South Australian Brewing Club

TAFE Collab

The April meeting saw the tasting of 4 ESB recipes to see which was the club favourite to scale up for the collab with TAFE. The lads from down south received the most votes with their ESB brewed using Verdant yeast, however the Nomads version was a close second and had a slightly more inviting color. Mark from TAFE will now work with both recipes to come up with the final. The brew day will be in early May with a limited number of spots open for brewers. Stay tuned for more details.

May meeting cancelled

Due to a clash with the annual Pint Of Science event at the wheaty, we have opted to cancel the May meeting instead of re-scheduling. The Wheaty is offering a free beer to SABC members who attend Pint of Science on the Wed 15th ($8 tickets – see https://pintofscience.com.au/event/savouring-the-sip-unveiling-wines-secret-flavours-and-the-vibrant-future-of-agave for details). Please email info@sabrew.com when you have purchased a ticket to be placed on the free beer list.

BeerBQ June 1st

A reminder that the BeerBQ will be held Saturday June 1st so theres less then 6 weeks to get your beers down. Registration will open in a couple of weeks.

If you can help out by making a salad or slow cooking some meats, please email info@sabrew.com. All ingredients etc will be re-imbursed.

Little Blessings Brewing Visit

August 3rd has been suggested as a weekend to head up to Laura and visit the recently opened Little Blessings Brewing – yet another SABC member going pro. The is a BYO – book your own – adventure in terms of travel and accomodation. With many members heading up at the same time there should be numerous car pooling options.

With the recent announcment that the SABC x Pirate Life beer is ready for release and all SABC members are elligible to receive a bottle, the committee has fielded a number of queries regarding membership status.

Membership lasts for 12 months from the date you sign up, and requires anual renewals to keep it active. To check you current status

Navigate to the SABC Shop -> https://shop.sabrew.com/
Select My Account and login with you SABC credentials
Select My Membership
Select Manage

You current status and expiry date will be displayed:

Maintaining an active membership is required so you can participate in competitions (such as the upcoming winter comp), attend member only events (such as the BeerBQ and Tafe collab ) and receive member only freebies (such as the SABC x Pirate Life beer). If you didn’t receive an email last Thursday detailing how to order your SABC x Pirate Life beer from the shop, your membership has likely expired. Go ahead and renew now, and you can also order your beer from the shop.

Pirate Life x SABC Collab 

The day has finally arrived! The barrel aged strong ale we brewed with Pirate Life has been bottle conditioned and is ready for labeling (and it’s a pretty cool label!). Pirate Life have invited SABC to an evening labeling session and drinks at the Port Adelaide brewery on Wednesday 10th April. Exact time TBC, but assume ~6:30pm.

 All financial members are eligible for a free bottle of the beer, and if you can’t make it on the night we will arrange for alternative pickups  at the April monthly meeting (17/04) and the BeerBQ (01/06).

To secure your bottle you’ll need to register through the SABC store and select your pickup location. We will email financial members a link to the shop when it’s ready. Additional bottles can be purchased from Pirate Life.

TAFE Collab

Around 6 groups have formed to brew ESB recipes that the club will collectively sample and choose their favorite at the April meeting. We will run the tasting blind so we select the best beer by taste without being swayed by ingredients (There was discussion about these at the March meeting).

The chosen recipe will be scaled up and brewed at TAFE with a view to serving it at this years Beer and BBQ Festival – now confirmed for July 12-14th.

Winter Comp

A reminder the winter comp has been announced for the end of June. See full post here for all the details.

ABCSA

ABCSA (formerly SABSOSA) has been set for judging on the 7/8th of September. Bottle drop will close Fri Aug 30, and the awards presentation will be Sat 14th. Mark those diaries now!

AABC/ANHC

A reminder that with ANHC announced for Nov 1st, the national comp can be expected to run on Oct 31st.  This should allow 4-5 weeks to rebrew ABCSA entries that qualify.

A few members have already signaled their intent to attend ANHC. We would love to see a strong SABC contingent there to continue our run of club night wins. If you don’t know much about it and would like to know more, have a chat to some of our members who regularly attend. (Gary, Kieren,Lachlan)

Grain and Grape closure

Not strictly club news, but for many Grain and Grape in Melbourne has been a stalwart of the home brew seen for as long as we have been brewing.  I was somewhat shocked and saddened to hear owner John is retiring in May and as the lease is up the store would be closing. I can only hope that the massive void left by G&G will make it easier for other home brew retailers who have supported our club such as BeerCo, Granarium and SA Brewing Supplies.

The committee has decided to terminate the zoom subscription we purchased back in 2020, but we thought we might have one last virtual happy hour before it’s gone. Next Wednesday 13/03, 8pm, jump grab a pint of your latest brew and jump online to relive life under lockdown.

There is no set agenda, however this will be a good oppurtunity to talk about the ESB pilot brews for the Tafe collab, and organise some group brew days. There’s only 5 weeks between this zoom meet and the ESB tastings at the April meeting.

