April 2022 Minutes of the Dead Yeast Society

Tuesday April 5^th, 2022
World of Beer
Lafayette, Louisiana

Attendance (8)

Officers

• Kent Treasurer
• Adrien Secretary
• Ed Sergeant at Arms

Charter Members

• Zeke
• James

Members

• Art
• Ben S.
• Martin

Pre-Meeting Brew Sampling

• Traditional Mead: Semi-Sweet—Art
• Melomel: Kumquat—Art

6:00 — Call to Order – Adrien

6:00 — Boot Brew Fest – Adrien

Friday April 22^nd & Saturday April 23^rd, 2022 at Lakeview Park & Beach in Eunice, Louisiana.

This is the 2^nd annual event.

Friday evening will consist of homebrew bottle competition awards and brewer’s social.

Saturday will feature a Brew Demo by Adrien from 10–2, with samples of the beer being brewed. (“Smokey Hidalgo” a Vienna-Tettnang SMaSH with various dried and fresh roasted chili peppers in the boil trialing two yeasts: WLP820 Mexican Lager & WY3944 Belgian Wit) The demo batch will trial yet another yeast – Omega’s Lutra Kveik. Help is needed to chat with guests during the demo and to help serve samples! (Contact Adrien if you can make it)

VIP hour will be from 1–2pm, followed by General Admission from 2–5pm. Only homebrew will be served.

Those donating 5 gallons of draft or bottled beer (≈2 cases) get in free, otherwise, non-drinkers get in for $10, drinkers for $40 which includes a souvenir cup and ticket for jambalaya, or VIPs can get an extra hour of beer access and a t-shirt for $65.

Accommodations

There are Cabins available (limited), RV spots, and Tent spots for those who wish to stay overnight. (Friday and/or Saturday) When booking, let them know you are a brewer with Dead Yeast for the Boot Brew Fest to receive a discount.

Call For Beers

Time is short, but you can still squeeze in a brew to serve at the festival. At least 4 taps can be available, more of course if you bring your own party-taps or you’re bringing bottles. (if bottling, you’ll have to keg & QuickCarb, there is not enough time for conditioning if the beer isn’t already fermented—we can help with that, just let us know)

6:08 — Beer Judging – Adrien

We need more certified judges in the Lafayette area!

Mark & Adrien have passed their online entrance exams and will be taking the Tasting Exam this Summer. While spots for that taste-testing date are currently full, another is planned this year, and some may drop out for the first exam when the date is finalized.

If you are interested in becoming a certified judge, take your online entrance exam now to get put on the waiting list. (See BJCP.org for more info)

6:10 — National Homebrew Day/Big Brew Day – Adrien

Saturday May 7^th, 2022

Location: TBD

Time: TBD

The AHA (American Homebrewers Association) celebrates National Homebrew Day every year by urging brewers to pledge to get together and brew as much beer as they can. (this is an official day recognized by Congress as May 7^th of each year. The Big Brew Day happens on the first Saturday in May in celebration.)

This year’s styles are American Lager & Imperial Porter. Official recipes available at homebrewersassociation.org (and will be soon made available here on our own site)

Of course, you don’t have to brew one of those recipes, any beer will do.

If you have a ‘portable’ system, we invite all members to assemble at our to-be-determined location for a Big Brew Day! (‘portable’ means you cook with Propane. 220V outlets will not be available for mashing and boiling, though 120V should be available to run pumps.)

Ben Soileau has graciously offered the use of his Blichmann Tower system to a “responsible” individual if they’d like to brew that day but don’t have a portable system. (Ben won’t be able to join us that day) Contact Ben for more details.

6:15 — Who’s Brewing – Adrien

• Ben — not yet, but he’s been told by his wife he has to plan a brew day soon! Hefeweisen is on the agenda and it might be a 10 gallon split batch experiment.
• Martin — has an ongoing ‘accidental’ 5-week aging experiment, not sure how it will turn out, but is hopeful.
• Ed — busy buying small equipment parts and prepping Gene’s custom-built system for revival.
• Art — has turned into Mead Maker Extraordinaire. (we were privy to sample 2 excellent Meads tonight!)
• James — has been busy at work brewing more barrels than we’ll ever drink, most notably “Bière Noire” & “Big Fatty” some of which is destined to become “A Giant Hop for Mankind”. (and James has a new brewing gig in the works!)
• Adrien & Jeff — brewed 10 gallons of “St. Patrick’s Irish Red” (our 8th batch of that recipe) with a slight experiment using 2 different yeasts, (our original Fermentis S-04 choice, and now WY1968 ESB) and adding Fuggles near flame-out.
• Adrien — will be brewing Smokey Hidalgo (Chili Vienna SMaSH with Tettnang) split for a yeast experiment between Mexican Lager & Belgian Wit yeasts. (for Boot Brew Fest) And will also brew either a Kentucky Common or Spiced Roggenbier for Boot.
• Jim & Mark — not present, but they’ve recently brewed a Saison that will get Strawberries added & a Cream Ale using ‘malted’ Corn for Boot Brew Fest.

Ben also graciously offered access to next year’s Kumquat crop at his house if anyone is interested. Apparently, his trees produce a plethora of the fruits.

6:25 — New Haunts – James

TWO new brew pubs are slated to be opened in Lafayette this year.

One will be in the old location of Cafè 329 on Dulles Drive. The other in the old Don’s Seafood Downtown.

Food will be available, but no solid plans as of yet.

One or both of these new places might be a good spot to hold future meetings and/or socials.

6:30 — Crown Caps – James

Dead Yeast has received the gracious donation from a certain local brewery of ≈1.2 Million, yes, Million, crown caps they are no longer in need of.

Caps will be stored with the rest of the DYS equipment, available to any member upon request.

The caps have a White background with a Red Fleur des Lis.

6:35 — Adjourn