February 2K3 Cook-Off: Brew Ha-Ha

[PostModern]

The OCAU Brewers have hijacked the Cook-Off. The subject for the 2003 February Cook-Off is BEER. To enter this competition, you'll need to do more than post a recipe, more than post a pic of the results of your culinary excursions. In fact, you'll need to post a bottle of your ALE to me, PoMo for judging by myself and my partner, Mrs PoMo.

The rules for the Brew Ha-Ha are as follows.

• Brews must be started no sooner than 23/11/2002
• Recipe must be posted in this thread, along with the brewer's notes, no later than one week after starting the brew. Record as few or as many details as you like (Starting Gravity, Bottling Gravity etc)
• Entries must be received by me by 26/2/2003 to be eligible for judging.
• Entries may be any beer in any Ale style
• Entries must be appropriately packaged for mailing. Hopefully the entries will be stable enough not to cause a concern for Aust Post
• The prize for first place will be a pint glass.

We'll rely on the honour of the entrants not to enter an aged brew (brewed before the competition's start), not to bottle another's beer as your own nor in any other way attempt to gain advantage.

To make things easier, it'd be best to send PET bottles, as they'll weigh less and be less likely to break in transit. If you don't want to compromise the quality of the beer feel free to send in glass. Aus Post offer a special package for bottles, I believe it's called the "WinePack". This would be recommended even if sending in PET.

Include notes for the judges in this thread, eg preferred temperature for tasting etc.

Let the competition begin and may the best brew win!

EDIT: Comments in this thread please. We'll keep the sticky for entries, tasting notes, scores and results.
EDIT2: Yeah right.

[FragieSpice]

edit: I am pulling out as the ale I brewed for the comp tastes like shit and I don't need postmodern to confirm it

it doesn't literally taste like shit but it has a horrid metalic / smokey flavour and I have no idea what went wrong.

good luck to the other people brewing.

[f@rmboy]

What a great idea..... if you're a judge

Seeing that all my brews are kegged these days and i dont have a counter pressure bottle filler, I'll just have to sit on the fence on this one (enjoying a coldie of course )

[Vindaloo]

I'd recommend using 600ml PET bottles, as you can pour a pint out of one, and leave sediment in the bottom. As there's not really time for a secondary racking (a proper one anyway) I'll just be leaving the sediment in, with instructions to PoMo to pour the brew into a pint.

Also, WinePaks are moulded especially for wine bottles. When sending a PET bottle, I wrapped it in 3 layers of bubblewrap and Express Post'd it. The bottle survived transit from Perth to the Eastern states fine.

Good luck all, and may the best brew win!!



Vindaloo.

[vision]

So ginger beer doesn't count?

[PostModern]

Originally posted by vision
So ginger beer doesn't count?

Well, no. Unless that's some kind of ale?

[vision]

You can pretend it is. It's just that I've just whacked on two vats of it this week...

[Big_DannyP]

is the ale that is currently brewing allowed to be entered?

[StevOz]

Originally posted by vision
So ginger beer doesn't count?

It should count...a ale is defined by its yeast, there are only two types of beer yeasts, ale yeasts and lager yeasts, ale yeast is active in the 18C to 30C range, whilst lager yeasts are active in to 2C to 15C range. This is why lagers generally will not keep, whilst ales are far more robust and can be stored and matured for long periods of time.

That said there are also wild yeasts, used in an open fermentation process, the third type of beer - results can vary greatly with wild yeast as you can imagine, although some of the worlds most old and famous beers are brewed with wild yeasts, most of lambic and trappist beers are made this way.

So if it is made in a closed fermentation process with ale yeast then it is Ale.

oops forgot one.

There is also wine yeasts that are used in some beers to create a strong/heavy beer 8-15% alc/vol, wine yeast can remain active in higher alcohol concentrations.

[PostModern]

Originally posted by StevOz


It should count...a ale is defined by its yeast, there are only two types of beer yeasts, ale yeasts and lager yeasts, ale yeast is active in the 18C to 30C range, whilst lager yeasts are active in to 2C to 15C range. This is why lagers generally will not keep, whilst ales are far more robust and can be stored and matured for long periods of time.

That said there are also wild yeasts, used in an open fermentation process, the third type of beer - results can vary greatly with wild yeast as you can imagine, although some of the worlds most old and famous beers are brewed with wild yeasts, most of lambic and trappist beers are made this way.

So if it is made in a closed fermentation process with ale yeast then it is Ale.

oops forgot one.

There is also wine yeasts that are used in some beers to create a strong/heavy beer 8-15% alc/vol, wine yeast can remain active in higher alcohol concentrations.

