Brewed: 3rd December, 2009
Another catch up post. This next beer in my series of Summer Ales was the second one that used Galaxy Hops. The change between this one and the last one was that instead of using Torrified Wheat, I used Carapils malt. I am assuming that the wheat content in the original recipe is used to aid head retention, and as Carapils is also used for that, I thought I would see if I could notice any difference between the two. I'm actually planning on doing the side-by-side test later on today, and I'll report the results back here in the near future.
The brewday didn't go entirely to plan. It was the first time I had a boil-over in the full size kettle, resulting in quite a mess in the brewery. I also made a note that the final volume appeared to be lower than usual, which I put down to the extra vigorous boiling at the start (which is what overflowed the kettle!). Aside from that, I came close to my target numbers, and more importantly, the numbers were consistent with similar recipes done previously.
The recipe:
Australian Pale Malt: 4500g
Carapils: 400g
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 12g @ -80 mins ~18 IBU
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 12g @-20 mins ~10 IBU
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 16g @ -5 mins ~4 IBU
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 23g in no-chill cube < 1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 64C End: 61.5C
Run-off: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1041
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Target OG: 1047
Actual OG: 1046
Volume in fermenter: 21L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #24 GBSA)
Ferment temperature: 19C
FG: 1011
ABV: 4.6%
Friday, March 5, 2010
#24 GBSA (Green Bullet Summer Ale)
Brewed: 25th November, 2009
Time for a catch up post. I had used Green Bullet hops before with great success in a couple of New Zealand Pale Ales and wanted to see how the hops worked in the Summer Ale hop schedule, ie, with more late additions. The first time I tried the first of my NZPAs, it immediately brought back memories of some beers from previous trips to NZ, even though at the time I didn't think that NZ beers had any particular common flavour/aroma traits. I've since heard that this hop is used by a few commercial breweries in NZ, which probably explains the association I made.
I actually brewed this on the same day as the #23 German "Eis Pale Ale", mashing in at the same time that the German ale was in the kettle, and it's the only time so far that I've done two brews in a day. Mind you, the German ale was already in sweet-wort form, so I only needed to do the one mash on the day. In any case, I don't think it added too much time to the whole day, which is good to know if I ever want to do multiple batches in the future.
Although I had another beer in mind to take to Mackay over the xmas period, it hadn't finished carbonating in time so a keg of this one went up instead. It turned out to be a good choice, as it was more interesting than a lot of mega-swill beers out there, but not over the top in terms of flavour and aroma so you could enjoy a few in a sitting (and that we did!). I've since been told that this would also be a good "gateway beer", to show those who are not as adventurous with trying different beers that there is a whole other world of flavour out there!
The recipe:
Australian Pale Malt: 4500g
Torrified Wheat: 400g
Green Bullet pellets (13% AA): 13g @ -80 mins ~18 IBU
Green Bullet pellets (13% AA): 12g @-20 mins ~10 IBU
Green Bullet pellets (13% AA): 16g @ -5 mins ~4 IBU
Green Bullet pellets (13% AA): 22g in no-chill cube < 1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 64C End: 62C
Run-off: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1040
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Target OG: 1047 Actual: 1046
Volume in fermenter: 22L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #22 GxSA)
Ferment temperature: 19C
FG: 1013
ABV: 4.4%
Time for a catch up post. I had used Green Bullet hops before with great success in a couple of New Zealand Pale Ales and wanted to see how the hops worked in the Summer Ale hop schedule, ie, with more late additions. The first time I tried the first of my NZPAs, it immediately brought back memories of some beers from previous trips to NZ, even though at the time I didn't think that NZ beers had any particular common flavour/aroma traits. I've since heard that this hop is used by a few commercial breweries in NZ, which probably explains the association I made.
I actually brewed this on the same day as the #23 German "Eis Pale Ale", mashing in at the same time that the German ale was in the kettle, and it's the only time so far that I've done two brews in a day. Mind you, the German ale was already in sweet-wort form, so I only needed to do the one mash on the day. In any case, I don't think it added too much time to the whole day, which is good to know if I ever want to do multiple batches in the future.
Although I had another beer in mind to take to Mackay over the xmas period, it hadn't finished carbonating in time so a keg of this one went up instead. It turned out to be a good choice, as it was more interesting than a lot of mega-swill beers out there, but not over the top in terms of flavour and aroma so you could enjoy a few in a sitting (and that we did!). I've since been told that this would also be a good "gateway beer", to show those who are not as adventurous with trying different beers that there is a whole other world of flavour out there!
The recipe:
Australian Pale Malt: 4500g
Torrified Wheat: 400g
Green Bullet pellets (13% AA): 13g @ -80 mins ~18 IBU
Green Bullet pellets (13% AA): 12g @-20 mins ~10 IBU
Green Bullet pellets (13% AA): 16g @ -5 mins ~4 IBU
Green Bullet pellets (13% AA): 22g in no-chill cube < 1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 64C End: 62C
Run-off: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1040
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Target OG: 1047 Actual: 1046
Volume in fermenter: 22L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #22 GxSA)
Ferment temperature: 19C
FG: 1013
ABV: 4.4%
Thursday, March 4, 2010
#35 RP (Chocolate Porter/Stout)
Brewed: 25th February, 2010
I've brewed this recipe a couple of times before, and with St. Patrick's day not far away, I thought I'd brew it up again for that occasion. Unfortunately, the Wild Brew is still chugging away in the fermenter, so I haven't been able to get this one fermenting yet and I'll be pushing it to get it ready in time! Luckily I've still got a few bottles from the last batch if it's not ready in time.
The last time I brewed the beer, it came out a little more roasty than I was expecting it, pushing it more into Stout territory, hence the slight naming confusion in the title. I had to substitute a smaller quantity of Chocolate malt for some of the Carafa Special grain this time, as I didn't have enough of the latter for the recipe. I also added a little more cocoa this time (150g instead of 100g) and added it to the no-chill cube instead of the kettle in the hope of pushing the beer back into Porter territory. The experiment on the last batch with using late citrus style hops didn't have the desired effect of adding a noticeable citrus taste to the beer, but the flavour worked out well, so I went with a similar late hop schedule. I substituted Fuggles for East Kent Goldings as the bittering addition due to stock levels.
The brew day went completely to plan - all target numbers were hit and no mistakes were made. I was joined for part of the day by my sister's friend, Aaron, who currently makes beer from Kits & Bits. He wanted to see the process involved at this level, which I was happy to show.
The recipe (based on the previous batch):
Australian Pale Malt: 4500g
Light Munich: 1000g
Crystal 135: 500g
Chocolate Malt: 250g
Carafa Special II: 100g
Roast Barley: 100g
Cocoa powder: 150g (added to no-chill cube)
Fuggles pellets (4.5% AA): 51g @ -45 mins ~21 IBU
Cascade pellets (6.6% AA): 18g @ -5 mins ~2 IBU
Cascade pellets (6.8% AA): 10g in no-chill cube <1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 68C
Start: 68C End: 66.4C
Run-off: 28L
Pre-boil SG: 1052
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Post-boil volume (hot): 24L
Target OG: 1057 Actual: 1058
Yeast: Re-cultured Coopers yeast (harvested from #31 CSA)
Ferment temperature: 18C
I've brewed this recipe a couple of times before, and with St. Patrick's day not far away, I thought I'd brew it up again for that occasion. Unfortunately, the Wild Brew is still chugging away in the fermenter, so I haven't been able to get this one fermenting yet and I'll be pushing it to get it ready in time! Luckily I've still got a few bottles from the last batch if it's not ready in time.
The last time I brewed the beer, it came out a little more roasty than I was expecting it, pushing it more into Stout territory, hence the slight naming confusion in the title. I had to substitute a smaller quantity of Chocolate malt for some of the Carafa Special grain this time, as I didn't have enough of the latter for the recipe. I also added a little more cocoa this time (150g instead of 100g) and added it to the no-chill cube instead of the kettle in the hope of pushing the beer back into Porter territory. The experiment on the last batch with using late citrus style hops didn't have the desired effect of adding a noticeable citrus taste to the beer, but the flavour worked out well, so I went with a similar late hop schedule. I substituted Fuggles for East Kent Goldings as the bittering addition due to stock levels.
The brew day went completely to plan - all target numbers were hit and no mistakes were made. I was joined for part of the day by my sister's friend, Aaron, who currently makes beer from Kits & Bits. He wanted to see the process involved at this level, which I was happy to show.
The recipe (based on the previous batch):
Australian Pale Malt: 4500g
Light Munich: 1000g
Crystal 135: 500g
Chocolate Malt: 250g
Carafa Special II: 100g
Roast Barley: 100g
Cocoa powder: 150g (added to no-chill cube)
Fuggles pellets (4.5% AA): 51g @ -45 mins ~21 IBU
Cascade pellets (6.6% AA): 18g @ -5 mins ~2 IBU
Cascade pellets (6.8% AA): 10g in no-chill cube <1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 68C
Start: 68C End: 66.4C
Run-off: 28L
Pre-boil SG: 1052
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Post-boil volume (hot): 24L
Target OG: 1057 Actual: 1058
Yeast: Re-cultured Coopers yeast (harvested from #31 CSA)
Ferment temperature: 18C
February mini-comp results
Last Thursday's BABBs meeting included the first mini-competition of the year. The selected styles for the competition were Australian Pale Ale and English Bitters. At the mini-competitions, you can enter up to two beers, but only one can count towards points that are accumulated over the year, and the other is just for feedback. To make things more interesting, you have to choose which is which at the time of entering.
I did a tasting of my three contenders a couple of days before and I decided to enter my Coopers Sparkling Ale clone as my "points" entry, and my English Best Bitter for feedback. The Australian Pale Ale that missed out was starting to show some signs of aging, and wasn't tasting nearly as good as the other two beers. Once that was decided, it was also easy for me to choose the Sparkling Ale clone as the better beer, as the Best Bitter had an unexpected slightly dirty/ashy flavour to it. I'm still not sure where that came from, but am happy to say that it is starting to fade away now.
