I've just got confirmation from Stephen Mitsch, kitchen manager at Whole Foods South Loop to do the preparation of three chilis: one white chicken chili, one vegetarian chili, and one Venison chili.
He was recently featured on Ommegang's blog for his White Chili recipe, which he used Hennepin for: http://greatbeerdeservesgreatfood.com/ We'll be needed two stouts and one very light beer for the chilis. A six pack for each should be fine. Please private message me if you want to volunteer your beer to be featured in his chili.
Also, the chili contest is back on. Prize to be announced. We'll be capping contestant amounts so please private message me a write-up description of your chili, or an idea of what you'd like to do. We'll be choosing from those entries and will let you know closer to the event if your chili was chosen. Plan on bringing your crock pot and know that you'll be responsible for serving your chili to the crowd and touting its merits until you run out (at which point you can carry on getting real drunk).
relevant notes from the events meeting will be coming in the next couple of days. Sorry for the delays. Just been busy. Thanks for everyone's help thus far.
Please please consider volunteering for clean-up the next day. There will be food.
still looking for volunteers. we may need to revise the server list as it may not be as necessary with the redifined setup. or maybe we save that for those competing, as i do no believe the ones bringing food should be stuck behind it all night.
Can you post the chili recipes for us? Also, who else volunteered to cook? We probably should coordinate between ourselves who is going to do what Chili. I think there were 4 volunteers. And finally is someone going to make a cosco run for the ingredients to the chili's?
Hey James, I have the white chicken chili recipe for lucas to make this wknd. The other 3 we don't have a recipe for. Do you have anything specific you want to cook? Also, are u still available to cook it at the BH with us on Fri night? I can do a costco run for all ingredients and bring them on Fri if so
hey, the white chicken chili recipe is the only one that I have. I don't think I'm going to get more. If you guys need help with recipes let me know and I'll find some on the internet that look promising.
I can make a veggie chili with my smoked chili stout. I like the idea of making the chili at the BH Friday night, but we need to consider how to not put a monkey wrench into cleaning and setting up. We are talking about Fri Jan 25, right?
hey steven, we already have the 4 volunteers to make the chili (lucas, james, tomka, myself) but you can either take my spot and i'll assist elsewhere (maybe a good idea since i'm kind of over extended on volunteer hrs for this) or we can use your beer in a recipe. we have a white chicken chili recipe and will make one vegetarian, one standard with meat, and the final as possibly venison. If you'd like to make one i can still do all the shopping with the Chaos card & bring it to the BH.
As for making it, we were talking about that Fri the 25th which shouldn't take up too much space, just 3 burners. We can then cover them and leave them in the cold brewhouse overnight instead of a fridge since they'll be 4-5g each.
Any chance someone can make a run with me to costco or the like this weekend? I'm going to have limited availability next week, but can make the chili this weekend and get it into the BH fridge, I will not be around on Friday.
I got something I want to make, its beef, but not ground. It is also not traditional its mostly chilis and meat. Not beans or tomato's It takes 5 hours so to cook and is best if I make it a few days in advance. I think the Mexican grocer near me has everything I need and there beef is as cheap as costco, but let me check. For 4 gallons of chili I am going to be using 16lbs of meat.
hi, venison should not be the chili that we "maybe" make since Rich is willing to give us venison for free. It will save money. Also, we should shoot for the 16-18 gallon range for chili. We won't need more than that.
Oooh ok, forgot that the venison was free. I was pricing it out and it was running $10/lb. So we have lucas making white chicken chili, steven making vegetarian chili, one standard chili with ground beef and one venison (tomka and james). James, if you have a preference on ground beef or venison let me know. I'll compile recipes and ingredients this weekend to do all the shopping for everyone.
Ideally he would, but he'll be gone that weekend and is making the chili this Sunday instead. Daniel, can you see if we can get the venison from Rich that quickly?
As far as calculations of quantities are concerned, a web-member friend of mine has volunteered to donate a batch of his "award winning" chili. Should be 1.5-2 gallons worth.
I should add that smoked venison might be too intense or dry out. Maybe brining is best? Anyhow, it seems like someone with skills in the smoking/grilling/braising of game should take on Bambi.
hey, was thinking the same thing steven. Also, I am not a big fan of the idea of steven making chili the night before. I need your help with things like decoration and organizing stations, quality checking beers. If you want to make it several days earlier that is cool, but I tend to agree with your first statement that it'd be double-booking ourselves. Me, you, and iggi should be doing that stuff if that's ok.
The volunteer chili I mentioned above will come in its own crock pot. I also have a ~1.5 gallon crockpot that we could use. If there are any really large batches, we could maybe use a propane burner. I don't know if that will cause the chili to scorch though.
