[Makerspace-keymembers] Possible future SCA-and-Makerspace brew days, and a quick breakdown of this one?

Dena Strong dena.strong at gmail.com
Fri May 6 12:50:57 EDT 2016 

Hi, all - I'm looking at the collection of stuff I need to do between now
and August and having a bit of a panic attack.

Would anyone be willing to take the lead on getting the workshop prep ready?

I'm willing to help on the day of, but right now I need to scale back the
number of things I'm considered in charge of, and this is the simplest one
I could hand off.

On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 8:24 AM, Emily Knox <emilyknox at gmail.com> wrote:

> Why don't we go ahead and plan for July 16th.
>
> Emily
>
> On Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 11:44 PM, Amy Williams <miss.awilliams at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> If you want help from Andy, the 16th would be better. He's out of town on
>> the 23rd.
>>
>> On Apr 24, 2016, at 9:15 PM, Dena Strong <dena.strong at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I was hoping to hear back from the chemistry group on whether they have a
>> weekend preference, but they're pretty swamped with finals prep. How about
>> the 16th or 23rd?
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 6:46 PM, Emily Knox <emilyknox at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Any weekends in July that work for everyone?  Probably the 9th, 16th, or
>>> 23rd since the first weekend is July 4th.
>>>
>>> Emily
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 9:59 AM, Gergana Slavova <
>>> gergana.s.slavova at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Let's do July, in this case.  Pick a weekend that's good for you and
>>>> we'll bookmark that date.
>>>>
>>>> ~Gergana
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 11:11 PM, Dena Strong <dena.strong at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Yay, more brewing collaborations! :)
>>>>>
>>>>> What's the most appealing time frame for folks? Close-term,
>>>>> medium-term, or summer?
>>>>>
>>>>> How much I personally could be involved would depend on the specific
>>>>> month as much as the specific weekend. My own schedule is kind of crazy for
>>>>> the next three months - I could help with something on April 16 (if it's
>>>>> mead or cider), May 14-ish or 28-ish, or some time in July or August.
>>>>>
>>>>> However, I suspect April 16 would be a pretty tight advertising and
>>>>> scheduling turnaround and it'd have to be cider or mead because I don't
>>>>> think we'd have time to prep a batch of TV-magic pre-brewed-and-racked
>>>>> beer. May 14 may be too close to finals for most students. May 28 would
>>>>> probably be good for in-town students but would be bad for some of the SCA
>>>>> folks who are going to a big event that weekend, so we'd have to lean more
>>>>> on Makerspace folks if that was the chosen weekend.
>>>>>
>>>>> May 21 might also be a good option for folks who aren't me - it'd be
>>>>> after the end of finals and there doesn't look to be a big SCA thing that
>>>>> weekend, but I'll be in Chicago for two back to back conferences. So if
>>>>> someone else wants to run one on the 21st I'll happily cheer you on
>>>>> remotely!
>>>>>
>>>>> June or July may have more openings in general too? For me June is
>>>>> out, but for a lot of folks it's past finals and pre school work.
>>>>>
>>>>> (For reference, the Women in Chemistry group's also interested in
>>>>> collaborating on a brewing type of event over the summer - they didn't want
>>>>> to try to fit anything else into the school year themselves, and they would
>>>>> be interested in somewhere between late May and early August.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Thoughts?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Andy Gibbs <andygibbs at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm also interested in helping with this.  I have two cappers that I
>>>>>> can bring if we're bottling anything, among other miscellaneous brewing
>>>>>> supplies.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Andy
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, Mar 27, 2016 at 11:42 PM, Gergana Slavova <
>>>>>> gergana.s.slavova at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I can definitely help out with this.  Dena, pick a day (or a couple
>>>>>>> of dates) that are convenient for you and we'll narrow it down to just 1
>>>>>>> that's good for everyone.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ~Gergana
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 3:11 PM, Emily Knox <emilyknox at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi Dena,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thank you so much for all your work last week! We can make a quick
>>>>>>>> list for anyone that's interested in helping out. (Keymembers, let me know
>>>>>>>> and we'll just make a group from the Makerspace email.)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> What dates/times work for you?  It doesn't need to be anytime soon.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Emily
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 8:50 PM, Dena Strong <dena.strong at gmail.com>
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Hi all! I'm not 100% sure whether having both a mailing list and
>>>>>>>>> individual folks on an email thread will keep the individual folks once
>>>>>>>>> replies happen, but I thought it would be worth a try? (If anyone SCA-side
>>>>>>>>> knows Terra's email address, she'd probably be a good person to talk with
