keep you posted
nope, sounds great adam!
Thanks Jeff, I'll put you down as well!
I think I'm leaning toward a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. Any objections?
I'll attempt a clone of Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout.
Last stout night was Jan. 21st. I know because my wife framed last years poster that steven made. We should definitley make another poster too.
I will brew an oyster stout
"Give a man a beer, and he will waste an hour. Teach a man to brew, and he will waste a lifetime!" Bill Owen
I think we should shoot for mid-to-late January again; that should be plenty of time for most of the beers to develop. Additionally, there's no conflict with the holidays.
-Adam
I think Stout Night was mid- to late- January last year, no?
Is there going to be chili again?
I'll definitely do a chili if that's happening.
I'll try to do a stout as well. I think I may brew on Sunday October 21st.
all this sounds good!
I'm in. You know it will be something made with whatever I can find on(or under)the ground, and you will likely be directly involved.
I'll brew something dark.
I'm down for a stout. Not sure what.
I'll have a stout. For you. Maybe something bbl aged. Not sure yet. But will report back...I can do a Black IPA too
p.s. Whether or not the chili cook-off happens again is up in the air, but..
I am thinking of cooking something up special to do with coffee so stay tuned.
I should have a second runnings stout. Probably an American Stout. I have no idea how it is going to come out. My first parti-gyle beer. I will post again after Saturday.
brewing mine tomorrow....will update
I can brew a wheat wine.
The emperor is not as forgiving as i am
Bill,That sounds good as long as its a black wheat wine
Dan, will a lager porter still be good in late January?
yeah....it will be even better
I hope everyone is noticing that this is shaping up into an epic list. If anyone has good ideas to make this an epic party, I'd be interested to hear. Stephen says he has a bluegrass/country act he might be able to call in, a 1 or 2 member deal. I'd like to spin this off as a saloon spaghetti-western bar in terms of decor in the brewhouse. Peanuts on the floor again. Brownie points to anyone who dresses up.
Does anyone see a problem with having the event on January 19th?
I don't see a problem with January 19th. Sorry if this was already discussed: are we having chili again? A few people I approached to advertise in their window last year specifically said, "Chili cookoff! I wish I had known about this sooner!" If we get the word out early about the chili contest, we will have more entries and more yummy (albeit sonorously gastrointestinal fibrous) chili.
no prob here with the 19th.....heavy beer,chili, and bon fire...heh heh sounds like a fire hazard to me....
To update my previous post with a little more detail, I am going to be doing a Coconut Stout.
Chili is going to happen again definitely although I'd like to field suggestions on how to better handle it this year. I felt that last year's chili serving had a few deficiencies due to my poor planning. Here were some things we can improve on, specifically chili related:
1. Space management- the area was too tight, too crowded.
2. There wasn't enough chili
3. There was no efficient way to cast a vote.
4. It got way too messy, too quick, because of the above problems.
5. Random people were volunteering that I didn't want volunteering.
Space management is going to be the big challenge, as it was last year. We have to think of ways to enlarge the space, to encourage people to get outside. The only thing I can think of is having a bigger tent area, although I don't know whether or not that's a realistic possibility.
To solve the second problem, I think we need to have a contest with small portions but also have a house chili made in a very large amount in a large 7-10 gallon pot that's heated with a burner. This will have to be separated enough from the crowd so as not to be a fire hazard.
3. We can probably easily solve this with brain work.
4. a space issue. With enough volunteers serving, they'll have time to clean too.
5. devoted volunteers for chili serving.
Brewed my Van Damage Belgian Dark Strong on Sunday and it's fermenting away happily in the ferm room. I'll keg it in a few weeks and then let it age until Stout Night. Can't wait!
Daniel, are we still planning on having 5 gallons of the BCS Clone and/or the KBS Clone for Stout Night as well? This is truly shaping up to be an epic list of beers.
-Adam
Hey Daniel,
I am for sure brewing a milk stout.
The 19th could be bad as it is one of the two days being considered for SK's Winter Brew, the other day is Feb 9.
Would could rent propane toarches to heat the outside tent....
Mine's definitely going to be the Orange Chocolate Stout.
I have 3 high gravity stouts to offer. My Almond Joy clone and two all organic coffee stouts. All bottled, I should have around 5 gallons.
