Club Posts

2018 Baltibrewer Survey Results

April 21, 2018 by lpbrewer

What is Baltibrew?

A homebrew club dedicated to the discussion and exchange of fermented beverages!

Who is Baltibrew?

Great question!

Having never conducted a membership survey we decided to put a small set of questions to our brewers to get a bit of sense of who Baltibrew is.  With a response rate from dues paying members of slightly over 50%, we received 23 complete surveys (1 of which only provided the written feedback).  All percentages are based off the sample of actual responses.  Let's dig in!

What age range do you admit to?

  • 48% - 30-40
  • 24% - Under 30
  • 14% - 40-50
  • 14% - Over 50
  • 1 person admits nothing!

While homebrewing is fairly strong in the 30-40 demographic, Baltibrew skews young with 72% in the 20-40 range (the 2013 AHA Survey had 60% in the 30-50 cohort).  Our membership is somewhat less skewed when compared to the results captured by the Brulosophy online survey in 2017 (65% in that under 40 cohort, 44% 30-40 & 21% <30).

Profession

  • The survey categories were too granular to bucket in any meaningful way.
  • Well over 50% were in the sciences, engineering, or technology related fields.
  • Other industries are represented, including publishing, broadcasting, retail, manufacturing, construction, the arts, servicing, education, finance, real estate, marketing, legal.

Experience

  • 50% - 5+ years
  • 45% - 3-5 years
  • 1 person in the 1-2 year range

What types of fermented beverages do you produce

Half of our membership dabbles with funky brews.  We have many more sour brewers (50% vs 30%) than the Brulosophy average.

How often do you brew?

  • 41% - Monthly
  • 18% - More than once a month
  • 18% - Quarterly
  • 14% - Not actively brewing
  • 10% - A few times a year

What is the average volume of wort produced during a typical brew day?

  • Almost 70% do 5+ gallons, 20% doing 10+ gallons, and the remainder doing 2-4 range.  No 1 gallon brewers.

Which is your primary method of wort production?

  • 73% are all grain brewers, the rest are evenly split between extract and partial mash.  Which means we’ve more partial mash brewers than the Brulosophy survey captured.

All Grain Brewers: Which of the following best describes your methods?

  • 47% us batch sparge, 30% Fly Sparge, 23% BIAB (either full volume of w/ a sparge)

What is your average pre-boil efficiency?

  • 75% hit that 70-80 % efficiency, and all but 1 of the rest is above that.

Which of following readings do you take during brew day?

Which of the following readings do you take during/after fermentation?

Which describe your use of secondary fermenters?

  • 27% always use a secondary, 27% never use a secondary, and the rest use it for specific things, the most common being extended aging.  

What best describes you preference for yeast?

  • 40% have no attachment to dry/liquid/starters/direct pitch/rehydration/pitching from the cake.
  • Among those who do have a preference, liquid yeast is king, with only 3 brewers in camp dry.

How do you most commonly package your finished products?

  • Two keggers for every bottle conditioner in the club.

The prototypical Baltibrewer is….

  • A mid-thirties, STEM inclined brewer who’s been at it for 5 or more years.  They produce multiple types of clean and funky fermented beverages via all-grain fly or batch sparging and kegging the final product.

And lastly, why do we brew?

  • Common theme in the responses is because we like to!
  • Enjoy making or creating things
  • Mixing art and science, experimenting
  • Enjoying the company of other homebrewers/beer drinkers
  • Oh course, drinking the finished product

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April Minutes

April 20, 2018 by lpbrewer

Baltibrew General Meeting

April 19, 2018 @ Nepenthe

  • Introductions

  • Brübakes Competition Update, April 22nd @ De Kline Duvel - Jon

    • https://www.eventbrite.com/e/baltibrew-presents-brubakes-tickets-43690968864

    • Contest is this Sunday @ 2PM.  Jon will arrive a bit early to get set up.  Competitors should look out for an email to coordinate.  Please promote the event amongst your friends and in your social media feeds.  We’ve sold 25/50 attendee tickets through the web portal so far which is pretty decent for pre-sale numbers.

  • Bylaw Revisions - Quick Update - Kris

    • The e-board has been working up the rest of the bylaw changes.  We will discuss them at the next e-board meeting and look to bring them to the club for a vote in the next few months.

