March 11 @ 6:30 @ Fox Trail Distillery, then migrating to Growler USA soon after. Click here or the calendar link above for the google info.
February 2020 Meeting Minutes
Minutes: Katherine McGraw, Brew Scribe
Presiding Officer: Tom Maddock, Primary
Meeting: 7:18 pm at Apple Blossom
Toast: Forrest Adams. An Irish toast.
Special Guests: David Justice, previous Primary and founding member of FLOPS. In from Maryland to visit Chris Abel. Dave is a Grand Master BJCP level II Judge.
Tom started the 501C process with law school. Paperwork is submitted. We may have to change checking account. Cost is $300 1x. Tom doesn’t understand but the lawyers are walking him through it.
Iron Brewer: March is SMASH. We have about nine entries from FLOPS. Judging will be at March FLOPS meeting.
Barrel project: we’re going to let it die, or not. Keith Linn is going to spearhead. Need barrel. Kort and New Province have a relationship with Fox Trail Distillery in Rogers. Maybe we can get one from them.
Social: Frost Fest. Chris Abel reports it was awesome. He liked Central Standard from Wichita and 405 from Oklahoma City.
Auction winner brew in: Blake Chamberlain’s brew in will be April 18 at Greg Newman’s. We will make a hazy IPA. Not sure if we will just be on Greg’s system or also on Blake’s. Hopefully Patrick Bohannan can come to show Blake brew-in-a-bag-method.
Money: we wrote checks for 501c and 2019 BOTY award.
Competitions: national homebrew competition in Kansas City. Two opportunities to have your beer hand-delivered. Larry and James going to KC February 29. Patrick Bohannan going March 5.
April 25 is brewamok competition at Core in Springdale. Hope to have entries from AR, MO, and OK.
Ambassador report: Keith Besonen went to Italy.
2019 Brewer of the Year: Keith Linn, runner up James Spurlin.
2019 Ass of the Year: Paul Cascade. As usual with the ass of the year, the winner was not present to accept award.
Education: Patrick Bohannan did a power point and samples of how to use hot peppers in beers.
BOTM: Larry’s Belgian Quad
AOTM: Paul Cascade
Social: Fox Trail 6:30p March 11 with a later migration to Growler.
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January 2020 Meeting Minutes
January 2020 Meeting MInutes:
Second meeting at AB went well. The staff are very appreciative to have FLOPS back and thanked us for putting a tip jar out for the host/hostess. Members are reminded to support AB by dining and ordering from the bar. If not ordering anything, consider putting $1 in the tip jar each meeting.
BOTM (Brewer of the Month) for 2019 — FLOPS “PAID” members have until January 31 to get all your BOTY (Brewer of the Year) activities and points sent to Keith Linn – either at info@flopsclub.com or dkeithlinn@gmail.com. This is an extremely big honor that comes with a prize of engraved mash paddle.
Dues are now payable for year 2020 – 20$. Christopher Abel will take your money and give you a paid receipt, or you can pay via PayPal on the FlopsClub.com website.
December Iron Brewer was held at OZ club meeting on January 7th. Results:
1st place – Andy Langston OZ
2nd place – Tom Maddock FLOPS
3rd place – Tony Petree OZ
501c quest – Tom meeting with Law School at UofA to start this process this month,
New format for BOTM – We have now set up a table for anyone bringing home-brew to set their labeled brews on for all of attending members to vote on. Our new Mug Watcher – Forrest Adams will be reminding members to be sampling the brews during the course of the meeting and voting by paper ballot on their brew of choice for that month. The votes are tabulated at the end of the meeting and highest total awarded BOTM.
Iron Brewer for March meeting – this is a SMASH (Single Malt, Singe Hops) beer, no adjuncts, any yeast. All entries from OZ and FLOPS will be judged at the March 18th FLOPS meeting.
Kat will be working on developing Paid Member cards. Eventually, these cards may be used for discounts at various locations. Currently both home brew shops in Rogers and Fayetteville offer a
10% discount for members. We will be reaching out to other businesses to see if they would be willing to participate.
Kat’s Christmas party for FLOPS/OZ was a smashing success and apparently nothing got broken even though the party lasted until 3 am. We have asked to consider this as an annual event.