When: Wed 13th, 8PM

Where: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3308073610?omn=89384114469

Looking forward to seeing Gus back in Jerry’s apartment, Leon with his wall of clogs and Chris performing some sort of cross dementional move to appear in the same shed as me.

To coincide with the Euro’s 2024 (European Football Championship) we have themed this years winter comp around the Euro’s and the styles that the countries of Europe bring to the world of beers.
Now, obviously we need to stay to BJCP styles for judging purposes so we have narrowed the categories to be following:

English:
English IPA [BJCP 12C]
English Porter [BJCP 13C]
English Barleywine [BJCP 17D]

German:
Leichtbier [BJCP 5A]
German Pils [BJCP 5D
Weissbier [BJCP 10A]

Belgian:
Belgian Blond Ale [BJCP 25A]
Belgian Pale Ale [BJCP 24B
Belgian Single [BJCP 26A]

Scottish:
Scottish Light [BJCP 14A]
Scottish Heavy [BJCP 14B]
Scottish Export [BJCP 14C]

As some of you maybe aware Ireland did not qualify for the Euro 2024 competition but because I am me, We have Ireland as a wild card so also including:

Irish:
Irish Red Ale [BJCP 15A]
Irish Stout [BJCP 15B]
Irish Extra Stout [BJCP 15C]

The winter comp is scheduled for the 30th of June so we have some time to get these brews on the go but think wise, plan well and lets hope you can be crowned, champion of Europe at the ETKG tennis club.
Comp portal will be open in due course with all the usual T&Cs.

Good Luck.

The results are in from our member poll on the prefered style to brew with Tafe, and the winner is English Special Bitter/ESB.

We now need to get cracking designing recipes and planning group brew days. The target date is to have recipes brewed and ready to taste at the April monthly meeting – thats 44 days away.

Recipe ingredients need to be easy to obtain and scale up for a 600L batch, so common dry english yeasts are going to be the best option. Head over to the SABC Facebook group to discuss recipes/techniques and share ideas!

If you need some inspiration check out this BYO article on ESBs from the classic style master Jamil.

BeerBQ

You can now take our your pens and put a big X agianst Saturday June 1st for our annual BeerBQ event. We’ll be heading back to ETKG for the 3rd consecutive year for what I hope is another cracking night.

If you can help out in anyway – now is the time to put your hand up. We need BBQ pit masters, we need BIG salads, we need help with logistics. Email info@sabrew.com or contact Lachlan directly to volunteer.

Winter Comp

Winter comp has been scheduled in for June 30th, and the theme is Euro 2024. What does that mean? The styles are all from countries competing in the European Cup. Think England, Germany, Belgium and Scotland. Stay tuned for a post from Gerrard with all the details.

ABCSA

ABCSA (formally SABSOSA) has been tentatively scheduled for September 7/8th. ABCSA is the qualifer for the national competition – AABC – and this year it will once again be co-hosted with ANHC with judging likely to be Oct 31st.

ANHC

The biennial Australian National Homebrew Conference (ANHC) is back in 2024 and will be heading up to Queensland. The event will be held South Bank TAFE, November 1 – 2, 2024 with a theme of Sunshine & Sustainability. If you’re looking for a weekend getaway where you can sample cracking beers, learn from some of the best brains in brewing and participate in the infamous Club Night, start planning your trip to this one now.

We’re very excited to annouce that SABC has several new commercial collaborations in the works, and the previously brewed collab with Pirate Life is only a few weeks from release.

TAFE SA

Tafe SAs Head Brewer/Lecturer Mark has offered to brew a collaborative beer in Tafe’s teaching brewhouse with a view of serving it at this years Beer and BBQ event. There are still a few detail to finalise, however it’s expected that a contingent of SABC members will be able to participate in the brew day, and the finished beer will be packaged and available for purchase from Regency Tafe. Beer and BBQ 2024 hasn’t been officially announced, however we will are planning a brew schedule that will allow the beer to be served at a July event when it would usually be run.

In order to brew a club beer we need a club recipe, and we want as much club member input as possible. The first crucial decision to make it the beer style, and so we’re putting it to a vote. With so many styles available, the committee has narrowed it down to 5. Please see the poll on Facebook and vote for your preference. Voting closes at the end of Feb.

Following the vote, the club will be asking members break out into groups similar to our previous “team challenges”. The goal will be to design and brew a beer to the chosen style, but with a focus on working together to create the best recipe possible rather then competing for top honors. We will encourage groups to design their recipes openly and aim to try different ingredients/methods so we can collectively come up a great club recipe. Members will taste the group brewed beers at the APRIL meeting to see which gets the nod to rebrew.

Wheaty Brewing Corps

Following the Summer competition that was judged a couple of weeks ago At Unit Three Collective, the 5 winners from each category had the oppurtunity to go into a a taste off at the Wheaty, with Jade choosing her favourite beer to be scaled up and rebrewed by Wheaty Brewing Corps.

