Club Meetings – South Australian Brewing Club

Meeting, Wednesday June 17, Beer BBQ and winter comp

June 11, 2026June 11, 2026 Gus K

It’s weird how the moon and the Roman calendar work and time is a constant, but next week is the third Wednesday of the month already. While we’ve had a bit of a shift from this rhythm, normal programming has resumed — we’re back at the Wheaty for our regular third Wednesday of the month meeting!

This month, we’ll be tasting the results of the recent group “Process Wars” brew days. Three different teams brewed the same West Coast IPA recipe. We’ll compare the beers and discuss how the teams’ different approaches to brewing the recipe changed the final outcome.

Hopefully there are plenty of excellent leftovers for BeerBQ… and going by the high standard of the recent winter comp entries, we’re in for a treat.

Winter Comp/ Kick Back Smokin’ Brews Competition

We judged the winter comp last Saturday at Kick Back Brewing in Aldinga. Huge thank you to all the judges and stewards who made it a success and Brenton at Kick Back for inviting us to collaborate on the competition to coincide with its 5th Birthday celebrations.

We’ll announce the full results at the meeting next week, but the Kick Back special categories competition was presented on Saturday. Darren William won BOS and best Campfire and All Day beer, and Brendan Macey won best BBQ beer. Darren will be brewing his Baltic Porter at Kick Back for the tap room and cans soon.

The judge’s score sheets will be available in the portal when the results go live next Wednesday.

BeerBQ, June 27 – Member free RSVP and guest tickets available now.

It’s rumoured to be the event that put Beer n BBQ out of business, the SABC extravaganza — BeerBQ and it’s only a couple of weeks away (what is it? See below).

It’s on Saturday, June 27, at ETKG Tennis Club (the club has already sold out its allocation of tickets, so the pressure is on).

It’s FREE for SABC members to RSVP. Please log into the shop and RSVP now so we can gauge numbers to ensure there is plenty of food. Guest tickets are $40. Grab one or two at the same time. Full feed and never-ending beer on 30 taps… Your deadbeat brother-in-law or loose mate will owe you big time.

RSVP by logging in and grabbing a ticket here. (NOTE – you need to select “My Account” and log in first. On a mobile phone, it’s ‘My Account’ is under “Menu”).

We need to know who is coming so we can cater accurately, so please jump on it ASAP.

But what is this annual BeerBQ?

For more than 10 years, we’ve run this annual SABC get-together where we fire up the spit for some delicious BBQ, many bring homebrew to share, and we enjoy an evening of good company, food, and homebrew.

It’s not a competition or a judging event. There’s no pressure. Bring a keg with your own serving device – gas, tap, gun etc, or just a bottle or two if that’s all you have. Everyone’s welcome—whether you’ve been brewing for years or you’ve just started thinking about your first batch.

If you’re not sure what to bring, bring yourself — we’ll have plenty to go around.

Buy a ticket for a non-member for $40 at the club shop. It covers heaps of food featuring an all-day cooked spit, salads, vego options, amazing extras and lots of great and different beers. Please send us a message if you need more info or would like to contribute something – salads, snacks, all welcome.
It’s at the East Torrens Kensington Gardens Tennis Club, East Terrace & South Terrace, Kensington Gardens, from 6pm. See you there!

March meeting this week at Crafty Robot Brewery

March 15, 2026March 16, 2026 Gus K

Making Better Beer: Lessons from Home Brewers Who Went Pro at Crafty Robot Brewery this Wednesday, 18 March.

What really makes the difference between a good beer and a great one?

For this month’s South Australian Brewing Club meeting, we’ll hear from two brewers many of us already know well as members of our club — Nate Warnock and Michael Rowley — who began as home brewers and are now brewing professionally in Adelaide.

Having made the transition from home brewing to craft breweries, Nat and Michael bring a unique perspective on the brewing process and which parts truly matter most when it comes to improving the quality of our beer.

We’ll walk through the brewing process step-by-step—from preparation and cleaning through mash, sparging, boiling, cooling, fermentation and conditioning—allowing members to ask questions, compare approaches, and learn which practices really improve beer quality and which things home brewers may worry about more than necessary.