In the end it didn't matter, as both of my beers scored 36/50. The winning beer of the night scored 39, but there were at least four others that scored higher, as I wasn't mentioned in the top 5. Out of 31 entries in total though, I am still happy with the two results.
I've transcribed the scoresheets below. Unfortunately, I didn't get a whole lot of feedback on the Best Bitter - I was mainly hoping that someone might have an insight as to where the unexpected flavour was coming from. As for the Sparkling Ale, it turns out that it was judged by our table, so I inadvertently received even more feedback than we recorded on the scoresheet. It was the last beer we judged though, and after the four other beers (three ordinary bitters and another Australian pale ale), I didn't recognise it from the flavour! The lack of carbonation that we marked it down for was possibly from the way I filled the bottles. I'll make sure that it's slightly over carbonated next time I fill it from the keg.
#31 CSA Category 3A (Australian Pale Ale)
Aroma: 10/12
Good fruit & ester
Bready aroma coming through
Slight solvent aroma?
Apple aroma coming through
Appearance: 2/3
Carbonation a bit low
Flavour: 14/20
Bitterness is too strong for malt
Mouthfeel: 3/5
Lacking carbonation
Not finishing dry enough
Overall Impression: 7/10
Good drinking beer
Needs more carbonation
#32 EBB Category 3C (English Best Bitter)
Aroma: 9/12
Fruity and malty aroma
Appearance: 2/3
Some cloudiness
Flavour: 15/20
Mouthfeel: 3/5
Overall Impression: 7/10
Typical of style
I did a tasting of my three contenders a couple of days before and I decided to enter my Coopers Sparkling Ale clone as my "points" entry, and my English Best Bitter for feedback. The Australian Pale Ale that missed out was starting to show some signs of aging, and wasn't tasting nearly as good as the other two beers. Once that was decided, it was also easy for me to choose the Sparkling Ale clone as the better beer, as the Best Bitter had an unexpected slightly dirty/ashy flavour to it. I'm still not sure where that came from, but am happy to say that it is starting to fade away now.
In the end it didn't matter, as both of my beers scored 36/50. The winning beer of the night scored 39, but there were at least four others that scored higher, as I wasn't mentioned in the top 5. Out of 31 entries in total though, I am still happy with the two results.
I've transcribed the scoresheets below. Unfortunately, I didn't get a whole lot of feedback on the Best Bitter - I was mainly hoping that someone might have an insight as to where the unexpected flavour was coming from. As for the Sparkling Ale, it turns out that it was judged by our table, so I inadvertently received even more feedback than we recorded on the scoresheet. It was the last beer we judged though, and after the four other beers (three ordinary bitters and another Australian pale ale), I didn't recognise it from the flavour! The lack of carbonation that we marked it down for was possibly from the way I filled the bottles. I'll make sure that it's slightly over carbonated next time I fill it from the keg.
#31 CSA Category 3A (Australian Pale Ale)
Aroma: 10/12
Good fruit & ester
Bready aroma coming through
Slight solvent aroma?
Apple aroma coming through
Appearance: 2/3
Carbonation a bit low
Flavour: 14/20
Bitterness is too strong for malt
Mouthfeel: 3/5
Lacking carbonation
Not finishing dry enough
Overall Impression: 7/10
Good drinking beer
Needs more carbonation
#32 EBB Category 3C (English Best Bitter)
Aroma: 9/12
Fruity and malty aroma
Appearance: 2/3
Some cloudiness
Flavour: 15/20
Mouthfeel: 3/5
Overall Impression: 7/10
Typical of style
Sunday, February 28, 2010
#34 BWB (BABBs Wild Brew)
Brewed: 19th February, 2010
This beer is part of a collaboration brew for the brewing club I belong to. The idea is that about 22 members will brew up the same recipe and ferment it out under the same conditions (well, as close as possible anyway), then the resulting beer will be blended together and aged in an ex-wine barrel with another yeast strain. At the end of the year, we will bottle off half of the barrel and then brew a new beer (possibly a different recipe) and blend it with the remaining half of the beer and the cycle will start again. More details, including the recipe, can be found on the BABBs website.
With an estimated original gravity of 1.104 SG, this was by far the biggest brew I've ever attempted. The grain alone for this batch weighed in just under 8kg; three kilograms more for the same volume than the usual grain bill for the Summer Ales I have been brewing over the recent months. As I still only have a hand mill, I was lucky enough to get the grians pre-milled!
I was a little surprised to see that my system was able to extract the necessary amount of sugar from the grain for such a large volume, with my pre-boil gravity coming in just above the calculated expected value and getting more volume than I had anticipated. I think this was partly to my mis-calculation of sparge water volumes, resulting in first-runnings of 20 litres instead of the expected 14! I adjusted the second sparge to account for this mistake. I'll have to look into this calculation again for future big beers so I don't make the same mistake again.
The gravity of the second runnings was indeed high enough that I decided to sparge one more time and get 5 litres of additional sweet-wort from the grain. It's still sitting in the fridge (after being boiled) waiting for me to make a decision about what to do with it.
My evaporation rate wasn't quite as high as I predicted, and as a result, I needed to boil the wort for two and a half hours instead of the predicted two. It probably could have done with an extra 10 minutes on top of that to hit the target OG spot on, but it was close enough in the end.
The biggest mistake I made on the day was that I didn't notice that my kettle drain filter had become blocked towards the end of draining, and I assumed that it had finished emptying. This resulted in me leaving behind 3 litres in the bottom of the kettle instead of the normal 1 litre I usually lose, and pretty much canceled out the great extraction efficiency I had during mashing. I think the blockage was partly caused by the wort being a lot more dense than I am normally used to - yet another lesson learned.
These were my results from the brewday:
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 65C
Start: 65C End: 63.5C
Runoff: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1.068
Boil time: 150 mins
Post-boil volume (hot): 21L
Target OG: 1.104 Actual: 1.101
Volume in fermenter: 17L
Yeast: Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity
Ferment temperature: 18C for first 24h, then up to 24C
This beer is part of a collaboration brew for the brewing club I belong to. The idea is that about 22 members will brew up the same recipe and ferment it out under the same conditions (well, as close as possible anyway), then the resulting beer will be blended together and aged in an ex-wine barrel with another yeast strain. At the end of the year, we will bottle off half of the barrel and then brew a new beer (possibly a different recipe) and blend it with the remaining half of the beer and the cycle will start again. More details, including the recipe, can be found on the BABBs website.
With an estimated original gravity of 1.104 SG, this was by far the biggest brew I've ever attempted. The grain alone for this batch weighed in just under 8kg; three kilograms more for the same volume than the usual grain bill for the Summer Ales I have been brewing over the recent months. As I still only have a hand mill, I was lucky enough to get the grians pre-milled!
I was a little surprised to see that my system was able to extract the necessary amount of sugar from the grain for such a large volume, with my pre-boil gravity coming in just above the calculated expected value and getting more volume than I had anticipated. I think this was partly to my mis-calculation of sparge water volumes, resulting in first-runnings of 20 litres instead of the expected 14! I adjusted the second sparge to account for this mistake. I'll have to look into this calculation again for future big beers so I don't make the same mistake again.
The gravity of the second runnings was indeed high enough that I decided to sparge one more time and get 5 litres of additional sweet-wort from the grain. It's still sitting in the fridge (after being boiled) waiting for me to make a decision about what to do with it.
My evaporation rate wasn't quite as high as I predicted, and as a result, I needed to boil the wort for two and a half hours instead of the predicted two. It probably could have done with an extra 10 minutes on top of that to hit the target OG spot on, but it was close enough in the end.
The biggest mistake I made on the day was that I didn't notice that my kettle drain filter had become blocked towards the end of draining, and I assumed that it had finished emptying. This resulted in me leaving behind 3 litres in the bottom of the kettle instead of the normal 1 litre I usually lose, and pretty much canceled out the great extraction efficiency I had during mashing. I think the blockage was partly caused by the wort being a lot more dense than I am normally used to - yet another lesson learned.
These were my results from the brewday:
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 65C
Start: 65C End: 63.5C
Runoff: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1.068
Boil time: 150 mins
Post-boil volume (hot): 21L
Target OG: 1.104 Actual: 1.101
Volume in fermenter: 17L
Yeast: Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity
Ferment temperature: 18C for first 24h, then up to 24C
#33 ChSA (Chinook Summer Ale)
Brewed: 13th February, 2010
This was the 9th batch in the Summer Ale series I have been brewing and a contender for the BABBs March mini-competition, which focuses on American Ales. I actually changed two key ingredients for this batch; the hops and the base malt. I chose Chinook hops as I've heard of its good for bittering and flavouring aspects, and although I haven't used it before, I've tasted a few beers that contain Chinook and have enjoyed the flavour. This recipe will isolate the hop flavour so I can see what it tastes like itself. I changed the base malt for this recipe too, as I knew I wanted to enter it into the competition, and American Pale Ales are meant to have a bit more of a malt component than what I've been getting in my previous Summer Ales. I chose English Maris Otter, as it is said to leave more malt flavour trace than the Australian Pale Malt I've used in the past.
I first noticed the difference that the base malt brought to the recipe when I was draining the Mash/Lauter tun; the runnings were a lot darker and cloudier than I had seen in the past. It almost had a green hue to it and certainly appeared to have a higher suspended protein content. The aroma from the mash and kettle was also a bit more grainy than what I remember from previous batches, so hopefully that carries through in the final product.
I hit most of my targets on the day, with the exception of stopping the boil a few minutes late, hence the odd timings for the hop additions.
I've since tasted the beer after primary fermentation finished, and really noticed a good citrus aroma and grapefruit/passionfruit flavours coming through. I'm going to dry-hop the keg before I bottle my competition entry, with the aim of delivering more of that fresh aroma on the night. I didn't notice a change to the malt flavour at the time though, so I'm not sure if that part of the experiment has paid off. Time will tell.
