Since its inception in 2012, the South Australian Brewing Club (SABC) has swiftly grown to become the largest and most successful brewing club in Adelaide and the country. The club embodies a diverse membership of individuals with a broad range of brewing expertise, all coming together to share knowledge and enhance their homebrewing skills. Central to the club’s calenda is the popular monthly meeting on the third Wednesday of each month, regularly attended by over 30 participants, thanks to the generous support of The Wheatsheaf Hotel. In addition to these gatherings, the club also hosts special events and brewery visits in Adelaide and the surrounding region. Find out more on our About SABC page.
Our monthly club meeting week has come around again. This Wednesday 21, 7pm we’re back at The Wheaty with special guest Gabi Michael, brewer and owner of NZ’s craft malters Gladfield Malt. She’ll be taking questions on how to get the best out of your malts and in particular Gladfield malts.
We recommend you grab their smartphone app that converts well-known malt names by other maltsers to their product and adjusts the amount required. It also converts full recipes including mash temperatures. Take a look and prepare your questions on how to brew your favourite styles with Gladfield. Also joining Gabi will be Jade from Wheaty Brewing Corps in taking your questions. She’s used Gladfield extensively in her beers and will give us her experienced view.
We’ll also be tasting a few of the beers brewed at Left Barrel six or so weeks ago.
All welcome, including non-members who want to come and check us out. Drop us a line to let us know you are interested in coming.
Christmas
Our Christmas event is on Saturday, December 8 at the Flinders Tavern from 1pm – 5pm. Members are free and guests are welcome to join us. Even though you’re a member, please grab a ticket here so we can generate a list of everyone attending and work out catering. You need to use your member log-in to find the free ticket in the shop. You can also buy one for a friend for $25.
Our Christmas event is on Saturday, December 8 at the Flinders Tavern from 1pm – 5pm. Members are free and guests are welcome to join us. The ticket for non-members is $25 which gets them a Burger Theory meal (inc. pint) and homebrew tastings.
Even though you’re a member, please grab a ticket hereso we can generate a list of everyone attending and work out catering. You can buy one for a friend
The committee takes a lot of time and consideration to plan the events and direction of the club. We want to know from you how you want us to give you the most value from being a member and what you want from the club — from the simple to big events. Please take five minutes to fill out this survey. It’s mostly tick-a-box style responses with a few places to write a broader answer. It’s also anonymous. The survey is now closed.
More on Christmas.. This years summer event will be held at the Flinders Tavern by Burger Theory at Flinders University. Saturday, December 8 at the Flinders Tavern from 1pm – 5pm.. Burger Theory is proudly South Australian small business and showcases a range of local and interstate craft beers in the tav including Big Shed, Mismatch, Hawkers and Green Beacon. As always the event is free for members and non-members can purchase a ticket. Snacks, a burger meal and pint will be provided.
Members raffle
We have a couple of prizes up for grabs for members only, you just need to be in attendance to go in the draw
1 x ticket on next years McLaren Vale brewery tour
1 x Inkbird temperature controller
Kegging and pressure filling demo
Thinking about moving away from the cleaning all those bottles and getting into kegging? We’re going to provide a kegging 101 demo and will show you how to:
-connect a basic keg & co2 setup
-transfer beer from keg to keg under pressure
-fill PET bottles from keg under pressure
A limited number of PET bottles will be filled with beer from the Left Barrel brew day and available for takeaway!
As is the tradition we’ll be announcing club brewer of the year and awarding the coveted trophy. There will be a couple of brew samples available from the Left Barrel brew day. The cricket will be on the TV, and the sun shining on the balcony.
Directions
Head to the main University entrance on Registry road. Enter the Student Hub and head upstairs.
Transport
Car
– car park 6 off Registry road. Free parking on weekends.
Uber
– enter ‘Registry road, Bedford Park’ as the destination for best results.
Bus
– catch the G10 direct from the CBD to the Flinders University interchange
– catch a bus to the Flinders Medical Centre interchange and walk 10 mins or catch another bus
Ride
A bike path follows the Sturt river from Anzac Highway to Maccas on South Road – then take the backstreets.
Congratulations to all our members who placed at the Australian National Homebrew Championships judged late last week in parallel with the Australian National Homebrew Conference.
Overall SA placed third in the state rankings with 11 winning beers (not all SABC members) — which is an excellent result showing we punch well above our weight compared to the numbers from the bigger states (that have more than one club).
SABC members Greg Weider (three silver) and Kieren Vercoe (two gold, seven places) were both placed second as best brewer but it was Greg who took it out on a countback. The full results are here.