It should be a relaxed night of brewing conversation, practical insights, and plenty of opportunity to pick the brains of two brewers who have successfully made the leap from home brewing to professional brewing.

From 7pm. Food might not be available, but Uber Eats is welcome

Summer Competition

The Ashes summer competition was judged yesterday. Thank you to all the judges and stewards, and especially Russell for hosting. Also, thanks to Kick Back Brewing at Aldinga for the prizes. The results will be announced at the meeting on Wednesday, and score sheets will be available in the portal by the end of the week.

It was a fine day for judging, with clear conditions and steady hands at the table. England built its innings the old-fashioned way — steady scoring right down the order, plenty of solid knocks in the mid-thirties and very few mishaps. Australia suffered an early collapse; however, there was some flair at the top of the order, including a spectacular “century” on the competition scale (over 40) that impressed the judges. There was even a brief “rain stops play” moment when one bottle gushed dramatically on opening.

Ultimately, England’s consistent lineup kept the scoreboard ticking and just won the match on aggregate by a tight .5 run margin. Australia produced the standout performance — a knock reminiscent of a Travis Head counter-attack — but the collapse meant it wasn’t quite enough to chase down England’s aggregate total.

Final innings taking the top 11 beers from each side: England 36.4 to Aus 35.9.

Teams brewing event

More details on the team brew challenge that Mark Lehmann has devised will be out at the meeting, and it’s a good one. Keep an eye on emails if you can’t make it. It’ll be a good one. Match racing to use a sporting analogy again. Same ingredients, the focus is on the process to make an IPA. Everyone is welcome to join in. There will be members hosting brew days Nth, Sth, East & West for you to join.

Calendar

April 15: Tips for competition entry (*NOT at The Wheaty, venue TBC)
May 20: Base malt comparisons

The Mash Tun October: Meetings, Xmas events and summer comp deets announced

October 10, 2024October 21, 2024 Gus K

Thanks to everyone who made it to last month’s meeting. It was a great open-flowing discussion with members and winning brewers from ABCSA and thanks to Mark for bringing along some of his best hazy.

We all learnt secrets to success but what happens at brew club, stays at brew club ‘eh!

It’s what you can learn from other members in person rather than anonymous ‘experts’ in forums is the reason we’re all in a homebrewing club. And, of course, it’s a bonus to go to the Wheaty on a school night.

This week’s meeting, Wednesday, Oct 16 is at The Wheaty from 7pm.

The theme Sam is running with this month is ‘Brew tech that is shiny but useless.’

We’ve all been there – caught up in the latest brewing gadgets, only to find they don’t quite live up to the hype. Have you bought something you thought was essential but barely used? Or regret a purchase because you got caught up in the hype or invested in expensive equipment that sits unused.

On the other hand, have you discovered a hidden gem? Share your thoughts and experiences at the meeting. Show and tell if you can bring it in (sell it off too!) Celebrate the wins and commiserate over the flops!

Bottle bingo as usual. Bring in a homebrew bottle to anonymously swap.

November meeting: Nov 20 The Wheaty. Best practice tips for packaging your beer. Perfect before Christmas. Everyone loves your beer as gifts!

Christmas case swap

We’re working hard on an exciting club day on Dec 15 so keep the date spare. Also on that day, we’re doing the Xmas case swap.

This case swap has been a great success in the past. Due to popular demand, it is back.

Everyone registered brews a batch of beer and brings 12-24 bottles and goes home with the same amount but of different beers. Like a beer advent calendar. Nick McAuley is running it. Any questions ask at the meeting or in the FB group. The event is here to join.

How many ppl: 15 to 20ppl, but more would be fantastic

What: 6pack, 12, or 24 bottle/can swap
When: Sunday 15 December. (daytime)
Venue and time TBC

SABC Summer Competition – focus on wheat

The annual club summer competition is just around the corner in brewing terms, and in 2025 we are challenging you to showcase the best of wheat as the main ingredient. Our CD, Gerard Flynn, has selected eight BJCP categories featuring wheat as the star ingredient. The website’s competition page has been updated so you can find it there later.

