Announcing the third (or is it the fourth?) annual Masstoberfest

Hey folks,

Well, it's that time of year again. Time for New England brewers to gather together to eat, drink and brew. I'm throwing another Masstoberfest party at my place on Saturday October 16. Any and all Home Brewers and friends of Home Brewers are invited. We'll do it the way we've done it in past years, I'll fire up Bertha and cook some BBQ and ask that anyone coming bring along a dish of something. (I'm hoping Melana gets Big John to peels some apples so she can make her apple cake again. That was a not so subtle hint.)

One thing that I want to do a little different this year is to use the party to do some good. Most of you know about what is going on with Babalu87, if you don't know about it then please read FrankW's thread here. That should give you all the information you need to know. Babalu is a well known member of both the New England and the HBT communities. He is a giant of a man with a personality to match. He's having a hard time right now with some medical issues. I want to hold this years party with the goal of raising some much needed money to help out Babalu's family. We'll do things like put out a cookie jar, hold a vintage beer/wine raffle, a 50/50 raffle, etc. I've even heard rumors of donated Pats tickets. I'll do what I can to get donations from the local HB shops, etc.

No one HAS to participate in that part of the party in any way. We all have our own economic circumstances to worry about and I wouldn't dream of making this a 'have to' event. We've held this party for a few years now and it's been a real blast and it will be again. If you can afford to drop a few extra bucks into a cookie jar for Fullers family that's great. If you can't then PLEASE don't feel like you shouldn't come. We are all part of this community and we all have our own circumstances. Come and meet other New England area brewers, bring along some of your beer for us to sample/critique/praise, eat too much BBQ, brew with us that day, and have a great time. See you all on October 16.

[discuss]

WINNERS IN BLACK BELOW



Updated to add a list of items donated for the raffle

I'll continue to update this list as items are confirmed


Click Here to Purchase a Chance for the Raffle - $20 each
(You will not receive a physical raffle ticket, your Paypal Receipt is your ticket. Be sure to indicate your online HBT name so whe know who you are and can contact you if you win.)

Complete All Grain Brewing System (2 x 15 Gallon Keggles, JayBird's Stainless False Bottom (Redding, CA), Cooler Mash Tun, Turkey Fryer, Immersion Chiller, Custom Mash Paddle from Mashpaddle.com) - Matt Menard , Taunton, MA

Yes, that's right, someone is going to win an all grain rig for the cost of a $20 raffle ticket!!!

7 Gallon Stainless Conical - Steve Gravel, Portsmouth, RI

$50 gift certificate Brewmasters Warehouse Marietta, GA - Jae Wilson, Middleboro, MA

$50 gift certificate Brewmasters Warehouse - John D Hall, Brazoria, TX

Two tickets to the presumptive 2010 Super Bowl Winning New England Patriots homegame at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Ma See below for more details on the Pats tix. - Smurf Juice

5 gallon glass carboy - Shawn Curran

$25 Gift Certificate from Beer and Wine Hobby in Woburn, MA. - Benjamin Brown, Medford, MA

Two Kits from Modern Homebrew Emporium in Cambridge, MA, including one that the manufacturer is donating part of the proceeds towards prostate research. (WTH, we're all getting older.) - Chris Soper, Chandler, AZ - James Post, Aurora, CO

A $25 Gift Certificate from MoreBeer - The Bird
A $25 Gift Certificate from MoreBeer - Michael Ontolchik, Mentor, OH
A $25 Gift Certificate from MoreBeer - willceaser
26 gallon heavy duty brew pot from More Beer. - Stephen Mayo, Derry, NH

Two bottles of Vintage Thomas Hardy Ale donated by the Nashville Brew Club Music City Brewers - The Bird

A full sack of Marris Otter grain from The Witches Brew. - Andrew Ippolito, Germantown, MD

One 33# Jerry Pack of Malt Extract from The Witches Brew - Smurf Juice

$100 Gift Certificate to The Witches Brew - Kevin Farrel, Medfor, MA

A complete Seirra Nevada Bigfoot 12 year vertical tasting! (1 bottle of each year from 1999 to 2010).
- paultheoriginal

Stainless Drip Tray - Joe Dragon, Warrenville, IL

Stainless HopStopper False Bottom - Byron DeLaBarre, Arlongton, MA


Raffle winners who are not local are responsible for shipping charges

PTN

I'll try to show up and provide the comic relief/entertainment end of things:fro:

I'm a "highly likely". We have calendar juggling to do but it shouldn't be a problem.