The recipe:
Maris Otter Pale Malt: 4500g
Torrified Wheat: 400g
Chinook pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @ -83 mins ~19 IBU
Chinook pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @ -23 mins ~ 14 IBU
Chinook pellets (11.5% AA): 20g @ -8 mins ~ 4 IBU
Chinook pellets (11.5% AA): 20g in no-chill cube < 1 IBU
Chinook pellets (11.5% AA): 20g dry-hop in keg < 1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 64C End: 63C
Runoff: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1042
Boil time: 90 mins
Post-boil volume (hot): 24L
Target OG: 1049 Actual: 1051
Volume in fermenter: 19.5L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #30 AmSA)
Ferment temperature: 19C
Actual FG: 1010
ABV: 5.4%
This was the 9th batch in the Summer Ale series I have been brewing and a contender for the BABBs March mini-competition, which focuses on American Ales. I actually changed two key ingredients for this batch; the hops and the base malt. I chose Chinook hops as I've heard of its good for bittering and flavouring aspects, and although I haven't used it before, I've tasted a few beers that contain Chinook and have enjoyed the flavour. This recipe will isolate the hop flavour so I can see what it tastes like itself. I changed the base malt for this recipe too, as I knew I wanted to enter it into the competition, and American Pale Ales are meant to have a bit more of a malt component than what I've been getting in my previous Summer Ales. I chose English Maris Otter, as it is said to leave more malt flavour trace than the Australian Pale Malt I've used in the past.
I first noticed the difference that the base malt brought to the recipe when I was draining the Mash/Lauter tun; the runnings were a lot darker and cloudier than I had seen in the past. It almost had a green hue to it and certainly appeared to have a higher suspended protein content. The aroma from the mash and kettle was also a bit more grainy than what I remember from previous batches, so hopefully that carries through in the final product.
I hit most of my targets on the day, with the exception of stopping the boil a few minutes late, hence the odd timings for the hop additions.
I've since tasted the beer after primary fermentation finished, and really noticed a good citrus aroma and grapefruit/passionfruit flavours coming through. I'm going to dry-hop the keg before I bottle my competition entry, with the aim of delivering more of that fresh aroma on the night. I didn't notice a change to the malt flavour at the time though, so I'm not sure if that part of the experiment has paid off. Time will tell.
The recipe:
Maris Otter Pale Malt: 4500g
Torrified Wheat: 400g
Chinook pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @ -83 mins ~19 IBU
Chinook pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @ -23 mins ~ 14 IBU
Chinook pellets (11.5% AA): 20g @ -8 mins ~ 4 IBU
Chinook pellets (11.5% AA): 20g in no-chill cube < 1 IBU
Chinook pellets (11.5% AA): 20g dry-hop in keg < 1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 64C End: 63C
Runoff: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1042
Boil time: 90 mins
Post-boil volume (hot): 24L
Target OG: 1049 Actual: 1051
Volume in fermenter: 19.5L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #30 AmSA)
Ferment temperature: 19C
Actual FG: 1010
ABV: 5.4%
Thursday, February 11, 2010
#23 GIPA (German Eis-PA)
Brewed: 25th November, 2009
Time for a catch up post. This brew came about after a BABBs social outing up to Eagle Heights Brewery at Mount Tamborine. On the day we were there, they made up 500L of boiled sweet-wort, which was packaged into 20L cubes and distributed to members of the club. Each member who took some wort home was able to further process the wort and ferment it out however they pleased, with the only exception that no further malt could be added to it (other fermentables, such as sugar, honey, etc were ok). The results were to be brought back to the club's first meeting of the year in January, where we got to try everyone's beer side-by-side. The grain bill for the wort was 100% Munich malt, mashed at 66.5°C then boiled for 45 minutes.
Here's a picture of me on the day peering into the Mash/Lauter tun as Johann, another BABBs member, was mixing in the grain:
A great day was had by all, starting off at Eagle Heights Brewery, then heading up the road to MT Brewery for a few more beers before returning home. There's more pictures from the day on Eagle Heights Brewery's website, and more information about the day in the BABBs November newsletter.
Anyway, back to the brew. I didn't want to do anything too fancy with it, as I wanted the Munich Malt to shine through the end result. I was considering doing a SMaSH, but then had the idea of combining German and English ingredients, and doing something along the lines of an IPA, a style I hadn't tried brewing before. So I ended up with German malt, German bittering hops, English flavouring hops, and English yeast.
One of the most interesting things to happen with this batch was that at the end of five weeks of cold conditioning at around 0-1°C, when I went to transfer the beer to a keg, I found that it was a little too cold and had partly iced up on the inside! I only noticed this after I had started transferring, so I couldn't wait for it to thaw out. In the end, I decided to leave the ice behind and ended up with an Eis Bier! A German Eis Bier (Ice Beer) is made in a similar way, where once the beer has finished fermenting, it is cooled to below 0°C. At this temperature, the water component of the beer starts freezing, but the alcohol, which has a lower freezing temperature, remains in liquid form. Once the water is in ice form, it can be separated from the beer, thus concentrating the remaining flavour and alcohol. In my case, I only lost about 2 litres out of 16 to ice, which increased the alcohol content by about 1%. Ordinarily, brewers yeast can only tolerate alcohol up to 12-15% ABV, but by repeating the process, you can get the alcohol content much higher, which is how some beers can achieve up to 40% ABV.
I was pretty happy with how this one turned out - a great strong malt flavour. If anything, it is a little too bitter, but I'm planning on letting it sit for a couple of months and see if it smooths out.
There was a wide variety to the beers that were brought to the January meeting by the other members. There was a Belgian interpretation, a Bock and Dopple-bock, a couple of Dunkels, a sour-orange and a berry infused brew, and then there were those that were flavoured with oak chips, chai spices, and even pureed banana! I also took the oportunity to enter a bottle to be judged by Eagle Heights Brewery's owner, Ed Gordon, with the chance of winning a case of Mikkeller beer. I guess that will be announced at the next meeting.
This was the recipe I went with:
Light Munich Malt: 100%
Perle pellets (8.3% AA): 30g @ -60mins ~35 IBU
East Kent Golding pellets (4.8% AA): 47g @ -15mins ~15 IBU
Pre-boil gravity: 1051
Pre-boil volume: 20L
Boil time: 60 minutes
OG: 1064
Volume in fermenter: 16.2L
Yeast: WLP005 British Ale Yeast
Ferment temp: 19C
FG: 1018
Pre-ice ABV: ~6%
Final Volume: 14.2L
Final ABV: ~6.9%
Time for a catch up post. This brew came about after a BABBs social outing up to Eagle Heights Brewery at Mount Tamborine. On the day we were there, they made up 500L of boiled sweet-wort, which was packaged into 20L cubes and distributed to members of the club. Each member who took some wort home was able to further process the wort and ferment it out however they pleased, with the only exception that no further malt could be added to it (other fermentables, such as sugar, honey, etc were ok). The results were to be brought back to the club's first meeting of the year in January, where we got to try everyone's beer side-by-side. The grain bill for the wort was 100% Munich malt, mashed at 66.5°C then boiled for 45 minutes.
Here's a picture of me on the day peering into the Mash/Lauter tun as Johann, another BABBs member, was mixing in the grain:
A great day was had by all, starting off at Eagle Heights Brewery, then heading up the road to MT Brewery for a few more beers before returning home. There's more pictures from the day on Eagle Heights Brewery's website, and more information about the day in the BABBs November newsletter.
Anyway, back to the brew. I didn't want to do anything too fancy with it, as I wanted the Munich Malt to shine through the end result. I was considering doing a SMaSH, but then had the idea of combining German and English ingredients, and doing something along the lines of an IPA, a style I hadn't tried brewing before. So I ended up with German malt, German bittering hops, English flavouring hops, and English yeast.
One of the most interesting things to happen with this batch was that at the end of five weeks of cold conditioning at around 0-1°C, when I went to transfer the beer to a keg, I found that it was a little too cold and had partly iced up on the inside! I only noticed this after I had started transferring, so I couldn't wait for it to thaw out. In the end, I decided to leave the ice behind and ended up with an Eis Bier! A German Eis Bier (Ice Beer) is made in a similar way, where once the beer has finished fermenting, it is cooled to below 0°C. At this temperature, the water component of the beer starts freezing, but the alcohol, which has a lower freezing temperature, remains in liquid form. Once the water is in ice form, it can be separated from the beer, thus concentrating the remaining flavour and alcohol. In my case, I only lost about 2 litres out of 16 to ice, which increased the alcohol content by about 1%. Ordinarily, brewers yeast can only tolerate alcohol up to 12-15% ABV, but by repeating the process, you can get the alcohol content much higher, which is how some beers can achieve up to 40% ABV.
I was pretty happy with how this one turned out - a great strong malt flavour. If anything, it is a little too bitter, but I'm planning on letting it sit for a couple of months and see if it smooths out.
There was a wide variety to the beers that were brought to the January meeting by the other members. There was a Belgian interpretation, a Bock and Dopple-bock, a couple of Dunkels, a sour-orange and a berry infused brew, and then there were those that were flavoured with oak chips, chai spices, and even pureed banana! I also took the oportunity to enter a bottle to be judged by Eagle Heights Brewery's owner, Ed Gordon, with the chance of winning a case of Mikkeller beer. I guess that will be announced at the next meeting.
This was the recipe I went with:
Light Munich Malt: 100%
Perle pellets (8.3% AA): 30g @ -60mins ~35 IBU
East Kent Golding pellets (4.8% AA): 47g @ -15mins ~15 IBU
Pre-boil gravity: 1051
Pre-boil volume: 20L
Boil time: 60 minutes
OG: 1064
Volume in fermenter: 16.2L
Yeast: WLP005 British Ale Yeast
Ferment temp: 19C
FG: 1018
Pre-ice ABV: ~6%
Final Volume: 14.2L
Final ABV: ~6.9%
#32 EBB (English Best Bitter)
Brewed: 6th February, 2010
This is another contender for the February BABBs mini-competition. In all I'll have three to choose from; this one, #31 CSA and #29 OPA. The rules of the competition are that you can only enter one beer to count towards scoring, and one additional beer to get feed-back on, so I'll enter the one that fits to style best for scoring, and perhaps the one I want to improve for feedback.