Along with great wins by Greg and Kieren, other club members with places were: Clinton Fisher (x2), Michael Handran-Smith (two silvers), Wolfgang Trenkler, Adrian ‘Wol’ Reich (x2), John van der Zalm, Matthew Kennedy (a 3rd), Neill Gardner, Joel Gaskin, James Edwards, Gary Waters, Stuart Kirk (x2, including a silver) and Paul Reck.
With those wins, SABC won joint best Club at ANHC Clubnight with our ‘snake oil salesmen’ themed bar. Gary’s Saison won third place in the Hopco Southern Cross hop challenge. The prize was a piece of shiny SS Brewtech that we’re going to work out how the club members can use it.
Overall the National champs and ANHC conference was a huge success for us. A big thank you to everyone who won a place, attended the conference and dressed up or brewed for Club Night but especially Gary Waters and his wife Lee who not only dreamt up our theme, they also sourced the props (thanks Pirate), helped all of us find our costumes (thanks Priddo) but also brewed two excellent beers, drove our kegs and props over with Kieren. It all came together so well and topped off by Sam’s great labels.
Finally, to acknowledge that Mike Leupold awarded John Preston Award for his running SABSOSA over the last 20+ years. This is a prize awarded at the Australian National Homebrewing Conference recognising his outstanding contribution to Australian home brewing. Mike was in Melbourne to accept his award even though he didn’t know he was getting it. Congratulations!
As the warm weather arrives it’s time to start thinking about summer smashable beers to brew and what could be better than a simple well-made pilsner? This Wednesday we’re meeting at the German Club for what is probably the final time before the building goes under the auctioneer’s hammer. We’ll meet from 7pm. The kitchen is open and if want to eat, it’s advisable to get there early
The theme in part will be German beers — last year Gary presented a history of altbier, this year it will be lager. We’ll have lots of tastings too — a couple of German beers but we’re also welcoming anyone who wants to share any beers they’ve made with the Vic Secret hops many members got as a gift baggie. If you’ve got a beer to share, let us know ASAP by email.
Bottle swaps. If you just want to bring a just a single bottle or two to swap and taste later, that’s fine too. We’re trying to encourage more one to one random bottle swapping at meetings. Bring it in, label what it is, who you are and a contact if you like — even get fancy and link to the recipe online — and drop it on the beer bingo bench. If you bring a beer, you leave with a beer. Simple. Feedback to the brewer is encouraged.
The committee is also planning the next six months soon. If you have a meeting idea, want to present a talk or an experiment, let us know by email. All ideas welcome.
Events
Last Saturday a group of members had a brew day at Left Barrel Brewing at Balhannah while the rest of us stood around the bar watching and enjoying the beers. By all accounts it was fun and a bit of a learning experience and they’re all looking forward to tasting their beers that are now fermenting separately with brewer’s choice of yeast and dry hops. The results will be presented at the December Xmas drinks meeting. Thank you to everyone who signed-on. We’ll do it again next year.
While on Christmas, our club end of year event will be on Saturday, December 8 at the Flinders Uni Tavern. Put the date in your diaries now. As always, it’s free for members and that includes a meal by Burger Theory and some homebrew tastings. The bar is open with a wide range of ‘crafties’ on tap too. Guests welcome – non-members ticket price TBC.
We’re also announcing a breweries tour by bus in February at Wednesday’s meeting too.
Free beer. The Wheaty is presentingBridge Road Brewers – Mayday Masterclasswith Bridge Road founder Ben Krauss this Thursday, October 18. Jade has offered a free pint to SABC members who want to go. You need to get your name to us by email by 5 pm Tuesday to get on the list.
Membership
Phew! thinking about what’s been happening and putting a value on it — brew day wort, hops, free pints, Xmas party meal as well as raffles and meetings — it adds up to more than the cost of membership. That’s pretty good. If you’ve got a friend who’s interested in joining, or you’re reading this and have a membership that has lapsed, now’s a great time to join SABC.
Forward dates
October 25-37: Aust Nat. Homebrew Conference, Melb.
Just a quick reminder email this week that the regular club meeting is on Wednesday at the Wheaty. As the newsletter post said last week, we’ll be having a casual Q&A chat and hear tips and tricks from winning brewers, judge’s advice and comp organisers on what makes a great entry, how to improve your own beer by taking on the feedback from the judge’s scoresheets.
We’ll have some member’s beers to taste and have an opportunity to apply BJCP judging to them. Even if you’re not competition driven, it’s still about making the beer you brew even better.
If you have a beer you want to share at the meeting, or you’ve made something with the Vic Secret hops, drop us a note on Facebook or email us.
There will be a food truck serving as well.
Also, get thinking of what we can brew for ANHC Club challenge with 1kg of Southern Cross (NZ) hops (there’s already been some discussion in the FB group.)
