Author: Canberra Brewers

Extraordinary General Meeting
6th June 2018 7 pm

Education Session

BEERSMITH:
Education is back in the saddle and June’s meeting will include an education session on Beersmith. We have Mitch Dalton running through the basics of Beersmith and giving members an overview of what this software can do to help your brewing.
If you don’t already have Beersmith, you can download it from http://www.beersmith.com with a free 21-day trial and then pay the full retail price of US$27.95
OR;
as a member of Canberra Brewers, you can get it at mates rates for a mere AUD$15.
Read about it here

Survey

Thanks to everyone who completed the education survey over the last month or so, the info has been really useful in planning sessions for the year.  Adi has given a rundown on the results of the survey right here

Library

Make sure you check out the library account at https://canberrabrewers.librarika.com/ and check out some great resources and reserve a book or two to read over the next month.  You can reserve a copy of something and we’ll deliver it at the meeting.  If the book is on loan, email education@canberrabrewers.com.au and we’ll arrange it to be brought back for you to borrow.  Don’t have access to the library? Email us and we’ll hook you up.

IHBD Beers

You may recall the club brewed an Irish Stout and a Honey Lager on International Home Brew Day.  While the Honey lager is conditioning for July’s meeting, we will be serving up the stout on Wednesday night…

Club Cups

…and you’ll be able to drink said IHBD Irish Stout out of a fresh club drinking receptacle.

Raffle Prizes

June’s raffle prizes are not excluded to Bentspoke beers, a Plonk hamper, Pilsner malt, yeast, hops, sanitiser and cleaner packs from Mashematics. You gotta be in it to win it!

Club Comp 2

Club Comp 2 is on Sunday 22nd of July.  Now would be a good time to start planning your entries.  You can find Comp 2 schedule here

Six-Pack Swap

Six-Pack Swap is ON!
For those who prefer a variety of beer styles,  why not sign up for the six-pack swap on the forum!
So far, 5 brewers have signed up.
You can also bring a mixed bag if you don’t have six of the same beer to swap.

Accounts Vote

In accordance with the Articles of Association of Canberra Brewers Inc, notice is hereby given that June’s meeting will be an Extraordinary General Meeting.  Held at 20:00 6th June 2018 at Gorman House, Braddon.

The business to be transacted at the meeting is as follows:

1. To consider and approve the annual report and accounts of Canberra Brewers Inc for the 2016-17 Financial Year.
2. To consider and approve the annual report and accounts of Canberra Brewers Inc for the 2017-18 Financial Year.

Bring Beer, Get Nookie

We all know that the great thing about being a homebrewer is the joy you feel from sharing something that you have created.  What makes our club the best in the country is that we love to share.  Our club meetings serve a number of purposes and one very important purpose is to provide a space for brewers to share their beers with others.  Not only does this provide social lubrication(essential), it is an opportunity to learn from and be inspired by what others are doing and to get valuable feedback about what you have brewed.

To further encourage and foster beer sharing, we will be awarding additional entries in the annual N.O.O.K.I.E. raffle to brewers who bring beer to meetings.  This is a modest gesture which we hope will acknowledge those who contribute to club meetings in this way.

Brewers who bring at least 750mls of beer will receive 1 N.O.O.K.I.E. entry and brewers who bring a keg will receive 3 N.O.O.K.I.E. entries.

Brewers can claim their N.O.O.K.I.E. entries from the raffle table when tickets are being sold on the night.

 

We hope to see you all on Wednesday night as we cellerbrate beer together!

 

 

2nd May 2018 – 8pm

Please note there is no education session this month, the meeting will start at 8pm.  However, we will have some special guests from Capital Brewing Co.

Education

No education session this month folks.  After one month in the role, Adi is taking a well-earned break…. Lucky for you there is still an opportunity to learn something because we’ve lined up brewers Wade and Matt from Capital Brewing Co to visit and tell you about the brewery in Fyshwick, how they got started and share some brewing tips.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about another one of Canberra’s great breweries.  Capital Brewing Co has kindly offered to host us for International Homebrew Day and it’s great to have them at the club to tell us more about their brewery.

2018 Club Competition 1

Thanks to all who have volunteered to assist with Club Comp 1 this Sunday 29 April and of course we’d welcome another steward or 2.  It’s great fun and you get to taste some winning beers at the conclusion and eat pizza!

There will be 36 beers in the comp and we will be running five tables of three judges.  Each flight is between six and eight beers.

International Homebrew Day

Saturday 5th May @ Capital Brewin Co.  11am – 4pm
Once again we will be doing our bit for IHBD.  This year it’s the 40th anniversary of the founding of the American Homebrewers Association by Charlie Papazian.  With two recipes to choose from, brewed on uniquely different systems will make for a great day for Canberra Brewers and members of the public.

The official brew day recipes are a Honey Lager
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/rocky-raccoons-honey-lager/
and an Irish Stout https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/dusty-mud-irish-style-stout/

In addition to Homebrewing demos, we also have the following:
12:00pm Home Coffee Roasting
1:00pm Sauerkraut making
2:00pm Charcuterie demonstration

Raffle prizes

Up for grabs this month are two oxygen kits, some bottles of Wig and Pen RIS, Some bottles of vintage cider and the book ‘Tasting Beer’ by Randy Mosher.