This brew will be cutting it fine for the competition, but it's also a style that is better fresh/young, so that might work out in my favour. I figure I'll have a week for primary, then transfer it to finish off fermenting (maybe three days?), four days cold conditioning and a couple of days to carbonate it. The competition is on February 25th and I transferred to primary on the 9th. Yes, definitely cutting it fine!
Once again, I was shooting for a lower volume with the intention of having just enough to fill one keg. I've only just started adjusting recipe volumes and I now realise that I have made a couple of mistakes over the last couple of batches, thinking I was doing the right thing by scaling the volume along with the grains & hops. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken into account that things like evaporation rate and transfer losses remain fairly constant, and so on both occasions, I have ended up with far less volume in the fermenter than I was expecting. It's a good lesson to learn, and something I'll be practising over the next few brews until I get right.
There were a couple of hiccups on the day. Firstly, during pre-heating the Mash/Lauter tun, I noticed a small leak at the tap, but subsequently forgot to tighten it after emptying. It wasn't until the grain was in and I'd started filling it that I noticed the leak again. Luckily, I was filling the tun from the bottom, which meant most of the grist on top was still quite dry and I was able to remove enough to get in and tighten the tap. I'll have to figure out a way to remind myself in the future.
The second problem came as a result of cleaning up from the last batch, when I mixed up the stainless steel washers from the MLT and Kettle. I had thought they were the same size, but it turns out that the kettle one is slightly bigger and I couldn't get the other one to fit. I only noticed this after the MLT was full so I was unable to retrieve the proper kettle washer, which meant I had to file back the mash tun washer until it fit the kettle. This lead to slight delays after mashing. On the plus side, the two washers really are interchangeable now.
Everything else went to plan, and aside from the lower volume, I'm confident about the result. I recently bought some English Maris Otter malted barley to use in some of my more malt-driven ales instead of the Australian Pale malt. The aroma coming from the mash tun was noticeably nuttier, the sweet wort had a nice grainy taste to it, and there was a slight toffee flavour in the hopped wort. I'm really looking forward to tasting the finished product.
The recipe (based on this one):
[Note that the original recipe calls only for Caramunich II, but as I didn't have enough, I substituted the remaining amount for the lighter Caramunich I]
Maris Otter Pale Malt: 3717g (88%)
Caramunich II: 268g (6.5%)
Wheat Malt: 165g (4%)
Caramunich I: 62g (1.5%)
East Kent Golding pellets (4.8% AA): 54g @ -60mins ~32 IBU
East Kent Golding pellets (4.8% AA): 17g @ -60mins ~5 IBU
East Kent Golding pellets (4.8% AA): 17g added to no-chill cube <1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 67C
Start: 67C End: 65.5C
Runoff: 25L
Pre-boil SG: 1043
Boil time: 60 minutes
Target OG: 1046 Actual: 1048
Post-boil volume (hot): 20.5L
Volume in fermenter: 17.5L
Yeast: WLP005 British Ale harvested from #27 DA
Ferment temp: 19C
Updated 4th March: This beer scored 36/50 in the BABBs February 2010 mini-competition. Results posted here.
This is another contender for the February BABBs mini-competition. In all I'll have three to choose from; this one, #31 CSA and #29 OPA. The rules of the competition are that you can only enter one beer to count towards scoring, and one additional beer to get feed-back on, so I'll enter the one that fits to style best for scoring, and perhaps the one I want to improve for feedback.
This brew will be cutting it fine for the competition, but it's also a style that is better fresh/young, so that might work out in my favour. I figure I'll have a week for primary, then transfer it to finish off fermenting (maybe three days?), four days cold conditioning and a couple of days to carbonate it. The competition is on February 25th and I transferred to primary on the 9th. Yes, definitely cutting it fine!
Once again, I was shooting for a lower volume with the intention of having just enough to fill one keg. I've only just started adjusting recipe volumes and I now realise that I have made a couple of mistakes over the last couple of batches, thinking I was doing the right thing by scaling the volume along with the grains & hops. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken into account that things like evaporation rate and transfer losses remain fairly constant, and so on both occasions, I have ended up with far less volume in the fermenter than I was expecting. It's a good lesson to learn, and something I'll be practising over the next few brews until I get right.
There were a couple of hiccups on the day. Firstly, during pre-heating the Mash/Lauter tun, I noticed a small leak at the tap, but subsequently forgot to tighten it after emptying. It wasn't until the grain was in and I'd started filling it that I noticed the leak again. Luckily, I was filling the tun from the bottom, which meant most of the grist on top was still quite dry and I was able to remove enough to get in and tighten the tap. I'll have to figure out a way to remind myself in the future.
The second problem came as a result of cleaning up from the last batch, when I mixed up the stainless steel washers from the MLT and Kettle. I had thought they were the same size, but it turns out that the kettle one is slightly bigger and I couldn't get the other one to fit. I only noticed this after the MLT was full so I was unable to retrieve the proper kettle washer, which meant I had to file back the mash tun washer until it fit the kettle. This lead to slight delays after mashing. On the plus side, the two washers really are interchangeable now.
Everything else went to plan, and aside from the lower volume, I'm confident about the result. I recently bought some English Maris Otter malted barley to use in some of my more malt-driven ales instead of the Australian Pale malt. The aroma coming from the mash tun was noticeably nuttier, the sweet wort had a nice grainy taste to it, and there was a slight toffee flavour in the hopped wort. I'm really looking forward to tasting the finished product.
The recipe (based on this one):
[Note that the original recipe calls only for Caramunich II, but as I didn't have enough, I substituted the remaining amount for the lighter Caramunich I]
Maris Otter Pale Malt: 3717g (88%)
Caramunich II: 268g (6.5%)
Wheat Malt: 165g (4%)
Caramunich I: 62g (1.5%)
East Kent Golding pellets (4.8% AA): 54g @ -60mins ~32 IBU
East Kent Golding pellets (4.8% AA): 17g @ -60mins ~5 IBU
East Kent Golding pellets (4.8% AA): 17g added to no-chill cube <1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 67C
Start: 67C End: 65.5C
Runoff: 25L
Pre-boil SG: 1043
Boil time: 60 minutes
Target OG: 1046 Actual: 1048
Post-boil volume (hot): 20.5L
Volume in fermenter: 17.5L
Yeast: WLP005 British Ale harvested from #27 DA
Ferment temp: 19C
Updated 4th March: This beer scored 36/50 in the BABBs February 2010 mini-competition. Results posted here.
Monday, February 1, 2010
#31 CSA (Coopers Sparkling Ale clone)
Brewed: 31st January, 2010
I decided to brew this batch for a couple of reasons; first, it fits in to one of the styles open for competition at the February BABBs mini-competition, and second, it looks like we're going to a party at the end of February where this style of beer could go down pretty well. The hop signature of this, and many other Australian main-stream beers, is that of the Pride of Ringwood cultivar, and although it's far from my favourite from a flavour perspective, it's pretty distinctive, and in my experience, reasonably easy to replicate from a home brewing perspective.
I was shooting for a lower volume with this brew with the intention of getting enough to fill just one keg (without any left overs for bottling). Unfortunately my calculations were a bit out when it came to my first sparge water and I ended up with a lower first-runnings volume. I made up for it with the second sparge, whilst still being close enough with my pre and post boil gravities.
The yeast for this batch is currently being brought back to life from a couple of Coopers Pale Ales I was enjoying the other night. For those reading who aren't aware, Coopers' beers are bottle conditioned with what is reported to be the same strain of yeast that they use in primary fermentation. What this means from a home brewing perspective is that you can take the "dregs" from a Coopers beer and build it back up to a quantity of yeast suitable for pitching into your own brew, giving you a yeast flavour profile and properties that are similar to Coopers' beers. There's an article and discussion about how to do this on AussieHomeBrewer.com.
The recipe (based on this one):
JW Pale Malt: 4030g
Wheat Malt: 225g
Crystal 125 Malt: 75g
Pride of Ringwood pellets (8.3% AA): 17g @-60 mins ~17 IBU
Pride of Ringwood flowers (9.6% AA): 11g @-60 mins ~12 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 63C
Start: 63C End: 61C
Runoff: 24.5L
Pre-boil SG: 1043
Boil time: 60 minutes
Target OG: 1051 Actual: 1048
Post-boil volume: 19.5L
Yeast: Recultured Coopers Ale yeast
Ferment temp: 18C
Target fermenter volume: 20L
Updated 4th March: This beer scored 36/50 in the BABBs February 2010 mini-competition. Results posted here.
I decided to brew this batch for a couple of reasons; first, it fits in to one of the styles open for competition at the February BABBs mini-competition, and second, it looks like we're going to a party at the end of February where this style of beer could go down pretty well. The hop signature of this, and many other Australian main-stream beers, is that of the Pride of Ringwood cultivar, and although it's far from my favourite from a flavour perspective, it's pretty distinctive, and in my experience, reasonably easy to replicate from a home brewing perspective.
I was shooting for a lower volume with this brew with the intention of getting enough to fill just one keg (without any left overs for bottling). Unfortunately my calculations were a bit out when it came to my first sparge water and I ended up with a lower first-runnings volume. I made up for it with the second sparge, whilst still being close enough with my pre and post boil gravities.
The yeast for this batch is currently being brought back to life from a couple of Coopers Pale Ales I was enjoying the other night. For those reading who aren't aware, Coopers' beers are bottle conditioned with what is reported to be the same strain of yeast that they use in primary fermentation. What this means from a home brewing perspective is that you can take the "dregs" from a Coopers beer and build it back up to a quantity of yeast suitable for pitching into your own brew, giving you a yeast flavour profile and properties that are similar to Coopers' beers. There's an article and discussion about how to do this on AussieHomeBrewer.com.