  • Discussion on upcoming Baltibrew Events

    • May 5th - Big Brew @ Nepenthe

      • Jude and Jacob are interested in doing a brew @ Nepenthe.  Permits have not yet been acquired for the parking lot but Nepenthe will follow up.  Look for an email thread to coordinate. Cairan will not be there to work logistics, so that will fall to the club.

    • May 6th - 2018 Big Brew w/ Brewtherville @ BC Brewery

      • Several folks are interested in dropping in on Brewtherville’s big brew event.  It is a small group and they will coordinate amongst themselves.

    • June 9th/10th - Sensory Classes @ Jon's

      • Jon is hosting 2 days of tasting panels in June.  The first day will be faults and the second will focus on barrel flavors.  Each panel will consist of 15 different compounds. Cost will be set at $35 dollars for both days, $20 for one day.  Seats are limited to 20 per day and the tastings run from 12-3PM. Tasters should plan to arrive 20 minutes early so the panel can begin on time.

  • Other New Business/Member Announcements

    • If you need to pay dues please see Greg or visit the website to pay via the paypal link.

  • Education - Kris

    • 2018 Baltibrewer Survey Results!

      • Result summary in attached document.  2018 Baltibrew Survey Results

      • There was interest in providing the opportunity for more focused feedback during the homebrew swap section of meetings.  We will draft a feedback form that brewers seeking comment can place on any beers they want detailed notes from others.

    • Baltibrew Yeast Capture! - feat. Christoph & Becky

      • The big 2018 education project is an attempt to capture and isolate a pure strain of saccharomyces from Baltimore.  Kris and Christoph distributed 15 capture kits to club members. A protocol sheet was included in the kits and reviewed at the meeting.  This portion of the activity centers around getting a large sampling of organisms from the area for Christoph and Becky to plate out. Please bring successful captures to the next meeting for lab work.

      • If successful isolate a good brewing yeast we will try to incorporate it in the historical Baltimore beer education project later this year.

    • Water Survey Collection

      • Jude, Greg, and Christoph provided water samples from Hampden, Fells Point, and Lutherville.  Becky and Max will provide a sample from Riverside. Kris is probably going to coordinate a tour of one of the water processing plants for his family in the next month.  He will let the group know when that is in case anyone wants to join.

  • Iron Brewer - Tea!

    • We had three entries for Iron Brewer Tea, the winner being Will’s Chai Saison!

    • Details on the next Iron Brewer competition will come at the May meeting.

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March Minutes

March 16, 2018 by lpbrewer

Baltibrew General Meeting

March 15, 2018 @ Nepenthe

  • Guild Minutes - Nate

    • Guild minutes were sent out to the Baltibrew listserve.

    • The BJCP class was cancelled due to lack of interest.

    • A number of events are coming up, including the CRABs Light Rail crawl on April 8th and the VIctory Brewing Taste at Goddard Space Flight Center on March 16th (Zymurnauts).

    • MALT was happy to see so many Baltibrewers sign up for their bus trip!

    • Brubakes was plugged, there seemed to be some interest.

  • Discussion on upcoming Baltibrew Events

    • May 5th - 2018 Big Brew
      Nepenthe is not sure if they will be hosting a Big Brew event this year, as they have not worked out their lease in the near term.  Several options were proposed, including attending the brew at Maryland Homebrew or joining Brewtherville’s Big Brew. Members will reach out to the other organizations and we will pick the discussion up next month.

    • July 27th - Baseball Os vs Rays Group Outing
      The club decided to move this outing to July 28th as Saturdays are generally easier for most of the members.  We will be looking to get a block of 30 tickets in the outfield bleachers, likely cost will be $17 dollars a seat. Options for a pre-game beer include the new Suspended Brewing in Pigtown.

    • August TBD - Balitbrew Bus Brewery Trip
      Jacob and Greg are getting quotes for the bus trip.  There are a few possible destinations in play, including DC, Columbia, and Eastern Shore breweries.  More information to follow. We will likely open up registration to guild members.

  • Bylaw Revisions

    • Update to Quorum Rules - The eboard suggests changing the quorum rules as follows:

      • Individuals shall be considered members of Baltibrew upon payment of dues.  One is considered a member in good standing if current dues are paid in full.  One is considered an active member if they have participated in at least 50% of votes from the previous calendar year.  New members will be considered active upon the meeting following their initial payment of dues.

