A number of key action items have been posted to the Google Group, and details of what went down in the meeting are in the linked minutes below.

2012 elected club representatives:
Treasurer: Greg slack
Secretary: Josh Rosen
Guild Rep: Jon Blair
Education Coordinator: John Jester

Baltibrew January 2012 Meeting Minutes

The post January Minutes (Broken Attachment) appeared first on Baltibrew.

Lots of stuff on the docket to be discussed.

Our History So Far…

The club began with a stated goal of fostering beginning brewers in their efforts to  become great brewers; with a focus on beer/brewing education. We also intended to work to keep the club informal, lighthearted, and — more than anything — fun.

With the relatively limited number of members any club starts with, I think we most definitely achieved these goals. Some excellent examples of our successes include winning the Guild Holiday Party's Hedonistic Homebrew Competition with our "Ginger Snap Cookie" Ale, the success of BOTH ChiliBrew events, the development of some of our members' skills (e.g. John Jester's transition from extract to partial mash, to all-grain brewing AND placing in competitions in under a year), and — most relevant to what comes next — the growth of our mailing list — which is essentially our members list — to a whopping 62 members.

That Said…

We have a 62 member mailing list, but our meetings generally only generate a quorum of between 10 and 20 members, with brews varying in attendance from as few as 5 to as many as 25. That's a pretty big disparity. We've also strayed pretty far away from working with the beginner style brewing (extract, partial-mash, etc.) that we've stated to be our focus.

It's time for some reflection.

How do we get more member involvement? How do we focus on our goals? How do we grow Baltibrew from the fledgling that it presently is to the soaring pinnacle of Baltimore brew clubs that we know it can be?

The beginning of this year essentially marks one and a half years of Baltibrew's existence, and brings us to what a good number of us feel is a turning point in the way in which the club does business.  In an effort to adhere to the goals of maintaining a relaxed environment focused on educating members about beer and brewing, we will propose the following at tonight's meeting:

Agenda:

• All voting will be done online using the Baltibrew website. Which means NOTHING is voted on at meetings. So even if you can't make the meetings, you can still vote.
• Meetings begin at 8 sharp, and all meeting business should be completed by 9 p.m. to ensure that we're all sober enough to get it done.
• Election held to fill the following positions:
  • Treasurer - Duties are obvious - Manages monies collected from dues and any other sources of club income.
  • Secretary - Duties include: recording club minutes, posting them to the club website, reading previous meeting minutes at monthly meetings, and acting as guild representative to ensure that every other month guild meetings are attended. Additionally, this person will be in charge of increasing club participation in Guild activities, as well as communicating with fellow clubs. The person will also manage votes.
• Active participants in the club with a certain level of experience brewing, and are willing to will become an official advisory board/steering committee/senior council to steer the club. Duties will include acting as available mentors to new club members, and other advisory type actions.
• Use a portion of initial year's dues collections to purchase equipment that will allow the club's brew volume to increase from a max of 10 gallons, to a minimum of 20 gallons in order to allow members to take away fermenters full at the completion of brews.
• Use a portion of initial year's dues collections to purchase "brew kits" -- brew buckets, airlocks, etc. that will allow beginning brewers to "check out" a kit for one month for a $5 fee. This should encourage new members/brewers who have neither room, money nor equipment of their own to begin brewing, and take away beer of their own.

• Nominal yearly dues fee for active brewing members in a to be voted upon amount. Suggestions so far include $10, $15, and $20. Members who do not brew do not have to pay dues.
• Some benefits of membership include:
  • Discounts at area Guild member homebrew shops (Maryland Homebrew, and Thirsty Brewer)
  • Ability to take  club-brewed wort home (with accompanying chip-in for grain, hops, yeast, etc.)
  • Membership gives you the right to vote on club business

• Set up a "field trip" each to the Thirsty Brewer and Maryland Homebrew to encourage our members to get their own equipment, to use the shops, and to brew more in general.
• Propose club outings to breweries (Flying Dog, etc.), brewpubs, etc.
• ChiliBrew III: This time it's personal.
• What to brew next? We know that Greg is hosting. Just have to determine the what, and the when.
• Select a technical topic and beer style to be presented and discussed at the Feb. meeting.

Where You Come In…

Discuss this stuff at the meeting. Propose changes to any of these items as you feel necessary. Nominate possible treasurers and secretaries. Prepare to vote on items that are put forward for an online vote.

John Jester has graciously agreed to act as temporary secretary this evening to take on the job of recording the proceedings.

The post January Meeting Agenda appeared first on Baltibrew.