Meeting Reports 2026 | Obx Homebrews

March 2026

The March meeting was convened at OBX Brewing Station on March 5th. Ten attended.

While dinner was served, we enjoyed three mystery beers and one of Tom’s magnums. The group identified one mystery beer (red ale), got close on the Kolsch (guessed blonde ale), and whiffed it on the Belgian American triple. Thanks to Doug, Rob Palmer, and Rob Pokewaldt for providing the mystery beers.

Treasury

Ken reported we have a treasury balance of $500.

Discussion was had on maybe buying an expensive piece of equipment ($100 to $200 range) that would be “club-owned” and shared with all. Possibilities mentioned were the Tilt spg/temp wireless monitor, a pH meter, etc. This remains open for more discussion.

Also discussed the value of creating a club-level inventory of member-owned equipment they would be willing to share when not using. Such a list could have some equipment many would like the opportunity to use or learn to use. Sean said he would start a club library that would inventory the equipment. More to come.

Mead presentation

Ken gave a very informative presentation on making Mead, including sharing two Mead samples. Thank you Ken for an interesting session. See Ken’s handout at bottom of email.

Whalehead Brewery trip

A couple of brewers that made the trip shared their experiences. The pizza and beer was delicious along with great service. Thank you Darrell, Trey, and Christin for supporting this visit. The consensus from the participants was to plan a return trip.

Club Website

We discussed the recent modifications to the club’s website and viewed it on a laptop. Because there were a number of questions, the following guidance is provided to help with answers and get everyone up the learning curve. This approach assures learning by all:

* When you have a question, find and reply to a recent meeting minutes email. It has the whole distribution list of members. Select “reply all” to ensure all get the question.

* Type in the question and send it to all.

* Tim Welch is the website designer. He is on our distribution list. Tim will review the question in the email, select “reply all” to the email, enter in an answer, and send the email. That way the answer goes back out to the whole distribution.

Regional/national competitions

Tom and Rob T are entering the national completion. Rob is brewing the Anchor Porter again with some enhancements. First round competition is April 10 -19. Good luck to Tom and Rob.

Future meeting venues

- Rob T will reach out to Todd, owner of Stormy Seas, as a possible monthly meeting venue

- Geof and Tad will explore possibilities with Scott Keener, owner of High Tides to use the venue for private homebrew tasting events, meetings, etc

- need a venue for June 4th monthly meeting

- Sean will host the August meeting in Wanchese.

Cloned brews

A brewer brews a cloned commercial beer and brings it to a meeting with the commercial beer (if available) for tasting comparison and feedback for improvement. So far we have three signed up. Rob Po. – Swellsa brown ale, Charles – Pliny the Elder, Geof – Chimay Quad. The three Robs and Ken expressed interest in doing this as well. Pick out your favorite and clone it.

OBX Brewing Station on barrel aged beer

Rob T will discuss further with Adam along with him brewing the winner of our fall competition.

Second trip to Va Beach/Norfolk Breweries

Discussion led to perhaps moving this trip up to this April. Geof will send out a doodle on Saturday dates in April to poll interest.

Homebrew demo at selected festival

Geof will reach out to festivals to gauge interest. Brewtag would definitely be a good match.

February 2026

The February meeting was convened at Three Tequilas. Ten members attended.

Progress was made on the 2026 plans.

* Treasury

Ken will continue as club Treasurer. Thank you Ken. Thanks to Rob T’s just-in-time $1 donation, we have $600 in the treasury.

* Decision making process

For any decisions requiring group voting, such as club expenses exceeding $30, we will continue to follow Roberts Rules of Order – discussion, call for motion, call for second, final discussion, vote. With 19 active members, a quorum of 10 will be used for voting. If a meeting has less than 10, a discussion can occur, votes taken, and results presented as recommendations for a future meeting with a quorum of 10, or voting may occur via email communication.