Education – Clarity in Brewing By Tom Maddock
Social — Frost Fest – Feb 1st
BOTM – Forrest Adams for an outstanding Scotch Ale
AOTM – Katherine McGraw
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January 2020 – Featured Brewer – Patrick Bohannan
Name: Patrick Bohannan
Age: 29
Occupation: Auto damage adjuster
Years Brewing: 9
Brewing History: Started extract brewing in 2011, moved to basic all grain brewing in 2013, More advanced all grain brewing in 2015, Brew in a bag and writing and developing my own recipes in 2017
What got you interested in brewing to start: My roommate at the time ordered a kit and I actually made fun of him at first, but when I tried their beer and it was drinkable I decided to try it myself and I was hooked.
What kept you brewing: It’s something that you can continually improve like cooking. Also, even knowing the science behind the beer, it’s still amazing to me how you can take 4 basic ingredients and make an almost uncountable number of different beers! Always have good beer around doesn’t hurt either!
Current brewing rig: 15 gal mega pot with a brew bag. A 14 ft counterflow chiller that can chill a whole batch from boiling to 70-80 degrees in 3-5 minutes. A deep freeze with temp controller for a fermentation chamber. Finally a converted refrigerator that holds 5 kegs and currently has 4 taps.
Any rules you have for brew day: I always have to have some beer at hand, and some great music in the background. As far as the actual process, I’ve got a fairly rigid procedure I follow step by step (which I might be able to do in my sleep now) in order to make sure I don’t end up with a bad brew.
Best brewing advice you were given (by whom if you can remember): It would have to be all the times I’ve been told or read that paying attention to the little things will make a big difference. When we started, and for several years after (I’m ashamed now to admit) we used straight tap water out of the hose resulting in an obvious chlorine taste. We also didn’t pay attention to fermentation temp, we just let er rip, resulting in a lot of overflowing fermenters and one unfortunate geyser with a particularly active imperial stout that took hours to clean up. Once I started looking at these little things that can be easy to not think about the quality of our beer went up immensely.
Most influential brewing tip you learned: Brew in a bag. I was skeptical at first, but once I tried it it changed everything. Less equipment, less time, and I average 80-85% efficiency. I’m never going back!
Your tip for new brewers just getting started: You are going to mess up. Once you’ve done it long enough the mess ups are actually the best stories. Don’t let it discourage you if you have a batch get infected, your first recipe tastes terrible, or your beer mysteriously doesn’t hardly ferment at all (been there on all counts). Just learn from it and come at it again.
Go to beer style for consumption: IPA or saison
What’s on tap at your brew house right now: right now I’m getting ready to keg our habanero saison, blueberry wheat, ipa, and Butterbeer!
Favorite beer style to brew: Bocks for sure. The added complexity from the décoction and lagering result in fantastic beer!(or at least a great story about how you messed it up).
What’s your next brewing related project: After Little Rock we will be brewing for the national home brew competition!
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Understanding Efficiency in the Brewery
Understanding efficiency in the brewery can help you more reliably predict the original gravity of your brew. This presentation explains what efficiency means, how the to calculate the potential extract of grains, how to measure your mash efficiency, and also how the sparge can impact efficiency.
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Brewer and Member of the Year points legend
BOTY and MOTY are open to FLOPS Paid Members Only
It is the Member’s sole responsibility to provide documentation to support all point requests- except those recorded at club meetings ( entry receipts, scorecards, contest website screenshot, etc).