And if you’re interested in taking part in the brew day at Left Barrel, it’s on Saturday, Oct 13. It’s free and you’ll get to brew with Brad Bown and take away 20L of wort. You’ll need to clear your diary and be ready to sign up on Wednesday because spaces are limited. See more about it HERE. If you can’t make the meeting, let us know now if you’re super keen.
SABSOSA best brewer Keiren Vercoe (L) and best beer winner John Van der Zalm with Tim Harriss. [photo: Gary Waters/ SABSOSA/ composite image]The State Amateur Brewing Show of SA (SABSOSA) is over for another year and SA Brewing Club members didn’t go empty handed placing in most categories but most impressively, John Van der Zalm won best beer with his English best bitter, 46.33 points, and Kieren Vercoe winning best brewer (as he did with Gawler Show too) with 3 x 1st, 2 x 2nd, 3 x 3rd = 16 points.
Congratulations to both of them and everyone else who entered. All the scores are now online. {PDF}.
With 362 beers judged from 128 brewers, it was the biggest field in the competition’s 21-year history. Now as SABC takes over the running of the competition, it’s only set to grow but it’s a challenge we’re ready for. Congratulations to Mike Leupold, Tim Harris and all the team for building it into a strong and respected competition. Also huge kudos to everyone who helped judge and steward. A competition of so many entries cannot run smoothly without volunteers.
At our next meeting we’ll be having a casual Q&A chat and hear tips and tricks from winning brewers, judge’s advice and comp organisers on what makes a great entry, how to improve your own beer (and enter to win if comps are your thing) and how to read judge’s scoresheets and act on the feedback to make your brewing better. We’ll have some member’s beers to taste and have an opportunity to apply BJCP judging to them. Even if you’re not competition driven, it’s still about making the beer you brew even better.
If you have a beer you want to share at the meeting, or you’ve made something with the Vic Secret hops, drop us a note on Facebook or email us.
One of the excellent opportunities our events co-ord Lachlan has been working on for members is a brew day at Left Barrel Brewing with Brad Bown on his 250L system on Saturday, October 13.
This is a great opportunity for 10-15 members to come together and brew a 250 wort and all take away 20L each (or split in pairs/Left Barrel keep 50L). It’s then up to brewers as a group choose what to make and as individuals to ferment with their own choice of yeast and add dry hops. The club will cover the cost of the grain and boil hops.
So not only is this a great opportunity to brew with knowledgeable, award-winning brewer (and foundation SABC member and prez) but brew a top notch beer for your enjoyment saving about $50 on brewing your own. That’s the same value as your club membership. The only catch is we’d like to have tastings (2-3 longnecks/2L) to compare the different decisions made on the ferment side at our Christmas drinks meeting in December.
More info on this and sign on will be at our next meeting. The numbers are limited for brewers so jump on the offer. Everyone is welcome to visit the brewery on the day and be part of the social side of course.
**Event open to SABC financial members only. You need your own 20L vessel to take away wort. Own transport required. Two litres to be made available for club tasting. Does not include yeast or dry hops or any food or drinks consumed on the day.
The annual Gawler Show brewing competition results were announced over the weekend and SA Brewing Club members dominated the podium with their entries as well as taking out best of show and best brewer. Greg Wieder won best of show beer with his Dark Mild and Keiren Vercoe took home best of show brewer with three first places, two second and four third-place medals.
Congratulations to both of them for this outstanding result as well as; John Van der Zalm, Gary Waters, Gus Kingston and Neill Gardner for places in categories. This is hopefully a good indication that SABC will also do well in the State Amateur Brewing Show, SA (SABSOSA) that is being judged this weekend.
This year’s field is the highest number of entries in the competition for a long time (if not a record) at 372. The judges and stewards will surely have their work cut out for them.
The results will be announced next week with the presentations being held on Sunday 9th September at the Wheatsheaf Hotel at 12:30 pm. We’re making this a club social gathering, so drop by for a beer and celebrate the state’s top brewers.
Our monthly meeting time has come around again — Wednesday 15th at the Wheaty from 7pm. Our guest is head brewing lecturer at TAFE SA’s Regency Campus, Stephen Nelsen. Apart from educating and homebrewing, he’s also had a long career helping start-up breweries get off the ground here in SA and interstate.
We’re encouraging your questions about brewing in a Q&A session. Stephen is also bringing us some tastings brewed at Regency including a new beer that he’s very excited about and is not part of their core range. He’s also going to help us detect, understand and avoid astringency and metallic off flavours in beer with spiked samples.
It’s going to be a great night and we’re expecting a large turnout. thanks to the Wheaty’ generosity, we will also be using the PA for the night. Also, there will be a lucky door prize for club members.
