By Nick Wiseman, Editor

April is with us and this month will see the first of many new education sessions to benefit club members about how we brew our beer.

It will start with a brewers challenge thanks to Bintani and Richard (Wig & Pen) supplying the ingredients – the recipe is the same but the yeasts are different.

Phil Meddings from Bintani will be speaking about yeast which ties in with the North vs South challenge with more information available on the night about the yeasts, beers and a newly developed hop.

The beers from the challenge will be available to sample and compare the differences – can you pick them?

BJCP training for 2013 started last month, a quick review will be given on the night to let the members know how it’s going and maybe get a few more interested for the next course.

Make sure you keep May 4 free for the big brew day scheduled – our Social Secretary Kevin ‘Mr No-Tip’ Hingston will let everyone know what’s happening on the night.

A reminder to everyone that wants Library books to put your request in so it can be brought in on the night and also return any books that are out so others can have the chance to borrow them.

Raffles for the night will consist of a kitted out Better Bottle, some swag for your bar and a nice selection from Plonk.

By Nick Wiseman, Editor

March had a great turnout to the meeting with many brewers keen to catch up and have their say in the clubs future after the successful Multicultural Festival.

Paul ‘Mozzie’ Haesler talks about his Rauchbier.
Paul ‘Mozzie’ Haesler talks about his Rauchbier.

After the mandatory social greetings and setting up of the miracle boxes the official part of the meeting got under way with Club President Mark “Billy” Bilbrough welcoming everyone in with a short talk.

One of the main items on the agenda and will be ongoing for a while is the options the club now faces after the Multicultural Festival, the club is in a better financial position and is working hard to make sure the money is well spent.

After the official activities had concluded the night quickly moved on with the raffles with some great brewery gear and books up for grabs.

Shortly after that, Paul ‘Mozzie’ Haesler got up as part of this month’s Brewers Showcase and spoke about his Rauchbier.

The talk went well except he forgot his recipe printout which meant he recited the recipe from memory – he got most of it right but corrected a few mistakes later on the forum with his recipe available to everyone.

Mozzie talked a little about the history of smoked beers before continuing on about his own with plenty of questions driving information out of him about a beer that many may now be keen to replicate.

Coming from someone with a love for Smokey Beers, Mozzie was pretty happy to find people that had not normally tasted one to try it and some to even add it to their brewing list.

One piece of advice that many can attest to was to listen to any tips and advice that Richard Watkins gives you – they helped out Moz a lot.

Throughout the night brewers managed to get valuable feedback about their beers with Richard Watkins and Chris Duffy sampling the beers and giving plenty of tips.

Charles ‘Chuck’ Newton and Chris "Growler" De La Rue enjoying a beer
Charles ‘Chuck’ Newton and Chris “Growler” De La Rue enjoying a beer

By Nick Wiseman, Editor

With the success of the Combined Wig & Pen and Canberra Brewers Multicultural Festival stall, this month’s meeting is sure to have that at the top of the agenda.

Being an important fundraiser for the club, ideas on the best ways to use it will be discussed and asked for from the members.

Highlights and no doubt some funny stories will be swapped on the night as well as the normal great range of raffle items up for grabs which includes some great items from Singapore Brewerkz (Singapore’s oldest and largest microbrewery).

Also in the raffle are some fantastic brewing books: Brewing with Wheat by Stan Hieronymus; Yeast by Jamil Zainasheff and For the love of Hops by Stan Hieronymus.

The Brewers Showcase will be headed up by Paul ‘Mozzie’ Haesler who will be talking about his Classic Rauchbier/Smoked Märzen. Being a huge fan of the style he’s managed to get a few tips from a professional brewer to improve it and will be sharing all to those who are interested.

Also on tap will be the following beers: Duffbowl’s Belgian Pale Ale; Stagger’s Saison (a trial with new DRY Belle Saison yeast) and Kurtz’s Ophelia.

Don’t miss out, come in and enjoy some great beer and company at the next meeting.

By Nick Wiseman, Editor

The first meeting of the year was a great turnout with members keen to catch up with mates and share brewing news from over the holiday period.

The night went well with a good information session by Tom ‘Dicko’ Dixon about the Multicultural Festival.

The session was aimed at the members involved over the weekend to ensure everyone was up to speed and knew what was going on.

The weekend was a huge success with its own story coming soon.

Shortly after that Rohan Lilley got up dragging everyone he could who was near and spoke about his beer that he had brought in and shared as part of the Brewers Showcase.

Rohan’s Belgian Golden Strong came along by wanting to explore the beer world further already being a fan of Hoppy APA’s.

It was the second time he has brewed this style but has said it’s definitely on the cards again.

The beer itself was brewed easily but he talked in length and answered many questions on its fermentation schedule.

A great selection of gear was raffled off with everyone keen to try and return home with something and the rest of the night was spent socialising and talking beer – as it should!

February MeetingMembers enjoying the meeting