091 Brew Masters meeting 26/5/2011

From Noisebridge
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Meeting of 091 Brew Masters 18:30, 26/5/2011 at Javas

(next meeting on Wednesday 1/6/2011 at 18:30 at 64 Glenard Crescent, Salthill (Frantisek's place))


Present at this meeting


Alan Keaveney Frantisek Apfelbeck


Agenda

  • 1) what type of brewing is the group going to do, types of beverages

- Alan is interested in non alcoholic beverages, especially in ginger ale and elderflower cordial (did not prepared yet)

- Frantisek is interested in both non alcoholic beverages like elderflower cordial and ginger ale (did not prepared yet), kombucha, water kefir, honey cooler (has experience) and alcoholic beverages, especially in fruit wines (elderflower wine), cider, mead and also bear (without hop), do not have any experience with alcoholic beverages

- there are several potential group members who are interested especially in alcoholic brewing and has experience with it

- the idea is preferably brew what some of the members are experienced in, however new projects will be done too

- the system should be set up in the way, that people who do the brewing, planning etc. should not pay for the ingredients, especially if someone else is going to drink it. The money for brewing should be gained mostly through the promotional activities of the group, rather than members paying in cash for their passion


  • 2) how are we going to brew - experimental, promotional and commercial options


- first step will be experimental brewing in a smaller batches to reduce costs, 5 l plastic containers from Galway water can be used, however glass for fermentation vessels ans final product storage is preferred

- promotional brewing will be both done by organizing workshops and doing the brewing with people in group and also brewing for special events where we can promote our selfs and get new people interested and bring more resources for the projects

- commercial level of brewing is not planed within the group, at least not for now. The creation of businesses and helping people do brewing for living should be certainly supported by the group but we should rather avoid “intensive commercial activities”.


  • 3) where we brew

- for the time being we can brew at locations where the members live if they are willing to offer hosting for the events and products

- in the long term it is desired to keep closely cooperating with the mother hacker space 091 labs and function within it's structure as one of it's subgroups


  • 4) budget

- the current budget is around 15 EU, the report has to be finished and posted

- treasurer position is open, Frantisek is doing it for now but would certainly not mind to hand it over to someone else because he has several other projects with budgets on his table already


  • 5) Elderflower based drinks

- we are currently looking for a recipes for Elderflower wine and cordial, because the season is here

- we will plan the experiment deciding the amounts and types of sugar sources needed for fermentations, type of yeast etc.

- based on planing we will propose budget for the project and make several alternatives depending on how many people would like to either join the activity or "order" the product - more people interested, more cash for ingredients, more experimental brewing ==> hopefully more of the tasty product

- we will go through the details of this project on the next meeting on 1/6/2011 at 18:30 at Glenard Crescent, Salthill


  • 6) sustaining the existing cultures

- we should sustain cultures which we have already - kombucha, kefir, water kefir, yogurt. That means feeding them (sugar sources) and giving them nutrition (black tea for example). Products are available on request and will be used to promote the group and get resources for the feed.

- we should create bank of cultures and have them available to share with people, preferably for free or for suggested donations which would keep the cultures fed


  • 7) experimental incubator

- we will proceed with the project of the experimental incubator.


short time goals

- measure temperature through thermistor sensor connected to the arduino microcontroller

- switching on and off a heating element to keep the culture at a constant temperature


medium term goals

- oscillate the temperature in a controlled manner, with energy efficiency being crucial part of the project

- create well insulated unit where the fermenting cultures will be kept

- make a prototype of a kit which can be easily assembled and used as a central unit for the experimental incubator


long term goals

- to develop a robust incubator which is allowing general public to do various types of fermentations on day to day basis in a simple and repetitive way

- create an experimental incubator which can detect various factors like temperature, pH, level of dissolved oxygen, CO2, turbidity, culture count etc.


  • 8) next step

- meet as a group on next Wednesday 1/6/2011 at 18:30 at 64 Glenard Crescent, Salthill (Frantisek's place) to further plan the elderberry experiments and work on the experimental incubator. For the elderberry project experienced person should be present, the same applies to the incubator. Whoever is interested in a practical application of his or her arduino skills is more than welcome to join! We should have all the components to be able to build up a functional prototype of the experimental incubator based on the short time goals which is going to be tested on at least some batches of the elderflower wine experiment. There will be also tasters of various fermented products :-))


The meeting in Javas was very nice, glad to be there!


Hope to see all of you soon,


Sincerely,


Frantisek