Block Party Page 7
Versatile Roasted Tomatoes Page 7
Free Health Fair Page 8
Free complimentary copy August 22, 2014 • Volume 1, No. 47
www.raytowneagle.com • 75¢
Microbrewery Crane Brewing To Open 2015 On Railroad St. Making beer with a $15 Mr. Beer Home Microbrewery kit from Target was all it took to ignite Michael Crane’s curiosity that developed into an insatiable desire to know everything there is to know about brewing beer. A man of taste who
veterinary medicine and a home brewer who “brews every Saturday”, spent months researching the brewery business in hopes of opening a brewery – and then he met Crane. Crane thought he was too old to start such a venture but eventually gave it serious consideration. His 20 year-old furniture design business in Raytown had lost its largest customer to outsourcing in China. Then there was the overwhelming positive response to his craft brews and the awards he won that convinced him it was time to change course. Most of his awards have been won for his Belgian farmhouse ales for the saison or seasons. They are traditionally brewed in the fall and winter and aged for drinking in the spring because they are light and thirsty quenching for those working the farmlands. Sours are made
Left to right Chris Meyers and Michael Crane with glasses of Pierrot, a lambic style beer aged on blackberries
Tap handle for Ray, a cream ale named for Raytown by Crane Brewery is comfortable in the kitchen and uses a commercial smoker to create mouth watering delicacies, Crane was never a big fan of beer but he will tell you that he cannot imagine not brewing. And today he is making waves through the tight knit community of craft beer enthusiasts by pushing the boundaries of home brewing with farmhouse ales, sours and saisons using fruits and vegetables and winning gold medals in competitions around the country. Chris Meyers, a biologist in
Crane’s beet beers have been entered in the spicy herb vegetable category and won 4 medals in three states
with fruit and lactobacillus is introduced to develop the tartness. Ales are created by fermenting at higher temperatures between 152–158 degrees and lagers are created a lower temperatures around 146-149 degrees. Changing character by using different strains of wild yeast is the latest trend in craft brewing although it is actually a century’s old practice in Belgium where the vats were left open to catch the wild and native yeast. Some of Crane’s brews are infused with herbal teas. “If you think about the stars and the vastness of the universe,
no matter how much you think you’ve learned, it only amounts to a speck,” explains Crane. “I cannot imagine not brewing and always loved tinkering. We have 24 experimentals in process right now.” Crane was also impressed by the community mindedness of craft brewers. There is no protection of recipes. All is shared and even how to do it. Some craft breweries are selling home brewing kits so you can make their beer at home. “What other industry is like that?” asks Crane. Raytown will have plenty of chances to learn more about craft
brewing when Crane Brewing opens in 2015 in the 18,000 square foot building he now owns at 6513 Railroad Street. It will include a tap room for tastings. Meyers is vice president and the team also includes Randy Strange, brewer Steve Hood, Aaron Bryant and Jon Crane. Central States Beverage Company has made a verbal agreement to be Crane’s bottler and distributer. And Crane Brewing has named its cream ale “Ray” for Raytown’s blacksmith, William Ray.
KØGQ Competes In NA QSO Party By Diane Krizek Editor The Raytown Amateur Radio Club’s motto is “Let’s play radio” and they take every opportunity possible to ham it up. Club members say this is the most active amateur radio club in the Kansas City metro area. You’ll find them at the Raytown Dairy Queen every Saturday night. Then there’s the Sunday Night Net every week, in addition to their monthly meetings on Thursdays. But on Saturday, August 16,
2014, they denied themselves their weekly dairy delight in order to join the North American QSO Party sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). Any licensed radio amateur could enter this contest to see how many QSOs or contacts could be made in 12 hours from 1:00 p.m. Saturday to 1:00 a.m. Sunday. RARC set up their KØGQ station in Independence using a trailer fitted with a telescoping antenna designed and built by CERT trainer, Paul Watts, especially for radio communications. Their power came from a
Left to right Jeff McCright KD0GCL, Max Lyle WX0MWL and Robert Bahan N0TZO
CERT trainer and Ham, Paul Watts, and the trailer he built
diesel generator that created more energy that they could hope to use but it was readily available. RARC exchanged caller IDs by voice with 470 contacts across the country and even to Hawaii and the Cayman Islands earning a final score of 46,060 points. The winner will not be determined until sometime after the
October 21 deadline for submitting the contact logs. Despite the fun and games, amateur or ham radio is the one means of communications left when all others fail in an emergency situation because it requires as little as 5 watts. Licensed radio operators are experts in their field but are re-
ferred to as amateurs only because they can never be compensated with pay and cannot participate in commercial ventures. As a public service, they provide emergency communications at times of national or local disaster and may also be called on by the National Weather
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