Topics

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AHA Messages, Forum Rules & FAQs / 2013 National Homebrew Competition First Round Results

« on: May 01, 2013, 03:01:43 PM »

The 2013 National Homebrew Competition First Round results have been posted! http://bit.ly/13NHCfr

First round entrants can log in to their regional judging center's competition website to view scores in the "My Info and Entries" page.

Congratulations to those who advanced to the Final Round! Further information regarding Final Round submissions will be provided when available via the National Homebrew Competition page.

Thank you to everyone who entered, organized, judged, stewarded and volunteered during the First Round this year. The world's largest homebrew competition would not be possible without the passion and determination of the homebrew community.

Cheers!
Duncan

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All Grain Brewing / Introduction to All-Grain Brewing video series

« on: April 22, 2013, 08:26:17 AM »

Looking to get into all-grain brewing, but having trouble getting started? Let American Homebrewers Association Director Gary Glass walk you through the ins and outs of brewing with grains, and you will be a master of the mash in no time!

The series includes five short, easy to follow videos. Topics include:
-An Introduction to All-Grain Brewing
-How Malt Is Used
-Required Equipment
-How to build a mash tun
-How to conduct a Mash and Batch Sparge

All videos can be accessed here.

Make sure to share this resources with your homebrew clubs and friends!

Cheers!
Duncan

edit: For those who prefer youtube, here is a link to the playlist.

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General Homebrew Discussion / Introducing the AHA Research & Education Fund (R&EF)

« on: April 04, 2013, 11:43:33 AM »

Many American Homebrewers Association (AHA) members and clubs already base activities and brew sessions around learning about various aspects of the brewing process—and the AHA wants to help you continue and improve your projects through the Research & Education Fund (R&EF).

Potential funding is now available for AHA members seeking to do research that can be shared with the AHA membership. This research could involve anything and everything including ingredients, temperature rests, fermentation characteristics or even how to build a better mousetrap.

AHA members should submit a Research & Education Fund Proposal to apply for assistance with their research. Members will be asked to identify their concept and provide a budget request.

Get the full details on the Research & Education Fund, including how to submit your proposal.

Cheers!
Duncan

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Ask the Experts / About Ask the Experts

« on: March 15, 2013, 03:26:44 PM »

Ask the Experts is an opportunity for American Homebrewers Association (AHA) members and registered AHA forum users to pose questions to reputable figures in the homebrewing and craft beer industries. Past sessions of Ask the Experts can be accessed from this forum board. Upcoming Ask the Expert sessions are planned to take place entirely on the forum, like with Mitch Steele. Stay tuned for information on future experts!

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General Homebrew Discussion / MOVED: Ask the Experts: Mitch Steele on IPA

« on: March 15, 2013, 02:50:39 PM »

This topic has been moved to the Ask the Experts board.

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Ask the Experts / Ask the Experts: Denny Conn

« on: March 15, 2013, 11:17:12 AM »

Denny Conn has been homebrewing for more than 14 years in the foothills of the Coast Range Mountains in Oregon. He is an audio engineer by trade, but that’s just to finance the brewing. Denny did about six extract batches before switching to all-grain and discovering the “Cheap’n’Easy” batch sparge brewing technique. He’s a BJCP National Judge and his Rye IPA recipe has been brewed both by Rogue Ales in the U.S. and Olfabrikken in Denmark. He also has written articles for brewing magazines, is a frequent contributor to many internet beer discussion forums and was a speaker at the 2008 and 2010 AHA conferences. He’s the Tech Tsar of the Cascade Brewers Society, based in Eugene, Ore.

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Ask the Experts / Ask the Experts: Patrick Rue

« on: March 15, 2013, 10:44:30 AM »

Patrick Rue started homebrewing in 2003 during his first year of law school, which ignited a passion for great beer and the creative process of brewing. He followed his passion and founded The Bruery, which began production in 2008. Celebrating its third year in business, Patrick's role at The Bruery has changed from doing just about everything to managing a company of 35 talented individuals. Recent accomplishments include opening The Bruery Provisions, a craft beer, wine and cheese store/tasting room in Old Towne Orange. The Bruery is distributed in 21 states and four countries. The Bruery strives to be a leading creative force in the craft brewing world.

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Ask the Experts / Ask the Experts: Sean Paxton

« on: March 15, 2013, 10:00:45 AM »

Sean Z. Paxton is the Executive Chef and Owner of Homebrewchef.com, where he creates, cooks and serves multiple course menus highlighting beer as an essential ingredient. He writes for Beer Advocate Magazine, DRAFT Magazine and is a guest author for variety of other food and beer magazines. Sean hosts a monthly podcast “The Home Brewed Chef” on The Brewing Network and shares with listeners’ philosophies, techniques and ideas for cooking and pairing with beer. His travels take him to breweries throughout the U.S. and Europe where he utilizes his beer and flavor knowledge to collaborate with craft brewers to create beer recipes used typically for specialty events and releases.