In an unexpected twist and and amazing endorsement for the Club, Jade and the Wheaty staff could not decide between their top two beers, so they have opted to rebrew both of them! Massive congradulations to Mark who will have his Belgian Single brewed in a few months time, and Tali Warnock with her Scottish Light which will be brewed as soon as they can fit in into the busy schedule. We can’t wait to see these on tap!

Pirate Life

The British Strong ale that was brewed with Pirate Life back in Nov 2022 has made it onto bottles after 12 months of barrel aging. Once the beer has been suitably bottle conditioned, Pirate Life have invited the club down to the Port Adelaide brewery to assisst with the labeling followed by a tasting. Stay tuned for exact dates/times.

Meeting @ Yellow Matter

A reminder that the Feurary meeting this Wednesday will be at Yellow Matter Brewing. The outside seating area will be reserved for SABC. We have some exciting announcements regarding upcoming events and group activities and winners from the Summer Competition will receive their trophies. We’ll also have the results of the best-of-show judging to see which of the 5 winners gets to brew their beer at the Wheaty.

See Feb 5th post below (or click here) for venue details and directions.

West Side Workshop

Speaking of the Wheaty, next Saturday (24/02) they will be hosting Briony from Flavour Logic to celebrate Local Beer Day. There will be a guided tasting of 8 beers from six local west-side breweries. As a bonus for SABC, members who purchase a ticket to the event will receive a free fancy.

For tickets and further information head here – https://events.humanitix.com/westside-workshop-craft-beer-tasting

Jugs Jugs Jugs

I have a large number of jugs previosuly used for SABSOSA that are no longer required. If anyone wants some please reach out to me directly or email info@sabrew.com. They are mostly plastic but there’s also a few glass.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s summer competition. I feel it was a pretty successful year this year. The club presenting some fantastic beers yet again.

Special thanks to Glen for driving the majority of judges and stewards to and from the venue. Please thank him when you see him again if you haven’t already.

Thanks to the sponsors lonegum farmhouse and beer no evil for hosting us at their venue, unit 3, for the competition. I think it’s safe to say that after the comp, there were a lot of ooohhhs and aaahhhs when drinking some of the beers that Ryan has produced.

Thank you to major comp sponsor, the wheaty who is generously offering to rebrew the best of the best beers from each category.

On to the winners of each category and a massive congratulations to all, you are onto the final step for the wheaty rebrew. We will need to receive another sample of your beer to be presented to Jade at the wheaty to judge with a panel to pick the best of the best. This tasting will likely happen on Thursday 15th February so if you could have a sample to a committee member before this date, that would be great.

Low Alc: Tali Warnock with a Scottish Light

Amber & Dark: Adam Forbe with a Schwarzbier

Specialty IPA: Luke Beard with a Brut IPA

Porter: Bj Macey with an American Porter

Belgian: Mark Murray with a Belgian Single

Best of Show was awarded to Mark Murray with his Belgian Single. Mark will have his name engraved on the summer comp trophey! Well done Mark!

Id finally like to say thank you to all the judges. It was fantastic to see some fresh new faces to the judging panel and being guided by some fantastic experienced judges. It brings great benefit to the club to have the experience of others passed onto new members.

If there is anything you feel we could do better when it comes to comps, please let me know and we will look to incorporate it into future comps. This doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive feedback or suggestive. Please feel free to reach out to me and I will bring it to the committee for discussion.

It’s Februrary which means Fringe 2024 is nearly upon us, and this also means a change of venue for the monthly meeting while the Wheaty hosts fringe events. This month we’ll be heading to Yellow Matter Brewing in Brooklyn Park. There is an outdoor seating area which will be reserved for the club to run through our formalities as a group, but you’ll be able to venture inside to checkout the stainless and/or make use of the free pool table.

The kitchen will be open and serving their regular pizza menu, and there’s a solid line up of beers to try. Feel free to swap beers in bottle bingo, however we have not arranged for any club tastings so please only consume drinks purchased at the venue.

Yellow Matter Brewery
When: Wednesday 21st Feb, 7PM
Where: 108-120 Marion Road, Brooklyn Park, 5032

If you’re taking public transport from the City, catch the J1/2 or 163 and get off at stop 6B just before Marion rd. It’s a 5 minute walk from the stop.

As many of you are already aware, Gary will be hosting another BJCP styles study group to enable members to learn some theory (and practical) before sitting the BJCP exams.

The format will along the lines of the following:

BJCP Styles study group will be Limited to 6 people. 3 people have already taken slots

Location will be at Gary’s house on yhe 2nd Thursday of every month at 7pm

February – Lagers cats 1-9 . Practical Discussion. Malt

March – British 10-17 . Water

April – American 18-21 . Hops

May – Euro 22-26. Yeast

June – Historical. Brewing process

July – Wild,fruit,spiced,smoked,wood& specialty. Judging & stewarding

Aug – Bjcp rules & regulations. Beer faults & flavors

Sept – Online exam practical. Faults

Oct – Revision & online tests

Nov – Tasting Exam

If you wish to participate please reach out to Gary in the first instance or any other club committee member who can point you to the bst means to contact Gary.