Knights' Codes

The Guild

• The Knights of the Mashing Fork (herein "guild" or "KotMF") is a group of homebrewers who are passionate about making and enjoying beer. The guild is a modern day incarnation of the first brewer’s guild founded by Gambrinus, the patron saint of beer. The guild is governed by democratic rule and there will be no head of the guild. Posts may be created to designate certain responsibilities such as Public Contact or Webmaster.

Membership

• Required Dues must be paid (See Guild Funds)
• Members will not be excluded based on age*, sex, race, class, brewing experience, or style of brewing (extract or all-grain). *Members must be at least 21 years of age, or otherwise allowed to manufacture and consume alcohol according to US federal law and the laws of the state of Connecticut.
• All members must actively homebrew and make at least one batch a year that is not a guild or other group-brewed beer. All members must remain reasonably active in the guild.
• A new member will be given a guild nickname beginning with ‘Sir’, e-mail address, and website access.
• Resignation: Members may voluntarily leave the guild at any time by telling the Club Contact Person or Webmaster. Members who resigned voluntarily must relinquish any property or funds belonging to the guild and can retain their e-mail address so long as it is forwarded to their own mailbox outside of the domain. They will not retain access to any secure information on the website.
• Termination: Members may have their membership terminated for any reason by a majority vote of the current members. Members who were voted out of the guild are not eligible to reapply for membership and must relinquish all property and funds belonging to the guild. Terminated members will not retain their e-mail address or access to any secure information on the website.
• There will be two tiers of membership:
• Tier 1: Knights
• Members are allowed to attend all club functions and represent themselves as KotMF. This includes: Club Brews, Club Grain Buys, Pub Crawls, Meetings/Events, Competitions, etc...
• Members are not guaranteed wort from club brews nor have ownership rights to the club brew system
• Members have no voting rights for these codes or for membership considerations.
• Tier 2: Keepers of the System
• Due to the brew system size, membership is limited to eight members.
• The system buy-in is required (See Guild Funds)
• Members must live within a 50 mile radius of Hartford, CT
• Membership is granted by invitation only through unanimous approval by the current Tier 2 members.
• Honorary Members: Are determined as needed by Tier 2. This may include former members, brewers not in the local area, or other people. Honorary members do not have to pay dues and are not given any special rights.

Guild Funds

• Annual guild dues are currently $30 a year. These dues will be used for web site fees and other operating expenses
• Members who are overdue on membership dues can be barred from guild events until their account is in good standing.
• Dues are not pro-rated and are not refundable.
• Dues are collected annually after the yearly planning meeting. The amount may vary depending on the determination made at the meeting
• Tier 2: Keepers of the System
  • An additional one-time, non-refundable system buy-in of $150 is required.
  • This money goes towards the upkeep and operation of the club brewery.
  • Funding of the brewing ingredients is determined at the annual planning meeting.

Voting

• Non-critical issues can be brought up and decided on via the club's online forum.
• Modification to these codes, monetary issues, or items pertaining to the brew system are made by Tier 2 members by the following process:
  • Issues to be voted on need to be announced (and delivered) to the members by the guild’s contact person at least two weeks prior to the vote in order to secure absentee votes and attendance. Acceptable means of announcing an issue are as follows. Each member should be contacted by at least one of the following:
    • E-mailing the guild distribution list
    • Forum post
    • Postal-mail
    • Phone (leaving a message is acceptable)
  • All issues (except new T2 membership) including modification of these codes, are ratified by a majority vote of T2 Members. Majority vote is defined as over half of the number of members (half +0.5 for odd numbers or half +1 for even numbers).
  • Members who are not present during a vote may state their position in the two weeks prior to the vote. If a current member does not vote by the date the vote is held (provided proper notification was given), their vote will not be counted and the minimum number of votes may need to be revisited. The only exception being New Membership votes. A person will have up to 30 days from when the vote is announced to state their opinion.

Meeting and Events

• Members-only meetings will be held on the first Thursday of every month to conduct guild business including voting and educational activities. Members can meet any time prior to, but can not conduct business before, 6:00 pm EST.
• The November meeting will be a yearly status meeting and will include planning the next year's calendar. That will be the only event with mandatory attendance for T2 members. (The annual competition is mandatory participation for all, but not necessarily attendance)
• Monthly Guild Events are held once a month.
• One guild member (herein “host”) will hold each meeting. Another member will be responsible for the educational portion of the meeting. They will determine:
  • Location(s); time; optional cost or necessities (food/ingredients); attendance (members only, and/or general public); rules and awards (for competition-style events)
  • For Club Brews:
  1. Determining Time and Location then Ensuring the online calendar is correct.
  2. Must be a proven (ie brewed before) recipe.
  3. Posting the recipe on Brewthology or the forum prior to the brew
  4. It is highly recommended (but not enforced) that the brew session be educational by conforming to at least one of the following:
     • A style historically timely to the month it is being brewed (ie a Marzen brewed in March)
     • An uncommon style of beer (rare, historical, experimental, or overlooked style)
     • A Hybrid of many types of styles.
     • A beer using an uncommon process/ingredient in its production (ie. cereal mash, bittering herbs, etc…)
     • A style the brewer has perfected and/or is an authority on.
     • A style brewed for a specific guild function (ie an Oktoberfest for an Oktoberfest party)
  5. Creating a Thread in the Area Events portion of the Forum with info from the above steps.
  6. Securing all ingredients needed for the brew itself: propane, water fixings, malt, hops, etc...
  7. Determine cost for collection/reimbursement
  8. Organizing who will bring what for Coffee, Breakfast, Lunch, etc...
  9. Organizing who will bring what for commercial examples (if applicable)
  10. Providing Sir Vorlauf with Mash and HLT water requirements so it can be setup and preheated prior to the brew session.
  11. If possible, Providing printed reference material of the recipe and/or style and/or techniques.
  12. Delegating and Supervising brewing and cleaning duties
  13. Being responsible for ensuring all brewing and food equipment is cleaned, garbage properly handled, and all gas and utilities are shut off.

Honor

• Competitions: Members may enter their beers into homebrew competitions under any guild/club/group they are affiliated with, or no group at all, except for Guild brews. Any brew that was made at a guild event (even on another club’s system) or brewed on a guild system must be entered with the “Knights of the Mashing Fork” as the club and the host(s) and entrant as the brewers. The person(s) who pays for the entry of the beer will retain the ribbon and prizes.
• Chivalry: All members will respect each others opinions even when they disagree with each other. No one shall personally attack another. Every member, when representing the guild, will conduct themselves in a civilized manner. This is especially so when dealing with people in other homebrew clubs, brewing organizations, and beer competitions. Each member will, to reasonable extents, protect the honor and safety of other members. This includes, but is not limited to; making sure everyone is able to drive home safely.

Guild Brewing System

• All Tier 2 members must own a share of the system. New members will buy in to the system as outlines in "Guild Funds"
• Members leaving the club will not get this money refunded to them
• Brews conducted on the system should be made so that all T2 members can take home 5 gallons of wort.
• The system is open for use by all guild members outside of club functions as long as it is scheduled with the person currently in possession of the system. In this situation, members must completely fund all expendables including propane, cleaners, and ingredients. Any items damaged during a private brew must be replaced by that member (unless it was in a progressive state of deterioration as determined by the guild) and it must be cleaned and left in better condition than which it was found. A Tier 2 member must be present for the entire duration of the brew day.