I guess that ginger ale is an ale by definition and thus fits the description of "Any Ale Style".
Speaking of other yeast varieties, I'm thinking of making a Kriek-style beer with champagne yeast next stone fruit season. Second prize can be an 800ml bottle of that, but the winner will need to wait 14 months or so

[Speewa]

Brew started today.


1 Coopers dark ale kit

1kg Brewiser Brew sugar
( 500g dextrose, 250g light malt. 250 corn syrup)

850 CSR Golden syrup
(Cause I had to try something different )

No Idea how this will work out, I have a stout aging atm with the same amount of cocky's joy in it, but it will be another week before it is ready.

PoMo gets to be the lab rat.......

[Vindaloo]

Ok, the brew went in today. It cost $28!! Expensive. Anyway, it was...

1 x Coopers Real Ale
1 kg honey
500 g dextrose

It might be a bit strong.... *giggle* ....

I'm gonna put chillis in some bottles this time round as well. Can I enter 2 brews, the non chilli brew and the chilli brew?

Cheers and hope everyone's brews are going good

Vinds.

[kukulkan]

Well, my brew is on now, yeast literally just pitched (4PM, 30/11/2002). It is quite an experimental IPA, well for me anyway. I've never added that much hops before, so PoMo, get ready for some bittery goodness.

Ingredients:
1 tin Black Rock IPA
600g Liquid Light Malt Extract
150g Dried Light Malt Extract
100g Corn Syrup
600g Dextrose
20g Goldings hop pellets
20g Fuggles hop pellets
5g Saaz hop pellets


Okie dokie, first off I brought 2.5litres of water to a boil in a saucepan, added the LLME and DLME, and turned the heat down to a gentle simmer.
I then added 15g of fuggles, and 10g of goldings hop pellets, and simmered the mixture for 45 minutes, stirring once every 5-10 mins (so as the malt didnt begin to stick to the bottom of the pan).
I then added 10g of goldings, 5g of fuggles and 5g of saaz hops, left it simmering for an additional 5minutes (50 total), then turned off the heat and let it sit for 5mins.
I then strained the mixture through a fine mesh, and added the black rock kit, along with 600g of dextrose and 100g of corn syrup. Mixed this all very well, and added to the carboy (in which I had 10litres of water). Topped up the water to the 21.5litre mark (I'm using my 25l carboy, dont want it frothing over).
Measured the OG, which came to 1.046.
Added 2 packets of black rock yeast (temperature was at 29 degrees), gave it a quick stir, and put the lid and airlock on .
I've wrapped the carboy in a towel and put water in the lid, I want to make sure it doesnt overheat (has been warm lately during the day here in perth). Theres a fan blowing on it too just incase!

Wish me luck!


edit - I managed to make a good mess making this too! Theres splashes of malt and hops both around the stove, and on the kitchen floor. I've got a cleanup job ahead now

[Vindaloo]

Wow. That's some big effort kukulkan!! I wish I had more time on my hands, so that I could play around with extract brewing. Let me guess which brew is going to be a higher quality and have more interesting flavours

Seriously though, it sounds great. Let's hope we can see some more entries!

And yeah, PoMo, seeing as you are judging this one, could we have a comment about multiple brews from the same brewer? I mean, it's allowed in other cook-offs and so on isn't it?

Vinds.

[kukulkan]

Originally posted by Vindaloo
Wow. That's some big effort kukulkan!! I wish I had more time on my hands, so that I could play around with extract brewing. Let me guess which brew is going to be a higher quality and have more interesting flavours

Seriously though, it sounds great. Let's hope we can see some more entries!

And yeah, PoMo, seeing as you are judging this one, could we have a comment about multiple brews from the same brewer? I mean, it's allowed in other cook-offs and so on isn't it?

Vinds.

It took a little longer than it normally does, but i'm hoping it'll be worth it. While I was waiting for the malt/hops to simmer away it gave me a chance to clean up a week or so's worth of accumulated dishes on the sink.

Tis happilly bubbling away in my "brew room". I should post some photos of my little brewery. I've got a small spare room full of beer, a table (w/ carboys) , and a fan.

You're welcome to a bottle of it in feb if you want
I've got lots of other brews aging now too. I've had mixed results, some are just drinkable, some taste good .

Some of us Perth brewers should meet up sometime and bring along some bottles, i'd be up for it anyway.

If multiple brews are OK and I manage to clean off my other carboy tomorrow I might chuck another brew on. I've got a tin of coopers real ale sitting there doing nothing. A kilo of LLME too. Theres still some leftover hops in the fridge aswell.