The deadline for the THIRSTY Classic homebrew competition in Amana, IA is
this Saturday, Oct 28. This is the seventh and LAST competition in the
High Plains Brewer of the Year competition. Get your entries in NOW!
http://www.thirstyhomebrew.org/
Also, not too late to sign up for judging in the Hoppy Halloween
competition in Fargo this weekend (Oct 27-28), and to hear John Palmer
speak (author of HOW TO BREW) at the awards ceremony and banquet.
http://www.prairiehomebrewers.org/hoppyhalloween.htm
- Al
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The Minnesota Home Brewers Association will choose it's club champion for
Light Hybrid beers to send on to Michigan for the AHA Club-Only
competition on Wednesday, Oct 25 at BJCP class at Gera Exire LaTour's
home.
Cat. 6 - Light Hybrids
* Cream Ale
* Blond Ale
* Kolsch
* American Wheat or Rye
If you have one of these styles, bring it or drop it off at Gera's house
on or before 6:30pm on Wednesday, or get it to me or Jonathan, or someone
else attending the class by then. If it's a CREAM ALE, it will also
qualify for a "Beer badge" on your MhBA Style of the Month certificate.
Gera's house:
3757 Dupont Ave So
Mpls 55412
612-636-9014
- Al
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Here are the winners for the Stout COC:
1. Ty Ming and Mel Thompson
College Park, MD
Foreign Extra Stout
Brewers United for Real Potables
2. Kirk Rowland
Redford, MI.
Russian Imperial Stout
?
3. Doug Newberry
Batavia, IL
Russian Imperial Stout
Silvarado
Score sheets will be in the mail early next week.
We had 40 odd entries from 24 states and one from Canada.
-
Steve Fletty
fletty(a)umn.edu
Gentlemen,
I just wanted to weigh in on this issue, and point out a couple of
things.
I have been serving on the Brewers Association Board of Directors for
the last three years and have been involved in a lot of discussions
on this topic, so I'm not just winging it here. But obviously I am
speaking only for myself here.
Distribution is a very complicated issue. I agree that from what I
know about this deal, Larry got kind of screwed here, and in general,
small brewers have the raw end of the deal in most states. It would
be great to be able to change things.
However, I think people need to understand that small brewers and
their fanatical fans (self included) are bit players in the melodrama
of beverage regulation and distribution. Tiny, microscopic ants.
Large and powerful forces rule the day, which isn't to say we can't
have a meaningful influence. But I do want to caution our side that
we need to approach any activism with information, a clear purpose,
and a very well thought out plan. Oh, yes, and maybe some powerful
allies, too.
It is quite possible that by poking at the nest with our little
stick, to get actual hornets to fly out and sting us and our
beermaking pals. Distributors, feeling under attack by recent Supreme
Court decisions and by large and small suppliers trying to chip away
at their position, have taken the initiative to rewrite the
distribution laws in a few states, with sometimes disastrous effects
for small brewers. We got totally hosed in New Jersey. A bad
Wisconsin law was made less bad through the efforts of enthusiasts
and homebrewers, and another law was beaten back in California.
Informed people expect that now that the legislatures are in session,
that there will be more attempts to close the noose on brewers et al.
These are nasty laws, sometimes shoved through when nobody's looking.
Distributors are seriously well connected, and have very deep pockets
and other resources, and it appears they are willing to fight dirty
in order to hold onto their position. Don't underestimate their
seriousness, determination or resources.
Beware.
Any serious organizing should go on offline from this very public
forum, I think. Anybody wants to chat about the issue can call me.
Email me for my phone number.
--Randy
Interesting energy article regarding Sierra Nevada fuel cell energy
supplies.
Previous Page
Sierra Nevada harnesses 'beer power' to reduce its energy costs
Author:
Issue: 10/2006
FuelCell Energy Inc., a manufacturer of ultra-clean electric power
plants for commercial, industrial and
government customers, recently announced the upgrade of its 1-megawatt
(MW) Direct Fuel Cell power plant
at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company to use fuel created from a waste
byproduct of the brewing process. With
this enhancement, Sierra Nevada furthers its sustainability and
energy-efficiency goals, while realizing
substantial cost savings by offsetting its purchase of natural gas.