The recipe (based on this one):
JW Pale Malt: 4030g
Wheat Malt: 225g
Crystal 125 Malt: 75g
Pride of Ringwood pellets (8.3% AA): 17g @-60 mins ~17 IBU
Pride of Ringwood flowers (9.6% AA): 11g @-60 mins ~12 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 63C
Start: 63C End: 61C
Runoff: 24.5L
Pre-boil SG: 1043
Boil time: 60 minutes
Target OG: 1051 Actual: 1048
Post-boil volume: 19.5L
Yeast: Recultured Coopers Ale yeast
Ferment temp: 18C
Target fermenter volume: 20L
Updated 4th March: This beer scored 36/50 in the BABBs February 2010 mini-competition. Results posted here.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
#30 AmSA (Amarillo Summer Ale)
Brewed: 10th January, 2010
The eight batch of beer in the Summer Ale Series, this time using Amarillo for the hopping component. This was a bit of a last-minute batch to accompany the Oz Pale Ale for our firend's party this Saturday. As I write this, the beer has just finished carbonating and will get a couple of days rest at about 3°C. The hydrometer samples I've tasted so far have been very promising and I look forward to tasting the final product!
In terms of recipe formulation, I used Beer Alchemy to determine how to adjust the hop bittering addition based on the lower Alpha Acid content of the Amarillo hops (as compared to Nelson Sauvin or Galaxy). Based on the advice of another brewer, I left the weights for the flavour and aroma additions the same as the base recipe.
As far as the brew day was concerned, I was pretty close to my target mash temperature, starting fractionally high and ending up only losing less than two degrees over the hour. First runnings were a little low, but I managed to compensate well with the second volume of sparge water added. In a major oversight on my behalf, I didn't record the original gravity anywhere (or I did but forgot to save it), so I'm only going by memory on that one. There also may have been a little bit of precipitated hot-break material that made its way into the fermenter, as my kettle filter came off at some point during draining. Not that I'm worried it will have any impact on flavour, but if it does, I have something that I might be able to trace it back to.
The recipe:
JW Pale Malt: 4500g
Torrified Wheat: 400g
Amarillo pellets (8.6% AA): 20g @ -80 mins ~19 IBU
Amarillo pellets (8.6% AA): 25g @ -20 mins ~ 14 IBU
Amarillo pellets (8.6% AA): 20g @ -5 mins ~ 4 IBU
Amarillo pellets (8.6% AA): 25g in no-chill cube < 1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 64.3C End: 62.5C
Runoff: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1039
Boil time: 90 mins
Target OG: 1047 Actual: 1047
Volume in fermenter: 22.5L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #26 XMAS)
Ferment temperature: 19C
Actual FG: 1011
ABV: 4.7%
The eight batch of beer in the Summer Ale Series, this time using Amarillo for the hopping component. This was a bit of a last-minute batch to accompany the Oz Pale Ale for our firend's party this Saturday. As I write this, the beer has just finished carbonating and will get a couple of days rest at about 3°C. The hydrometer samples I've tasted so far have been very promising and I look forward to tasting the final product!
In terms of recipe formulation, I used Beer Alchemy to determine how to adjust the hop bittering addition based on the lower Alpha Acid content of the Amarillo hops (as compared to Nelson Sauvin or Galaxy). Based on the advice of another brewer, I left the weights for the flavour and aroma additions the same as the base recipe.
As far as the brew day was concerned, I was pretty close to my target mash temperature, starting fractionally high and ending up only losing less than two degrees over the hour. First runnings were a little low, but I managed to compensate well with the second volume of sparge water added. In a major oversight on my behalf, I didn't record the original gravity anywhere (or I did but forgot to save it), so I'm only going by memory on that one. There also may have been a little bit of precipitated hot-break material that made its way into the fermenter, as my kettle filter came off at some point during draining. Not that I'm worried it will have any impact on flavour, but if it does, I have something that I might be able to trace it back to.
The recipe:
JW Pale Malt: 4500g
Torrified Wheat: 400g
Amarillo pellets (8.6% AA): 20g @ -80 mins ~19 IBU
Amarillo pellets (8.6% AA): 25g @ -20 mins ~ 14 IBU
Amarillo pellets (8.6% AA): 20g @ -5 mins ~ 4 IBU
Amarillo pellets (8.6% AA): 25g in no-chill cube < 1 IBU
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 64.3C End: 62.5C
Runoff: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1039
Boil time: 90 mins
Target OG: 1047 Actual: 1047
Volume in fermenter: 22.5L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #26 XMAS)
Ferment temperature: 19C
Actual FG: 1011
ABV: 4.7%
Friday, January 8, 2010
#28 NSSA (Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale)
Brewed: 2nd January, 2010
First brew of the new year! This is for my sister's birthday party in a few weeks time and is the seventh batch in the series of Summer Ales I am brewing. This time, I tried using malted wheat instead of unmalted torrified wheat. If anything, I expect the body of this one to be slightly thinner in comparison to the summer ales I've made with torrified wheat.
The brewday went well with most of my targets within acceptable ranges. I actually had an extra litre of sweet wort from my second sparge runnings, which I intentionally left out of the boil, as I wanted to see what the gravity of the remaining liquid was out of interest. It was a bit of an eye opener to me to see that the gravity was 1019; a lot less than the rest of the wort in the kettle at 1042, so it was probably a good thing that I stopped when I did, because otherwise it would have brought my pre-boil gravity down without significantly contributing to the malt level.
I went with a 60 minute bittering addition again (as opposed to 80 minutes in the original recipe) to play it safe for the party. I still haven't done a blind side-by-side tasting to see if it makes much of a difference, though I've got that planned for the near future and will report back here.
The recipe:
JW Pale Malt: 4500g
Wheat Malt: 400g
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @ -60 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @-20 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 20g @ -5 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 25g in no-chill cube
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 64C End: 62.5C
Runoff: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1042
Boil time: 90 mins
Target OG: 1052 Actual: 1048
Volume in fermenter: 21.5L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #26 XMAS)
Ferment temperature: 19C
First brew of the new year! This is for my sister's birthday party in a few weeks time and is the seventh batch in the series of Summer Ales I am brewing. This time, I tried using malted wheat instead of unmalted torrified wheat. If anything, I expect the body of this one to be slightly thinner in comparison to the summer ales I've made with torrified wheat.
The brewday went well with most of my targets within acceptable ranges. I actually had an extra litre of sweet wort from my second sparge runnings, which I intentionally left out of the boil, as I wanted to see what the gravity of the remaining liquid was out of interest. It was a bit of an eye opener to me to see that the gravity was 1019; a lot less than the rest of the wort in the kettle at 1042, so it was probably a good thing that I stopped when I did, because otherwise it would have brought my pre-boil gravity down without significantly contributing to the malt level.
I went with a 60 minute bittering addition again (as opposed to 80 minutes in the original recipe) to play it safe for the party. I still haven't done a blind side-by-side tasting to see if it makes much of a difference, though I've got that planned for the near future and will report back here.
The recipe:
JW Pale Malt: 4500g
Wheat Malt: 400g
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @ -60 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @-20 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 20g @ -5 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 25g in no-chill cube
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 64C End: 62.5C
Runoff: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1042
Boil time: 90 mins
Target OG: 1052 Actual: 1048
Volume in fermenter: 21.5L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #26 XMAS)
Ferment temperature: 19C
#29 OPA (Oz Pale Ale)
Brewed: 7th January, 2010
Time to catch up on a few recipes!
I brewed this one for a friend's party at the end of the month, and I've still got one more to do for that party so I'll be cutting it fine. On the plus side, if it comes out any good, I'll can take a few samples of it to enter into the first club competition of the year in February where the styles contended are Australian Pale Ale and English Bitters.
I've brewed the recipe a couple of times before. It's a pretty easy drinking pale ale; not over hopped and fairly dry. Think of a slightly lighter Coopers Pale Ale.
The previous times I've made this recipe, I've been a little unhappy with a sulphur taste that was present in the bottles. I think I've since narrowed that down to the old bottle cleaner I was using (sodium metabisulphate), so I'll be interested to see if my current cleaner (iodophor) leaves the beer tasting, well, cleaner. I also noticed when looking at the previous two batches that I made, I added double the amount of hops that was required (copy & paste mistake), so perhaps that had an impact on the undesirable flavour as well. Mind you, it didn't appear to be over-bitter so here's hoping this one comes out bitter enough.
The original recipe calls for 95% Australian ale malt and 5% wheat malt, but because I didn't have enough ale malt, I ended up substituting the missing amount with Australian pils malt. Aside from that lapse in preparation, the brew day went very well with most of the numbers falling well into place.
Actually, just as I write this, I'm thinking that perhaps I should have boiled for longer to account for the pils malt in the bill. I've seen in passing a number of references to doing a 90 minute boil for pils malt, but I'm not sure if that's more for doing lagers, or because of the malt itself. It's something I'll need to look up on for the future.
The recipe (based on this one):
JW Pale Malt: 2700g
Aus Pils Malt: 1100g
Wheat Malt: 200g
Pride of Ringwood flowers (9.6% AA): 10g @ 60 mins
Pride of Ringwood pellets (8.3% AA): 15g @ 45 mins
Mash time: 60 mins
Target mash temperature: 65C
Start: 65C Middle: 63.5C End: 62.5C
Runoff: 26L
Pre-boil SG: 1037
Boil time: 60 minutes
Target OG: 1043
Actual OG: 1042
Time to catch up on a few recipes!
I brewed this one for a friend's party at the end of the month, and I've still got one more to do for that party so I'll be cutting it fine. On the plus side, if it comes out any good, I'll can take a few samples of it to enter into the first club competition of the year in February where the styles contended are Australian Pale Ale and English Bitters.
I've brewed the recipe a couple of times before. It's a pretty easy drinking pale ale; not over hopped and fairly dry. Think of a slightly lighter Coopers Pale Ale.
