Would anyone be interested in joining a homebrewing(beer,cider,wine,etc) society?

Camilo

Ahoy all, My name is Niall and im in 1st year arts here at NUIG. for a few years now ive been brewing my own beer and i have encountered many people who have expressed an interest in the area as well so i was thinking it might be interesting to set up a homebrew society in the college

To those completly new to this hobby i will briefly (attempt to )explain: homebrewing is creating your very own beer,ale,cider,stout,wine, etc all by your lonesome using various combinations of ingrediants, flavorings and equipment. it is really beginning to catch on in Ireland and is becoming a popular hobby as people are getting tired of boring, old, tasteless, generic beers in pubs and want to see what REAL craft beer,cider,ale, wine and stout is like. once you have tried these proper brews you will never so much as look at a pint of Heiniken or other mass produced ****e again .
And as were all poor college students you will be happy to learn just how CHEAP AND ECONOMICAL it is compared to buying brand beer

A few ideas i have had for activities include:

• Intodruction to brewing and a basic beginners brew to show newbies how to do it and what equipment they will need.
• Nights out sampling all the fantastic and delicious beers in Galways various craft beer and homebrew pubs
• As we all begin brewing our own we can have nights where we swap around our brews and compare(and get a wee bit trashed)
• I have spoken to the owners of the homebrew equipment and supply store here in the city and he has offered a 5-10% discount for all members who buy from there, it's a quality shop and ive been buying from there for years.
• Group based brewing competitions between brew-teams, see who can brew the strongest stout or the nicest wine or the bitterest of australian pale ales, and various things like that.

Basically i think this could be a really interesting and rewarding venture, lets face it we all love drinking and it could do everyone some good to create their own drink of choice, you will be amazed at how fun experimenting with new flavours and beer types for your brew can be and and the pride you feel when you crack open that first bottle of your very own beautiful creation is second to none

Anyone interested please send an email to niallbarnwall@gmail.com and just give a quick hello or whatever. I need to see if peeps be interested before i try to set it up.

Cheers for reading all this and raise a pint to the homebrewers!
-Niall McGuire

skinny90

any free samples????

Camilo

Haha well heres my idea for just the starting point: If we get enough interest(lets say 15 people for example) then everyone pop in just €2 or so so that we can buy a brew and ingrediants(average brew will make 40-46 pints).

we will have a meeting and decide what we want to brew, perhaps an indian pale ale or a canadian lager or a fancy cider, then we will go buy it and i will give everyone a basic run down on what to do and we will all brew it together. Then once its done fermenting everyone will get 2 or 3 of the beers they helped create and then if y'all decide ye are interested we will continue on or ye can just feck off away back to your lives

Ficheall

I don't know if that'll be allowed as a society, to be honest. You might check with Riona in the SocsBox before you invest too much time into organising such.

Croppy Bhoy

Can you get me into CPs for €2? If so put me down.

TheCosmicFrog

This was tried two years ago and was ultimately rejected by the Societies Office. I don't know the full story but I can ask one of my friends who knows more about it.

It was a shame because brewing is completely harmless. I've only recently gotten into it myself.

Galway currently has a homebrewing group in 091 Labs as part of their larger "091 Food" food hacking group:
http://091labs.com

091 Food mailing list:
http://groups.google.com/group/091-food?lnk=srg

Croppy Bhoy

Food hacking? What?

Phenex

Sorry mate, won't be approved regardless of how you spin it unfortunately. That said however EcoSoc did a cider homebrew workshop recently enough and may be doing more in the future, chat to them and see what happens.

bildo

Yeah, talk to eco-soc. We managed to get around this alcohol policy by pitching it as a general home made foods/drinks range of workshops.
And this actually isn't bull****!
We made cider from the apples off the tree beside the college bar a few weeks back and probs some beer again soon.
We also got the 10% deal from the shop you mentioned, I actually sorted them out an advert in SIN which comes out tomorrow, check it out, 10% discount for all students

I hope more students get into it, it's a great hobby and after a while you get way better beer than you buy in the shops.