FLOPS BREWER OF THE YEAR
(Members must use FLOPS as homebrew club for contests/competitions)
POINTS
BREWING
10 – Bring Home Brewed beverage to Club meeting
50 – Present education segment related to Home-Brewing
50 – Brewer of the month
150 – Iron Brewer Quarterly Winner
20 – Participate in Iron brewer Qtrly competition
100 – Host a Brew-In
20 – Participate in Brew-In
Non AHA sanctioned Homebrew Contest
100 – Best of Show
100 – First Place
70 – Second Place
50 – Third Place
30 – Non placing score sheet scored 35 points +
20 – Submit entries to Homebrew contest
AHA sanctioned Homebrew Contest
150 – Best of Show
150 – First Place
100 – Second Place
70 – Third Place
50 – Non placing score sheet scored 35 points +
30 – Submit entries to Homebrew contest
NHC Homebrew Contest- First Round
300 – Best of Show
300 – First Place
200 – Second Place
150 – Third Place
100 – Non placing score sheet scored 35 points +
50 – Submit entries to Homebrew contest
NHC Homebrew Contest- Second Round
1200 – Best of Show
600 – First Place
400 – Second Place
300 – Third Place
200 – Non placing score sheet scored 35 points +
Additional / Outside Activities
TBD
Special points TBD by Club Nomination/Vote
FLOPS MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Points
Meetings
100 – Officer of the Club
10 – Attend FLOPS meeting
10 – Bring Craft Beer to meeting (non-homebrew)
50 – Non- Home Brewing education presentation at FLOPS meeting
30 – Volunteer to chair a committee (when deemed appropriate)
20 – Volunteer to be on a committee
TBD
Special/ additional points per Club nomination and vote-Public Service
Outside participation
30 – AHA Active Membership
10 – Attend Club Social
100 – Beer Judging – BJCP sanctioned event
50 – Beer Judging – Non-BJCP sanctioned event
50 – Host a Club Social
BJCP Initial or promoted certification
100 – Apprentice
150 – Recognized
200 – Certified
250 – National
300 – Master
350 – Grand Master I
400 – Grand Master II +
FLOPS AOTY – ASS OF THE YEAR
Awarded to member with most Ass of the Month designations for the year.
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FLOPS Officer Job Descriptions
FLOPS Administrative Officers – Job Descriptions
Primary Fermenter – Represent and present the “public face” of FLOPS. Ensure ongoing
monthly meetings of FLOPS members. Preside over at least 80% of meetings. Maintain viable
location for club meetings. Help guide member meetings to ensure that club information is
relayed to members during the meeting. Ensure, as much as possible, that all club members
feel they have a voice and that their concerns and ideas are respectfully considered and
listened to. Be a champion for Home Brewing. Help guide officers and members toward goals
of the club and participate in club projects as much as possible. Organize the flow of meetings
to allow for constructive discussion on matters concerning club activities and future plans.
Help resolve disputes. Ensure that goals and tasks of the club stay on a reasonable time-line.
Coordinate and meet with club officers periodically to help meet goals of the club.
Secondary Fermenter – Track MOTY/BOTY/AOTY points based on what club members
provide. Tabulate and organize data for presenting end of year awards for these.
Organize monthly education segments for members.
Assist with running meetings and keeping Primary Fermenter on task.
Take over for Primary as needed.
Hops Scheduler – Provide up-to-date information to club members concerning regional and
local competitions and assist members with getting their entries submitted for competition.
Assist Secondary with gathering and tabulating data (on a monthly basis) about member
competition entries and awards.
Treasure – Collect and keep track of dues and have a list of paid members. Keep a ledger or
dues book for paid members and provide receipts to paid members. Keep accurate record of
current funds and keep list of all expenses paid. Provide quarterly reports at club meetings
on funds and expenses. Provide year-end balanced report of assets and expenses. Assist with
forming a yearly budget. Assist with non-profit status paperwork as applicable.
Secretary – Record club meeting minutes and provide written and posted minutes within
72 hours of a club meeting. Assist Web/Social Media officer with getting timely updates out
regarding club meetings, events, socials, etc. Develop and distribute “card memberships” for
all dues paying members.
Web/Social Media – Set up electronic media for dissemination of information regarding club
meetings and activities and promotions. Help club officers to seamlessly use the current
electronic media to promote both member and public awareness about FLOPS. Promote
FLOPS publicly. Promote socials. Promote education regarding home-brewing. Promote
events related to our club goals and interests. Make sure we schedule a monthly social.
Mug – Watcher – Open club meetings with a toast and make sure we start and end meetings
in timely fashion. Help maintain order during meetings. Make sure mugs do not run dry.
Promote BOTM by overseeing that all home-brews are properly labeled and that members
are sampling the home brews brought to the meeting and voting. Keep Primary Fermenter
on task during meetings.
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2019 Q4 Iron Brewer Results
2019 Q4 Iron Brewer Results
4th quarter Iron brewer winner:
Andy Langston (Oz)
2nd is Tom Maddock (FLOPS)
3rd is Tony Petree (Oz)
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December 2019 – Meeting Minutes
Second club meeting back at Apple Blossom went well. Forrest Adams gave a nice Christmas toast to begin the meeting — and has been very diligent at being our new Mug Watcher!