The previous times I've made this recipe, I've been a little unhappy with a sulphur taste that was present in the bottles. I think I've since narrowed that down to the old bottle cleaner I was using (sodium metabisulphate), so I'll be interested to see if my current cleaner (iodophor) leaves the beer tasting, well, cleaner. I also noticed when looking at the previous two batches that I made, I added double the amount of hops that was required (copy & paste mistake), so perhaps that had an impact on the undesirable flavour as well. Mind you, it didn't appear to be over-bitter so here's hoping this one comes out bitter enough.
The original recipe calls for 95% Australian ale malt and 5% wheat malt, but because I didn't have enough ale malt, I ended up substituting the missing amount with Australian pils malt. Aside from that lapse in preparation, the brew day went very well with most of the numbers falling well into place.
Actually, just as I write this, I'm thinking that perhaps I should have boiled for longer to account for the pils malt in the bill. I've seen in passing a number of references to doing a 90 minute boil for pils malt, but I'm not sure if that's more for doing lagers, or because of the malt itself. It's something I'll need to look up on for the future.
The recipe (based on this one):
JW Pale Malt: 2700g
Aus Pils Malt: 1100g
Wheat Malt: 200g
Pride of Ringwood flowers (9.6% AA): 10g @ 60 mins
Pride of Ringwood pellets (8.3% AA): 15g @ 45 mins
Mash time: 60 mins
Target mash temperature: 65C
Start: 65C Middle: 63.5C End: 62.5C
Runoff: 26L
Pre-boil SG: 1037
Boil time: 60 minutes
Target OG: 1043
Actual OG: 1042
Friday, December 11, 2009
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale tasting
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was one of the original beers in the American microbrewery revolution of the late 70's. It's one that is often talked about on home brewing forums and beer appreciation sites, and is said to encapsulate the American Pale Ale style.
Despite the warnings about it not traveling well, when I saw it on the beer menu at Brisbane's Era Bistro, I knew I had to give it a go.
The warnings refer to the degradation of the aroma and flavour on the long trip over from California. I've even heard that Australian exports of the beer come via Europe, adding to the length of the journey. Bright hop aromatics fade over time and at increased temperatures, and when you consider that the beer could have been sitting in a container or warehouse for who knows how long on its trip over, the warnings are understandable. But it didn't stop me from ordering one.
It is difficult to evaluate a beer that comes with so many preconceptions. The hop aromatics were still there, although I could easily imagine them being less subdued in the fresh product. I can't remember a lot of the malt characteristics that are said to be present, though I wasn't taking detailed notes at the time (after all, this was a night of a work milestone celebration). I do, however, remember making comparisons in my head to Little Creatures Pale Ale at the time; an American Pale Ale style of beer that is said to be a tribute to SNPA.
Overall, I wasn't disappointed, and am still excited to have had the chance to try it. If anything, it has made me want to go over to the US and find out just how good the beer is fresh, and how good a job Little Creatures have done in paying tribute to the style.
Despite the warnings about it not traveling well, when I saw it on the beer menu at Brisbane's Era Bistro, I knew I had to give it a go.
The warnings refer to the degradation of the aroma and flavour on the long trip over from California. I've even heard that Australian exports of the beer come via Europe, adding to the length of the journey. Bright hop aromatics fade over time and at increased temperatures, and when you consider that the beer could have been sitting in a container or warehouse for who knows how long on its trip over, the warnings are understandable. But it didn't stop me from ordering one.
It is difficult to evaluate a beer that comes with so many preconceptions. The hop aromatics were still there, although I could easily imagine them being less subdued in the fresh product. I can't remember a lot of the malt characteristics that are said to be present, though I wasn't taking detailed notes at the time (after all, this was a night of a work milestone celebration). I do, however, remember making comparisons in my head to Little Creatures Pale Ale at the time; an American Pale Ale style of beer that is said to be a tribute to SNPA.
Overall, I wasn't disappointed, and am still excited to have had the chance to try it. If anything, it has made me want to go over to the US and find out just how good the beer is fresh, and how good a job Little Creatures have done in paying tribute to the style.
Friday, December 4, 2009
#22 GxSA (Galaxy Summer Ale)
Brewed: 12th November, 2009
The fourth batch in the Summer Ale series, this time using Galaxy hops instead of Nelson Sauvin.
I tried a slightly different technique of filling my mash tun this time, called underletting. This involves dumping all of the grain into the mash tun and filling it from the bottom up through the outlet. The aim of this was to see if I could saturate the grain properly and hit my mash temperature without having to stir the mash as much. The result I ended up with though was even more inconsistent temperatures throughout the mash (requiring more stirring!) and still coming in slightly under the mash temperature despite the fact that it was way over temperature before I started mixing in properly! Oh well, something learned for next time.
Part way through my first runnings, I realised that I made the silly mistake of not attaching the tap to the kettle. All of a sudden I was wondering what the dripping noise on the floor was! Luckily I was standing next to the kettle at the time and didn't lose too much sweet wort. The spills didn't end there though, as with a higher than expected post-boil volume, I overflowed the "no-chill" cube after the boil. In the future, I plan to use a brewday checklist and actually tick things off instead of relying on my memory to consult the checklist that's on the fridge in the brewing area.
In terms of numbers, I didn't lose as much temperature over the hour compared to last time (1 degree instead of 2). My first runnings were slightly under, which I made up for my adding an extra litre of water to the second sparge. My pre and post boil gravity readings were also a point lower, but well within my expectations.
The recipe:
JW Pale Malt: 4500g
Torrified Wheat: 400g
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 12g @ -80 mins
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 12g @-20 mins
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 16g @ -5 mins
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 23g in no-chill cube
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 63.5C
Middle: 63C
End: 62.5C
Run-off: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1038
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Volume in fermenter: 21L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #20 NSSA)
Ferment temperature: 19C
Target OG: 1052
Actual OG: 1046
Actual FG: 1012
ABV: 4.5%
The fourth batch in the Summer Ale series, this time using Galaxy hops instead of Nelson Sauvin.
I tried a slightly different technique of filling my mash tun this time, called underletting. This involves dumping all of the grain into the mash tun and filling it from the bottom up through the outlet. The aim of this was to see if I could saturate the grain properly and hit my mash temperature without having to stir the mash as much. The result I ended up with though was even more inconsistent temperatures throughout the mash (requiring more stirring!) and still coming in slightly under the mash temperature despite the fact that it was way over temperature before I started mixing in properly! Oh well, something learned for next time.
Part way through my first runnings, I realised that I made the silly mistake of not attaching the tap to the kettle. All of a sudden I was wondering what the dripping noise on the floor was! Luckily I was standing next to the kettle at the time and didn't lose too much sweet wort. The spills didn't end there though, as with a higher than expected post-boil volume, I overflowed the "no-chill" cube after the boil. In the future, I plan to use a brewday checklist and actually tick things off instead of relying on my memory to consult the checklist that's on the fridge in the brewing area.
In terms of numbers, I didn't lose as much temperature over the hour compared to last time (1 degree instead of 2). My first runnings were slightly under, which I made up for my adding an extra litre of water to the second sparge. My pre and post boil gravity readings were also a point lower, but well within my expectations.
The recipe:
JW Pale Malt: 4500g
Torrified Wheat: 400g
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 12g @ -80 mins
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 12g @-20 mins
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 16g @ -5 mins
Galaxy pellets (13.4% AA): 23g in no-chill cube
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 63.5C
Middle: 63C
End: 62.5C
Run-off: 30L
Pre-boil SG: 1038
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Volume in fermenter: 21L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #20 NSSA)
Ferment temperature: 19C
Target OG: 1052
Actual OG: 1046
Actual FG: 1012
ABV: 4.5%
Work experience at MT Brewery
One day a week for the past few weeks, I've been heading down to MT Beer on Mount Tamborine to lend a hand to the head brewer, Ian Watson, in the day-to-day operations at the brewery. It is part of my on-going quest to discover the gaps in my knowledge about working in a commercial brewery so that I know where to focus my efforts in going forward.
So far I have been involved in cleaning and filling kegs and transferring beer to/from various vessels. Last week, I was there to help out with brewing the latest batch of Blonde, including what I imagine would be the least pleasant job, which was to empty the several-hundred kilograms of spent grain from the lauter tun. I guess I didn't mind so much at the time because it is all still new to me! It is interesting to see the similarities and differences between home and commercial brewing, where the latter in this case is approximately 100 times the volume. So far, most of my focus has been on the process side of things as opposed to the business side that I know I'll need to start looking into soon.
The days start much earlier than I'm used to, but it has definitely been worth it. Getting feedback on my own beers throughout the day makes it even easier and more valuable to me (though you certainly have to go easy on it given the lack of commuting options)!
Next week Ian is planning to do a bottling run while I'm there, which will fill in yet another piece of the puzzle for me.
So far I have been involved in cleaning and filling kegs and transferring beer to/from various vessels. Last week, I was there to help out with brewing the latest batch of Blonde, including what I imagine would be the least pleasant job, which was to empty the several-hundred kilograms of spent grain from the lauter tun. I guess I didn't mind so much at the time because it is all still new to me! It is interesting to see the similarities and differences between home and commercial brewing, where the latter in this case is approximately 100 times the volume. So far, most of my focus has been on the process side of things as opposed to the business side that I know I'll need to start looking into soon.
The days start much earlier than I'm used to, but it has definitely been worth it. Getting feedback on my own beers throughout the day makes it even easier and more valuable to me (though you certainly have to go easy on it given the lack of commuting options)!
Next week Ian is planning to do a bottling run while I'm there, which will fill in yet another piece of the puzzle for me.
Friday, November 13, 2009
#21 RP (Robust Porter - Chocolate Jaffa Porter)
Brewed: 5th November, 2009
This was a variation of a Chocolate Porter that I made a few months ago. The original recipe turned out really well and a suggestion was made about the possibility of a choc-orange taste, which is where this brew idea came from. I'm going for more a citrus taste as opposed to straight up orange, but depending on how this one goes, some orange essence may be called up in the future. I'm using Cascade hops for flavour and aroma in this case to try to achieve the citrus notes. I also want to do a choc-vanilla take on this recipe one day, using vanilla beans for the flavour.
