Homebrew Beer Thread.

[Sam Hain]

Bongin Bongin Bay Skull IPA
Pours an Autumnal coppery hue with a slightly rocky, creamy head. You'll notice a mildly peppery, floral & citrus fruit aroma.  The palate is hop forward, with notes of orange marmalade and spice finishing with a soft, lingering bitterness.
Hops:  Motueka (NZ), Pacifica (NZ)
Base Malt: Perle
ABV: 7%
Perceived IBU: 75

Bongin Bongin Bay Woebegone Red IPA
Pours a deep, deep red with low carbonation & a creamy head.  Malty, floral & citrus aroma. Roasty, dark chocolate/citrus palate with a warming, bitter finish.
Hops: Warrior (US) Amarillo (US)
Base Malt: Perle
ABV: 7%
Perceived IBU: 85


So based on that, if it was chalked up behind the bar, would you hand over yer hard earned for a glass?

I'll post up the labels Mrs NCR is working on in a lttle while.

I would just ditch the term "Low Carbonation" for "Lighly Carbonated". Also not sure the term"Rocky" would be commonly understood.  If it were me I'd choose the Woebegone. Im a huge fan of the Warrior and Amarillo combo.  I like big,bitter IPA's as you can tell by my 1st place IIPA recipe below...look at the IBU's and ABV.


Recipe Type: Partial Mash
Grains:
14 #'s American Two-row Pale
2#'s Victory Malt
2#'s Thomas Fawcett Amber
1# Carapils
Yeast: WLP007 pitched @ 66
Yeast Starter: Yes, my strain off yeast cake started with 1#ELDME
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Boil size:6.5
Hops: Pellets
2 oz's Warrior
1 oz of Simcoe
1 oz of Amarillo
Other:1 teaspoon Irish Moss at 15 min
Original Gravity: 1.092
Final Gravity: 1.023
ABV: 9.2%
IBU:129
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: Copperish/Reddish 12° SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 3wks @ 66
Dry Hopping(# of Days & Temp):5 days @ 70 see below

I do even hopping on all my brews. I kinda stole it from one of DFH 120min brews.

[khoomeizhi]

agreed, pretty much all fruit had wild yeasts on it. i don't boil the raisins, but steep them like tea - pour hot water over them and whatever else is going in the must, which probably doesn't do those yeasts any favors. but i sure don't worry about them being sterile.

[NCR600]

agreed, pretty much all fruit had wild yeasts on it. i don't boil the raisins, but steep them like tea - pour hot water over them and whatever else is going in the must, which probably doesn't do those yeasts any favors. but i sure don't worry about them being sterile.

Wonder if throwing them in raw would kickstart a wild ferment? Might have to try.

If it were me I'd choose the Woebegone. Im a huge fan of the Warrior and Amarillo combo.  I like big,bitter IPA's as you can tell by my 1st place IIPA recipe below...look at the IBU's and ABV.

That recipe looks right up my alley. Can't get any Motueka until the new season crop comes in about a month, but Warrior, Amarillo & Simcoe can be had easily. Dunno how I'll go getting up to 1.090 with my system though, 1.080 worts have me pretty much overflowing the mash. I'm waiting on getting a pump so I can recirculate the mash, which should allow me to use less water.

Anyway, here's the labels.

Jen NCR hand painted the images on the labels and I layed them out last minute style using a mixture of MS Word, scissors, glue, and some real basic photo editing software, because someone forgot to bring home the work laptop with Illustrator & Photoshop on it.

I've kind of lied about the ABV on both beers too, the comp's limited to 7%, and the IPA is 7.5% and the Red is closer to 8%.

[khoomeizhi]

finally bottled the nettles, etc mead today - it just didn't want to finish up for the longest time, and since i'm going for a dry product, i'm on it's schedule. took a little taste (my wife got a bigger one while siphoning), and it's nice. you can't taste any particular ingredient, it's just kind of a mild, slightly sweet (not much), slightly tanniny wine. as good as i was hoping for. after much consideration, we named it '5 Spirits' because that was where a longish free-associative naming brainstorm ended. labels, as usual for us, are sharpie on blue painter's tape.

we got five bottles plus. i bet it won't be long before i crack the first bottle.

[NCR600]

Here's a straight cut and paste job from the Asterix and Obelix Official Beer Thread about my non-result in the comp.

Well, I didn't get my beers on tap!

Congratulations to our Inaugural Home Comp champion Brett Norman who wowed the judges with his Newtown Brown. Lots of bold Centennial hop flavour and aroma. We will keep you all posted when and where this will be available. Honorary mentions go to Geoff Hughes for his Punkin Chunkin (described by the Head Steward as one of the best pumpkin beers he had ever tasted) and Paul Ryan for his Smoked Chipotle Porter (I generally hate chilli beers but this was lovely). Special thanks to those who went to the extra effort of doing up interesting labels and/or creative descriptions. They helped us get through the 46 individual entries we received. The story of Bongin Bay particularly had us laughing. Thanks to the Home Brew stores that promoted the comp and collected entries. Finally, thanks to all who entered. Never fear, there will be another competition before the year is out...when we some up the courage to do it all again.