Competition details at a glance:

Date: Sunday, 9th February 2025
Time: 11:00 AM
Venue: East Torrent Kensington Gardens Tennis Club
Cost: $5 per entry

Details are in the club calendar. Add it to yours via the subscription links.

Categories:

This competition will feature the following BJCP styles:

American Wheat (1D)
Weisse Beer (10A)
Dunkelweisse (10B)
Witbier (24A)
Saison (25B)
Berliner Weisse (23A)
Gose (23G)
Wheat Wine (22D)

Important Dates:

Portal Opens: Thursday, January 9th
Portal Closes: Friday, February 8th
Drop-off Locations: SA Brewing Supplies, Thebarton to COB Friday or at the venue on the day from 10am.

We encourage everyone to nominate to judge or steward.

Stay tuned for updates. We encourage all members to add this event to their calendars and slot in a wheat beer to your schedule.

Calendar Dates Summary

Oct 16: Club meeting, The Wheaty. ‘Best brewing kit and stuff you don’t need’
Nov 16: 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!

The Mash Tun August: The Suburban Brew next week, ABCSA and more

August 9, 2024August 12, 2024 Gus K

Hello brewers, Here’s what happening next week, soon and beyond.

ABCSA is on like Donkey Kong

The ABCSA Home Brewing Championship for 2024 is open for entry! Formerly known as SABSOSA*, this esteemed event has been celebrating home brewing for over 20 years.

Key Details:

Entry Fee: $8 per entry
Entries close online: Thursday, August 29

ENTER NOW and don’t leave it to the last minute when your printer is busted. You need a new account in the portal even if you have entered previously.

If you can judge or steward – get involved! Register your interest in the entry portal.

For full competition details, including bottle drop venue and deadlines, visit the website at ABCSA.org.au

Good luck!

*seriously, this is the last time SABSOSA will ever be uttered.

Next Wednesday’s club meeting

Next Wednesday’s monthly club meeting on (August 21) is at The Suburban Brew at 26-30 Provident Avenue, Glynde (not Goodwood!). The owner and brewer, Tony will give us a tour of this brewhouse and give us the secrets to producing the Royal Adelaide Beer and Cider Awards Gold Medal-winning Sunday Session Ale.

A night not to miss. Parking is available on site or bus 174, 176, or H33 from the city.

Xmas case swap – get brewing

We did it last year and it’s on again. Members brew a batch of beer, bottle it and swap the lot for a random selection of other beers. Put 20L in, and get back 20L of Christmas beers bathed in sunshine and good cheer. Put this in your brewing schedule and we’ll get back with more info soon. Swap venue TBC.

SABC members Blessed with good beer in Laura, SA

A bunch of members had a road trip to see the newly minted Little Blessing Brewing in the old church in the small mid-north town of Laura. Completely built from the shell of the deconsecrated church hall, club member Craig Blessing and his partner have done an incredible job building their brewery. All reports are the beers are great and the atmosphere excellent.

Events and meetings

Club dates are below and in our online calendar. After next Wednesday’s The Suburban Brew meetup, we know the September meeting (18/09) we will hear from the club’s best brewers who scored great results at winter comp and ABCSA. Get the low down on their secrets to success and try their beers.

October meeting (16/10) is looking at all the brewing tools, tech, and gadgets you need, you never knew you needed and the garbage ones you wish you kept the receipt for (curse you Temu!).

Beers offered for presentation and member tasting are always welcome, drop us a line and as always, bottle bingo is always on. Bring a bottle, and leave with a bottle. Anonymous or not, it’s up to you.

Calendar Dates Summary

Aug 21: Club meeting at The Suburban Brew
Aug 31/ Sept 1: ABCSA Bottle drop closes
Sept 7 & 8: ABCSA judging
Sept 14: ABCSA Awards presentation at the Wheaty
Sept 18: Club meeting, The Wheaty. ‘Best brewers reveal their secrets’
Oct 16: Club meeting, The Wheaty. ‘Best brewing kit and stuff you don’t need’
Nov 16: Club meeting, The Wheaty. ‘3V vs Brewzilla system wars, can you tell the difference?’ Beers to taste.

