Merry Christmas and tickets for the Hills bus tour available

This is an end of year message to say merry Christmas and have a safe, fun new year. On behalf of the committee, thank you for your membership and support in this less than ideal year.

The postponed bus tour is on Saturday, January 16. The tickets that are available can be bought from now (Monday evening) from the shop (members only – requires log in).

The itinerary is The Uraidla pub and brewery and then on to Left Barrel. That brewery run by SABC alumni Brad Bown is closing so we’ll be checking in there to support its last hurrah.

See the plan.

Buy a ticket.

See you in 2021.

On, off, on, off, on… hills tour is back on and December meeting

SABC postponed Hills bus brewery tour rescheduled for January 16.

Not only was our BeerBQ cancelled twice, but we also had to cancel our brewery tour way back in March. We’ve got it locked in for January 16 (and holding our breath!). The tour isn’t the same epic voyage we had planned because of venue availability but we think we’ve just got to do it and move on. 

The proposed schedule is:

10:00 Wheaty
11:00 Uraidla Hotel (Café + brewery viewing)
11:30 Uraidla Hotel (Bar opens)
13:30 Depart
13:45 Left Barrel (Brewery + lunch)
17:00 Depart
17:45 Drop off Little Bang
18:00 Drop off Wheaty

Everyone who signed up and paid in March all have valid tickets. If the new date doesn’t suit, we’ll refund you. When the new numbers are established we’ll offer more tickets. It’s a 23 seat bus. Of course, everyone can join us at the venues by their own transport or carpool. 

Please watch for more info and let us know ASAP if you cannot use your ticket.

December Christmas meeting

We’re at the Wheaty for our usual Christmas meeting on Wednesday 16 from 7pm.

We’ll put on some pizzas. As is tradition, please bring a bottle of homebrew for secret Santa swapping. Wrap it fancy and pretty or we’ll wrap it in a brown paper bag.

Summer competition

If you missed the news, the Summer Competition was announced a couple of weeks ago. All the details are here

The focus is low ABV or Hazy beers (or both together). 

Judging will be on February 17 at the monthly meeting at the Wheaty at 7pm. Bring your entries on the day or drop off locations will be published later. 

Strictly two entries per brewer in a glass or plastic bottle equal or greater than 500ml. $5 per entry for paid club members only. Online entry will close Friday 12th February.

January meeting

January 20 club meeting – we are going to Suburban Brews new taproom at 96 Goodwood Rd, Goodwood. It’s a great opportunity to support Tony and his team as we’ve done all along their journey.

Summer competition, 2021

Well, that sucked. Just when we were all set for the twice-postponed BeerBQ, it’s shut down again. We will get to it sometime. Maybe in the next couple of weeks. Keep an eye out for updates.

Summer competition 2021

How low can you go!

Summer competition is soon upon us and as in tradition with the summer comp, we will be judging at a Wednesday meeting among members and will have some fun with it along with a main category. 

Main category: How low can you go,

Brew your best low alcohol beer from the following BJCP categories: 
1A: American light lager, 3A: Czech pale lager, 5A: German lightbier, 11A: Ordinary Bitter, 13A: Dark Mild, 23A: Berliner Weisse, 28: American Wild ale (as long as sub 4%.)

Sub-category (just for fun) Hazy beer

Any type of pale hazy beer you like, the hazier the better. Entrants to give a rough style description as well as list any special ingredients or allergins.

Judging will take place on February 17 at the monthly meeting at the Wheaty at 7pm. Bring your entries on the day or drop off locations will be published later. 

Strictly two entries per brewer in a glass or plastic bottle equal or greater than 500ml.$5 per entry for paid club members only.  Online entry will close Friday 12th February.

Virtual meet up

Lachlan provides the minutes from our vitual meeting last night. Watch out for notices alerting to them.

We had a smaller turnout for last nights zoom meet, but there was some good discussion and no recording so I’ll post the highlights here.