I might have a couple kegs ready for that weekend too. (don't worry, we'll taste em before we let anyone else)

Hippie said:

I'll try to show up and provide the comic relief/entertainment end of things:fro:

Click to expand...

I'm NOT driving you up to friggin' Ipswich at 11:30 pm this time! Although I laughed so hard on the ride that you could probably talk me into it again. Just no stops at some bucket of blood basement VFW.

PTN

Cape Brewing said:

I might have a couple kegs ready for that weekend too. (don't worry, we'll taste em before we let anyone else)

Click to expand...

Ass beer is always a big hit.


PTN

Should be in. That weekend's clear, and it's on the calendar. Have to see if I'll have any beer to share, see if anything's left from the wedding the weekend prior.

I am thrilled to announce that Ed from Brewmasters Warehouse has just sent us two $50 gift certificates to be raffled off at Masstoberfest for Jeff's benefit. If I get the go ahead from him we'll announce who sponsored the gifts, if the donors wish to remain anonymous I'll respect that.

Thank you, Ed and thanks to everyone who is helping Babalu87 and his family out however they can.

PTN

I can't imagine me NOT having some sort of Patriots tickets as part of this deal. I just need to figure out the best way to do it.

No sweat. You sign over your seasons tickets to me and I handle it from there.

That was easy.

Next?

PTN

That is going to be my new signature... FOR... EVA...

Nah, the tickets thing is more of a question of what game I would get them for. I have my two seats for Holloween which I can definately donate since I'll be going door to door with the chilluns.

OR... I can go out on the Ticket Exchange as a season ticket holder and grab two more for really,any other game, but I won't know EXACTLy where those seats are until reasonably close to that game being played.

I could offer up MY two (which are pretty good seats... top teir but only 6 rows up and right on the 50) and then get two more for myself... or... just get two more pretty decent seats and put THOSE up for auction....

Lotsa options... like I was saying, I just need to figure out the best way to do it.

Dude, the Halloween game is Minnesota. That's going to be a helluva good game. What if that's the game where Brett Favre gets beaten up SO badly, he finally says "what the **** am I doing?" and quits? How much would you pay just for the POSSIBILITY of seeing that?

That's a good game, and if those are good seats... ****, I wouldn't make it any more complicated than that.

Putting this on the calendar...I SHOULD be there. I don't have much to bring...maybe I'll pull a bottle of Leap Year Mead. Let me know if you need anything (supplies/cups/etc).

-Will

the_bird said:

That's a good game, and if those are good seats... ****, I wouldn't make it any more complicated than that.

Click to expand...

My two seats are in section 331... They don't suck and face is $89 per ticket.

We have started a little tradition for Halloween where I hook up my 4x8 little utility trailer to my John Deere, fill it with hay and then take all of the neighborhood chilluns (uhh... including my two) around treat or treating since we have kind of a spread out neighborhood. Jeff and his family came last year. I VERY RARELY miss a Pats game but I'm not going to miss this type of thing because of a Pats game. You only get to take your kids out for Halloween so many times. I think I can miss ONE game this year.

Its a bummer too 'cause if it was a 1:00 game, I would be going. Right now it is a 4:15... so... no way I would be home in time.

We WILL be there. it's now on my calendar.
Hippie - we have a couch for you if you need it.

I think I should be able to peel a few apples. Let us know if we can bring anything else.

I don't know if that couch is even needed, Hippie actually seems to be enjoying himself while sleeping on a chair in Yeager's garage.



Just sayin'

And what's with the toga?

PTN

I think we need a "Hippie Action Shot" thread to post all the pictures of him being him.

Ok guys, things are coming together for the raffle. Thanks to the wonderful generocity of a bunch of folks we're going to have a bunch of really cool things to raffle off for Fullers benefit.

