[Trubmeisters] March Meeting
Date: 2001-03-02 13:37

For those of you who couldn't make it last night, you missed a great
one.  For those that did make it, what a privilege we had!  Everyone had
a great time, and Leinies makes some great beers for a "big" brewery.

Although the location makes getting there a bit complicated, it wasn't
that hard to find.  There was someone waiting at the door to let us in. 
We were escorted to the hospitality room to sample our first beer.  They
had Creamy Dark (Mmmmmmm), Honey Weisse, Hefeweisen, and a "Special" Ale
on tap.

The Creamy Dark was as good as it gets.  So rich and creamy, and it was
dark too. :-)  This beer is the best lager I have ever had.  It easily
rivals many stouts in body and flavor.

I did not have the Hefeweisen, but those that did said it was nicely
cloved, and well within the range of it's style.  Not too cloudy, but
enough to recognize it.

The Honey Weisse I tasted was the freshest beer they had.  Each of us
got to sample some beer that was "just bottled".  One could say it was
more like "just poured" even.   Talk to me outside of email, and I will
describe what that means.  Amazingly good for a beer that was only a of
couple weeks old.  They refused to give out the secret percentage of
honey to malt.  They did say they put the honey in at the beginning of
the boil..

They had a special beer that is an Ale.  It is not available under the
Leinenkugels label.  They repackage it to sell under other names.  Not
bad for a generic beer.  It actually had flavor and body to it.  I was
impressed that they could sell that as a general public brew.

I recall one homebrew.  It was an imperial stout.  I think Ken brought
it.  He makes a label that is as entertaining as the beer inside.  It
had very complex flavor.  Every time I wanted to say what I was tasting,
my tongue said "wait, there is something else here!"  It was wonderful,
and warming.  The high gravity was hardly noticeable, and the sour was
so balanced with the sweet, that I think I could have drank the whole
bottle.

The food was not like usual.  That is good though, it was time to stop
that feast we have been having.  Julie brought some pretzels and
mustard.  With all the exciting things to explore, who had time to
snack!

Our host, Greg Walter, started out by telling a bit about the brewery.
Sue couldn't just let him talk, and had to ask a lot of questions.  She
kept insulting his brewery and it's beer.  She seemed to forget that
Miller owns Leinies.  Of course Steve was busy giving her a hard time
about the grilling she was giving Greg. He kept telling her she
shouldn't ask questions like that.  I guess he wanted to prove his
point.  So when the Maintenance guy came in, Steve asked him why he
wasn't busy cleaning the toilets!  (OK, so it didn't go just like that,
but I have that writers thing where we can embellish on a story a
little. :-)

After Greg finally got tired answering irritating questions, we split up
into 2 groups.  Greg took half of us, and his teenage chemist took the
other half on a tour.  I wish I could remember his name.  He said he was
28, but we all know that was a lie.  You know what they say, if you need
to lie, make it big enough so everyone will believe it.  I think he was
under 18, and they needed him to work for slave labor wages, so they
just tell everyone he is 28.

My group went to the bottom of the fermenters first.  Large room full of
cold beer. A homebrewers paradise. We got to tour the nursery where the
baby yeast are fed and diapered.  There was also the laboratory where
Steve must have inhaled something.  He started just walking around
grabbing at the air.  Good mushrooms I guess!

Of course, we can't forget the bottling room.  Our buddy (Steve) just
had to see if the shower worked, and pulled the handle.  Ask him if the
water was cold.  I figured we would get kicked out right then and there,
but to my amazement, they put up with it.

We went to the yeast propagation room and the tanks were just bigger
versions of the baby room.  No samples were there.  It would be great to
show up and grab some of those CO2 makers and throw them in a carboy of
wort.  They hide the yeast embryos in the fermentation room to one side.
A little box full of bottles that are being stirred (not shaken).  They
had the classic hand made tin foil tops.

We went to the very top and looked into the fermenters.  Some were
quiet, but a couple were active.  You could see nothing but foam in one.
Another was like a kettle boiling.  The gas was causing the top to roll
and move.  Very cool to look at. 