View the updated calendar on the website and subscribe to your Google Calendar or Outlook 365 and don’t miss an event.

Membership lapsed? To renew, head to the SABC Shop and pay to keep access to club events, meetings, competitions and knowledgebase.

Cheers team SABC: Lachlan, Sam, Leon, Gus, Nick, Chris, Julien, Gerard, Gary

Winter comp winners, new committee & August Meeting at The Suburban Brew

July 20, 2024July 22, 2024 Gus K

Greetings brewers. We hope you are enjoying the ‘dark beers’ season. The club met last week for some housekeeping, awards announcements and upcoming events. We also tasted an excellent barleywine that was the result of a member-led barrel project. Delish.

Here’s a big summary of what’s happening below. Get your spex out and read on.

Winter Competition: ‘The Euros’ Results

Congratulations to Russell Saint for winning the Belgian class and Best of Show with his Belgian Single. Other class winners include: German: Kieren Vercoe (German Leichtbier), English: Nat Warnock (English Porter), Scottish: Ben Key (Scottish Export), Irish: Brenton George (Irish Stout).

See the full results on the competition’s page. The judges’s score sheets are available to download. And of course, Spain won the football.

Upcoming ABCSA State Competition

The entry portal and website will update in early August. Key dates to remember:

Bottle Drop: closes at drop-off locations, COB August 31 or by 12pm Saturday at The Irish Club.
Judging: Saturday, September 7 and Sunday, September 8 at The Irish Club, Carrington Street

The portal will also invite judge and steward registrations. We need help to run the competition, so any time you can give is appreciated. There’s still time to brew a comp-winning beer. Good luck!

AGM / Committee Update

The Annual General Meeting was held at the club meeting as required by its constitution. The minutes including treasurer’s and president’s reports will be available soon.

Lachlan Johnson was elected as president. He’s supported by:

VP: Sam Beard, Treasurer: Leon van der Linden, Secretary: Gus Kingston. The General committee members are: Chief Steward: Nick McCauley, General Officer: Chris Kerr, IT: Julien Gibson, Competition Director: Gerrard Flynn, Head Judge: Gary Waters

The committee meets bi-monthly and welcomes the contribution of ideas and feedback.

August Meeting Venue Change

The August club meeting on August 21 (3rd Wednesday of the month) will be at The Suburban Brew Glynde. Owner and brewer, Tony, a former club member, will give us a tour of his one-year-old facility. This brewhouse produces excellent beers, including the award-winning Sunday Session Ale, which recently won a gold medal at the Royal Adelaide Beer and Cider Awards.

Address: 26-30 Provident Avenue, Glynde (not Goodwood!).
Transport: Buses 174, 176, or H33 from the city and plenty of on-site parking is available.

Beer tour to Little Blessings Brewing, Laura

The date is getting close, August 3! Join SABC members for a road trip to Laura in the mid-north on the first weekend in August to enjoy beers crafted by our member Craig Blesing at his brand new (old church) brewery!

Limited spots are available, so please RSVP (or email) if you’re certain you’ll attend. Also, let us know if you’re planning a day trip (about 2 hours drive) or staying overnight. Depending on numbers, we may need separate sessions.

For overnight stays, check out the Laura Caravan Park directly across from the brewery. Everyone gets scones on arrival. It’s a delightful place. When we know more, we can coordinate shared accommodation or rides with fellow members.

Membership Renewals

Many of you might not realise your annual club membership has expired. To renew, head to the SABC Shop and pay to keep access to club events, meetings, competitions, discounts and extras, online group and member brains trust. If you’re unsure of your current status, find out how to check it here. The annual subscription of $60 hasn’t changed in many years and will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future. The club aims to give members the best value for money it can, all for the price of a batch of beer.

What’s in planning: another Southern Vales brewery bus trip!