* Website funding

It was agreed unanimously to continue funding the club’s website for another year at a club cost of $100. Thank you Tom for contributing to the overall costs for a second year. We had a good discussion on the value and use of the website and how its’ value might be enhanced. A summary of the discussion follows -

The value experienced in the initial year of operation was in the engagement of the existing members. An example of this engagement was the User Forum. Members got to add posts allowing them to interact with each other on brewing questions, list equipment for sale, and share brewing experiences with pics, commentary, etc. Our understanding is that functionality was lost when a new website supplier came on board. Any chance that can return? Perhaps that is an additional cost item. Will check.

One suggestion to enhance membership engagement was adding a website function that would allow members to directly report their brewing plans on a brewing calendar accessible from the website, and perhaps send a notification out to the membership whenever a calendar update was made. That would be a much more effective, robust way to communicate brewing plans verses members just using the email DL to announce their brew plans, one email at a time, with no calendar. Email as well as Facebook (less than half the membership has a FB account) are ineffective for this communication. On the other hand, the website is accessible to everyone. And a real-time calendar with ease in member updating would be a very robust way to communicating emerging brew schedules.

There was also some discussion about creating a position within the club responsible for website use and development to enhance member value over time.

* Donation of four aged magnums by Tom

We will open one magnum per meeting for the next four meetings. Sean has multiple bottles from numerous years of one of the magnums and will donate one or two to open and compare.

* Partnering for NHB competition

Those planning to enter regional/national competitions are encouraged to reach out to others that may be interested in brewing with you. Placing brew schedules on a club calendar would help connect brewers. This is being looked into as a new function for the website.

* Club competitions/brewery collaborations

Whalehead brewers Darrell and Trey will collaborate with the winner of the April club completion. The winning Kolsch entry will be brewed at Whalehead for a May release.

Adam Ball, head brewer at OBX Brewing Station, has agreed to collaborate with the club as well. We will set plans for a fall competition.

* Collaboration with Adam at OBX Brewing station on doing a barrel aging brew

Rob Testerman has confirmed that Adam will donate a barrel for this project. A high gravity, dark beer is best for barrel brewing. Watch for updates.

* Clones

We discussed having a cloned brews where a brewer brews a cloned commercial beer, and brings it in with the commercial beer for tasting comparison and feedback for improvement. So far we have the following: Rob Po. – Swellsa brown ale, Charles – Pliny the Elder, Geof – Chimay Quad. Who else would like to join in?

* Tech topics

Ken will present mead brewing with samples at the March meeting. Rob Pa. will give presentation on mash temp, sparge rate, dry/liquid yeasts at the June meeting. Looking for others to provide a tech talk.

* Whalehead Brewery trip

Charles is the leader for the daytrip to Whalehead Brewery. Reach out to Charles for details (cell – 252-489-9627).

* In the works

- Sean will host a meeting at Wanchese

- possible website engagement enhancements

- June 19th Homebrew Con – roadtrip?

- Second trip to Va Breweries

- Homebrew demo at selected festival - Geof will reach out to festivals to gauge interest. Brewtag would definitely be a good match.

- Club gmail email account - Sean

- fall competition and collaboration with OBX Brewing Station

- collaboration with Scott Keener, owner of High Tides – private homebrew tasting event

Whalehead Brewery will brew the recipe of the winner of our Kolsch competition. The competition is currently scheduled for the April 2nd meeting. That leaves 7 weeks and four days to order, brew, ferment and lager the Kolsch. With an order delivery time, 7 to 10 day fermentation, and 3 -5 weeks for lagering, some brewers may be pressed for time.

We want to make sure we have as many entries as there is interest.

This survey has three dates for the competition - the current plan on April 2nd, the May meeting on the 7th, and a date in between those two monthly meetings.

For those that want to participate in this competition, please indicate your response for these three dates.

https://doodle.com/group-poll/participate/enmOJ3pd

2026 Calendar

January – planning

February – planning; trip to Whalehead

JANUARY 2026

The January meeting will be held at the OBX Brewing Station, second floor, on Thursday, January 8th from 6 til 8pm

No RSVP needed. Plan to dine there.