As far as the brew day went, it was reasonably uneventful. I did forget to close the tap on the mash tun after draining it the first time, which resulted in a bit of leakage when I went to fill it up the second time, but I caught it pretty quickly. I hit the mash temperature spot on and held it well over the hour.
An interesting thing I noted was that when I poured the wort into the primary fermenter, it didn't froth up at all (unlike nearly every other batch does). It corresponds a bit to the way the previous batch of chocolate porter is pouring out of the tap; ie. very little head on it. Remembering back to what food oils do to a head on a beer (transferred to the glass after eating such food), I put the lack of froth and head down to the fat content of the cocoa powder used in the recipe.
The recipe (based on this one):
JW Pale Malt: 4500g
Light Munich: 1000g
Crystal 135: 500g
Carafa Special II: 200g
Chocolate Malt: 200g
Roast Barley: 100g
Cocoa powder: 100g (added to boil @ -5 mins)
East Kent Goldings pellets (4.8% AA): 48g @ -45 mins
Cascade pellets (6.3% AA): 19g @ -10 mins
Cascade pellets (6.3% AA): 10g in no-chill cube
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 68C
Start: 68C
Middle: 67.5C
End: 67.5C
Run-off: 30L
Target pre-boil SG: 1046
Actual Pre-boil SG: 1050
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Volume in fermenter: 23L
Yeast: Re-cultured Coopers Stout yeast (farmed from #19 MS)
Ferment temperature: 18C
Target OG: 1057
Actual OG: 1055
This was a variation of a Chocolate Porter that I made a few months ago. The original recipe turned out really well and a suggestion was made about the possibility of a choc-orange taste, which is where this brew idea came from. I'm going for more a citrus taste as opposed to straight up orange, but depending on how this one goes, some orange essence may be called up in the future. I'm using Cascade hops for flavour and aroma in this case to try to achieve the citrus notes. I also want to do a choc-vanilla take on this recipe one day, using vanilla beans for the flavour.
As far as the brew day went, it was reasonably uneventful. I did forget to close the tap on the mash tun after draining it the first time, which resulted in a bit of leakage when I went to fill it up the second time, but I caught it pretty quickly. I hit the mash temperature spot on and held it well over the hour.
An interesting thing I noted was that when I poured the wort into the primary fermenter, it didn't froth up at all (unlike nearly every other batch does). It corresponds a bit to the way the previous batch of chocolate porter is pouring out of the tap; ie. very little head on it. Remembering back to what food oils do to a head on a beer (transferred to the glass after eating such food), I put the lack of froth and head down to the fat content of the cocoa powder used in the recipe.
The recipe (based on this one):
JW Pale Malt: 4500g
Light Munich: 1000g
Crystal 135: 500g
Carafa Special II: 200g
Chocolate Malt: 200g
Roast Barley: 100g
Cocoa powder: 100g (added to boil @ -5 mins)
East Kent Goldings pellets (4.8% AA): 48g @ -45 mins
Cascade pellets (6.3% AA): 19g @ -10 mins
Cascade pellets (6.3% AA): 10g in no-chill cube
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 68C
Start: 68C
Middle: 67.5C
End: 67.5C
Run-off: 30L
Target pre-boil SG: 1046
Actual Pre-boil SG: 1050
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Volume in fermenter: 23L
Yeast: Re-cultured Coopers Stout yeast (farmed from #19 MS)
Ferment temperature: 18C
Target OG: 1057
Actual OG: 1055
Monday, November 2, 2009
#20 NSSA (Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale)
Brewed: 29th October, 2009
This was the third batch in the series of Summer Ales I'm doing with slight tweaks between each recipe. Today, I only boiled the bittering hops for the last 60 minutes instead of the 80 minutes previously. This should have the effect of producing a slightly less bitter beer. I'll do a side-by-side taste when this one is ready to see if I can notice the difference. If not, I might try a 45 minute bittering addition some time in the future.
The brew-day was fairly uneventful for this one. I was slightly under the mash temperature target, but I only lost 2 degrees instead of the 3 I lost in the last batch. In hindsight, I could have added some boiling water at the start of the mash to bring it up to my target temperature, but I guess I didn't worry about it at the time because it was only half a degree off. I had slightly better efficiency, which I think would have been even higher if I had both elements running when heating up the kettle (the variable dial on one of the elements was off even though it looked like it was on). In all, there were no surprises, and no stuff ups so I certainly can't complain.
The next day, I transferred it to primary and pitched the yeast. This was sooner than the last two batches (two days for #18 and 3 days for #20) and adds another variable, as the cube hop addition wasn't in for as long, but I don't think it'll have much of an impact. I also decided to save the cube hops for a future batch of this recipe to see if they have enough bittering capacity left in them (I got the idea from this thread on AHB).
The recipe (based on this one):
JW Pale Malt: 4500g
Torrified Wheat: 400g
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @ -60 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @-20 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 20g @ -5 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 25g in no-chill cube
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 63.5C
Middle: 62.5C
End: 61.5C
Run-off: 29.5L
Pre-boil SG: 1039
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Volume in fermenter: 21L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #18 NSSA)
Ferment temperature: 19C
Target OG: 1050
Actual OG: 1047
This was the third batch in the series of Summer Ales I'm doing with slight tweaks between each recipe. Today, I only boiled the bittering hops for the last 60 minutes instead of the 80 minutes previously. This should have the effect of producing a slightly less bitter beer. I'll do a side-by-side taste when this one is ready to see if I can notice the difference. If not, I might try a 45 minute bittering addition some time in the future.
The brew-day was fairly uneventful for this one. I was slightly under the mash temperature target, but I only lost 2 degrees instead of the 3 I lost in the last batch. In hindsight, I could have added some boiling water at the start of the mash to bring it up to my target temperature, but I guess I didn't worry about it at the time because it was only half a degree off. I had slightly better efficiency, which I think would have been even higher if I had both elements running when heating up the kettle (the variable dial on one of the elements was off even though it looked like it was on). In all, there were no surprises, and no stuff ups so I certainly can't complain.
The next day, I transferred it to primary and pitched the yeast. This was sooner than the last two batches (two days for #18 and 3 days for #20) and adds another variable, as the cube hop addition wasn't in for as long, but I don't think it'll have much of an impact. I also decided to save the cube hops for a future batch of this recipe to see if they have enough bittering capacity left in them (I got the idea from this thread on AHB).
The recipe (based on this one):
JW Pale Malt: 4500g
Torrified Wheat: 400g
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @ -60 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 15g @-20 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 20g @ -5 mins
Nelson Sauvin pellets (11.5% AA): 25g in no-chill cube
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 64C
Start: 63.5C
Middle: 62.5C
End: 61.5C
Run-off: 29.5L
Pre-boil SG: 1039
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Volume in fermenter: 21L
Yeast: WLP001 - California Ale (harvested from #18 NSSA)
Ferment temperature: 19C
Target OG: 1050
Actual OG: 1047
Saturday, October 24, 2009
#19 Milk Stout
Brewed: 22nd October, 2009
I had some different issues with my mash temperature for this brew. I lost more than normal from my strike temperature, but didn't lose as much as I normally do over the hour. It doesn't bode well for my consistency.
I was a bit suspicious that my thermometer was out, but I tested it at freezing and boiling and it seems to be correct at the extremes. I still have to do a comparison with some accurate thermometers around the mash temperature to be sure, but at the moment, I'm reasonably confident that it is not my thermometer. Maybe the different type of grains had a role in absorbing more temperature?
I also underestimated the sparge water required and came out about a litre under my pre-boil volume. That ended up working out in my favour though, because I had overestimated the boil loss and ended up with my target volume in the end. The original gravity came in close enough too and probably would have been too low if I had the extra litre or so there.
Finally, I'll need to remember to wear my glasses more in the future! I was splashed in the eye with hot water when filling the mash tun, which wasn't a pleasant experience.
The recipe (based on this one):
JW Pale Malt: 3175g
Carafa Special II: 450g
Crystal 135: 225g
Carapils: 225g
Roast: 225g
Perle (8.3% AA): 30g @ -60 minutes
Lactose: 500g @ -5 minutes
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 70C
Start temp: 68C
Middle temp: 67.5C
End temp: 67.5C
Expected run-off: 26L
Actual run-off: 25L
Boil time: 60 minutes
Target volume: 19L
Actual volume: 19L
Target OG: 1056
Actual OG: 1053
Yeast: Coopers stout yeast, harvested from #17 Dark Ale
Ferment temperature: 18C
I had some different issues with my mash temperature for this brew. I lost more than normal from my strike temperature, but didn't lose as much as I normally do over the hour. It doesn't bode well for my consistency.
I was a bit suspicious that my thermometer was out, but I tested it at freezing and boiling and it seems to be correct at the extremes. I still have to do a comparison with some accurate thermometers around the mash temperature to be sure, but at the moment, I'm reasonably confident that it is not my thermometer. Maybe the different type of grains had a role in absorbing more temperature?
I also underestimated the sparge water required and came out about a litre under my pre-boil volume. That ended up working out in my favour though, because I had overestimated the boil loss and ended up with my target volume in the end. The original gravity came in close enough too and probably would have been too low if I had the extra litre or so there.
Finally, I'll need to remember to wear my glasses more in the future! I was splashed in the eye with hot water when filling the mash tun, which wasn't a pleasant experience.
The recipe (based on this one):
JW Pale Malt: 3175g
Carafa Special II: 450g
Crystal 135: 225g
Carapils: 225g
Roast: 225g
Perle (8.3% AA): 30g @ -60 minutes
Lactose: 500g @ -5 minutes
Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 70C
Start temp: 68C
Middle temp: 67.5C
End temp: 67.5C
Expected run-off: 26L
Actual run-off: 25L
Boil time: 60 minutes
Target volume: 19L
Actual volume: 19L
Target OG: 1056
Actual OG: 1053
Yeast: Coopers stout yeast, harvested from #17 Dark Ale
Ferment temperature: 18C
Friday, October 23, 2009
QABC result feedback
A couple of months ago, I entered my Winter Ale (recipe coming soon) into the Queensland Amateur Brewers Competition. It was the first time I have ever entered a beer in any competition, so it was a completely new experience for me.