Sling us a line if you need help or want to get in touch.

Calendar Dates Summary

Aug 3/4: Little Blessing Brewery ‘Road Trip’
Aug 6: Committee meeting
Aug 21: Club meeting at The Suburban Brew
Aug 31/ Sept 1: ABCSA Bottle drop closes
Sept 7 & 8: ABCSA judging
Sept 14: ABCSA Awards presentation at the Wheaty (TBC)
Sept 18: Club meeting, The Wheaty
Oct 16: Club meeting, The Wheaty

View the updated calendar on the website and subscribe to your Google Calendar or Outlook 365 and don’t miss an event.

Here we go again…

January 16, 2022January 16, 2022 Gus K

Despite the pandemic, goddamit we will have a regular meeting next Wednesday at The Wheaty from 7pm.

After seeking you opinions in a poll, we know many are hesitant about meeting and are waiting for booster shots to soak in so we’ll keep it simple. Catch up with brewing buddies and bring a beer if you’d like to have it assessed. We thought about cancelling but we also don’t want to let down The Wheaty who are also doing it tough.

If anyone wants to present either a beer or a topic, drop us a line. We’re into it.

Be aware, the Wheaty will have capacity limits and restrictions we must follow.

It’s likely we’ll also do an Australia Day Zoom meeting. Stay tuned for that.

Summer competition update.

We know you are as disappointed as we are that the summer comp has been postponed. We would like this to go ahead and we propose provisional judging on the weekend of 19-20th February. We may need to extend this to the following weekend in sessions to minimise exposure numbers for gathering etc.

We know a lot of people will want to avoid larger gatherings and keep a low profile but to run it we do need help from the community with a suggestion for venue. Preferably outdoors and undercover (at least spacious), close to facilities and central. It’s likely bottles will need to be dropped on the day and maybe at the meeting in the week prior.

We also hope to be able to offer the best beer to be pro-brewed and served at the winter Beer n BBQ (if that happens).

Can you also indicate in an email or vote/ comments on the Facebook poll if you would consider judging or stewarding?

Summer competition 2022 and November meeting

October 4, 2021November 20, 2021 Gus K

The club’s 2022 summer competition will be a banger, trust us. The only styles being judged will be:

Hop forward beers (IPA, pale ales etc)
Dark/Stout
Sours

You can make anything you like in these BJCP styles below.

Tip: your beer must be able to be rebrewed, all-grain and able to be replicated and consumed within three months. Ideally not super high abv or aged. We strongly encourage you to keep detailed notes on your recipe, process and brew day. You may want to go all out to win this one. There will be limits on entries per brewer and an overall cap on entries.

Open to financial club members who are amateur brewers.

Dates: Entries close: Sunday 16th January 2022
Drop off and portal opening details TBA
Judging: Saturday 22nd January 2022
Winners announced: Sunday 23rd January 20223 categories will be judged, with a winner announced in each of the three following categories:

Hop-Forward beers:

Dark beers:

Sour beers:

SABC Summer competition 2022 Conditions:

1. Entries must be All-grain, with exception of adjuncts, special ingredients. All special ingredients must be listed on entry.2. One bottle per entry as per the description of acceptable bottle type and volume set out in general club competition rules.3. Maximum of one entry per major category, 3 entries in total per brewer.4. Brewers must be able to provide detailed brewing notes to reproduce winning beers.

General club competition rules: South Australian Brewing Club (“SABC”) General Competition Rules for all club competitions:

1. Disputes concerning any competition run by the SABC will be determined by the SABC in its sole and absolute discretion.2. Any dispute should be addressed to the Competitions Director and SABC committee.3. To be eligible for any prizes, an entrant must be a current financial member to enter.4. Bottle sizes: Only glass or plastic bottles or cans larger than or equal to 500ml and no greater than 1000ml will be accepted. 700ml bottles are preferred. 330ml stubby bottles or cans will not be accepted.5. Prior to the judging of entries, the Competitions Director may declare prizes available to any and all entrants.6. Prizes offered as are and cannot be exchanged for cash or same financial value.7. The Competitions Director may vary the rules applicable to any competition by declaring the variations prior to the commencement of judging.8. Entrants must declare any conflict of interest before taking part in the administration or judging of a competition.9. SABC reserves the right to cancel, postpone or modify the competition.10. All entries must be handcrafted products, containing ingredients available to the general public, and made using private equipment by hobbyist brewers.11. The competition director reserves the right to combine styles for judging and to restructure awards as needed depending upon the quantity and quality of entries received.12. All participants in a SABC Competition shall act in good faith at all times

