Canberra Brewers May 2016 Meeting Preview

Greetings brewers, we hope that your seasonal change into autumnal recipes has been productive and most enjoyable. It is a jam packed week ahead for the club with the wrap up from today’s first 2016 Club Comp due over the next couple days, shortly followed by our May meeting this Thursday, and the big International Home Brew Day event over the weekend.   

This massive week for the club continues at the Harmonie German Club in Narrabundah Thursday May 7 at 7.30pm with an education session on the Solera process. Join us early as top brewers Benny, Hoggy and Gareth take us through the joys of aging sour beer with a single-vessel Solera system. They have been producing some outstanding and amazingly complex beers over the last few years out of their barrels, and this is a great opportunity to learn the ins and outs of how you can go about this too.

Competition 1 – Held May 1 2016

Competition 1 for 2016 went off without a hitch on Sunday the 1st of May. Thanks to everyone who volunteered to help on the day, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as smooth sailing without such quality help.

Results are available on the forums, and if all things go as planned, certificates will be given out at the upcoming meeting. Big props to Lawfo’s barleywine for being the highest scoring beer on the day!

This Saturday 7th May – International Home Brew Day!

After a huge event last year, this year’s International Home Brew Day celebrations are all happening this Saturday, May 7 between 10am and 3pm. This year we’ve found an undercover location in the expansive “Hangar” at 255 Canberra Avenue, Fyshwick that will help protect us from the unpredictable May weather!

For this Saturday’s event we will have eight of our members brewing several variations on the Altbier style on their own equipment at the same venue. This really is a rare opportunity for all club members (old and new) to see several systems at the same time and find new ways to improve your beer. Brewers are to be ‘mashed in’ by 10am, and the day will be peppered throughout with great demos (kicking off at 10:20am) from members on everything from mead making to coffee roasting and even an introduction to fermented vegetables. It’s a terrific club event to invite your family members, partners, work colleagues and friends to.   

Outside of those who have already put their hands up, the committee is still looking for volunteers to help out on the day, so please post to the forum if you think you are able to help out in a general capacity. Also, for any members of the club who have always wanted to learn how to ferment cider please volunteer here to bring a sanitised fermenter along on the day for a uniquely hands-on introduction to cider making. Lastly, if anyone would like to print and and post up the IHBD posters around your workplace or local cafe you can find soft copies here.

Be in it to win it

We’ve got another great raffle lined up for this month, with the main prize of a plate chiller. Also we will have some new beer glasses up for grabs with matching beers, and some great new books. Tickets cost $5 for three, and for every three tickets you buy, you get one entry into the end of year Newcastle Or Otherwise Kind of Interstate Experience (N.O.O.K.I.E.) draw for a fantastic beer-related trip.

Get your brewing books

We’ve got a couple of new books to go into the library this month, so be sure to head to the club’s online library catalogue at https://canberrabrewers.librarika.com/ to peruse this great resource. You can reserve a copy of something and we’ll deliver it at the meeting. If the book is currently on loan, email education@canberrabrewers.com.au and we’ll arrange to have it brought back for you to borrow. Don’t have access to the library? Email us and we’ll hook you up.

Memberships are now due

As you will know from our last meeting, 2016 Club membership is now due, with costs remaining at $40 for the year. Due to popular demand, we’ve created an online membership form, Paypal payments and now have a new Paypass system available at the meeting. More information is on this renewal page here.

Updates to Canberra Brewer’s Homepage

We are currently in the midst of a review of the club homepage to add more content and add in a more dynamic RSVP functionality for the forum, but thus far you may have already noticed that we recently added an events page, set up a direct link through to our online library system, and refreshed the meetings page. Stay tuned for upcoming changes.