AHA Conference in San Diego, June 16-18, 2011

Thursday June 16

8:00 am – 5:00 pm

AHA National Homebrew Competition Final Round Judging

Judge Breakfast - 7:30 am - 8:15 am
Terrace Cafe or Sunshine Deli

Judge Lunch - 11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Terrace Cafe or Sunshine Deli

Location(s):

8:00 am – 4:30 pm

Registration | Thursday

Terrace Salon
8:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Grand Hall Foyer
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Location(s):

9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Retailer Roundtable

Location(s):

11:00 am – 2:00 am

Hospitality | Thursday

Town & Country

11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Closed for Welcome Toast
1:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Tiki Pavillion

4:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Closed for Pro-Brewers Night
11:30 PM - 2:00 AM

Visit the Hospitality Suite to sample homebrews from local and out-of-state homebrewing clubs as well as meet fellow homebrewers from across the country. Homebrew clubs take turns hosting the suite and serving club beers.

The Town & Country Hospitality Suite also features exhibitors, including malt, hops and yeast suppliers as well as homebrew equipment manufacturers, homebrew retailers and breweries.

View Participating Clubs

Location(s):

1:00 pm – 1:30 pm

Welcome Toast

Location(s):

1:45 pm – 2:45 pm

Brewing with Brett

Brettanomyces yeasts are known for their important role in the production of Lambic and specialty sour ales, along with the secondary conditioning of a particular Belgian trappist beer. Over the past decade, Brettanomyces yeasts has increasingly been used by homebrewers as well as a handful of breweries which have produced beer primary-fermented with pure strains of Brettanomyces. This has occurred out of experimentation as very little information exists regarding pure culture fermentative capabilities and the aromatic compounds produced by various strains. Homebrewers have always been at the forefront of innovation with the use of Brettanomyces yeasts. This talk is intended to provide a greater knowledge of Brettanomyces strains available to homebrewers and encourage further innovation in the homebrewing community through an advanced understanding of these yeast and their prospective uses.

Location(s):
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1:45 pm – 2:45 pm

Simple to Advanced Meadmaking | Thursday

Making great mead can be easy, but it rarely happens by accident. Ken will work through the key components of making great mead—recipe formulation, ingredient selection, and process. He’ll share tips on how to make the job easier and more fun. To connect the theoretical with the practical, Ken and local mead makers will present different meads to the audience. We’ll taste, and then deconstruct the mead making process to illustrate the relationship between what was used in each of the meads, how they were made and what ended up in the glass. The goal is to help aspiring mead makers know how and where to really apply themselves to get the biggest return on their mead making efforts.

Location(s):
Speaker(s):

1:45 pm – 2:45 pm

Brewing On A Budget | Thursday

Chris Graham, owner of MoreBeer!, explains many of the ways to save time and money on your hobby without sacrificing flavor. Pulling from the two of Chris’ most popular Brewing Network episodes, Brew’o’nomics and Recession Brewing, he will combine tricks and tips to make your next brew more economical, whether you are building an all grain brewery or taking extract brewing to the next level.

Location(s):
Speaker(s):

2:45 pm – 3:15 pm

Ken Schramm Book Signing | Thursday

Atlas Foyer

Location(s):
Speaker(s):

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Pragmatic Brewing | Thursday

Denny Conn will discuss techniques for making great beer easily and critically assessing your results and techniques to make sure you’re getting the most from your efforts

Location(s):
Speaker(s):

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Hop Boil Chemistry

In Hop Boil Chemistry, Colin Kaminski starts with the simple equations of hop isomerization and bitterness and ends with some of the new research on the organic chemistry of hop kettle character with colorful stories in between.

Location(s):
Speaker(s):

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Homebrew Planet | Thursday

U.S. homebrewers aren’t the only ones pushing the edges of creativity, quality and local flavor anymore. Based on recent travels, Radical Brewing author Randy Mosher shares some insights and ideas gathered from Australia, Denmark, Brazil, Argentina and Italy. These different points-of-view greatly enrich the hobby, the possibilities and ultimately, what’s in our glasses. The talk will discuss some specific recipes and trends and will also include a presentation of rare ingredients and hopefully, a beer or two.

Location(s):
Speaker(s):

3:45 pm – 4:15 pm

White & Zainasheff Book Signing | Thursday

Atlas Foyer

Location(s):
Speaker(s): ,

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Randy Mosher Book Signing | Thursday

Atlas Foyer

Location(s):
Speaker(s):

4:15 pm – 5:15 pm

Choosing the Right Yeast | Thursday

This seminar will discuss how to choose yeast strains and properly handle them. Characteristics of ale, lager, brettanomyces and bacteria will be covered. Chris will also discuss how different strains and fermentation conditions such as temperature and aeration contribute to beer style.

Location(s):
Speaker(s):

4:15 pm – 5:15 pm

What’s Wrong With my Beer? | Thursday

This seminar helps to improve your beer IQ by reviewing off-flavors that result from beer handling in the distribution channel and retailer premises through tasting of specially treated and spiked beers. You will learn to connect the beer flaws presented so you can identify necessary cures. Once you know what the problem is you can (gently) suggest what a bar owner might work on to improve their beers.

Location(s):
Speaker(s):

4:15 pm – 5:15 pm

Going Pro Panel

Join us in this panel discussion with four “newcomers” to professional craft brewing to learn what it took for each of them to apply their business knowledge and brewery vision to bring their company to life. Each of our panelists have slightly different business models, so you’ll have the opportunity to listen to various approaches to planning and opening a brewery, hear some of the triumphs and trials from each panelist and ask your own questions to see what it really takes to go pro.

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5:15 pm – 5:45 pm

Ray Daniels Book Signing | Thursday

Atlas Foyer

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Speaker(s):

8:00 pm – 11:30 pm

Pro-Brewers Night

Pro-Brewers Night offers attendees a private beer festival within the conference with 1800 of their closest homebrewing friends, clubmates, and professional brewers from across the country. This year, there’s a pro-am competition taking place. Just to add to the fun!

View Participating Breweries

Location(s):