Author: Canberra Brewers

By Sam Highley, Editor

Authorbox_editor Welcome to the new website of the Canberra Brewers Club, which also incorporates the club newsletter known as The Ferm. Firstly, i'll introduce myself. My name is Sam Highley (aka sammy) and I was elected to the position of Ferm Editor for 2010. I've been brewing for just three years or so, and like most brewers I started out by making kit beers from the likes of Coopers and Morgans. Is that really brewing, or is it just fermenting?

I soon discovered the limitations of hopped-extract kits, and moved into making extract beers with hop additions within just a few months. I was immediately blown away by the possibilities of crafting a beer from malt extract, hops and yeast, and shortly thereafter i'd purchased a mash-tun and was diving into all-grain brewing. I think it's safe to say — and my family will back me up on this — that it has become an all-consuming passion for me, with almost every spare moment taken up with either brewing, or researching brewing and brewing-related topics.

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By Tom Dixon, Social Secretary

Authorbox_social G’day Brewers, I hope you have all recovered from the festive period, because the 2010 Canberra Brewers Calendar is going to be bigger and more chock-full than Hagrid’s Y-fronts! For the first time in five years, we are going to bring back the Brewer Bus Tours, with a couple of road trips currently being mapped out. You can also expect all of your old favourites including Oktoberfest and the Wig and Pen Brew Day. We have also introduced the ‘Social Scene’ Forum to advertise and organise official Canberra Brewers events throughout the year. Feel free to also use this forum to advertise your own events, everything from brew days to BBQs.

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By Paul Haesler, Treasurer

Authorbox_treasurer Hi guys, i'm Paul Haesler – phaesler on the Forum and mostly referred to as Brother Mozzie. For my sins I'm your treasurer for the third time. We're starting the year from the strongest financial position the club has yet enjoyed, and although the committee is determined not to piss it all up against the wall, we are not a for-profit organisation and I hope to plough much of those funds back to the members who make this the best brewing club in Australia.

If you want to enjoy the benefits of this unprecedented spending spree, you need to be a fully paid-up member. All memberships expired at the December meeting, so unless you paid me in cash then, or have paid electronically since, your membership is technically lapsed.  We usually allow a month or two's grace for you all to get your acts together, but after the March (or maybe April) meeting, I will be asking our new Web Minion to deactivate the web accounts of non-financial members.

Membership is still the low low price of $30 for the year. Payment may be made in cash at meetings, or by direct electronic transfer to the club account. Contact me for the bank account details, and please make sure you include your name in the description, or I won't know that you've paid.

I look forward to seeing you all at club meetings throughout the year. Bro Mozzie

By Peter Devries, Competition Secretary

Authorbox_compsec Welcome all to the first Ferm of 2010! The club competition's for 2010 will follow on from last year’s excellent effort coordinated by the outgoing Competition Secretary, Charles Newton. The same beers and style categories will appear this year, with the major difference being that the beers from competition three have been swapped for those in competition one. There were a few reasons to make this switch, but the first one was to get your fresh-is-best summer ales and wheat beers into the first competition of the year.

Not all of our members have the ability to adequately cool their fermenters during warmer weather, and this may have presented an issue for those wishing to brew Lagers and Pilseners. The beers that may need cooler weather can therefore be brewed in the middle of the year, and then entered into competition three in August. We also have the stronger beers — that need some quality time spent in the keg — in competition three. So, think about those strong beers now, and get brewing!

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