October club meeting

The next club meeting will be a member’s beer assessment meeting. Bring a long neck or at least 750mls of your beer and we’ll allocate it to groups for blind assessment. Don’t mark the bottle with what it is, let them guess. We’ve done it before and it’s good fun and you’ll receive sound feedback too.

Bring another bottle for bottle bingo too.

Other things

We’re planing a club barrel project. Stay tuned for that one. We’ll let you know what’s happening soon.

The Christmas event is being worked out. It’ll involve your beer in groups/teams.

We’re back

July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 Gus K

With the easing of restrictions we are now able to meet at The Wheaty again but with some limits. Our capacity in the shed is 45 and we need to spread out. Please be considerate of this next Wednesday at our meeting.

The first order of business is our AGM that we are required to hold. It doesn’t take long. All financial members are invited to nominate for officeholders and committee positions and vote. If you want to play a part in the generating ideas for the club, steering it or just helping in any way, please nominate by email to info@sabrew.com.au or on the night. It’s not onerous and we do have fun meetings involving dinner, beers and thinking about ideas for SABC.

The notification and agenda here.

Following the AGM, and with the permission of the American Homebrewers Association, we’ll be screening a replay from the recent HomebrewCon Online virtual conference. The session we’ll watch is:

Making Sense of Terpenes, Thiols, and Biotransformation in the Quest for Unique Hop Expression.
Brewing modern, hop-forward beer styles requires us to look beyond alpha acids and focus on hop oils, their constituents, and how addition timing and fermentation processes affect hop aroma. Centred around the latest hops research, we will examine several families of hop compounds and their contributions to bitterness, flavour, and aroma. We will discuss brewing conditions and hop addition timing to optimize hop oil extraction, biotransformation, and aroma 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/

If you’ve got a beer you want to share and talk about or a presentation on a topic, let us know for now and the future.

Everyone else, please bring a beer or two to swap in bottle bingo.

Winter comp

Our winter competition is being judged this weekend. The portal is open now to enter your beer. We are now able to offer BeerBelly as a drop off location as well as 12 midday on Saturday at the Irish Club. Judging is Sunday. If you want to offer to judge or steward, you need to nominate in the competition portal. It’s not really clear how to do this. You need to edit your profile to make the changes.

Everything you need to know on the competitions page.

BeerBQ

Reminder to block out August 1 in your diary for BeerBQ. 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.

Kveik — Aha, it’s just Norwegian for yeast

October 14, 2019October 14, 2019 Gus K

How good is brewing beer? Even better with friends. Fifteen or so SABC members and a few onlookers shared a great day brewing at Left Barrel Brewing, Balhannah on Saturday. We brewed 280L of American Amber with CTZ and Chinook that came out at 1.066 / 56IBUs. All the brewers took home 20L to ferment as they want. We’ll taste the results of their cold-side decisions at our December/ Christmas meeting.

Thanks as always to Brad at Left Barrel for hosting us again.

This week is our regular monthly meeting at the Wheaty. The main theme of the night is kveik — the new-old rockstar Norwegian farmhouse yeast that’s spinning heads with its clean fermentation profile at high temperatures. Clinton has brewed a beer for us using White Lab’s commercial strain and, along with SABC’s own Professor of Kveik, Mark Pirate, they’ll present the background of the yeast, pros and cons and experiences using it.

Could this be a go-to Adelaide summer yeast? Get your questions ready to hit ’em with. We’ve also got a beer from Kieren (always a wild ride) and other stuff going on.