If the propane burners can get low enough, it would be easiest to keep the chilis in pots. If we have food servers, we can avoid heating serving trays altogether.
If we go self serve, I think four crockpots would work as serving bowls, and we could keep the extra chili warm in the oven and fill the crockpots periodically.
I'd say lets go with tools we have and keep it simple, but if someone has access to heated catering trays, that would be ideal.
Yes, we're doing set up both times, let me know which one you're game for. Also, Stephen Mitsch, my work friend, is sending me another chili recipe for venison. He's probably going to come hang out the night before and help make chilis.
Just to let all interested parties know, I've sent an email to Wormhole coffee shop/Halfwit Coffee Roasters offering to comp a few of their employees some tickets. I've used their coffee for some of the beers we're serving and wanted to give a thanks. All the employees seem pretty geeked out over coffee and the brew process as much as we analyze beer-making and I thought it'd be a nice gesture and might possibly attract a few members to the club with some different but related expertise. I also sort of had a farsighted vision of seeing Stout and Chili Night have some coffee element included in some aspect. The offer has already been extended. I'm going to have them sign people up as free social members and we can slap the names on the guest list if there's any interest.
Are they interested in becoming a "partner"? They get two people through the door gratis for events as well as half-price brewing memberships (among other "perks").
I don't recommend smoking it. I ground in some bacon with it, so it should have some smoke flavor anyway. Can drop it by today if someone is going to be around, just let me know what you need.
Rich, I can't stop by today bc I'm leaving for a work trip. Will you be around on Wed night? I can stop by your place to pick it up since I'll be the one buying and compiling all of the recipes for everyone to cook.
Evan - I thought I was dropping it off for someone else, but I don't think that is the case now. I can just meet you there on Friday. I'll bring some beer to get us through the ordeal.
Idea i just had in order to help traffic flow. If it's dumb just say so, or if people think it's a good idea we can ask permission from the residents up front. Since we'll have a substantial amount of tents outside, does it make sense to open the gate & use it as "exit only" for people to go to the bathroom? This way they're not having to walk through the brewhouse to exit? We could post someone there to make sure you can't come back in that way as well. Thoughts?
Good idea Evan, it was mentioned before. We had discussed that opening the BH alley door repeatedly would let too much heat out, and we were hoping to keep thos doors closed. We even discussed that turning the gangway porta potty to open up towards the yard would be best, or move it.
Speaking of heat, how warm are we going to have the brewhouse? It occurred to me that, since it will be in the neighborhood of 20 degrees, and we won't have any place for folks to put their coats, that people will be wearing heavy winter coats. If we have the brewhouse too warm, particularly when it's packed with people, people are likely to be sweating bullets. What was it like last year?
we will be emulating much of last years set up with the differences being the tent is larger and the existing porta pottie being rotated. last year it was a mens and womens (ADA) porta pottie along the east facing wall.
the only way to manage entrance is through main gate with a tent set up there for membership verification. the people posted there will be miserable in the cold, so we need to make that as enclosed and heated as possible. unless we moved the porta pottie and use the gangway.
My bad Daniel, I though people were entering through the BH door & missed the info about the second port-o-potty. I missed most of the small details in this thread to tell ya the truth, which is why you're the man in charge of the whole shindig.
Im not actually sure it is physically possible to rotate the existing bathroom. We built it in there pretty firmly. The wood that is holding it is screwed into the masonry. Even if you got it out I am then not sure you can get it back in. Maybe some should get a box of wristbands for ease of entry/exiting?
wristbands may solve not having to move it, but that going to be really lame to have to go out and around the BH for the second potty. we will just end up having a longer line at the one in the yard. and we will need to make sure people dont take cups out past the fence. removing a few screws should be easy enough.
Got it. We'll definitely be able to float that.
I've just got confirmation from Stephen Mitsch, kitchen manager at Whole Foods South Loop to do the preparation of three chilis: one white chicken chili, one vegetarian chili, and one Venison chili.
He was recently featured on Ommegang's blog for his White Chili recipe, which he used Hennepin for: http://greatbeerdeservesgreatfood.com/ We'll be needed two stouts and one very light beer for the chilis. A six pack for each should be fine. Please private message me if you want to volunteer your beer to be featured in his chili.
Also, the chili contest is back on. Prize to be announced. We'll be capping contestant amounts so please private message me a write-up description of your chili, or an idea of what you'd like to do. We'll be choosing from those entries and will let you know closer to the event if your chili was chosen. Plan on bringing your crock pot and know that you'll be responsible for serving your chili to the crowd and touting its merits until you run out (at which point you can carry on getting real drunk).
relevant notes from the events meeting will be coming in the next couple of days. Sorry for the delays. Just been busy. Thanks for everyone's help thus far.