Maybe this should be a two day event ;-)
Sounds fantastic. Lets keep it rolling. We'll do small pours since there are so many beers and everyone will prolly be able to take a little of their beer back home.
I'm not changing dates for square kegs.
I'm taking care of the bcs clone and if anyone wants to donate some brew from the Kbs koval barrel it'd be appreciated but I don't have a share in the barrel.
Daniel, I will brew a stout as well, recipe TBD.
Regarding the Lincoln Square/Square Kegs Winter Brew, I would like to see us plan around that to avoid it being on the same weekend because Winter Brew was such a huge turnout last year. I think that could possibly take away some of our attendance & social network/blog marketing since many will be talking about that during the week. Winter Brew also has a homebrew contest portion which I'm sure many of our guys will enter & may want to attend.
James, do you know when the date will be decided by? We can't wait too long & I'm sure SK needs even more planning time than us.
It was decided last night that the competition is going to be on Jan 19th and the beer event / announcment of results are going to be on Feb 9. So Stout nigt is good for everyone but me, or it is going to be a very beery day for me, 9 beers by 5 and stouts after!
good to hear james! Maybe we can try and advertise Stout Night to Square Kegs members? Last year Brew Heyhey or whatever ended right before stout night started and we got a big crowd that came on to keep drinking.
Well, I spoke to soon. It appears there is a bit of disorganization and miscommunication surrounding the event. The LS chamber of commerce holds the event and the square kegs host the competition. The chamber overrode the SK's decision to have the event on Feb 9 and the competition on Jan 19. It now sounds like the competition is going to be canceled and the Winterbrew event is going to be on the 19th. (If you see posters in Lincoln Square saying the event is on the 26th they are wrong and a result of even more miscommunication)
The competition is being canceled for a number of logistical and legal reasons. The homebrew shops are not willing to be drop of points for entries and competitions themselves are not currently legal so the SK's are deciding to skip this year and try again next year. Legislation has been pushed back to the spring.
Are there any conflicts on January 26th? Should we make that the date?
Jesus, i can't believe chicago is spooked over holding homebrew competitions. I'm still not happy about moving the date since this is when we held it last year. We'd be sticking to a precedent. How many people went to winter brew last year?
My vote is for the 26th; we're still doing it in mid-to-late January, so it's pretty much at the same time as last year, and there's no beer related conflict at all.
fine. 26th. Just to avoid arguing. I don't want to be in the habit of playing musical dates because another brew club can't make up their mind. I doubt our event came into their planning or consideration, why should we let theirs? January 26th.
beer. chili. and maybe coffee.
I agree with your frustration Daniel, but it seems like we're going to have to do more event date collaboration in the future. Brew Not Bombs is a good example, our cider event has overlapped with BNB for two years now. They would like to collaborate with us next year to avoid the same double booking. Even if another group is not collaborating with us in date selection, I still think it's smart to position our events in the lulls within the local craft beer calendar.
Is someone interested in keeping a unified Chicago homebrew / beer related events calander? Does Jess already do this?
If someone has the free time, it would be awesome for someone to comb the net on a daily basis for Chicago beer happenings and make a calendar of it. www.chicagobeercalendar.com
Chicago Beer Geeks has a calendar
http://www.chicagobeergeeks.com/calendar/
good idea, Mark. maybe it could be an effort of the events committee to coordinate with other clubs and event organizers.
...igz...
google docs link. edit as needed.
Link
Edited by moderator (Lucas) - Fixed the link.
...igz...
hi,
Just letting everyone know that I've made the decision to streamline our chili situation. It will no longer be a contest this year. I've spoken to a friend, the kitchen manager at work, who use to run a catering company until recently. He's willing to do three different types of chili with retail or homebrewed beer used in recipe. I think it will help organize things instead of having 12 janky looking crockpots, we'll have three more professional looking serving stations. This will help us control quantity as well, as that was a problem in the past. Joe, a Chaos member who was a participating chef at our one and only beer dinner, may also be assisting.
They want no pay, just free beer while they work. I'm guessing they'll have insight on how to get food cheaply since they both have a lot of experience in professional kitchens and catering companys.
linky no worky try it without the smiley face *wacko*
i dont know how i feel about that. but its your call. i think that people were excited about the variety of chili and people were happy to contibute. tho i do agree it was a bit sloppy.
...igz...
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