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Ask the Experts / Ask the Experts: Stan Hieronymus

« on: March 15, 2013, 09:52:26 AM »

Stan Hieronymus is a professional journalist and amateur brewer who has made beer his beat since 1993. The editor at Realbeer.com, he's written hundreds of articles for periodicals, co-authored four books with his wife, Daria Labinsky, written Brewing with Wheat and Brew Like a Monk for Brewers Publications and contributed to several other publications, including 1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die. His travels have taken him to breweries in every state in the country as well as behind the scenes in internationally famous breweries such as De Sint-Sixtusadij Westvleterten and Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn.

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Ask the Experts / Ask the Experts: Chris White & Jamil Zainasheff

« on: March 15, 2013, 09:37:15 AM »

Chris White
Chris White is President of White Labs and Co-Author of Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation.

Chris' interest in homebrewing came from undergraduate studies at UC Davis, when he signed up for Michael Lewis' brewing course. Chris then completed a Ph.D. thesis on yeast biochemistry at UC San Diego. He founded White Labs as a yeast and fermentation laboratory for brewers and homebrewers in 1995. He is active as President of White Labs, and enjoys growing the company worldwide and moving into new areas of fermentation such as distilled products and wine. Chris White is also a faculty member of Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago. Chris is a member of the American Society for Brewing Chemists and the Master Brewers Association of America. He enjoys traveling, golf, talking beer, and barbeques with friends.

Jamil Zainasheff
Jamil Zainasheff is an award-winning homebrewer, beer judge, author, and host of "The Jamil Show" and "Brew Strong" shows on The Brewing Network. Jamil has brewed an award winning example of every style of beer described in the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Style Guidelines. He has co-authored two critically acclaimed brewing books, Brewing Classic Styles and Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation. Jamil's newest venture is Heretic Brewing Company, located in Pittsburg, California.

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Ask the Experts / Ask the Experts: Randy Mosher

« on: March 15, 2013, 09:25:10 AM »

Randy Mosher is an author, lecturer and consultant on beer styles and brewing. He is an instructor for the Siebel Institute in Chicago and the author of three books on beer and brewing:The Brewers Companion (Alephenalia, 1991), Radical Brewing (Brewers Publications, 2004) and Tasting Beer, (Storey Publications, 2009).

Additionally, Mosher is a branding packaging and new product consultant for an international range of clients in the brewing and beverage business.Randy Mosher is an author, lecturer and consultant on beer styles and brewing. He is an instructor for the Siebel Institute in Chicago and the author of three books on beer and brewing: The Brewers Companion (Alephenalia, 1991), Radical Brewing (Brewers Publications, 2004) and Tasting Beer, (Storey Publications, 2009).

Additionally, Mosher is a branding packaging and new product consultant for an international range of clients in the brewing and beverage business.

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Ask the Experts / Ask the Experts: John Palmer

« on: March 15, 2013, 09:07:13 AM »

John Palmer is the author of How to Brew and the co-author of Brewing Classic Styles with his good friend Jamil Zainasheff. Together they co-host the popular brewing podcast, Brewstrong. John is a regular on the international homebrewing competition circuit, having been invited to speak and judge at conferences and competitions in such diverse locations as Australia, Argentina, North Dakota, and Kansas, and Orlando. John has been brewing for nearly 20 years, and has frequently underwhelmed his compadres in the Crown of the Valley Brewing Society with his brewing frequency and colorful witticisms to “brew as I say, not as I do.”

John is a metallurgical engineer by trade and has particularly applied himself to understanding the processes of brewing from an engineering point of view, including malting, mashing, water chemistry, lautering, clarity, color, and foam retention. In 2007, John was deeply honored with an AHA Governing Committee Recognition Award for Outstanding Service.

Read more about John Palmer in Featured Brewer of the Week.

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AHA Messages, Forum Rules & FAQs / 2013 National Homebrew Competition Registration Updates

« on: February 27, 2013, 11:16:41 AM »

Statement issued by the American Homebrewers Association at 10:30 am MST, Wednesday, February 27, 2013:

NHC Registration Update: The AHA is aware of and actively working to troubleshoot a variety of National Homebrew Competition (NHC) registration payment issues, including some instances of multiple payments. As soon as possible, we will resolve overpayments and any other payment issues.

Per Tuesday evening’s emails to individuals with existing entries that were not yet paid, the system will accept payments through 1:00 pm MST/3:00 EST today (Weds., Feb. 27), with the exception of those judge centers that have reached a capacity of 750 paid entries (New York is currently maxed out and others will follow as payments are received). Unpaid entries in judge centers that have reached the capacity limit for paid entries will be reassigned to an alternate region, and registrants will have an opportunity to pay for those entries at a later date if they so choose. Once today’s 1:00 pm MST deadline for payments on existing entries is passed, the AHA will have data to troubleshoot and resolve payment issues, and will be able to complete a final tally of paid registrations. Note that no entries will be added or rejected (paid or unpaid) until the AHA can resolve all existing payment issues. We are doing our best to resolve these issues as efficiently as possible, but expect that it may take another full business day or more to identify and resolve these payment issues.

From there, we will communicate about the status of 2013 NHC registrations and next steps for the competition. Rest assured that all currently registered entries will have an opportunity to be judged in the competition.

Please accept our apologies for the failures of this year’s registration and payment system.