Education Survey

To help inform and shape the education sessions this year, we’ve put together a quick survey so members can share their thoughts and ideas on what they’d like to see in the education sessions.
If you haven’t already completed it, please have a look at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZXX53JR

Library

Make sure you check out the library account at https://canberrabrewers.librarika.com/ and reserve a book or two to read over the next month.
Adi won’t be at the meeting this month but if you reserve a book for this month by Saturday 28 April, we’ll make sure we get it to you at the meeting.
Don’t have access to the library? Email education@canberrabrewers.com.au and we’ll hook you up.  If you’ve borrowed something recently, please take the time to add a review or even a few comments to help others decide what to borrow.

Well, the April meeting has rapidly snuck up on us like a leathery ball tampered by an Aussie cricket team……..too soon?  Which means it’s time to bring your beers along to Gorman House Arts centre in Ainslie and don’t forget to bring a glass.

April 2018 Meeting. Wednesday 4th

 

Education

This month we have our very own Competition Secretary, Andrew “Stretch” Lewis showing us some tricks on how to pimp a kit beer.  This is no ordinary pimping folks, Stretch has gone all out and turned a can of goo into an award-winning Saison with Brett!!
Stretch will tell us all about how he approached this and how some simple tricks and good brewing practice can help turn a simple kit into a beer that took out 4th at the Nationals (Stretch – to clarify).

This is a great opportunity to learn from one of the clubs best brewers and pick up some tips for the upcoming comp in April.
Of course, we’ll have Stretch’s beer on tap so you can see how good it is for yourself.

Library

Make sure you check out the library account at https://canberrabrewers.librarika.com/ and check out some great resources and reserve a book or two to read over the next month.  You can reserve a copy of something and we’ll deliver it at the meeting. If the book is on loan, email education@canberrabrewers.com.au and we’ll arrange it to be brought back for you to borrow. Don’t have access to the library? Email us and we’ll hook you up.

Competitions

Details of this year’s competitions have been posted on the forum, there will be two club competitions leading into the ACT Championship (and then the Nationals!).

The first Club competition is coming up quickly, on Sunday 29 April – the styles covered are detailed in the post.  The comp 1 entry form is now open.

The club competitions are a great opportunity to get some independent and objective feedback on your beers, that you can use to improve your brewing, so plan what you’d like to enter.  There’s still time to brew for club comp 1 and plenty of time for the following comps.

We always appreciate plenty of volunteers to judge and to steward, so pencil in the dates – judging is the number one way to learn about beer styles, and what it takes to brew good beers, and stewarding is a great way to dip your toe in the water to learn about competitions.

Six Pack Swap

As always, for those who fancy a little more variety in your cellar/fridge, should sign up for the six pack swap on the forum!
It looks like the Six Pack Swap is going to the darker side as we begin to fall into the colder months of the year.
Don’t forget you can bring a mixed bag if you don’t have six of the same beer to swap!

Raffle

As always, we bring many raffle-worthy prizes.  Yes, more beer from the Multicultural Festival + some rare beers you may not have seen or tasted in addition to a 25kg of Fawcett’s Marris Otter and bags of Munich II and Biscuit malts.

Hope to see you all there!

Time for another meeting already, an time for a new committee! This calls for a beer!

Annual General Meeting and committee nominations

Our March meeting will also be the club’s AGM. All committee positions are up for re-election as per the Rules of Association, and we are taking nominations now! This is your chance to steer the club for the next 12 months. Remember: Canberra Brewers can’t exist without a committee!

The office-bearers of the club are:
(a) the president;
(b) the treasurer;
(c) the social secretary;
(d) the competition secretary;
(e) the education officer;
(f) the editor.

The ordinary committee members of the club are:
(a) the webmaster;
(b) assistant committee member.

Further details, including how to nominate yourself or others for a committee role, are on the forum.

National Multicultural Festival – thank you!

The committee would like to reiterate our appreciation of all the members who volunteered their time for yet another successful ‘multi’.  This event is really valuable to the club, and this year was no exception. Thank you!

Education Session

A big month for education, so big that the education session will be in the main hall because we’re having a return visit from brewer, historian and author Peter Symons. Peter will talk about his new book, 6 O’CLOCK Brews, and the history and evolution of the Australian Sparkling Ale.

Peter’s new work is a continuation, extension and amplification of his previous book, Bronzed Brews. Now after lots more research, including delving into heaps more mouldy brewing books, there are more stories from the past and of course even more (54) old recreation recipes!

Join us in the main hall at Gorman House to hear Peter’s talk at 7.30pm on Wednesday.

Six Pack Swap

As always, those of you who fancy a little more variety in your cellar/fridge should sign up for six pack swap on the forum! Don’t forget you can bring a mixed bag if you don’t have six of the same beer to swap!

Raffle

What do you do with leftover cases of beer that you didn’t manage to sell at the Multicultural Festival?  Raffle them off of course!  Buy tickets this week and perhaps you’ll be lugging home some cans.

See you on Wednesday…

This month’s club meeting will be held this Wednesday 7th March at Gorman House in Civic. 7.30pm sharp for the eduction session.