Back at the bottom of the fermentors, we saw two sets of filters.  First
was the DE (diatomaceous earth) filter.  It looked like a giant washing
machine with a glass windowed door on the front.  The second was so
fine, that most of the color in the beer gets removed.  It is a series
of sheets of cardboard looking squares pushed together with a hydraulic
press.  If the DE does not work right, the second filter can plug up.
Otherwise, they only change it about once a week or so.  Too bad we
couldn't have had a beer right then and there. :-)

We also made a trek to the brewing kettles, mash tuns, and lauter tuns. 
This is a one man operation.  Lots of buttons and switches.  Talk about
a rims system!  This is the room you can see from Hwy 43.  Nothing was
boiling, but it still smelled good.  All the kettles were open and we
got to see inside them.

Since we were near the top of the building, it was time to walk to the
bottom.  After all, we had only went up and down a couple times so far. 
So, down the steps we went.  Our President decided to push one of our
members down the steps.  She is alright, but I don't think she will vote
for Betty during the next coup attempt.  At the very bottom (and then
some) are the bases of the grain silos.  They have 3 giant silos which
are automated.  They had a 5 gallon pail full of dark malt.  (It tasted
like chocolate.)  If I followed the conversation right, that was all the
dark grain they use during emptying of all three silos!  I assume that
excludes the Creamy Dark.

Since we were now at the very bottom, and had not walked enough steps,
we went all the way back up to the top (and then some) to visit the
grinding room.  They have filter trays to remove the husks in the
grinder.  The final product is just pure malt!  It's like making your
own DME on demand.  Very tasty too.  I wish I had a full glass of Creamy
Dark, so I could have just blended a couple of spoon fulls into it.  Add
a scoop of Ice Cream, and as high up as were, I could have been in
heaven.  Ask our more squeamish members about the pest control devices. 
They have a lot of traps laying around to keep hungry little mammals
from the grains.  (And I don't mean my kids.)

Time to go back down, and check out the hops.  What a fantastic aroma.
They blend a secret amount of these in 3 pails along with gypsum to make
just the right beers.  They had about 5 different varieties of hops, but
would not say which was in each type of brew.  You had to see the secret
guide in the Brewing room if you wanted to know that.

We walked up and down 4 stories and end to end for a 1/4 mile each way
at least 3 times.  Or, maybe it just seemed that way. :-)  If only we
could have kept Sue from asking so many questions like how many hop
pellets fit in a bucket, or how come pee which is normally yellow turns
clear when you drink yellow beer,  we might have beaten the other group
back to the drinkable beer source.

It was finally time to go back to the hospitality room and fill our
glasses.  Julie took her hand at the bar since no one was there to serve
us.  She kept trying to get back to the right side of the bar before
Greg caught her.  But we were so thirsty, that we made her stay till he
got back.  She was caught.  She did such a good job, that they are
hiring her tomorrow.

Finally, we ended the night with a hop gorge.  Greg had some hops that
were used in brews they no longer make.  He was giving them away.
People were taking a pound of hops at a time.  Steve helped himself to
more than his fair share.  Stop by his store, and ask him to share some
with you. :-)  There were Willamette, Perle, and Cluster hops (I think.)

OK, so I add little pieces to the story here and there.  You have to
figure out what really happened and what did not.

Let me check ...  
Drugs: Steve walking around in a stupor.  
RocknRoll: There were boomboxes all over the place.  
Politics: No Clinton jokes, and no Bush jokes.  I must have missed them!

Religion: The homebrew was an "Orthodox" Russian Stout.  
Sex: Scott had to "brush" some malt off Julie's "backside" after she
leaned against the grinder.  
So I am stretching it a little to get all the required club topics in.
If you don't like it, then write this yourself. :-)

See you all next month at Rick's on April Fools day.  He will give us
directions, and Betty will send a message about what the years schedule
is.

Good beer to all, and to all a good beer.

                                          Jeff Kane