  • BeerBQ update – we’re in a holding pattern on this until restrictions ease. Keep up the good work SA 😷
  • Raf gave a really informative talk about how to brew mead. His mead won’t best of show at this year’s AABC judged last month. Congratulations Raf!!!
  • Brendon has figured out how to add wireless charging to the iSpindles he’s building. Genius! – http://www.ispindel.de/
  • Gus performed the worlds longest kveik ferment – 14 days whilst he was away. Seriously it was probably finished before his flight left the tarmac…
  • BJ has some seriously disturbing elves 🤣
  • I brewed a diacetyl bomb and I think it was due to hop creep. Check this presentation I found on the topic: https://youtu.be/dN3m-TMfeI8
  • Someone should brew a Swanky beer – BYO magazine, Dec 2019 issue has a description and recipes (and so does Beer Advocate not behind paywall).

At this point my laptop overheated and died so I missed the rest. Attendees – is there anything to add? We expect to be back at the Wheaty for the December meeting. No set topic, just the traditional pizza and secret Santa.

Barrel be brewed

Thanks Gavin for storing our barrel project and brewing up an extra batch to fill it. The Flanders red was brewed at Left Barrel Brewing a few weeks ago and fermented by individual members was brought together to the club barrel. Sweet dreams… see you next year.

Gavin pours the wort into the barrel

Looking forwards

December 16 – Beers and pizza at the Wheaty

January – Club meeting at a brewery venue TBC

February – Summer Comp judging at the Wheaty.

C’arn mate, can you store us a barrel for a bit?

Our Left Barrel brewday is going ahead this weekend. It’s being managed by Clinton and we still have a few places left.

If you’re just catching up, we’re brewing a Flanders Red that will go in a barrel for 4-6 months. You take home a 20L wort to ferment and bring back fo the barrel in a couple of weeks. So the only catch is you need fermentor space for that time.

We also need you to source a Belgian base yeast to ferment and get it now so it’s ready to go on Sunday or early next week.

We also need somewhere to keep the barrel for this time. If you’ve got some space were we could store it, that’d be excellent. Let us know.

So it’s this Saturday, October 17 at Left Barrel Balhannah from 9am.

If you want to be a part of it, please email info@sabrew.com and watch your emails for more to come. We’ll also set up a discussion on Facebook to fine-tune the recipe and plan.

Everyone is welcome to go to the brewery in the day as well. The bar is open and lunch is available.

Next meeting
We will be at Pirate Life Brewery, Port Adelaide on Wednesday 21 for a special tasting session and a bit of a focus on gose and sours.

SABSOSA Winners are grinners

Congratulations all the SABC winners in SABSOSA. It was a pretty high standard this year. Members of the club took out 46 of the medals on offer.

John van der Zalm won best brewer and Stuart Garden best beer with a score of 45 for his marzen. The results are now published on the portal and our website. It was a great medal presentation at The Wheaty with a full house.

They both also won a year’s membership to the club.

Highly awarded brewers included, Stewart Garden, Lachlan, Wolfgang, Brendan, Thomas, Rafael, James Edwards, Michael, Wally, Nick, Brenton, Luke O’Brien, Luke Beard, Gavin, John VDZ, Greg, BJ, Giles, Chris Daniel Davenport and Leon along with many others.

All the results are published on the entry portal.

It was a great afternoon presentation at the Wheaty with Bridge Road beers in a tap takeover.

Good luck with entering the Nationals. Any questions, send an email to info@sabsosa.com.

All entrants can access their score sheets from the portal now.

Thanks as always to the team of Gary, Julien and Brendan with Lachlan and all the committee and everyone who stewarded or judged.

Left Barrel Brew Day

There’s a lot of interest in our brewday. It’s being managed by Clinton and more info will be emailed out and shared in the Facebook group soon.

It’s Oct 17 at Left Barrel Balhannah from 9am. You take home a 20L wort to ferment and bring back fo the barrel in a couple of weeks. So the only catch it you need fermentor space for that time.

If you want to be a part of it, please email info@sabrew.com and watch your emails for more to come. We’ll also set up a discussion on Facebook to fine tune the recipe and plan.

Next meeting

We will be at Pirate Life Brewery, Port Adelaide for a special tasting session and a bit of a focus on gose and sours. More info to come.