      • A quorum shall be considered the participation of a minimum of 50% of active members in good standing for a vote.

      • Changes to Baltibrew charter, bylaws, or articles will require a quorum of  ⅔ of active members in good standing.

    • The goals for this change were to:

      • Drop the quorum requirement in the short term.

      • Encourage vote participation and provides mechanisms for the quorum requirements to rise over time.

      • Not bar any good standing member from casting a vote.

      • Prevent members from stacking a vote at the next meeting with new signups.

      • Not create an unreasonable burden on the eboard to manage.

    • The rest of the draft amendments will be brought before the club for comment in future months.

    • We will vote on the changes after the club has had a chance to discuss all the draft language.

  • Brübakes Competition Update, April 22nd @ De Kline Duvel

  • Social/Event Updates - Jacob

  • Other New Business/Member Announcements

    • Iron Brewer - Tea @ the April meeting!

  • Ed Topic - Kris

    • Meet the Ed Czar!

    • 2018 Ed Topics

      • March

        • Topic - Get to know your Ed Czar

        • Activity - Baltibrewer Survey

      • April

        • Topic - Baltibrewer Survey Results

        • Activity - Passing out wild yeast collection jars

        • Activity - Send in Water Survey Samples

      • May

        • Topic - Water Survey Results

      • June

        • Topic - Discussion - Fault and Flavors/Post -Mortem of Jon’s Tasting Panels

      • July

        • Activity - Sour Hour

      • August

        • Activity - Baltibrew Neighborhood Yeast Tasting

      • September

        • Topic - Brief History of Commercial Brewing in MD

        • Activity - Historical Beer from Baltimore

      • October

        • Topic - TBD

      • November

        • Topic - Apples and Honey - How Beer and Cider are different

      • December - Holiday Party - No Ed Topic

    • Baltibrewer Survey - Watch for an email with a link to the survey.

  • Homebrew Swap!

 

No Comments

February Minutes

February 16, 2018 by lpbrewer

Baltibrew General Meeting

February 15, 2018 @ Nepenthe

  • The 2018 Baltibrew Event Calendar

    • March 24th - MALT Bus Trip to Philly

      Malt has provided a code for a discount to Guild Members. Let’s get out there and support another club’s event!  Purchase tickets @ https://maltbusbalt.brownpapertickets.com/.

    • April 22nd - Brübakes Competition @ De Kline Duvel

      We are looking to start a spring event for BaltiBrew. Jon is going to coordinate an event, hopefully at De Kline Duvel, in April. The idea is to pair a brewer and a baker and produce a siason and a baked good featuring the spent grain from the beer. The baked good must be 10% spent grain by weight. Looking for 6-8 competitors. It will be an Sunday afternoon event with the attendees choosing the winners. More information to come.

    • May 5th - 2018 Big Brew

      Nepenthe is not sure they will be hosting a Big Brew event this year so we may need to either find another venue or join up with another club.

    • June 9th/10th - Sensory Classes @ Jon's

      Jon is going to do his sensory classes again in June. This year Siebel has released some new flavor profiles specific to barrel aging which Jon will evaluate and may incorporate into the sessions. Price will be set to recoup costs and should be close to 40 dollars for both sessions. More information to follow.

    • July 27th - Baseball Os vs Rays Group Outing

      Kris and Detter will coordinate a block of tickets for the Friday night Os game. We could potentially drop in on Suspended Brewing in Pigtown before the game.

    • August TBD - BalitBrew Bus Brewery Trip

      Jacob/Greg will be coordinating a brewery trip with the destinations TBD. Ideas include a trip to check out the DC scene or visiting Key and some Baltimore suburb breweries. This event will be open to Guild members.

    • September 1st - BBQ and Group Brew @ Jacob's

      A potluck BBQ and Brew at Jacob’s in Towson to kick off the fall season!

    • October 12th - ChiliBrew XII!!!!!!

      Ciaran and Jacob will be leading the ChiliBrew charge this year. The event will be run similar to previous years.