SABC members will also all be getting 100g of Vic Secret hops. It’s a share of 5kg of hops given to us by Wheaty Brewing Corps.
Our events co-ord Lachlan is starting to get a clearer picture of who is going and how they’re getting there to see if there are some ideas for car-pooling and transporting kegs over.
The club is taking part in Club Night, a great event to get together and meet other brewers and show off our beers. This year’s theme is All Things British India, so think the Raj but IPAs of course. ANHC are also putting on a hop challenge. We don’t know what the hops are yet but when we do and they land we’ll offer them to a club member(s) who want to take on the challenge.
Over the last 10 years the conference has grown in leaps and bounds, providing a forum for amateur brewers from all over the country to come together and gain wisdom from some of the best and brightest minds the beer world has to offer.
This year’s speakers will include Drew Beechum from “Experimental brews”, Jay Goodwin from “The Rare Barrel”, Denny Conn from “Homebrew Allstars” and many more, all keen to share their knowledge and expertise.
There will obviously also be the social events: the AABC Awards presentation, The 2018 pairing dinner, Brewery tour and of course, the notorious club night!
[Photo by Elevate on Unsplash]At our next monthly club meeting on August 15 at the Wheatsheaf Hotel with special guest Stephen Nelsen, head brewing lecturer at SA TAFE and someone who has had plenty of experience in commercial and home brewing. There will be a wide-ranging open Q&A session as well we’ve asked him to talk about astringency and other off flavours in beer. Sort of an extension of our June faults meeting.
Early signs indicate it’s going to be a popular meeting. We always welcome new members to attend a meeting but in this case we are assessing if we will charge an entry fee for non-members to help cover the costs of using a PA and radio mics for the night. Please indicate on the Facebook event if you will be ‘going’. It does help us plan things.
Also, Jade from Wheaty Brewing Corps has gifted SABC a sealed 5kg block of Vic Secrethops. They’re an Australian hop said to be similar to Galaxy. Every financial member who comes to the meeting will get 100grams. There is a catch. We’d like to do a meeting focusing on the beers made with Vic Secret with tastings. You get to brew what you want but if you commit to proving a beer for tasting at the October meeting we’ll give you 200grams. Think about what you can do and talk to the committee at the meeting.
Ideally, it’d be great to have a Vic Secret vs Galaxy tasting challenge. Get your thinking caps on.
In other member news, the committee, with the advice of our social media and comms officer Sam, has decided to change the SABC Facebook group to a closed group. Nothing changes except member comments and post are no longer seen in their personal feeds (great if you want to comment but your boss is watching) and new members have to be invited to join or are invited when they join as financial members. This means it’s a space we can share club member information, discussions and offers but still use our Facebook page to maintain a public side to the club to maintain our profile and be discovered by brewers who don’t know about SABC.
Also for your calendars, we’re looking at a club brew day in October and working on a special plan for the annual free for members summer event.
Entries are now open to the State Amateur Brewing Show of South Australia.
The State Amateur Brewing Show of South Australia needs no introduction to most SABC members. It is SA’s premier amateur brewing competition and is open to all non-professional brewers in this state. It’d be great if SABC was well represented in the entries and even better if we do really well.
Apart from entering, the competition organisers need help. If you’re a BCJP judge or want to help steward let SABSOSA know. You can also add the times you can help with your entry. The other thing they need help with is bottle sorting on August 25/26. Not only does it help Tim, Gary and Keiran get things straightened out (because we’re expecting record entries this year) but it’s also a cruisy afternoon with some club members and a few beers. Watch out for the event or get in touch with SABSOSA or Gary.
The presentations are being held on the weekend of Sept 8-9 and that will be another opportunity for a member get together social meet-up.
If you’re just catching up, entries are open now at SABSOSA.com using the same competitions portal SABC has pioneered the use of. You will need a different account to your SABC comps one. Beers can be entered now and additional ones later with PayPal and credit cards accepted for the $5 entry fee. Entries close on August 24 and can be dropped off at a number of locations around Adelaide.
A couple of points worth noting: The preferred bottle size is 750mL but 500 ml or two 375mL firmly bound together are also accepted but be aware this is the last year two 375ml bottles will be accepted. Judging Guidelines, as used nationally, can be found on either sabsosa.com or aabc.org.au
Gawler Show entries are also open. You can enter until August 15. They also need judges step up please. Let Steve Wilkins know on 0417 879 774
![SABSOSA best brewer Keiren Vercoe (L) and best beer winner John Van der Zalm. [photo: Gary Waters/ SABSOSA/ Composite image]](https://sabrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/SABSOSA_composite_image.jpg)
