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Welcome to DHB Brew News, a monthly[ish] newsletter from the Durban Home Brewers Club.
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Home Brewing: The ultimate social distancing
Well this year took a strange turn! We should be at least 6 monthly meetings down by now. That's already a lot of beer to miss out on, not to mention all the cancelled beer festivals, shuttered bars, undelivered monthly mixed cases, even the Castle Lite that you drink shamefully between your crafties when other brewers aren't looking. A lot of beers have been going undrunk and it makes me sad as hell!
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On the plus side, I have never been so happy to be a home brewer. Who would have thought this unorthodox hobby might turn into an essential skill? The club has also enjoyed a home brewing revival of sorts, with our membership numbers doubling since our last mailer some 18 years ago (March 2020). Its great to see all the new and enthusiastic brewers on the group.
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I want to say a quick thank you to the members of DHB for being lekker during a tough time. Thanks for keeping our forum brewing related and jumping in to help new brewers out with their questions on the WhatsApp group. The group has gotten rather large of late and its great to see that conversations have stayed light and on topic, mostly. That being said, if anyone has any issues please feel free to reach out to the committee, simply reply to this email.
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One last thought before I go. The brewing industry is getting hammered hard at the moment. A lot of us know people in the industry, some of us are in the industry. It certainly feels like we can't do much but weather the storm right now. I would encourage everyone to buy as local as you can (when you legally can) and support breweries who are finding innovative ways to make a buck right now. Because once this is all over, it would be great if those breweries were still around. I can think of nothing more depressing than a world devoid of beer.
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🤝 Next Meeting
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Unfortunately there will not be any face-to-face meetings for the time being, and with the current government guidelines around gatherings and regulations around alcohol, its not likely to happen anytime soon. Please scream inside your heart.
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BeerBros BTS Challenge #2 Results - Dark Beers ☕🍫🍒
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Its winter, the best brewing season (come at me, summer lagers). The cooler weather makes life a whole lot easier, especially for brewers without fermentation temperature control. Its also a great time of year to sip a rich stout or luscious winter warmer by the fire. I am clearly not the only one that feels this way as we had some fantastic beer submissions for this month's Brew To Style Competition.
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Thanks to Undisclosed Location for disclosing your location to a small, responsible, mask wearing and appropriately social distanced group of judges for this round of the competition, and thanks to the judges (2 of which are BJCP certified) and servers for doing the hard work of tasting some beer and then thinking and writing about it. Aside from my involvement, it was a thoroughly professional affair.
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Once again the level of beers submitted was excellent. Your individual scoresheets will be mailed to you separately, if you don't get them, reply to this mail and I will sort you out.
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🥉 Third place went to Jeff Jenkinson (me) for his Baltic Porter
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🥈 Second place went to Jeff Jenkinson (also me 😅) for his Oatmeal Stout
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🥇 First place went to Justin Clark for his Irish Extra Stout
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Thus continues the long standing tradition of committee members cleaning up at brew-to-style 🙈
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BeerBros BTS Challenge #3: Amber and Red Ales 🍒
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What is BTS?
Every 3 months the club runs a Brew To Style competition. Members can submit beer entries for a predetermined subset of styles chosen from the 2015 BJCP style guide and we will judge them. The top 3 beers earn their brewers a certificate, a gift voucher from BeerBros and bragging rights. Occasionally the winners even get a limited run at one of our local Craft Breweries! How's that for bragging rights? BTS is not all about glory though, its a great way to explore other beer styles, get meaningful feedback from your brewing peers and push your brewing to the next level. Join in!
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How do I enter?
Choose from one of the acceptable styles below (you must specify the style for each entry), brew the hell out of it and then drop off 3 x 440ml bottles of your beer for judging. Entry fee is R50 per entry and you can enter as many beers as you like. Members get their first entry of the year free!
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🎁 Prizes
- Certificate and bragging rights
- 1 of each brew entered
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- Brewing supplies worth R350 from BeerBros
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- Certificate and bragging rights
- 1 of each brew entered minus the top 4 beers
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- Brewing supplies worth R250 from BeerBros
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- Certificate and bragging rights
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- Brewing supplies worth R150 from BeerBros
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🏆 Brewer of the Year Scorecard
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Every year we award our most successful brewer with the HIGHLY coveted Brewer Of The Year title. Its a big deal, there is a trophy and everything. Scores are calculated by adding up your top 3 BTS scores over the course of the year, so you need to participate in at least 3 BTS competitions to be in the running.
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Current standings (Top 10)
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| Brewer |
Lagers |
Dark |
Tot |
Pos |
| Justin Clark |
38.75 |
39.5 |
78.25 |
1 |
| Greg Hardie |
39.8 |
30 |
69.8 |
2 |
| Dave Harrison |
36.6 |
29 |
65.6 |
3 |
| Brett Langton |
36.2 |
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36.2 |
4 |
| Jeff Jenkinson |
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35.5 |
35.5 |
5 |
| Gavin Weideman |
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31.75 |
31.75 |
6 |
| Doug Berry |
31 |
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31 |
7 |
| Oren Prato |
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31 |
31 |
7 |
| Seth Deghaye |
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31 |
31 |
7 |
| Clifford Oosthuizen |
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30 |
30 |
8 |
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Full standings available on the website.
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📅 On the Calendar
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Nothing on, may as well brew some beer!
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🏫 Learn to Brew
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Long time member and ex-committee member Adrian Garrett has taken his popular Grain to Glass Brew Class online. If you are new to all grain brewing, Adrian's hands-on demonstration of a typical brew day is just the sort of introduction you need.
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Adrian has generously offered a R50 discount to members who join for brew days on 25th July or 15th August.
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On Tap magazine has made their latest edition available for free download on their website, grab a copy here. Its a great issue packed with some important reading in our current climate.
If you like what you see, please think about grabbing a subscription. Click here to subscribe.
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Support SPCA 🐶
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Donate via the Zapper QR code below.
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👋 Cheers and happy brewing!
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