Apple Blossom location working great for meetings. Please help set up if you arrive early. We informed AB that no need for table cloths and dinnerware to be set up for our meetings. But room may be set up when we arrive. Please help clear tables and remove the table cloths. We have set up a tip jar to be used to place one dollar in per member attending unless you tip with your food/drink order. We are penciled into the schedule every month of 2020.
December Iron Brewer competition – British Brown Ale 13B – will be held at OZ January meeting – January 7th – at Schlotzsky’s 2709 W Walnut St in Rogers AR, at 7 pm. If you cannot get your entry to this event, contact Tom Maddock – thomasmaddock07@gmail.com or James Spurlin and either of us can bring it to the competition.
March 2020 Iron Brewer style is SMASH beer – single malt and single hop – any yeast. No adjuncts.
Tom contacted the U of A law school and has us set up for early next year to meet with law students to help set us up with best 501 plan to meet our needs. One time costs will be around $325. Chris Abel was instrumental in getting us contacts at U of A and will help with this.
Our Website Domain expires next month. Andy has given OK to transfer this to FLOPS. Keith and Greg will work on this, but we might need 501 status first.
Barrel Project – still awaiting a barrel
Dues for 2020 – $20 for the calendar year 2020. We will get a new Receipt book to record all paid members at time of payment.
Kat’s Christmas party was well attended and everyone had fun. Apparently nothing got broken and most were well behaved (so I’ve heard). Thank you Kat for hosting FLOPS/OZ combined Christmas Party. We all vote that you make this an annual event (to take over for Andy)
All officers will need to write up a Job Description for their respective titles and bring to next officers meeting – TBA.
OZ will be hosting a BOS home brewing event sometime in April. They plan for 100 entries of “beer” – no style limitations – but will not include ciders or meads. Plan for 4 states and Larry has coined the name Brew AMOK – (for AR,MO,OK,KS). Very clever!!
AOTM — Andy Sparks -for no Christmas Party – ba humbug — and for choosing to hang out at Leverett Lounge instead of gong to the FLOPS meeting.
BOTM – Tom Maddock for British Brown Ale. Larry also made a wonderful QUAD. Brent Jimenez made a very smooth and refreshing Blonde Ale. Many other tasty beers were brought from all over including Germany and Amsterdam.
New rules for Member and Brewer of the year were voted on and approved.
FLOPS SOCIAL — January 11th at 2 pm at Natural State Brewing in Rogers.
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Proposed Points System for Brewer of the Year and Member of the Year
Opening the discussion as promised for the new points system for Brewer of the Year. Please read and provide feedback, voting to codify these rules will be accomplished during an upcoming club meeting.
Format: (points) (activity)
MEETINGS
10 Bring Home Brewed beverage to Club meeting (per beverage brought)
120 Bring Home Brew to ALL Flops meetings
25 Brewer of the month
-25 Ass of the month
20 Participate in Iron brewer Qtrly competition
150 Iron Brewer Qtrly winner
Non AHA sanctioned Homebrew Contest
100 First Place
75 Second Place
50 Third Place
25 Non placing score sheet scored 35 points +
15 Submit entries to Homebrew contest
AHA sanctioned Homebrew Contest
150 Best of Show
150 First Place
100 Second Place
75 Third Place
50 Non placing score sheet scored 35 points +
25 Submit entries to Homebrew contest
NHC Homebrew Contest- First Round
300 Best of Show
300 First Place
200 Second Place
150 Third Place
100 Non placing score sheet scored 35 points +
50 Submit entries to Homebrew contest
NHC Homebrew Contest- Second Round
1200 Best of Show
600 First Place
400 Second Place
300 Third Place
200 Non placing score sheet scored 35 points +
Additional / Outside Activities
100 Host Brew-in
50 Participate in Brew-in
TBD Special/ additional points per Club nomination and vote
And here are the proposed points system for Member of the Year:
Meetings
50 Officer of the Club
10 Attend FLOPS meeting
120 Attend ALL meetings in the calendar Year
25 Leading a reasonable education presentation at FLOPS meeting
25 Volunteer to chair a committee (when deemed appropriate)
15 Volunteer to be on a committee
TBD Special/ additional points per Club nomination and vote
Outside participation
10 Attend Club Social
10 Attend other/outside function
20 Volunteer to be on a committee
BJCP Initial or promoted certification
100 Apprentice
150 Recognized
200 Certified
250 National
300 Master
350 Grand Master I
400 Grand Master II +
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AHA/BJCP Sanctioned Competitions