>>>>>>>>> too.)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Part 1:
>>>>>>>>> Emily and I had a really nice chat-slash-debriefing over tea
>>>>>>>>> tonight after work and she said that the Makerspace crew is also excited by
>>>>>>>>> how many folks are interested in brewing and that the Makerspace can
>>>>>>>>> contribute more hands and more equipment (ranging from brew-type to things
>>>>>>>>> like the Square card reader for credit card taking) to future joint
>>>>>>>>> endeavors. She suggested starting a joint email thread to discuss the
>>>>>>>>> possibility of more like this.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Since it seems like there's definitely untapped interest out
>>>>>>>>> there, what do folks in both groups think about the possibility of some
>>>>>>>>> future brew workshops?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> If so, do any particular dates look appealing to folks?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Part 2, the recap and review:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> What went well this time:
>>>>>>>>> Using the St John basement and kitchen for brewing or cooking
>>>>>>>>> workshops is *fantastic.* There was plenty of room to have the sanitizing
>>>>>>>>> and bottling and capping stations out in the main room and reserving the
>>>>>>>>> kitchen for things that need the six burners.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Logistically (water, heat, and seating-wise), it was a ton easier
>>>>>>>>> to do a brew day in the church basement and kitchen than it had been when
>>>>>>>>> Ro and I did it in the Makerspace itself. And the reservation fee was only
>>>>>>>>> $50, which we could math in to the workshop fees.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Bringing a portable projector and projecting the slides on the
>>>>>>>>> wall worked well too - since it's in the basement, dimming a bank of lights
>>>>>>>>> was enough to let the projector be visible on the wall.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> It was also really helpful having Stephanie teaching coffee and
>>>>>>>>> Rick teaching sake at the same time -- not everyone can be hands-on at the
>>>>>>>>> same time when you're bottling and capping, so having them both taking part
>>>>>>>>> of the group while other people were individually cycling through the
>>>>>>>>> sterilize-rinse-bottle-cap-label dance helped keep more of the crowd
>>>>>>>>> occupied.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Pre-loading the stuff into the storage under the church stairwell
>>>>>>>>> on Friday was really key to being able to set up and get going on time.
>>>>>>>>> (Thanks again for the tour and the storage key, Liz!)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Having people sign up in advance for the hands-on slots and pay
>>>>>>>>> online in advance gave me both a built-in way to cap the attendance and a
>>>>>>>>> guaranteed pool of cash to buy the ingredients from. We could control the
>>>>>>>>> hands-on numbers that way (though in hindsight I shouldn't have added the
>>>>>>>>> extra 5 gallons to let more people in; I should've just said 'sorry, next
>>>>>>>>> time').
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> What didn't go so well:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Friday's hauling-in took me about 4 hours, so next time let's put
>>>>>>>>> out a call for more stuff-hauling crew during prep day.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> It takes a long time to bottle ten gallons of beer, even if there
>>>>>>>>> are a ton of people interested in doing it; next time, I'd say we should
>>>>>>>>> cap a hands-on beer segment at the number of people who can get 6-packs out
>>>>>>>>> of one five gallon batch (I think about 8?)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Math fail: I wasn't aiming for anything resembling a profit, I was
>>>>>>>>> trying to make the workshop cost match the materials cost. But I'd
>>>>>>>>> miscalculated how expensive the honey would be in bulk from Amazon, so I
>>>>>>>>> didn't break even. I now know the cost of honey better; I'm chalking that
>>>>>>>>> up to learning curve.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Also, Emily says it's OK to calculate a profit in for future
>>>>>>>>> workshop cost math, and we could split a profit between the groups.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Emily's recommendation of one teacher per ten students sounds like
>>>>>>>>> a good ratio to me. We had about one per twelve to fifteen this time, I
>>>>>>>>> think?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> (I'm not entirely sure if everyone signed in on the sign-in
>>>>>>>>> sheets, which I'm still trying to find - if anyone sees a small black
>>>>>>>>> messenger bag at St John with a couple brewing books and a bunch of
>>>>>>>>> handouts in it, that would be it.)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Planning ahead for extra and/or backup teachers in case someone
>>>>>>>>> gets called away on the day-of is sounding like a good idea too.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I think that's the highlights?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>>>> Dena
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>> Makerspace-keymembers mailing list
>>>>>>>>> Makerspace-keymembers at lists.chambana.net
>>>>>>>>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/makerspace-keymembers
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
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