This is clean out your keezer month. Bring whatever homebrews you have. Need volunteers for mystery beers.

This will be a planning meeting for 2026. Bring your ideas and energy.

Topic reviews can consist of a verbal review, a handout, an equipment demonstration, or any combination of those.

* fermenting things that aren’t beer

* yeast – dry verses liquid, when to use starters, when to oxygenate

* online apps/calculators/forums

* serving pressure for kegs

* steeping grains verses semi-mash and other tips for extract brewing

* mash temperature and sparge drain rate for efficiency

* the four ingredients of beer

* pressure fermenting with 15 gal keg

* Judging and BJCP

* other

OBX Homebrewers January 2026 Meeting minutes

We had six attendees.

Numerous mystery beers and homebrews were enjoyed with an OBX Brewing Station dinner.

With a smaller group, we were able to go through the proposed planning activities (attached and at bottom of email). Below is a summary of our review.

We will continue to plan out the 2026 calendar at the February meeting.

Admin

* Treasury

Unless someone else would like to do it, Ken is willing to continue as club Treasurer.

* Decision making process

For any decisions requiring group voting, such as club expenses exceeding $30 (example – Chips gift certificate for competition winners), we will continue to follow Roberts Rules of Order – discussion, call for motion, call for second, final discussion, vote, majority rules. With 19 active members, a quorum of 10 will be used for voting. If a meeting has less than 10, a discussion can occur, votes taken, and results presented as recommendations for future meeting with a quorom of 10.

* Website funding

Discussion was deferred due to lack of a quorum.

Brewing

* Donation of four aged magnums by Tom

We will open one magnum per meeting for the next four meetings. Sean has multiple bottles from numerous years of one of the magnums and will donate one or two to open and compare.

* Partnering for NHB competition

Those planning to enter competition are encouraged to reach out to others that would like to brew with you.

* Club competitions

A survey will be sent to poll interest in what styles to brew.

* Collaboration with Adam at OBX Brewing station on doing a barrel aging brew

Rob Testerman has confirmed that Adam will donate a barrel for this project. A high gravity, dark beer is best for barrel brewing. Will need ~50 gallons. Need brewer volunteers to brew a five or ten gallon batch. Watch for updates.

* Pro-am collaboration with local breweries

Thoughts on this project:

- Have pro brewer select the style to be brewed

- Have pro brewer and staff participate in judging, or even select the winner

- Homebrewer will work with pro brewer on brewing the beer

Local breweries have been contacted to solicit interest, including Swellsa, 1718, Lost Colony, OBX Brewing Station and Whalehead Breweries. TBC.

* Clones

We discussed having a clone meeting where a brewer brews a cloned commercial beer, and brings it in with the commercial beer for tasting comparison and feedback for improvement.

* Tech topics

Need to solicit interest in presenting a brewing topic at a monthly meeting. Ken will present mead brewing with samples at the March meeting.

Social

* Family cookout in May

* Oyster roast in December

* Pub meetups in lieu of summer meetings – TBD

* Sean wants to host a meeting in Wanchese

Trips

* Whalehead trip in February

* Second trip to Va Breweries

* Homebrew Con in Asheville in June on 19th

New membership

* Homebrew demo at selected festival

Geof will reach out to festivals to gauge interest. Brewtag would definitely be a good match.

* Club gmail email account

A club calendar showing club activities and individual brewing schedules could be used to for public outreach. Sean volunteered to look into that.

Below is the initial 2026 calendar. The following need to be further discussed and placed on the schedule in the February meeting. Likely can’t do all of them.

* competition styles and dates

* collaboration with Adam on barrel brew

* Pro-am collaboration with local breweries

* Clones, or Smash, or same grain/hops but different yeast (or different hops with same grains/yeast), or brew a beer to match a food item

* Wanchese meeting hosted by Sean

* road trips

* set up club brewing calendar for public outreach - Sean

* tech topics for meetings

2026 Planning Activities