John van der Zalm wins best brewer in the 2020 SABSOSA competition.

Appreciate beer more at our meeting this Wednesday

Club meeting this Wednesday at the Wheaty at 7pm.

This month we’re going to do another round of beer assessments in groups. It worked well last time and it suits our COVID restrictions.

Each table will be given a bottle that is unlabeled and with no hints as to what the inside beverage is. In tables, taste the beer and discuss things like aroma, appearance, flavour, mouthfeel and try to see if you can come to a consensus about what this beer is and any extra additions that may have been included.

***CALL OUT***  if you have a long neck of a beer or a couple of stubbies that you have brewed that you would like to get some feedback from the group, please let us know in an email so we can ensure that we have enough.

It’s a great opportunity to have a new brew tasted, or if you’ve tried something completely different.

Bottle Bingo!

Yeah baby, it’s on! Bring one bottle or many to swap with fellow members! A great way to taste some sensational beers (and clear out that stock of your own bottles)

SABSOSA judging us underway.

Please check your emails (including updates or promotions or spam folders) for details of judging or stewarding sessions if you nominated to help.

The awards announcement and presentation is on Sunday, September 27 at The Wheaty from 12pm. Put it in your diaries. 

Left Barrel Brew Day

October 17 is the date. Clinton is project managing it. Talk to him on Wednesday night or send us an email if you want to be in on it but can’t make the meeting. More info to come so don’t worry.

COVID stuff

Remember to sign in to the meeting by pointing your phone camera a the QR Code/ or use the URL to get to the form on your phone.

State Amateur Brewing Show is open for entries

Better known as SABSOSA to its mates, the 2020 competition is now open to enter for 2020. Most of you know the drill but if you’ve never entered a competition before, it’s easy. Read on.

Everything you need to know is on the website at https://www.sabsosa.com.au/ Read all the information carefully as it has changed.

Register for 2020, even if you’ve done it before, and add your beers, pay ONLINE and then print out the labels. Fix to bottles with a RUBBER BAND ONLY and drop them off.

Tell your brewer mates too. We want lots of entries this year.

Follow SABSOSA on Facebook for updates and after judging is over on Sept 18/19, check your scores, sweep in and pick up your loot of medals and tell your craft-loving brothers in law that you have proof your beers are good.

Judge training opportunity at Pirate Life

There is a judges ‘training session’ on Tuesday 8 September, 6.30pm at Pirate Life. Numbers limited to 20. You must register as a judge in the portal. Invites will only go out that way. More details to come.

If you have registered, log in and then choose Edit Account from the My Account menu indicated by the icon on the top menu and edit your preferences to judge (and/ or steward).

Cancelled – Important update about BeerBQ

Crying SABC member2020 has been a year, huh? Just when we thought Australia might be on the tail end of things and returning to a bit of somewhat normalcy.

The state government has implemented restrictions in an attempt to prevent any catastrophic outbreak of COVID here. Mostly this is around very large gatherings, however, it does also impact the ability to have gatherings that have shared food and drink outside of licenced premises.

We’re not permitted to serve beer from shared taps. Shared food must have dedicated servers. This means that the heart of what we do at BeerBQ — share beer, food, and catch up — can’t be done. 

We as a committee are as bummed about this as you are. We are working hard to make sure that you — as paying members — will get the best value out of your membership. 

Of course, we have already reduced your membership in 2020 by way of extending it from 12 to 16 months for $60.

In the meantime, if you have bookmarked the day off, got a babysitter, organised transport — let’s try and catch up for some casual beers and food. 

If conditions still allow this — and who knows in two weeks time —and if you’re able, come along to Big Shed Brewing Concern at Royal Park to chat and socialise on August 15 from 6pm. We will need to check with the brewery and adhere to what Big Shed asks. So, TBC and stay tuned for updates. 

We are investigating what COVID friendly events we can do. If you have any ideas, let us know.

We hate to have to do this but it’s the right thing to keep you and the SA community safe.

The SABC Committee.

Win a 40L SS Brewtech kettle

By simply making sure you are a paid, financial member before 5pm AUGUST 18th, 2020 you will go into the draw to WIN this sick SS Brewtech 5.5 gal | Brew Kettle Mini.

