Canberra Brewers July 2016 Meeting Preview

G’day brewers! Apologies for the lateness of this July newsletter, but rest assured there is a lot of exciting club events on the near horizon. Firstly, the July club meeting will kick off at 7.30pm Thursday July 7 at the Harmonie German Club in Narrabundah (in the bierkeller). For this month’s 7.30pm education session, Education Officer Patrick Baggoley will be getting his kilt on in a Scottish Castle so we’ve called on Stephen “The Law” Lawford to step up and talk about all things yeast. He’ll cover re-hydrating dried yeast, calculating pitching rates and different ways you can get a yeast starter going to ensure optimum fermentation. A session not to be missed.

We’ll also have the final three beers brewed at International Home Brew Day on tap. If you remember from International Home Brew Day two of these are Altbiers using the same recipe but alternative yeasts, and the third is Mr Lawford’s take on a Sticke Alt. On the night we will ask an experienced judge to take us through a guided tasting of the three beers.

Wig & Pen Brew Day 2016 – 9 July – Get your RSVP’s in!

For those that may have missed it on the forum, you should know that there has been a fair bit of excitement and a healthy expression of interest in relation to Chuck’s suggestion we hold a club brew day with Wig & Pen this winter. Well what the hell are the details then?

• Wig & Pen Brew Day is this Saturday 9 July 2016
• Meeting at 9:00am for a 9.30am kick-off
• Cost: $10 for members; and $20 for non-members (this is the time to pay your dues)
• BBQ Breakfast and lunch, in addition to a guided tasting are included in the cost
• Discounted beers during the day
• Exact brew recipe TBC at club night  

If this sounds like something that may interest you, the forum can help you out. We now have an official RSVP feed here. Payment details are also found on that forum post.

Calling for judges, stewards and entries!

Our second club level competition is all set for Sunday, July 24, and we’re looking for judges, stewards, and of course, actual beers! Entries have been already open for 2 weeks, and are being accepted in the following AABC categories: Pale Lager, Pilsener, Amber & Dark Lager, Strong Lager (>6% ABV), Bitter Ale, Stout, Belgian Strong Ale (>6% ABV), Wheat & Rye Beer, Specialty Beer, Mead, Cider. Make sure you fill out the entry form online, and drop off your beers before July 16th. Payment details for Competition 2 can be found on the forum here. Thus far we have 7 judges and 3 stewards who have offered to help on the day, but we are likely to need the help of as many judges in the club as we can get, given the large number of entries expected. So please if you’re so inclined add your name to the list here.

Be in it to win it

For this month’s raffle we will follow up the discussions during the education session by offering some yeast themed prizes. These will be peppered by some high quality mead, beer and beer stein combinations. Thanks to Transit Bar in Civic for helping out with the glassware prizes. Don’t forget that for every three tickets you buy, you get an entry in our end of year N.O.O.K.I.E. prize!

Get your brewing books

With Patrick on a week-long pub crawl across the UK this month, unfortunately only those reservations made prior to Monday this week can be made available at the meeting. So be sure to head to the club’s online library catalogue at https://canberrabrewers.librarika.com/ to peruse this great resource. If the book you are after 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 sign up online

By now the 2016 Club Memberships have started rolling in as expected. But please sign up at our club meeting this Thursday night if you haven’t had a chance to as yet. For those who haven’t seen it yet, online you can check out our newly created online membership form, Paypal payments and for those without cash we have a new Paypass system available at the meeting. More information is on this renewal page here.