Camilo

Well i must say i'm rather disapointed that i wont be able to do this, i had some really good plans brewing in my head

However i will try speaking to these ecosoc blokes and see what happens

joeKel73

Considered setting this up earlier in the year actually, but too busy with other society and club commitments to take it on.

Might be worth running it past Riona anyway.

Otherwise we could setup an unofficial society or homebrew club? Or just a Galway city one. We couldn't get funding and would need somewhere to meet but it's an idea.

I'll email you later when i've more time...

bildo

ECOSOC ARE ALREADY DOING THIS!!

If you want to do this through the college get in touch with eco soc and start up as a subgroup. We are more than happy to share, we just need more people to actually help out with organisation.
We have a few people including myself who are more than happy to do workshops but simply need help organising.
Get in touch and we will make it happen.

Camilo

foto joe wrote: »

Considered setting this up earlier in the year actually, but too busy with other society and club commitments to take it on.

Might be worth running it past Riona anyway.

Otherwise we could setup an unofficial society or homebrew club? Or just a Galway city one. We couldn't get funding and would need somewhere to meet but it's an idea.

I'll email you later when i've more time...

Well as Bildo said we could set it up asa a sub group of the ecosoc if you fancy? I would like to go ahead with this

TheCosmicFrog

foto joe wrote: »

Otherwise we could setup an unofficial society or homebrew club? Or just a Galway city one. We couldn't get funding and would need somewhere to meet but it's an idea.

As I was saying above, there is already a homebrewing group in 091 Labs that has just recently started up. We're all amateurs too which is great

Also, bildo - I read through Sin and didn't see the voucher you mentioned. Whereabouts is it?

joeKel73

I've joined ecosoc, setting up a sub group looks like the handiest option alright.

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Also, bildo - I read through Sin and didn't see the voucher you mentioned. Whereabouts is it?

+1

20% off in HBW this saturday by the way. Unfortunately I'll be away for the weekend.

TheCosmicFrog

foto joe wrote: »

20% off in HBW this saturday by the way. Unfortunately I'll be away for the weekend.

Cheers!

bildo

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Also, bildo - I read through Sin and didn't see the voucher you mentioned. Whereabouts is it?

There was a cock up, it will be in the next edition for sure.
Failing that I can give you a discount flyer, just call up to the SU and ask for Will, I have a load of them. :P

TheCosmicFrog

bildo wrote: »

There was a cock up, it will be in the next edition for sure.
Failing that I can give you a discount flyer, just call up to the SU and ask for Will, I have a load of them. :P

Ah, you're Will? Was wondering which of the SU you were... sound so. Was hoping to go out on Saturday for the 20% discount but it was pishing all day. I need another rake-load of bottles for the Apple Cider, Apple-and-Red-Grape Cider and Canadian Lager that are currently looking for a nice 500ml home.

aido179

Ah the days of brew soc two years ago...Serious boozing trip was done up to the galway hooker brewery. Good times

joeKel73

There was a brew soc? What happened to it aido?

I'd love a tour of the Galway Hooker brewery!

TheCosmicFrog

foto joe wrote: »

There was a brew soc? What happened to it aido?

I'd love a tour of the Galway Hooker brewery!

It was a society that never got off the ground due to the issues already mentioned in this thread. The guy who started it had all our contact details so he just organized a trip to the Galway Hooker brewery for all of us. Ironically, the brewery is in Roscommon.

About 25 of us went out. The two brewers, Aidan and Ronan, gave us two free kegs of Hooker and a massive barbecue of burgers, sausages and chicken. The weather happened to be amazing too. Was absolutely the best trip I've ever been on.

joeKel73

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

It was a society that never got off the ground due to the issues already mentioned in this thread.

I'm not seeing the issues apart from getting approval. But if it existed before then surely it was approved? Or was this pre-alcohol-policy?

bildo

foto joe wrote: »

I'm not seeing the issues apart from getting approval. But if it existed before then surely it was approved? Or was this pre-alcohol-policy?