Please please consider volunteering for clean-up the next day. There will be food.
still looking for volunteers. we may need to revise the server list as it may not be as necessary with the redifined setup. or maybe we save that for those competing, as i do no believe the ones bringing food should be stuck behind it all night.
also, we need to update the beer list.
...igz...
Would anyone who has volunteered to bartend at an early shift be willing to serve food instead? Or bartend at the later shift?
status on food and chili:
Our chef cancelled because he double-booked himself. Also, Rich McClain is the only person who has expressed interest in a chili competition.
So, is anyone interested in making a large batch of chili for this event? 5-6 gallons worth? I need three volunteers.
Hey Daniel,
Can you post the chili recipes for us? Also, who else volunteered to cook? We probably should coordinate between ourselves who is going to do what Chili. I think there were 4 volunteers. And finally is someone going to make a cosco run for the ingredients to the chili's?
Thanks,
James
Hey James, I have the white chicken chili recipe for lucas to make this wknd. The other 3 we don't have a recipe for. Do you have anything specific you want to cook? Also, are u still available to cook it at the BH with us on Fri night? I can do a costco run for all ingredients and bring them on Fri if so
hey, the white chicken chili recipe is the only one that I have. I don't think I'm going to get more. If you guys need help with recipes let me know and I'll find some on the internet that look promising.
I can make a veggie chili with my smoked chili stout. I like the idea of making the chili at the BH Friday night, but we need to consider how to not put a monkey wrench into cleaning and setting up. We are talking about Fri Jan 25, right?
hey steven, we already have the 4 volunteers to make the chili (lucas, james, tomka, myself) but you can either take my spot and i'll assist elsewhere (maybe a good idea since i'm kind of over extended on volunteer hrs for this) or we can use your beer in a recipe. we have a white chicken chili recipe and will make one vegetarian, one standard with meat, and the final as possibly venison. If you'd like to make one i can still do all the shopping with the Chaos card & bring it to the BH.
As for making it, we were talking about that Fri the 25th which shouldn't take up too much space, just 3 burners. We can then cover them and leave them in the cold brewhouse overnight instead of a fridge since they'll be 4-5g each.
Any chance someone can make a run with me to costco or the like this weekend? I'm going to have limited availability next week, but can make the chili this weekend and get it into the BH fridge, I will not be around on Friday.
Oh... my... god. Why haven't we done this? http://thechive.com/2013/09/17/guys-rig-up-buddies-plumbing-with-beer-wh...
I can Lucas, we'll talk about when is best
I got something I want to make, its beef, but not ground. It is also not traditional its mostly chilis and meat. Not beans or tomato's It takes 5 hours so to cook and is best if I make it a few days in advance. I think the Mexican grocer near me has everything I need and there beef is as cheap as costco, but let me check. For 4 gallons of chili I am going to be using 16lbs of meat.
hi, venison should not be the chili that we "maybe" make since Rich is willing to give us venison for free. It will save money. Also, we should shoot for the 16-18 gallon range for chili. We won't need more than that.
Oooh ok, forgot that the venison was free. I was pricing it out and it was running $10/lb. So we have lucas making white chicken chili, steven making vegetarian chili, one standard chili with ground beef and one venison (tomka and james). James, if you have a preference on ground beef or venison let me know. I'll compile recipes and ingredients this weekend to do all the shopping for everyone.
Something tells me Lucas should be smoking the deer, and someone else can do the chicken, but who am I to be playing musical chairs with y'all?
Ideally he would, but he'll be gone that weekend and is making the chili this Sunday instead. Daniel, can you see if we can get the venison from Rich that quickly?
As far as calculations of quantities are concerned, a web-member friend of mine has volunteered to donate a batch of his "award winning" chili. Should be 1.5-2 gallons worth.
I'm willing try and smoke the venison under one condition. There must be no more meat smoking jokes... NONE! :-)
Oh... my... god. Why haven't we done this? http://thechive.com/2013/09/17/guys-rig-up-buddies-plumbing-with-beer-wh...
Agreed!
I should add that smoked venison might be too intense or dry out. Maybe brining is best? Anyhow, it seems like someone with skills in the smoking/grilling/braising of game should take on Bambi.
Is it too soon for Bambi jokes?
hey, was thinking the same thing steven. Also, I am not a big fan of the idea of steven making chili the night before. I need your help with things like decoration and organizing stations, quality checking beers. If you want to make it several days earlier that is cool, but I tend to agree with your first statement that it'd be double-booking ourselves. Me, you, and iggi should be doing that stuff if that's ok.
does anyone know how we're keeping these chilis heated?