Read more in last week’s newsletter post.

This will be drawn at our next meeting, Wednesday August 19, 2020 a the Wheaty. You don’t need to be there to win but it makes for a better photo op.

Join or renew your membership now.

WIN a 40L SS Brewtech Kettle just by being a member

By simply making sure you are a paid, financial member before 5pm AUGUST 18th, 2020 and you will go into the draw to WIN this sick SS Brewtech 5.5 gal | Brew Kettle Mini.

This will be drawn at our next meeting, August 19, 2020.

CHECK OUT THESE FEATURES!

  • Heavy-duty 18 gauge 304 Stainless
  • 10.7 Gallons total volume (40 Litres)
  • 1.2 x 1.0 height to width ratio
  • Triclad bottom – no scorching!
  • Silicone handles for safe handling
  • Internal etched gallon markings (start at 2 gals!)
  • Thermometer port positioned at 4 gal level
  • 7/8″ Re-Circulation Port
  • Weldless fittings
  • Robust riveted handles for safety
  • Hang lid on side handles
  • Optional bimetal thermometer (thermometer not included))
  • Optional coupling for thermometer (thermometer not included)
  • Optional false bottom (not included)
  • Optional whirlpool attachment (not included)
  • Dimensions: 16.5″ H x 13.8″ W

To check your membership expiry date, simply log into the online shop at shop.sabrew.com and head to My Account, click on Membership, and then Manage – this will show the expiry of your current membership.

*winners will be notified by email or phone. Prize is ‘as is’. Cannot be exchanged for money. Winner must collect from a location in Adelaide withing 60 days.

SS Brewtech Kettle
Win this SS Brewtech Kettle

Winter comp results, AGM wrap-up and BeerBQ update

At last Wednesday’s meeting, the first face to face one in three months, we announced the winners of the club’s Winter competition judged the weekend before. See the medals in the Competitions portal and entrants can download judges scoresheets.

The best brewer was Wolfgang Trenkler with a Dunkles Bock. Congratulations Wolf.

Ales
1st Gary Waters Belguims are a bit funky 23B: Flanders Red Ale]
2nd Joel Gaskin The Rookie 11A: Ordinary Bitter SABC
3rd Chris Kerr Biere de Darke 24C: Biere de Garde

APA
1st Joel Gaskin Scallywags Demise 18B: American Pale Ale SABC
2nd Adrian Reich Dr Keneth Noisewater 18B: American Pale Ale
3rd Ryan Campbell Columtennial Pale Ale 18B: American Pale Ale

Dark
1st Chris Marciniak The Runaway Black IPA 20A: American Porter
2nd Brenton Schoemaker B.A. 13B: English Brown Ale
3rd Gavin Pennell All Aboard 20A: American Porter

Lager
1st Wolfgang Trenkler Bock 6C: Dunkels Bock
2nd Brendan Macey No Thrills 3B: Czech Premium Pale Lager
3rd Thomas Michl Red Dog 9C: Baltic Porter

Stout
1st Nicky Thomas: Oatmeal Stout
2nd Leon van der Linden: Foreign Extra Stout
3rd Bjorn Elix Co-Brewer: Daniel Johnson: Imperial Stout

IPA
1st Luke O’Brien, Co-Brewer: Ryan Campbell & Shane Warren NEIPA
2nd Giles Hussey : Black IPA
3rd Lachlan Johnson Hazei: New England IPA

Specialty
1st Luke Beard maximum stupid: hazelnut 34C: Experimental Beer
2nd Lachlan Johnson Pinage 30A: Spice, Herb, or Vege Beer
3rd Ali Holden Spontaneity No.15 34B: Mixed-Style Beer

AGM 2020

We held out AGM at the July meeting. Thank you everyone who came (we had 40 people). The minutes are available to read here (thank’s Leon). The committee looks forward to bringing you another year of club activities.

BeerBQ

Just in case you missed the update, the club’s postponed winter event will now be held on Saturday, August 15 now due to access to the venue. Watch out for more info soon and we’ll put up a Facebook event. Be aware, the capacity is strictly 60 people due to COVID restrictions so if you want to come, jump on a free member’s ticket asap.