Don’t forget to bring a bottle for ‘beer bingo’. It’s hard to share a beer with all members so bring one or two to swap. Put your name on it if you’d like some feedback.

Do you have an idea for a club night theme, topic or want to put on a presentation around a style or comparison experiment? Let us know. We can help line things up or supply some ingredients.

In other club upcoming news and events, we’re working on an event for the end of the year. News to come.

Also (but TBC), next month we’ll probably do another off flavours education tasting session (always happy to have a dud beer donated for examination – don’t be shy) and December will be pizzas and the Left Barrel amber ales.

Summer competition

As you’d know the theme is all things Belgian. We’ll be judging on a weekend in mid-late February. So heads up, you might want to get brewing now and also be aware that sometimes the ingredient you need could be hard to get in January. It’s a good opportunity to brew something you might not usually tackle and put you out of your comfort zones.

Also, the Uraidla Show is on November 3 and is back to judging beer and wine. Entry details here [PDF]

Membership renewals and joining are online on our website.

Keep up to date with happenings and social posts on our Facebook Group for members.

President’s report, 2019

July 17, 2019July 17, 2019 Gus K

Earlier in 2019 the SABC conducted a questionnaire to find out what the membership enjoyed, wanted to do more of, see less of and the direction we should go in. The feedback we got was very positive. With that comes the hard part — how do we keep going offering the same meetings, activities, projects, events and get-togethers that our membership enjoyed?

It’s difficult for a club with a paid subscription to attract new members and maintain existing members with the pressures of life. There are also many avenues on social media to ask questions and get answers on how to brew better beer or overcome any challenges brewers face.

Forums and social media can quickly generate answers to a wide range of questions any homebrewer needs. Likes on a photo of a brewer’s ‘perfect’ creation can rack up but you can’t taste photos, friends and fellow brewers can’t smell the aroma from a picture. They can’t help with recipe design and other flaws.

It’s hard to get adults to join a club but everyone who has joined us recently has been pleasantly surprised by what they discover and the friendship we offer. This year we grew by around 25 members (that’s also 25 per cent) and now sit precariously on the verge of 100 members.

Our main focus is on how our members can benefit from what we do. Our special events are subsidised, the prizes for our competitions are for members to win, now our Facebook group is by-and-large for paying members and the unique opportunities like brew days are open only to our members to take part.

The most important thing we ask whenever the committee plans events is how much benefit does it offer our members and can we offer it for no extra money.

This year’s calendar has been choc-a-block and I did some back of an envelope calculation and estimated that if anyone came to at least half of the year’s regular meetings, attended a few of our special events, took up any of the special offers and benefits that come our way and maybe won a raffle, they’d have value that easily exceeds the $60 membership fee.

This year our meetings some great special guests. Many of you told me they enjoyed Stephen Nelsen from TAFE but we also had Gabi from Gladfield and Dermott from BeerCo. We went to the German Club, Little Bang and Pirate Life’s new digs and a tour of Southern Vales breweries.

Other highlights were presentations by members on water, lagers and kegging.

BeerBQ was again a highlight for the year – not only for Keiren’s green glitter beer but everyone else’s beers, the food was again on point and it was free for members again.

A brew club should brew beer and this year we were grateful that Brad at Left Barrel helped a group of members brew a pro-size batch of beer for them to all takeaway and make their own fermentation decisions. The rest of us got to try the results.

Brewing at Glen’s house was another great day of making beer and friendship and great pizza.

We’ll be doing both of these again soon.

We also kicked big competition goals. John Van de Zalm won SABSOSA’s Best of Show. Keiren Vercoe and Greg Weider shared silver at the Aust. National Homebrew Competition and SA best overall state.

The ‘Nats’ were held alongside the Nat. Homebrew Conference in Melbourne and a sizeable number of SABC-ers attended. Our beers were head and shoulders above other bigger clubs at the social club night and our theme bar took the equal top spot with a beer pouring Dalek. Gary’s saison also took silver in that unofficial competition.