The Chico, Calif., brewery's fuel cell power plant, which began running
last summer and was dedicated by
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, initially ran on natural gas.
To boost the brewery's energy
efficiency and ecologically friendly profile, Sierra Nevada founder Ken
Grossman sought to convert the ultraclean
fuel cells from operating solely on natural gas to a gas mixture that
the brewery produced as a
byproduct, methane.
Sierra Nevada installed a compressor and filtration system to purify
methane gas that is generated during the
brewery's water treatment process, and then feed it to the power plant
for fuel. As a result, two of the plant's
four fuel cell stacks can now operate in dual fuel mode - using any
combination of natural gas and anaerobic
digester gas (ADG). As Sierra Nevada increases its production and the
amount of methane it generates, it also
can operate the other two fuel cells on ADG. Gas produced in the
digester reduces the amount of fuel used in
the power plant. The system is now capable of producing 250 to 400
kilowatts (kW) of electricity from biogas,
reducing the company's fuel costs by 25 to 40 percent. Regardless of the
fuel blend used, the high efficiency of
DFC power plants require less fuel than conventional power plants,
resulting in lower operating costs and an
overall reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the
atmosphere per unit of power output.
The 1 MW power plant, one of three FuelCell Energy megawatt-class sites
now running in California, is
classified as an ultra-clean technology under California law and
provides virtually 100 percent of Sierra
Nevada's base load power requirements. The fuel cells operate in
co-generation mode, so their 650-degree
thermal output is utilized to create steam that further offsets the
natural gas needs of their existing boilers
providing an additional reduction in operating costs and increase in
system efficiency. The facility was named
one of 12 "Top Plants" worldwide by Power Magazine in 2006.
"By converting the DFC plants to operate on ADG, we have further
advanced our company's sustainability
goals and reduced our energy and waste disposal costs," said Sierra
Nevada's Grossman. "The fuel cell power
plant provides us with reliable, 24/7 electricity and helps make our
energy self-sufficiency a reality."
Sierra Nevada 's installation of ultra-clean onsite power generation has
also enhanced the company's
reputation of being a good neighbor by helping to reduce demand on the
local power grid for the production of
its award-winning craft beer. The company benefits by ensuring that its
critical business operations have
access to reliable power and neighbors have access to more power that
would otherwise be consumed by the
brewery.
"The installation at Sierra Nevada is a great example of the fuel
flexibility of our DFC power plants," said Bruce
Page 1 of 2 Untitled Document
10/19/2006
http://www.reliableplant.com/article_printer_friendly.asp?articleid=3019
Ludemann, senior vice president, FuelCell Energy. "Because fuel cells
generate energy by chemical
conversion rather than combustion, they can convert virtually any
biomass- or hydrocarbon-power source into
ultra-clean electricity. Sierra Nevada is reducing its energy costs and
eliminating a manufacturing byproduct
that would otherwise add to its disposal and wastewater expenditures."
When the fuel cells generate more power than the brewery requires,
Sierra Nevada can send excess electricity
back to the grid system and receive credit for a portion of its
generation costs. A number of other FuelCell
Energy power plant sites use waste-related processes to create renewable
fuel for generating their electricity.
Kirin Brewery in Japan operates a DFC power plant fueled on digester
gas. In August, Gills Onions purchased
two DFC units to be fueled with ADG resulting from waste onion peels.
The power plant will create ultra-clean
energy while lowering disposal costs of this byproduct. Approximately
half the project cost was offset by federal
investment tax credits and accelerated depreciation (both created by the
US Energy Act of 2005), as well as
funds from the California Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).
About FuelCell Energy:
FuelCell Energy develops and markets ultra-clean power plants that
generate electricity with higher efficiency
than distributed generation plants of similar size and with virtually no
air pollution. Fuel cells produce base load
electricity giving commercial and industrial customers greater control
over their power generation economics,
reliability and emissions. Emerging state, federal and international
regulations to reduce harmful greenhouse
gas emissions consider fuel cell power plants in the same
environmentally friendly category as wind and solar
energy sources -- with the added advantages of running 24 hours a day
and the capacity to be installed where
wind turbines or solar panels often cannot. Headquartered in Danbury,
Conn., FuelCell Energy services over
50 power plant sites around the globe that have generated more than 124
million kilowatt hours, and conducts
R&D on next-generation fuel cell technologies to meet the world's
ever-increasing demand for ultra-clean
distributed energy. To learn more, visit www.fuelcellenergy.com.
