Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Homebrewing Competition Scoresheets

On November 30, 2011

With November coming to a close, I thought I would put up a quick post about the homebrewing competition scoresheets I got back from the NERHBC.

Pretty middle of the road scores as you can see from the photo above. The Oktoberfest did place but it is always interesting to see what scores and comments you get back.

Beers that did well in a previous competition got lower marks this time around.

Beer that I thought weren’t that great received some positive remarks.

Beers with a higher scores than the Oktoberfest didn’t place at all. It comes down to competition in the category, I guess.

Anyway, next year it’s all about brewing more and submitting more.

2011 Hard Cider First Tasting

By John Krochune

On November 29, 2011

In Brew Log

After a week in the bottle, the cider was carbonated enough to pass as sparkling.

My handy dandy carbonation alert system worked like a charm. It regained its original shape:

If you want to see what it look like before it carbonated, take a look at the cider bottling post.

After a few hours in the fridge, it was ready for Thanksgiving dinner. My target audience thought it was much, much better than my first attempt at making cider two years ago.

It was a bit cloudy in the glass but the bottles that didn’t make it out of the fridge have started to clear up. I’ll post a photo of a glass later.

There isn’t much left. I did put some in 12 ounce bottles for competitions so I will need to pasteurize them at some point. The rest will be gone soon.

Mead and Oak

By John Krochune

On November 23, 2011

In Brew Log

With one month down in the secondary and at least one month to go, I added 2 ounces of oak chips to my raspberry mead last week.

I read in the Compleat Meadmaker that mead and oak work well together. I think my raspberry mead is going to benefit from some oaky/vanilla flavors.

I soaked the chips in water for 12 hours and steamed them for 10 minutes. I sanitized my big funnel and poured them right into the glass carboy.

So, the new plan is to let the mead and the oak play together for a while. I will be sneaking tastes every week to see how things are progressing. I am looking for balance so I will rack the mead off the oak when I think it’s oak-y enough.

Hard Cider Bottling Day

By John Krochune

On November 17, 2011

In Brew Log

This morning, I bottled the 2011 edition of hard cider. Let me get you up to speed on what has been happening since the last update.

I tried to get the cider to clear a little faster. I put the carboy in the fridge to chill it down and maybe get the proteins and yeast to settle out quicker. It got less hazy but it wasn’t clear after a week.

Then I got the bright idea to add some flavorless gelatin to the cider to kick the clearing into high gear. It got less hazy but it wasn’t clear with a week to go ’til Thanksgiving.

So I said to myself, “Brew On.”, which in this case is synonymous for “Screw it.” and bottled up the cider.

I tasted it the night before and it was dry and tart. It was ok to me, but my target audience won’t like it so I back-sweetened it. Yeah, I know. I didn’t want to do that but it seemed to be the only way to get the flavor I wanted.

So I added a can of condensed apple juice and added it to the bottling bucket. Then I had 2 cups of table sugar that was boiled in 2 cups of water (cooled) and added that mixture until the sweetness was where I thought it should be.

I took a hydrometer reading and it read 1.010.

Now it’s carbonation time. I know I have the possibility of bottle bombs on my hands but I have a fail safe device.

That, my dear readers, is hard cider in a plastic water bottle. It might look like a urine sample, but let me assure you…that is hard cider in a water bottle.

When that water bottle swells up, I know it will be time to pasteurize my bottle so they don’t blow up.

Hopefully someone will drink this stuff next week. I hate rushing things.

Beer Contamination in the Keg

By Mike

On November 12, 2011

In Equipment, General

Last night, my wife and I were drinking some fine Brown Ale from a previous brew session. The beer was from an experimental batch where I split the batch between two different yeasts, as you can see in the previous brewlog post. I discovered I had a beer contamination in the keg even at cold temps.

We were drinking off the WLP001 American Ale yeast keg. The beer had aged into something fairly pleasant as it sat in the kegorator for several months. Admittedly, the beer sat that long because I didn’t really like how either yeast had come out. I poured two pints before dinner. As dinner was about to hit the table (hand-made Parkerhouse Rolls with Mushroom and Lentil stew) I went to the garage to pour another quick pint…. All foam!

The keg was kicked on those last two pints. I guess that beer was better than I thought as we had worked through it over the summer.

So I hooked up the second keg from the WLP002 English Ale yeast. I could tell something was different right off the bat with the head. There was a lack of creaminess to it, it was more of a consistent foam. I tasted it and there was a clear clove-phenol taste and aroma in it. I noticed that flavor in it about a month ago and didn’t think much of it. Back in May, that flavor wasn’t there but it slowly grew and grew as I have sampled the keg over the summer.

Interestingly, the keg has been cold since it went into the fridge in April so what ever contaminant I picked up in the keg is still active even at cold temps. I did bottle a couple from that keg and sent it to a competition last month. I am still waiting for the score sheets. I would not be surprised to find out if that beer was over carbed and really phenol-ly once it warmed up to room temp and sat waiting a week or so before judging. I hope when they opened it, it didn’t make a mess!

The WLP001 keg has no hint of that beer contamination in the keg. When coming out of the brew kettle post chill, I filled a single carboy up with the wort. THEN I split it in half into another carboy. And seeing how the flavor wasn’t present post ferment, I must have picked up the contamination in the keg I racked into post ferment. Live and learn, I guess it’s just a reminder to not slack on sanitation. Even when you are careful, you never know.

Anyhow, I had to eat my rolls and stew with Oktoberfest. I know it’s a tough life but as a brew dude I make sacrifices for you – the reader.

BREW ON!