Author: Lachlan Johnson

Brewer of the Year format change

I’m very excited to announce an overhaul to this years BOTY competition! The goal of the change is to increase the number of point scoring opportunities throughout the year, reward brewers for brewing great beer even if they don’t place in the top 3, and most importantly, reward brewers who contribute to the club outside of competition entries. The competition leader board will be published and updated throughout the year, hopefully adding to the overall excitement and providing more incentive for brewers to brew and share their beer in order to reach top of the table!

For a full run down on the new competition format and how points will be awarded, refer to https://sabrew.com/sabc-brewer-of-the-year/

If you would like to present a beer at a meeting and earn yourself 30 BOTY points, email the club now! Tasting slots will be limited to a maximum of 3 per meeting, and beers brewed for the meeting topic will take preference. There is 1 slot available for Feb.

Feburary Meeting – Brewing with RO

The Feburary meeting is this coming Wedesday 19th at the Wheaty. We’ll be discussing all things reverse osmosis brewing and doing a side-by-side tasting of a blonde ale brewed with RO vs Tap water. If you’re already an RO aficionado (a recent poll suggests 50% of you are!) come along and share your RO knowledge with your fellow members.

Summer Competition Results

The summer competition was run last weekend with 20 entries in the wheat focused categories. The winners will be announced at the Feburary meeting, with full results and the BOTY leaderboard to be posted shortly after.

As the year draws to a close we’ve had a flurry of club activity. The combined Xmas case swap and brew day at SA Brewing supplies was a fantastic event despite the sweltering conditions. The SA Brewing supplies team looked after us with a giant AC and ice cold hop water. Club members contributed with various beers including everyone’s favourite on a hot day, Wolf’s Pils!

The case swap had great participation with all contributors going home with a crate load of fantastic beers, and positives reviews and feedback and flowing in via the Facebook group. If you haven’t participated in case swap before, I highly recommend you mark a slot in your brewing schedules for xmas 2025.

Following the weekend event we had our December meeting at the Wheaty where we distributed prizes from Nationals. Everyone who placed at AABC received one of these fantastic teku glasses.

Then there was the big one – Club Brewer of the Year. In a very tight race Charles on 21 points was just beaten out by Brenton George on 22. Well done to Brenton who had a very strong showing in the Winter comp to set him up for BOTY success.

The day after our monthly meeting we received some more great news when Beer and Brewer magazine posted an article featuring club member Tali and her summer comp winning recipe for a Scottish Light. Well done Tali! Read the article here

As we sign off for 2024 I would like to thank everyone who has helped contribute to the SA Brewing Club in the last 12 months. The sponsors, the members, the committee and anyone who has volunteered their time in some capacity. We appreciate all contributions to club no matter how big or small.

Happy holidays and we’ll see you in 2025!

The Australian Amateur Brewing Championships (AABC) results from this year’s competition in Brisbane have just dropped, and SABC has had another great showing!

At a state level, South Australia has placed third with three Gold, five Silver, and three Bronze awards, achieving a total score of 22.00.

Here’s the rundown of placegetters from SABC

Table 3: Amber & Dark Lager

2ND John Van Der Zalm – Style/Name: Traditional Rauchbier

Table 4: Pale Ale

1ST Sabelo Charles Nzama – Style/Name: Belgian Blond Ale

Table 5: American Pale Ale

2ND Lucas Veitch – Style/Name: NZ Pale Ale

3RD Mark Lehmann – Style/Name: Make Pale Great Again!

Table 6: IPA

1ST Mark Lehmann – Style/Name: Double Cheers IPA

Table 8: Amber Ale

3RD Sabelo Charles Nzama – Style/Name: Son Of The Soil

Table 10: Porter

1ST Darren Williams – Style/Name: Nordic Noir

Table 12: Strong Stout

2ND Maz Ali – Style/Name: Southern Starlight Stout

Table 13: Wheat and Rye Beer

3RD Matthew Kennedy – Style/Name: Plain Beret (Saison)

Table 16: Sour and Wild Ale

2ND Matthew Kennedy – Style/Name: The Goose (Gose)

Table 18: Specialty Beer

2ND Russell Saint – Style/Name: Manuka Smoko

HUGE congratulations to all members who placed by brewing some truly outstanding beers. As club president, I am extremely proud to see both the state and club continue to do very well in the national competition.

The dedication of club members, the quality of ingredients from our LHBS, and the willingness to share advice on how to brew better beer all combine to produce these results.

Next year the competition will be back in Queensland and co-hosted with the Australian National Brewing Conference. It’s not too soon to start planning for 2025 now.

October meeting wrapup

Last week we had another cracking good monthly meetup themed around a show-and-tell of the best and worst brewing tech members have purchased. Facilitated by Sam, we covered all manner of items including pH (pH strips bad, pH meters good!), filters, standard gravity readers, scales and the infamous Kegland Hop Bong! See below for links to some of the recommended items.

We also had a surprise guest appearance with Jon from Yakima Chief Hops dropping in. Jon donated a bunch of hops to the club last year, so we returned the favour with a bottle of the SABC x Pirate Life Barrel Aged Strong!

Xmas brew day and case swap

We can now confirm our good friends at SA Brewing Supplies will host club members* for a Xmas Brewday and case swap on Sunday 15th December at their Maria Street Thebarton store just around the corner from The Wheaty. Jon is keen to start hosting regular brewdays at the store which is a great way to see and learn how others brew their beers.

For this inaugural brew day, we’re doing it System Wars style with a batch brewed 3 ways, specifically trying a different chilling method on each system (immersion vs plate chiller vs no chill). At the January meeting everyone we’ll have a three-way blind tasting to see which method reigns supreme.