Personally I agree. But there is a very vague alcohol policy across the uni. You will need to talk to the department of health promotion, it's their job to interpret it.
Talk to Cindy Dring, she's lovely, but don't hold your breath.

TheCosmicFrog

foto joe wrote: »

I'm not seeing the issues apart from getting approval. But if it existed before then surely it was approved? Or was this pre-alcohol-policy?

It never existed in official form - that's what I was trying to say by "never got off the ground". We only ever did that one trip.

TheCosmicFrog

Just found some photos from the trip so said I'd post them. There's more, but I don't know who has them. Those lads are Aidan and Ronan, the two brewers:

JerryHispano

I would be most definately interested in joining. I'v brewed a couple of small things, but am lacking in funds to go full-scale on beer production. Put me down for anything ye decide on anyway.

Could the college be persuaded if responsible drinking was stressed? It really would be a great soceity in college.

aido179

well froggy mc hijack-a-response answered ya joe! haha.

the college alcohol policy is actually the exact opposite of what everyone thinks it is. I had a personal project last year and during the summer involving organising class parties online. As soon as the uni heard about the possibility of booking pubs other than the college bar they went ape****. Needless to say I was shut down fairly fast.

The alcohol policy was drawn up in the 90s as beer companies were advertising hugely on campus offering free cases of beer etc for college events. The University (quite rightly) didn't like the branding that was going on so they drew up the policy to prevent brands like guinness and carlsberg shoving themselves down our throats. I read the policy and I quote it as saying it aims to: "Promote low-risk drinking and discourage high-risk drinking"

This doesn't mean no drinking. It means drinking in a good atmosphere and not drinking a grain silo worth of beer. Which is exactly what a brewing society (and a class party organising service for that matter) could, and would promote.

But try explain that to the fúcktards running this uni.

Why is everyone afraid of this policy?

joeKel73

What you all brewing at the moment?

Tried my first extract brew yesterday... think it went well!

Anyone going to this?

TheCosmicFrog

foto joe wrote: »

What you all brewing at the moment?

Tried my first extract brew yesterday... think it went well!

Anyone going to this?

Cheers Joe! Definitely will try and make that.

rosskind

No thanks.

joeKel73

rosskind wrote: »

No thanks.

Thanks for that, we were waiting to hear your thoughts.

Camilo

Ahoy again all. Been away from this thread a long time but its great to hear all the interest and im really surprised that there was a previous brewing soc. For better or worse im going to try and crack on with this but as i mentioned i am only an ignorant, lowly 1st year so if someone could provide me with appropriate contact details or point me in the right direction of officials within the college to talk to it would be much appreciated.

TheCosmicFrog

Camilo wrote: »

Ahoy again all. Been away from this thread a long time but its great to hear all the interest and im really surprised that there was a previous brewing soc. For better or worse im going to try and crack on with this but as i mentioned i am only an ignorant, lowly 1st year so if someone could provide me with appropriate contact details or point me in the right direction of officials within the college to talk to it would be much appreciated.

Ríona Hughes - Societies Officer:
socsofficer@socs.nuigalway.ie

tracker-man

Wait a minute though,

Why all the talk of drinking alcohol on campus, high risk drinking blah blah blah.

This is about brewing. It is an art form, its about unleashing the creativity within! Its about the flavours the tastes the story behind the beer! Who said anything about excessive drinking?

I think spun in a certain way and with some persuasion this thing could go ahead.

I'd love to be involved, I'm a second year give me a shout Camilo and let me know how things are going and if I can help out in some way.

joeKel73

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Ríona Hughes - Societies Officer:
socsofficer@socs.nuigalway.ie

Riona's office is just behind the Socs Box in Áras na Mac Léinn. Ask at the socs box about arranging a meeting with her, she's very approachable and will hear you out. I'm the auditor for a college society so PM me if you want any help getting things going. Unfortunately I can't dedicate too much more time to societies/clubs this year so couldn't get too heavily involved.

Ficheall

If you're going for it, I'd have a good look at the alcohol policy to make sure you're covering all the bases...

joeKel73

Abridged Alcohol Policy
Full Alcohol Policy


I don't see anything in it that would not allow a homebrew society.