I can’t write about our own competitions without by noting the work and passion of our competitions director Gary Waters and IT whizkid Julien Gibson. Gary’s passion was also rewarded. He was accepted into the associate judge program for the Independent Brewer’s Awards for the next year.

Our Summer Competition was saison, NEIPA and milk stouts and with 50+ entries, we had to look to the King’s Head as a venue to judge and then we came to the winter comp. At 75 entries for ‘All things American’ from club members, it was our biggest yet and judging day at the Irish Club was a suitable test run for SABSOSA.

That’s a wrap for the year but I can’t sign-off with acknowledging the hard work of the committee. It’s their ideas and support that really make things happen for the benefit of you the members.

Angus Kingston, President, SABC 2018-19

Water water everywhere… March meeting and club brew day

March 17, 2019March 18, 2019 Gus K

In this update: March meeting, Collab brew day, SABSOSA help! Wheaty Wildflower enduro event.

This month’s meeting is a return to a more normal format back at home ground — the Wheaty, this Wednesday from 7 pm.

The subject might seem dull but as water makes up 95 per cent of beer it’s an important ingredient and often overlooked one. Club ‘water guys’ Leon and Luke are going to lead a discussion in understanding what’s in our water by demystifying SA Water reports (so check out yours in advance here) and how to treat it depending on the beer you’re brewing.

Of course, there will be beer too with a tasting of the Dean Smith’s summer comp winning milk stout. Bring a bottle for bottle swap bingo. More to come on the event on Facebook.

Casual Collaborative Brew Day – April 6

In the lead up the annual club BeerBQ, we’re going to put on a casual brew day on Saturday, April 6th. Members are invited to bring their brewing rigs along and brew anything of their choosing either solo or in a team. Join the discussion in the Facebook group.

The club will fund grain bills and provide wood-fired pizza. We would love to see at least 5 breweries in action and we encourage members to team up if their get isn’t portable.

Members don’t have to brew to attend. Bringing a longneck or two to share is also encouraged and have some pizza. It’ll be a fun way to spend the last day of daylight saving. Join in.

General guidelines based on 5 brews ~1.050, for each brew the club will fund each brewing team
5kgs Gladfield Ale Malt
200g Gladfield Toffee
200g Gladfield light crystal or Gladiator (dextrin) up for debate
20g Magnum hops for bittering

Any other ingredients will need to be brought along on the day. Why not brew a freezer cleaner and use up some old hops or grains? Hit the supermarkets and bring some rolled oats or boost your ABV with some table sugar, honey or molasses. The grain can be milled on the day.

We hope some of the beers will be ready for the BeerBQ on May 4th – so consider fermentation and conditioning time. Split batches amongst your team for creative cold side decisions.

There will be a sign-up sheet at the March meeting so we can lock in interest. If you can’t make the meeting, then email info@sabrew.com and tell us if you want to brew, join a team or just attend. The event will be held at a private premise in Enfield, details will be provided to attendees closer to the event.

State Amateur Brewing Show, SA (SABSOSA)

As you know, this year we are running the state’s peak brewing competition. Last year there were 365 entries and we expect more this year — we need your help. The dates are in, sponsors sorted and the venue is booked. If you’re interested in judging or stewarding get in touch now with Gary, chief competition director. We’ve got a sweet deal for you (includes free beer). If you can help in any other way let us know now too — bottle sorters, pick up entry drivers, luggers, organisers, computer people — jump in, please. Judging is September 7-8. (Practice brewing now! We want to win too).

Wheaty Wildflower Enduro free beer offer for SABC

Go deeper into the Wild with Co-Founder, bug wrangler and barrel whisperer extraordinaire Topher Boehm of Wildflower Brewing & Blending in an epic three-hour tasting this Tuesday 18th. Watch our post of FB to add your name for a free fancy if you’re going. Tickets etc… here.

Forward dates

April 17: Everything you need to know about kegging and then some…

May 4: BeerBQ at Reade Park Bowling Club (Colonel Light Gardens)

May 22: Pirate Life Brewery tour (TBC- might be April)

June 19: AGM and winter comp.