Category: Committee Reports

By Darryl Barbour, President

President G’Day brewers and welcome to Presidents Report #2 (such an inspiring intro surely bodes well for report #11). The committee continues to tick along, though as we only meet every second month there is not a lot of news to announce this month, but do have a few things we’ve been following since our January meeting.

We have again been invited to the Australian Science Festival which will be held across three venues from 2–15 August 2010. We’ve got a meeting with some of the organisers straight after the next club meeting so we will soon have some more details. However, if previous years are anything to go by we will be looking for up to a dozen brewers to help staff the stall over one weekend and promote the club and brewing to all and sundry (of legal age of course). Apparently gastronomy is also getting a showing at the festival, which will tie in well to the second half of the brewing craft! We will also be looking at arrangements and hopefully we can get the beer tastings back on the table this year.

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By Paul Haesler, Treasurer

Authorbox_treasurer Bank transfer membership renewals are welcome any time, and of course you can pay cash at any club meeting. But some time in March, myself and our good web-minion Graham will be putting our lists together and locking out the accounts of anybody who hasn't paid their membership for this year.

If anyone isn't sure whether they've paid, i'll be posting a list of renewals received so far on the forum before the March meeting, so you've got no excuse. Instructions for renewing are listed in the sticky "Membership Renewals" thread at the top of the "News" forum. In case you are reading this in mid-March, after your account has been locked, here they are again.

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By Darryl Barbour, President

Authorbox_president Welcome, brewers, to 2010 and shortly to our first club meeting of the year (4 February). I trust that you had at least a short break over Christmas and New Year to unwind, spend time with family and friends, and of course to brew some tasty beers to get you through the summer. I, alas, only managed a New Year’s day brew, but a Summer/Golden Ale with Palisade, Cascade and Glacier is kegged and on tap. But we’ll soon be rectifying the lack of brewing – after all the club has an AABC title to defend!

However, lets not get ahead of ourselves… who is this new president? Well, I joined Canberra Brewers in 2004, the year I moved to Canberra. I had at that stage brewed one kit (can + stovetop specialty grain steep) and one ginger beer. Colin from Brew Your Own at Home suggested I get along to the club meeting… and here we are. It was great meeting people with a similar interest in brewing and with the guidance from a heap of different members I’ve since moved into partial mashes and all-grain brewing – especially for the creative control over the process. Pale ales (English versions) and wheat beers would be the main styles I brew. If I’m not brewing, I’m probably spending time with the family, flying radio controlled models or getting a sneaky bit of caving in.

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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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