    • November TBD based on pressings - Cider Buy/Honey Buy w/ Wootown

      In the past we had sent a pretty large contingent to Wootown’s honey buy in White Hall. It’s a great event on a big farm/apiary and they have great quality and affordable honey. Additionally, our cider buy from Weber’s was a big success last year so we’re going to reciprocate by opening it up to Guild members. More details to come later in the year.

    • December 12th - Christmas/Holiday Party

      A potluck in place of the monthly meeting. Business will be light and the event moved forward a week so members do not need to choose between this event and other holiday obligations.

  • Introduction of new attendees

  • Bylaw Revisions

    • Update to Quorum Rules

      The current bylaws have set the definition of quorum high enough to where the club can no longer hold a votes. A proposal was made among in those in attendance to redefine a quorum as “any dues paying and interested member” where interest is loosely defined as “has attended a meeting, conversed on the listserve, or generally expressed interest in the club in the last several months.” The in attendance membership voted to accept this new definition. The specific language of this change will be brought before the in attendance member next month.

    • Potential Bylaws Updates

      The following bylaws changes were proposed in order to simplify club business and to reflect the smaller member count. Members discussed the potential changes and each change will be formally drafted for an individual vote at future meetings.

      • Remove Brewmaster position, Merge Secretary/Scribe Duties into Meeting Czar
      • Elections are only for positions where member wants to step down or is challenged
      • Move elections to fit with Jan-Dec timeframe (announce in Oct, vote in November)
      • Voting Procedures - Allow two weeks for proxy votes via email and tally votes at meeting; Reduce online balloting
      • Quarterly E-board Planning Meetings

  • Acceptance of New Officers/Thank You to Outbound Officers!

    • The in attendance members voted to accept the slate nominees as the 2018 officer core.
    • Brewmaster - Jon Blair
    • Chilibrew Task Czar - Ciaran Ussher
    • Education Czar - Kristofer Quinn
    • Monthly Meeting Czar - Vacant
    • Free State Homebrew Guild Representative - Nate Remlinger
    • Quartermaster - Vacant
    • Secretary - Vacant
    • Social Secretary - Jacob Wolf
    • Treasurer - Gregory Schwender
    • Website Coordinator - Jude Finnell

  • BalitBrew Website Update - Jude

    • Watch out for changes to the website. We will be sunsetting some unused sections and generally cleaning things up. Event planning and chatter will move to the Facebook page.

  • Social Update - Detter

    • Max's Belgian Beer Fest (2/16 - 2/19) - Friday is the big Belgian Day, Saturday morning/afternoon is a focus on Stillwater in upstairs, and Monday is American Sours
    • Union Pinewood Derby - This Sunday 2/18

  • Other New Business/Member Announcements

    • BaltiBrew Shirt and Glassware are still available for purchase! Talk to Nick and Christoph if you are interested.
    • Jon is looking for a travel buddy for the Beeradvocate Belgian Beer Fest in Boston in June. Ping him for more information or to coordinate travel. Links for tickets can be found on the Beeradvocate site.

  • Homebrew Swap!

No Comments

January Minutes

January 19, 2018 by lpbrewer

  • Introductions
  • Guild Update
    • The guild raised about 9k at their holiday party at Heavy Seas.
    • The tasting party from their December Group Brew will be Saturday, January 20th at DuClaw.
    • The guild asked for us to relay information about ChiliBrew as we plan it.
    • They are still working on their 501c3 application.
    • Guild Minutes will be distributed via the listserve.
  • Social Events
  • Officer Elections
    • We are still looking for a Meeting Czar/Secretary to fill out the ballot.
    • One minute stump speeches were given by nominated members.
    • Voting will be done online.  Be on the lookout for more information in the beginning of February.
  • Iron Brewer!
    • We had a great field for Iron Brewer apples.  Six contestants entered with Katie taking home the Iron Brewer cup!
    • The next ingredient is Tea!  Bring your entry in April!
  • Homebrew Swap

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April 13, 2025
  • BaltiBrew Monthly Meeting - Social
    Time: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
    Location: Sapwood Cellars Brewery, 8980 MD-108 Suite MNO, Columbia, MD 21045, USA
    Description:

    This April the club will be meeting at Sapwood Cellars for a social meeting in Howard County. The plan is to head to Black Flag afterward.

Baltibrew is a collective of homebrewers dedicated to the art and science of beer.
baltibrew@gmail.com

Join us every second Sunday at 3pm.