Bring a homebrewed beer to share and we’ll put on the food.

Next meeting – win big

August 19 at The Wheatsheaf (COVID permitting). More to come but what we are doing is giving away a SS Brewtech kettle in a draw. All you need to do is make sure your membership is up to date or renew or join now. We’re giving 16 month of membership for the cost of 12 until July 31. Get on this good deal now. Join or renew membership here.

President’s report, 2020

So it’s another year gone and it’s been an unusual one but a good one. 

Our regular meetings have been really well attended when we could meet in person either here at the Wheatsheaf Hotel or at Little Bang Brewing Co. 

In the time of isolation, we want to keep providing value for money for members to feel a part of a club, so we went online. COVID was the curveball of the year. We managed to give everyone some connection via Zoom and I think everyone understands it’s not the ideal scenario for holding meetings but we tried to make it different and still give everyone the feeling they were part of a club still.

While we continue to grow and welcome new members we also acknowledge that asking people to bring in beers for tasting is getting harder so we worked on new ways of sharing our beers. We introduced bottle swap or bingo and as we did in February, a beer assessment night tasting more beers from members. We’ll keep on looking at ways of making sure everyone’s homebrew is shared because that’s what a homebrewing club is about.

As a club, we brewed again at Left Barrel Brewing and we will do that again in October this year. I think a highlight was the brew days at Glen’s house too. 

Despite setbacks as COVID forced us to nearly cancel, we managed to pull off the Summer competition judged in isolation with two new members in the top three overall.

The Winter competition was judged last weekend and was a success as was our running of SABSOSA last September. Thanks to the team behind that, Gary, Julien and Brendan as well as everyone who volunteers to judge or steward. 

Our events took a bit of a hit with the Hills breweries tour having to be postponed. The summer event at the Petanque club was a new venue and worked well. Along with BeerBQ in May (that will be mid-August this year) these social events remain highlights of our calendar. 

We continue to strive to offer the best value for money for members through all our events, maintaining virtual meetings, prizes like the kettle we gave away and will give away another one in the next month too and brew days, connection, discounts and offers. But overall… 

The club is about community, especially in these times. It gives members a connection to others who love doing what they do and a support network of friendships that isn’t just about brewing beer but a whole lot more in life.

It’s been really heartening to see the members use the club’s network to call out for help when their equipment fails or are in urgent need of advice and mentorship.

The club works because of you the members but also the committee which really makes this stuff happen and I want to personally thank them for always being there to step up, step in and come up with the ideas and shoot down the not so good ones.

Thank you all.

Gus

SABC acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet, the Kurana of the Adelaide Plains pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Remember the Wheaty?

That’s where we get to meet again on Wednesday from 7pm.

After we knock off our AGM requirements (nominations open… email us info@sabrew.com), we’ll be watching a session from the American Homebrew Association conference that was forced online. Its called Making Sense of Terpenes, Thiols, and Biotransformation in the Quest for Unique Hop Expression. These sessions are currently only available to attendees of the recent online event, however in 2021 all sessions will be available to AHA members so it’s well worth joining. For more information check out there website: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/

Winter competition judged and pending

We judged the entries for the SABC winter competition on Sunday. We unusually like to announce winners online ASAP on Sunday but we just couldn’t get to it, so we’re presenting all the medals on Wednesday. All the scoresheeting will be uploaded to the portal after Wednesday.

If you haven’t renewed your membership, now is a good time to check. As a club comp, only members at the time of announcement are eligible.

Log into the shop and check or renew now and get a COVID special of 16 months for the price of 12. https://shop.sabrew.com/product/membership/

BeerBQ now Satuday, August 15

We had to push back the date a couple of weeks because the new toilets weren’t finish at the Colonial Light Gardens Bowlo. Now we’re set for Saturday 15 August. That gives you four weeks to brew something.

More details to come. It’s free for members as usual and bookings will open soon. We are limited to 60 so again, be aware and it might be non-members and partners won’t be able to come. Stay tuned.