We have two $50 gift certificates to Brewmasters Warehouse and a $100 dollar gift certificate to The Witches Brew. Jae Wilson has donated a 15.5 gallon SS keggle with a SS valve. I'm going to put the arm on a few guys and we're going to get the parts together to make up an all grain system and raffle that of as a complete turn key, ready to go rig. I'm sure we'll get other smaller things, a kit or three, a carboy, etc. If anyone is interested in donating anything let me know.

PTN

How are you proposing to do the raffle? That should be HBT-wide, shouldn't it?

I was going to wait to talk to FW and Cape about that but yes, I figured that it would be open to any and all. We'll figure out what we will sell the chances for and what to do about shipping if someone in Alaska wins.

PTN

You may want to consider a couple auctions in addition to the raffles. Auctions can get pretty crazy if held later in the day after people have been enjoying homebrew. Especially if it's for a good cause.

Just a thought. I'm sure the event will be a great success.

Lots more items coming up for the raffle. We've pretty much got a complete turn key all grain brew rig as well as a bunch of other wicked pissa items. (see the first post in this thread) Someone is going to walk away (Or have one arrive in the mail) with an all grain set up for $20.

Thanks to all of the vendors on HBT who have provided their genrous support and thanks to all of you who are buying the raffle tickets. Good luck!

PTN

Quick question, I just moved to Mass and am wondering if everyone is invited and if so where is this being held?

Yes, you are invited. Yeager is invited, the invite threshold is obviously quite low.


Just kidding. Yes, this is open to all. The party is a great way to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. You might just go home with an all grain brew rig and if you ask a bunch of questions during the afternoon you might pick up enough to learn how use it.

PM me for directions. I'm not paranoid but it strikes me as crazy to post my address on a public forum.

PTN

I'm interested in joining a group (if you are a group) as I have moved to the east coast (Melrose, MA) a few months back and am in the mists of up grading my equipment. I'm in the need of fellow brewers that enjoy making and discussing homebrew!

I am upgrading my system to a newly acquired 15.5 gal BK and making my 20 gal stock pot into a LT, and sticking with my 60 qt cooler as a MT because I dont feel that I want to go with a direct fire MT at this point.

Just missing 1 more burner and looking into getting a pump. Better to know people in the area to help keep an eye out on equipment procurement!

And I hear ya about posting your address online! I'm still hesitant about putting my face in my YouTube videos!

Let me know what group if your are in if you are a group as I would be interested into getting in a group.

Need another burner? I've got an extra Banjo Burner. Like this:



If you want it... $30 donation to Babalu's family. It's a good burner, it might need a little tweaking to get it to burn a little cleaner but it works pretty damn well as-is.

Sold! I was looking for exactly that.

And BTW Babalu is in my prayers. I saw ont he news something about triple E but still know nothing about it.

My prayers go out to him and his family.

I saw something about it in Winthrop.

Go read FrankW's thread HERE. It will tell you all you need to know, except for what a great guy Jeff is. You will see that for yourself on the 16th when you see how many guys and girls come to Masstoberfest here in order to help him out.

PTN

Entered the raffle. I won't be able to make it down for the get to together but wanted to show my support.

Party on, Wayne!

PTN

Where would this be, I really would like to meet all the regulars and definitely support the cause even thought I dont know him personally

At my house, Rook. PM sent. Also, you can get directions from Steve at TWB.

PTN

Sweet...should be a great day

Pauls parties are epic!

So, I'm assuming the pig roast aspect of this party is still intact? Bean and I still talk about "The Big Pig Party."

nothing better than a pig roast...

Agreed.... if it's done right.

If I get a firm yes from enough people so I know how many are coming I'll do it. But I need firm commitments. It's not a hot dog, you don't just pop it in the microwave.

Well, Cape does in his little hole in the ground but I'm talking real BBQ'd hawg.

PTN

Pfft... You're funny

We're 99.9% certain of going. Never say never, it is a bit of a haul for us, but it's always a lot of fun to hang out with you ****s. That's two biggies and two wee ones.