Camilo

As a general response to the peeps offering help i would just to like to say that it is very much appreciated. I'm going to pop into the Riona Hughes woman now(if shes about) on my way to my lecture and ill let you all know how it goes. But to those folk wishing to give their time i say many thanks and i'll be in contact soon, i could use all the help i can get and the more the merrier

TheCosmicFrog

Any update Camilo?

joeKel73

Any news Camilo? Now would probably be a perfect time to catch Riona, she'll be pretty busy in January when societies get active again.

TheCosmicFrog

Agreed. There's a definite lull in society activity around this time.

I just tasted two of my new brews. One is a Cooper's Brewmaster Irish Stout. The other is a 50/50 mix between Finlandia Traditional and Cooper's Canadian Blonde. Tastes like toffee!

joeKel73

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

I just tasted two of my new brews. One is a Cooper's Brewmaster Irish Stout.

I've done two batches of this, probably my two favourite brews. Well, Guinness would be my pint of choice, although this turns out more of a porter.

Did mine both with 1.5kg can of liquid malt extract. The first was an early batch, did it with bottled water and carbonation drops. Recent one, currently ready, was done with tap water and caster sugar to carbonate - turned out a much cleaner taste. I think the drops leave a bit of a tang in beer, use sugar now.

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

The other is a 50/50 mix between Finlandia Traditional and Cooper's Canadian Blonde. Tastes like toffee!

Interesting.... full can of each? Additional fermentables? I'd imagine a strong toffee taste would get a bit much v soon... is it?

TheCosmicFrog

foto joe wrote: »

Interesting.... full can of each? Additional fermentables? I'd imagine a strong toffee taste would get a bit much v soon... is it?

Nah, I do things in 4L batches using plastic demijohns, so about 150g of each with DME and maltodextrin (for body).

RolandIRL

Just so ye know, we have a Home Brewing forum on boards Might be handy to pick up more recipes and methods.

joeKel73

Yeah I know, just passing time as we await Camilo's return!

joeKel73

The Socs Box put up a facebook update today looking for ideas for new societies, with this link: http://www.socs.nuigalway.ie/news_reviews/view/11/

joeKel73

How many of you are still brewing?

There was a bit of a surge of interest in homebrewing a few months ago and seems to have died down a bit, myself and a friend are both still brewing anyway. Currently have a partial extract stout bottled and a wheat beer in the fermenter.

JerryHispano

Still at it alright, havnt had to replenish the stockpile lately though being the end of term and all.
Got a cooler during the week when they were on sale in supervalu ( for €5 :eek: ), and will be butchering that into a mashtun the week after exams, and buying some grain soon after to make a summer ale/IPA.

TheCosmicFrog

J o e wrote: »

How many of you are still brewing?

There was a bit of a surge of interest in homebrewing a few months ago and seems to have died down a bit, myself and a friend are both still brewing anyway. Currently have a partial extract stout bottled and a wheat beer in the fermenter.

I am. Have a cider currently brewing away in 091 Labs. Must remember to top it up with some more juice during the week.

I've been speaking to the folks out in Home Brew West and, with any luck, we should be running some homebrewing workshops in the Labs soon. Myself being the teacher :cool:

joeKel73

Meeting coming up next week of "The Galway Homebrewers Club". Haven't met with this group yet but looks promising. Facebook page here and Beoir thread on it over here.

The Galway Homebrewers Club has a new home

We have planned a meeting Wednesday July 25th at 7pm.
Our new venue is 091 Labs
Address: 091 Labs, 1st Floor, Tyrone House, 47 Eyre Square, Galway. (Above Kennedy’s Pub)

As usual, the club is open to all current brewers and anyone who is curious about giving brewing a go.

If have any brews that you would like to share, you are invited to bring along a couple of samples for a bring-and-taste. If not, don't worry - come along anyway.

As 091 Labs is a voluntary run, not for profif community, they have suggested a reasonable donation of €1-€2 per person on the night to contribute towards rent and utilities.