The Brew Day will also be the location for the annual Christmas case swap. Refer to the previous newsletter and the Facebook event for swapping details. There are less than eight weeks to go so get those brews down NOW. The event is here to join.

It’s an all-day event and we’re working out the fine details including food. if you’re keen to get involved in the recipe and brewing, sing out info@sabrew.com

Summer competition

A reminder that the Summer Comp has been announced and the theme is Wheat. Refer to the competitions page for categories/dates and drop-off locations.

November meeting

Next month’s meeting, on November 20 at the Wheaty, we’re looking into the best practice of bottling from kegs and pressure fermentors. This is timely with the Christmas case swap coming and you can bottle up some of your best as gifts to your drunk uncles.

Brewing tech recommendations

From the October meeting, here is a list of products members use and recommend.

• Carbonation cap: Easily connect gas or beer disconnects to PET bottles. Useful for filling bottles or flushing beer lines. Very useful for getting that last bit of beer out of a disconnect.
• Hanna PH meter: Good quality PH meter at a reasonable price
• Milwaukee PH meter: A more expensive meter that stores the prob in a solution
• PH Storage solution: Highly recommended for looking after your probe
• Kegland Hop Bong: Initially created so you can purge dry hops before dropping them into a sealed fermenter, Mark Lehman showed us a version he uses for adding fining agents to carbonated beer. Very versatile based on what parts you add to it.

*cough cough.. renew your membership

Calendar Dates Summary

• Nov 20: Club meeting, The Wheaty. Bottle and filling from kegs and pressure transfers
• Dec 15: Christmas bottle swap and brew day!
• Dec 18: End of year drinks and pizzas
• Jan 15: At the Wheaty where we’ll be A/B tasting a certain beer.
• Feb 9: Summer Comp
• Feb 19: A side-by-side comparison of R1 filters and how RO works.
• Mar 19: Frankenchillers! 

A reminder the July meeting is this Wednesday and we will be holding the annual general meeting to elect a new committee. After the offical proceedings we will be announcing the winners of the Winter competition and tasting a barrel aged barleywine. The barleywine is the result of a member led barrel project that has been in works since late 2023, and base on the sample I had on packaging day its well worth coming along for!

The Annual General Meeting for the SA Brewing Club will be held on Wednesday, July 17th at The Wheatsheaf Hotel, George St Thebarton at 7pm.

All financial members of the club are invited to attend. The agenda can be downloaded here. Nominations for committee positions can be submitted by email in advance or will be accepted on the night.

The SABC BeerBQ is this coming Saturday! 6PM at ETKG tennis club. The chefs are already busy preparing the feast that awaits, which includes:

Slow cooked pulled pork
American style hot wings
Low and slow Beef brisket
Italian sausages
Kransky’s
and for the first time, Beer Barbacoa – mexican style pulled beef!

all that along with sides, salads, condiments.. and thas just the food menu.

There will be a vast assortment of member brewed beers, and a special treat from the recent TAFE x SABC collab. BeerBQ will be the only time you can try the collab ESB served through an English Handpump!

If you havn’t already, PLEASE register via the SABC shop – https://shop.sabrew.com/. We’re catering based on registrations so no rego means no food!

Mark your calendars for August 3rd, SABC are heading up to Laura to visit the recently opened Little Blressings Brewing. Gary has confirmed that Cat and Craig are happy to host us and had the following to say:

“Since starting this project they have transformed a small church into a destination , that serves its own beers.

Provided they aren’t feeding loaves and fishes , Craig could do a brewery tour .

Please organise designated drivers and or accomodation.
For catering purposes, indication of intent and numbers would be greatly appreciated .

The Mid north is a fantastic part of SA, we will leave times open so there is a chance for some to visit this beautiful part of South Australia, maybe a visit to Clare on the way up and Yorkes on the way back.

Seriously there are so many great choices…. As Lee says “ be a tourist on your own door step “

For more information on Little Blessings Brewing checkout their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/littleblessingsbrewing

Gus recently shared these great photos from last years BeerBQ. If you want to be a part of the action this year (Saturday June 1st), please regiser in the shop: https://shop.sabrew.com/product/sabc-beerbq-2024-member-ticket/ (If you have trouble registering, be sure to check your membershop status.)

SABC would like to congratulate Luke Scrivens as the very first SA National recognised BJCP judge. Obtaining a BJCP rank at this level is no short order, and Luke’s commitment on this long journey can’t be underestimated.

A few words from Gary:

“To those whom know Luke he is unassuming with a quick smile and cheeky manner, which belies his huge talent and intelligence .

Luke managed to finish the BJCP online exam in exemplary time and made the rest of us feel like the mere mortals we really are.

We were hoping for others to join him, so we can extend the opportunity for others to qualify as BJCP judges with enough proctors within SA , we were so close with Justin Murdock ( voted recently as the best distiller in Australia) just .5 away from qualifying . The March for more recognised judges go forth , your support of local competitions is not underestimated

Thank you to all. Your support in running these tastings and exams has been fantastic.”

Tickets for the much anticipated SABC BeerBQ are now up in the shop –> https://shop.sabrew.com/

Join us Saturday June 1st at the ETKG tennis club for a delicious blend of member made brews and mouthwatering BBQ. All financial members receive free entry and can purchases guest passes for their friends and family. Check your membership status before purchasing!

This year there will be two awards up for grabs – Brewers Choice – voted only by SABC members, and Peoples Choice voted by everyone else.