Please reference this article as:
, "Sierra Nevada harnesses 'beer power' to reduce its energy costs".
Reliable Plant
Magazine. 10/2006
Page 2 of 2 Untitled Document
10/19/2006
http://www.reliableplant.com/article_printer_friendly.asp?articleid=3019
Check out the attached article in your free time.
Beer, it just keeps on giving. Just one more great use!
FYI
Bell's is leaving IL.
Some interesting "discussion" here:
http://www.chicagoist.com/archives/2006/10/16/the_bells_in_the_distance.php
Larry's post is #32. He's responding to an industry type
in #29.
The beer business isn't perfect here in MN,
but it could be Wirtz. A lot worse...
Cheers,
Jim
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Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:18:31 -0700
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Subject: Save Bell's
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Dear Draught Preservationists:
We had a very productive SAVE BELL'S SUMMIT on Tuesday evening at Weegee's. Summit attendees included Larry Bell himself, a high placed official in state government and many rank and file draught preservationists.
Our next steps to SAVE BELL'S IN ILLINOIS include a letter writing campaign to Governor Blagojevich. A sample letter has been posted at www.BringBacktheDraught.com. Please use this letter as a template or send your own letter to the Governor today urging him to SAVE BELL'S IN ILLINOIS! and e-mail me offlist (kgambrinus@yahoo. com) so we can keep track of letter volume.
Together we can SAVE BELL'S, but it will take hundreds and thousands of Illinois draught drinkers, speaking united as one voice, to make a difference. The draught drinkers, united, will never be defeated!
To keep apprised of the situation, see www.BringBacktheDraught.com.
Kind Regards,
Keith Gambrinus
Interim Secretary
Logan Square Draught Beer Preservation Society
"In 1947, Chicago had nearly 7,000 taverns. As of Jan. 1 of this year, the number had fallen to 1,267 -- a drop of 82 percent. Since April 2004, taverns have been going out of business at a rate of one every 11 days."
--Chicago Tribune, March 21, 2006
----- End forwarded message -----
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
If anyone happened to pick up a 1 liter Schweppes Tonic Water bottle with
the yellow label still affixed and a red Carbonator on the top, please let
me know. I'll owe you a beer! Thanks.
Robert
Hello Beer Enthusiasts,
There will be a beer dinner at the Birchwood Cafe on Sunday, November
5. The cost is a reasonable $45 and includes 5 courses and all the
beer. Gratuity is not included as far as I know.
The beers will be a selection from Artisanal Imports' and there will
be as secret beer and gifts for all.
Call the Birchwood at (612) 722-4474 for details.
Thanks,
Lanny
Our friends, the Northern Ale Stars in Duluth just registered a NEW
competition! It will be held Feb 10, 2007 in Duluth - mark your
calendars, and let's go up and help them judge their inaugural
competition! The deadline is Jan 26 - if Steve and Laurie Daiken come
down for the Mash-Out, I bet we can get them to haul pre-registered
entries back to Duluth with them that weekend.
Here's the skinny....
Competition Information
Competition Date * 2007-02-10
Entry Deadline 2007-01-26
Name of Competition * The Great Northern Brew-Ha-Ha
Sponsoring Club Northern Ale Stars
Competition Website
http://www.northernalestars.org/greatnorthernbrewhaha.html
- Al
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Congrats to Curt and Kathy Stock, and Steve Fletty for medalling in the
Valhalla Mead-Only competition!
- Al
1. Valhalla Mead-only Competition Results
Sweet traditional
3rd place Curt and Kathy Stock, St. Paul, MN Tupelo Taming
Other Fruit Melamels
1st place Curt and Kathy Stock, St. Paul, Plum Crazy
Pyment
1st place Steve Fletty, Falcon Heights, MN Chateau Fletty
And the Best of Show winners are:
3rd place BOS goes to Steve Fletty, Falcon Heights MN for his Chateu Fletty,
a pyment