The beer was entered under the Northern English Brown Ale style of the Brown Ale category, a decision that was made the night before with my trusty tasting partner, who helped me realise that it wasn't going to fit under the original style I was thinking of. I was really glad that I made the switch, as these competitions are so much about entering under the correct style so that the beer can be matched up with the guidelines.
The results were published about a month ago, but it was only last night at the Brisbane Amateur Beer Brewers club meeting that I received the score-sheets with feedback.
It's very interesting to see the comments by the two judges side-by-side, and it made me realise just how much of the score comes down to luck of the draw with the judges. I'm not saying that the results are completely down to luck - you obviously need a good beer to do well - but a few points can mean the difference between placing and not placing. The difference is understandable too; no matter how much objectivity they try to put into the judging process, at the end of the day, the range of ability to discern different flavours & aromas can vary quite a bit between people.
Also interesting to note that the main flaw I thought the beer had (too much diacetyl) wasn't mentioned at all in the comments. Maybe it was within the style limits after all.
Aroma
Judge 1: 6/12
Very low aroma. Cannot detect any malt character at all. No faults detected either.
Judge 2: 8/12
Lovely light fruit hops, caramel also comes through.
Appearance
Judge 1: 3/3
Good colour, clarity for style. Head is moderate and stable.
Judge 2: 3/3
Nice head retention. Lovely carbonation billowing up the glass. Good amber colour to style.
Flavour
Judge 1: 14/20
Well balanced beer, needs a touch more malt complexity for style. Increase nutty by adding chocolate malt etc. Low fruitiness from yeast - good. Hops & after taste reserved.
Judge 2: 15/20
Malt sweetness good. The hop flavour & bitterness levels are within style.
Mouthfeel
Judge 1: 4/5
Medium body good for style, slight warming sensation ? higher end of alcohol scale.
Judge 2: 3/5
Carbonation level to style. Nice dry finish to style.
Overall Impression
Judge 1: 7/10
Good easy to drink beer. Not enough aroma character with more malt complexity required for style.
Judge 2: 6/10
An overall good attempt at style. Nutty & dry finish. Well done.
The combined result for the beer was 34.5/50, and it was beaten by three other beers in the category (with scores of 39.5, 36.5 and 36) amongst 15 entries in total.
I remain extremely happy with the result, and I look forward to entering more beers in the BABBs mini-comps for more feedback in the lead up to next year's QABC.
The beer was entered under the Northern English Brown Ale style of the Brown Ale category, a decision that was made the night before with my trusty tasting partner, who helped me realise that it wasn't going to fit under the original style I was thinking of. I was really glad that I made the switch, as these competitions are so much about entering under the correct style so that the beer can be matched up with the guidelines.
The results were published about a month ago, but it was only last night at the Brisbane Amateur Beer Brewers club meeting that I received the score-sheets with feedback.
It's very interesting to see the comments by the two judges side-by-side, and it made me realise just how much of the score comes down to luck of the draw with the judges. I'm not saying that the results are completely down to luck - you obviously need a good beer to do well - but a few points can mean the difference between placing and not placing. The difference is understandable too; no matter how much objectivity they try to put into the judging process, at the end of the day, the range of ability to discern different flavours & aromas can vary quite a bit between people.
Also interesting to note that the main flaw I thought the beer had (too much diacetyl) wasn't mentioned at all in the comments. Maybe it was within the style limits after all.
Aroma
Judge 1: 6/12
Very low aroma. Cannot detect any malt character at all. No faults detected either.
Judge 2: 8/12
Lovely light fruit hops, caramel also comes through.
Appearance
Judge 1: 3/3
Good colour, clarity for style. Head is moderate and stable.
Judge 2: 3/3
Nice head retention. Lovely carbonation billowing up the glass. Good amber colour to style.
Flavour
Judge 1: 14/20
Well balanced beer, needs a touch more malt complexity for style. Increase nutty by adding chocolate malt etc. Low fruitiness from yeast - good. Hops & after taste reserved.
Judge 2: 15/20
Malt sweetness good. The hop flavour & bitterness levels are within style.
Mouthfeel
Judge 1: 4/5
Medium body good for style, slight warming sensation ? higher end of alcohol scale.
Judge 2: 3/5
Carbonation level to style. Nice dry finish to style.
Overall Impression
Judge 1: 7/10
Good easy to drink beer. Not enough aroma character with more malt complexity required for style.
Judge 2: 6/10
An overall good attempt at style. Nutty & dry finish. Well done.
The combined result for the beer was 34.5/50, and it was beaten by three other beers in the category (with scores of 39.5, 36.5 and 36) amongst 15 entries in total.
I remain extremely happy with the result, and I look forward to entering more beers in the BABBs mini-comps for more feedback in the lead up to next year's QABC.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Brewday pics
Here's a few snaps from my last brewday.
Weighing out the grain:
Getting ready to mill:
Roughly 500 turns of the handle later:
Grain close-ups
Before:
After:
Note that the idea of milling the grain is not to completely pulverise it, but rather crack it and crush it enough to allow water to mix with the dry content of the grain. In the above photo, you might still be able to see some of the larger husks in tact. This husk aids in filtering grain particles when running the wort out of the mash tun.
Speaking of which, my mash tun:
The mash tun is the vessel in which the grain is mixed with heated water and left for a period of time. During this time, enzymes present in the grain break down the starches in to simpler sugars that can be later fermented by the yeast. By adjusting the temperature, you can adjust the kind of sugars that are produced, which in turn impacts the body of the resulting beer. Higher mash temperatures will produce less fermentable sugars and result in a fuller bodied beer, whereas lower temperatures will produce more fermentable sugars (easier for the yeast to convert) and result in a drier beer.
Inside the mash tun:
I have stainless-steel braided mesh to prevent larger grain particles from going through the tap, which in turn eventually stops the smaller particles from going through.
An hour after adding the crushed grain and water to the mash tun:
Collecting the start of the wort, waiting for the liquid to be visibly clear of grain particles:
Grain particles add tannins to the beer if they are boiled with the wort, which results in an astringent taste. This is why we want to wait until the liquid is clear before transferring to the kettle.
Inside the empty kettle:
Mash tun as it is being drained into the kettle:
Mash tun at the end of draining:
See how the grain particles have all compacted together, creating that natural filter for the wort to flow through without taking the particles with it.
After draining the mash tun, it is topped up with water again, left to settle, and drained for a second time to extract more of the converted sugars. This particular procedure is called batch sparging, and although it is not the only sparging method available to brewers, it is one of the simplest and requires the least equipment.
Weighing out the different hop additions:
The hops above are hop flowers that have been compacted into pellet form.
Hops are added to the kettle at different times during the boil. Earlier additions (boiled for 80-30ish minutes) are generally used for bittering the beer. Flavour additions are generally added between roughly 30-10 minutes before the end of the boil, and aroma additions are added in the last 10 minutes, or even after the boil has finished. The longer the hops are boiled for, the more flavour and aroma is driven off from the wort, hence the different timings.
The liquid yeast I used for this brew:
Once the boil has finished, the hopped wort is drained from the kettle and cooled down to fermenting temps (for the case of ales, around 20°C). Once at fermenting temperature, the yeast is added, or "pitched" to the hopped wort, and begins converting the sugars into alcohol. Three weeks later and with a little luck, I'll be pulling the first beer from this batch out of the keg!
Weighing out the grain:
Getting ready to mill:
Roughly 500 turns of the handle later:
Grain close-ups
Before:
After:
Note that the idea of milling the grain is not to completely pulverise it, but rather crack it and crush it enough to allow water to mix with the dry content of the grain. In the above photo, you might still be able to see some of the larger husks in tact. This husk aids in filtering grain particles when running the wort out of the mash tun.
Speaking of which, my mash tun:
The mash tun is the vessel in which the grain is mixed with heated water and left for a period of time. During this time, enzymes present in the grain break down the starches in to simpler sugars that can be later fermented by the yeast. By adjusting the temperature, you can adjust the kind of sugars that are produced, which in turn impacts the body of the resulting beer. Higher mash temperatures will produce less fermentable sugars and result in a fuller bodied beer, whereas lower temperatures will produce more fermentable sugars (easier for the yeast to convert) and result in a drier beer.
Inside the mash tun:
I have stainless-steel braided mesh to prevent larger grain particles from going through the tap, which in turn eventually stops the smaller particles from going through.
An hour after adding the crushed grain and water to the mash tun:
Collecting the start of the wort, waiting for the liquid to be visibly clear of grain particles:
Grain particles add tannins to the beer if they are boiled with the wort, which results in an astringent taste. This is why we want to wait until the liquid is clear before transferring to the kettle.
Inside the empty kettle:
Mash tun as it is being drained into the kettle:
Mash tun at the end of draining:
See how the grain particles have all compacted together, creating that natural filter for the wort to flow through without taking the particles with it.
After draining the mash tun, it is topped up with water again, left to settle, and drained for a second time to extract more of the converted sugars. This particular procedure is called batch sparging, and although it is not the only sparging method available to brewers, it is one of the simplest and requires the least equipment.
Weighing out the different hop additions:
The hops above are hop flowers that have been compacted into pellet form.
Hops are added to the kettle at different times during the boil. Earlier additions (boiled for 80-30ish minutes) are generally used for bittering the beer. Flavour additions are generally added between roughly 30-10 minutes before the end of the boil, and aroma additions are added in the last 10 minutes, or even after the boil has finished. The longer the hops are boiled for, the more flavour and aroma is driven off from the wort, hence the different timings.
The liquid yeast I used for this brew:
Once the boil has finished, the hopped wort is drained from the kettle and cooled down to fermenting temps (for the case of ales, around 20°C). Once at fermenting temperature, the yeast is added, or "pitched" to the hopped wort, and begins converting the sugars into alcohol. Three weeks later and with a little luck, I'll be pulling the first beer from this batch out of the keg!
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