Category: Committee Reports

By Sam Highley, Editor

Stagger The first big event of the year for the Canberra Brewers kicked off on Saturday 12 February with a brew day at the house of former Club-President Craig Webber (Stagger). As previously mentioned by Dan the event was designed to be both social and educational, providing an opportunity to meet members outside of the normal monthly club meeting, and also get a chance to see the same beer being brewed on two different systems.

The plan was to brew two separate batches of a Stone & Wood Pacific Ale style beer using both Stagger's seriously sweet PID-controlled Heat Exchanged Recirculating Mash System (HERMS), and also his old (but very successful) gravity-fed system now used by neighbour Matt.

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By David Gilks, Treasurer

Gilks As we come into 2011, the Canberra Brewers is coming off a great year. Success at Nationals, a great year on the social front, better prizes and rewards for members and a strong balance sheet have all contributed to this result.

Your Committee has been discussing plans for this year and you can expect expanded social activities, quality education events and new options to let loose your competitive spirit. We will also explore more opportunities as they arise following incorporation. As Dicko has mentioned, a range of specific initiatives are already underway with more details to follow as soon as details are locked down.

The biggest thing to happen to the Canberra Brewers this year will be incorporation of the group following the final proposal that was put to you all at the February meeting, and which was passed following the various votes. It is important that members renew their membership as soon as possible so that they are a part of a significant piece of club history. Details on both incorporation and membership renewals are in the News section of the forum.

I suppose as Treasurer I should let you know about the finances. Our finances are strong coming out of last year and will provide a strong base to support your Committee's Whitlam-esque plans to transform the Canberra Brewers and provide a better experience for members in 2011.

By Dan Rayner, Education Secretary

Pic2 Hello fellow lovers of good beer! This year has an excellent line up of events, competitions, meetings, raffle prizes and we have an incredibly enthusiastic President and committee keen to make sure it all happens! For my part as education secretary (and as well as some interesting events and experiments) I hope to bring a few permanent resources to the club for any brewer who feels they need improvement in their brewing methods.

Firstly, like in previous years, we’ll conduct information sessions held during some of this year’s meetings. These will include a few that the club has presented in the past like counter-pressure filling demonstration and calibration of thermometers and temperature controller units as well as a few new sessions. We’ll investigate interesting beers styles and coordinate a mass brewing experiment later in the year to display the differences in recipe formulation, which will be open to any and all who wish to be involved.

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By Mark Bilbrough, Competition Secretary

BillyHey Brewers, i’m looking forward to the challenging job of running a productive competition program that will help cement Canberra Brewers as the Nations top club for the third year in a row. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to look through the program which was recently published on the forum, and you're getting together your entries for the first competition in late March.

As in previous years, the club competition schedule has covered pretty much all of the BJCP styles for you to present your brews for judging and feedback. As we get to the ACT Comp later in the year, we’ll switch over to the AABC styles to qualify for the Nationals (being held in Adelaide this year).

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