The volunteer chili I mentioned above will come in its own crock pot. I also have a ~1.5 gallon crockpot that we could use. If there are any really large batches, we could maybe use a propane burner. I don't know if that will cause the chili to scorch though.
If the propane burners can get low enough, it would be easiest to keep the chilis in pots. If we have food servers, we can avoid heating serving trays altogether.
If we go self serve, I think four crockpots would work as serving bowls, and we could keep the extra chili warm in the oven and fill the crockpots periodically.
I'd say lets go with tools we have and keep it simple, but if someone has access to heated catering trays, that would be ideal.
Are we doing set up on Friday night and at noon on saturday?
Please make sure I get any/all receipts.
Yes, we're doing set up both times, let me know which one you're game for. Also, Stephen Mitsch, my work friend, is sending me another chili recipe for venison. He's probably going to come hang out the night before and help make chilis.
Hi,
Just to let all interested parties know, I've sent an email to Wormhole coffee shop/Halfwit Coffee Roasters offering to comp a few of their employees some tickets. I've used their coffee for some of the beers we're serving and wanted to give a thanks. All the employees seem pretty geeked out over coffee and the brew process as much as we analyze beer-making and I thought it'd be a nice gesture and might possibly attract a few members to the club with some different but related expertise. I also sort of had a farsighted vision of seeing Stout and Chili Night have some coffee element included in some aspect. The offer has already been extended. I'm going to have them sign people up as free social members and we can slap the names on the guest list if there's any interest.
Are they interested in becoming a "partner"? They get two people through the door gratis for events as well as half-price brewing memberships (among other "perks").
I don't recommend smoking it. I ground in some bacon with it, so it should have some smoke flavor anyway. Can drop it by today if someone is going to be around, just let me know what you need.
Rich, I can't stop by today bc I'm leaving for a work trip. Will you be around on Wed night? I can stop by your place to pick it up since I'll be the one buying and compiling all of the recipes for everyone to cook.
Evan - I thought I was dropping it off for someone else, but I don't think that is the case now. I can just meet you there on Friday. I'll bring some beer to get us through the ordeal.
yes please! 5 or 6 pm?
access to yard from BH is open. i have to work tonight (trying to give away my shift)
...igz...
Idea i just had in order to help traffic flow. If it's dumb just say so, or if people think it's a good idea we can ask permission from the residents up front. Since we'll have a substantial amount of tents outside, does it make sense to open the gate & use it as "exit only" for people to go to the bathroom? This way they're not having to walk through the brewhouse to exit? We could post someone there to make sure you can't come back in that way as well. Thoughts?
Good idea Evan, it was mentioned before. We had discussed that opening the BH alley door repeatedly would let too much heat out, and we were hoping to keep thos doors closed. We even discussed that turning the gangway porta potty to open up towards the yard would be best, or move it.
I hope this is cool with the residents.
Speaking of heat, how warm are we going to have the brewhouse? It occurred to me that, since it will be in the neighborhood of 20 degrees, and we won't have any place for folks to put their coats, that people will be wearing heavy winter coats. If we have the brewhouse too warm, particularly when it's packed with people, people are likely to be sweating bullets. What was it like last year?
Also, where will the second porta potty be located?
1. Plan from the get go has been to rotate the port o potty and have the only entry and exit be through the gate.
2. Adam, trust me, no one was close to sweating bullets last year and it was packed.
2nd potty will be one tween compost and propane
we will be emulating much of last years set up with the differences being the tent is larger and the existing porta pottie being rotated. last year it was a mens and womens (ADA) porta pottie along the east facing wall.
the only way to manage entrance is through main gate with a tent set up there for membership verification. the people posted there will be miserable in the cold, so we need to make that as enclosed and heated as possible. unless we moved the porta pottie and use the gangway.
...igz...
My bad Daniel, I though people were entering through the BH door & missed the info about the second port-o-potty. I missed most of the small details in this thread to tell ya the truth, which is why you're the man in charge of the whole shindig.
Im not actually sure it is physically possible to rotate the existing bathroom. We built it in there pretty firmly. The wood that is holding it is screwed into the masonry. Even if you got it out I am then not sure you can get it back in. Maybe some should get a box of wristbands for ease of entry/exiting?
wristbands may solve not having to move it, but that going to be really lame to have to go out and around the BH for the second potty. we will just end up having a longer line at the one in the yard. and we will need to make sure people dont take cups out past the fence. removing a few screws should be easy enough.
...igz...
Does anyone need anyting from Costco. Mark is on his way there as I write. Call his cell. I am unsure as to what it is.
lost his #. can someone text it to me?
...igz...
Setup at twelve folks! Come then or anytime between then and five
Can someone pick up some sheet metal screws so I can put the bottom of the heater back on?
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