Haven't had any other feedback thus far, I'm hoping I'll get an email from them soon.

Anyway, this is what they thought was so funny. Must have an easily pleased sense of humour.



I'm kind of pumped up to do a few BJCP rules comps now and get some proper feedback, and I'll probably enter their next comp now i have their attention with my "Humourous" labelling!

[Sam Hain]

Nice NCR!

That's some great labeling for sure...

I'm entering my 1st comp in August. I'm doing a Rye IIPA
and a Belgian White. We have to have plain labels for the beer judging. The labels are judged separately.

[NCR600]

Funnily enough, I've bit the bullet and I'm doing my first BJCP rules event in August too. I had my Red IPA judged (unofficially) under BJCP guidelines the other week and I've brewed another to adress the judges comments.

If I strike the same judge, I should move into the 40's with the new recipe, but it's an uphill struggle in the American IPA category for me because a Red IPA is always going to be out of style. I may enter a bottle into the "other" category and see how it goes there too.

Good luck Sam Hain!

[MadJohnShaft]

You guys are maniacs - I love it.

[khoomeizhi]

starting a bochet tonight. burnt-honey mead. will report back after several hours of stirring rapidly, continuously expanding napalm.

the shit i do for art.

[Sam Hain]

Funnily enough, I've bit the bullet and I'm doing my first BJCP rules event in August too. I had my Red IPA judged (unofficially) under BJCP guidelines the other week and I've brewed another to adress the judges comments.

If I strike the same judge, I should move into the 40's with the new recipe, but it's an uphill struggle in the American IPA category for me because a Red IPA is always going to be out of style. I may enter a bottle into the "other" category and see how it goes there too.

Good luck Sam Hain!

Thanks..same to you!

[NCR600]

8.5% Imperial Red IPA. Warrior, Simcoe, Amarillo. Basically similar to the beer I last posted, a long time ago, but much better due to havin my processes nailed. Not BJCP judged yet, but was good enough to get beer of the night at the brew club booze-a-thon tasting night.

Anyone else still brewing beer. Didn't want to hijack Khoomz' blog with mere beer!

[NCR600]

Anyway, just found out my Bourbon Vanilla Porter got 5th place out of 57 entries in specialty beer class of the state amateur brewing champs. Pretty happy with that given it was the first run for that recipe. Haven't seen the tasting notes yet, but I reckon I know where I lost points.

[MadJohnShaft]

Nice!

I want to start doing this again. Thanks a lot, thread.

[NCR600]

You should, it's an expensive way to make cheap beer!

[MadJohnShaft]

Right - I haven't hurt myself carrying a full carboy up and down the stairs, splashed bleach on my new clothes, or had a pot of wort boil over making a burned sugary mess on my stove for a couple of years now....

[chille01]

Stoked to find this thread, and will be contributing more in the future. Been brewing about 6 years, made the jump from extract to all grain about two years ago. Never entered an official BJCP contest, but my other home brewing buds and I hold our own contests. Usually and IPA in the summer and a stout in the winter. We use the BJCP guidelines and score sheets, and put a commercial example into the mix for every homebrew entered.  Contest is run double blind, so judges don't know what beer they have, and don't have the same beer at he same time.  I've taken the stout outright twice, came in 2nd after a commercial brew another time, and took the first IPA contest outright.  We've only done one IPA, but have the next one coming up soon.  My entry is in secondary right now. 

[NCR600]

Your contests sound mighty formal for a bunch of mates! Our beer club tasting nights are pretty informal, everyone gets a taste, and gives a score out of 10, with little consideration given to BJCP guidlines. We must be doing something right because our brewers entries in the State Comp were mostly in the top 10 for class.

I recently won a lottery on the Homebrew forum I contribute to, the prize was 30 peole had to send me a bottle of their brew each, and I had to provide feedback. 2 months later, I'm still not through them all, and I'm not sure I could judge at a competition! Judging to the BJCP scoresheet and Style Guide is a lot harder than I thought.

Anyway, here's a pic of my current rig. It's changed quite a bit since I started the thread. 3 vessel all-grain with the mash recirculating through a heat exchanger (the little urn between the HLT on the milk crate and the Mash/Lauter Tun). Next step is to weld up a proper stand for it all, and fix the electrical side of things so it's a bit neater.

[chille01]

Damn cool.  I still use a cooler mash tun and two stock pots on the stove top for the boil.  I live in a 650 square foot apartment, so I'm limited in the amount and size of brewing gadgets I can have.  Soon as I go to a bigger place though, I'm moving to kegs.