Messages

91

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Style Guidelines and Judging

« on: August 27, 2012, 10:48:59 am »

Speaking of judging, I have the BJCP tasting exam in January. Does anyone have a good method for study? Any tips from experience?

Practice often, either on homebrews or commercially available beers. If you can, find the listed commerical beers for a sub-style and judge it according to the guidelines. Since its fall, go buy a Spaten Oktoberfest and a Sam Adams Oktoberfest and see where they fall.

92

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Style Guidelines and Judging

« on: August 27, 2012, 09:02:57 am »

This is why I believe the guidelines are just that, guidelines. They are not hard and fast rules, they are aids to help the judges determine if a beer is great at what it claims to be. Should there be a discussion between the 2 or 3 judges drinking these beers? Absolutely. But some things (especially beer drinking) are just subjective.

+1x10^9

93

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Alcohol Tolerance of Brett

« on: August 27, 2012, 06:44:22 am »

Just about all wine and beer yeast are S. cerevisiae, but different strains can have much different alcohol tolerance. What Brett species and strains were they talking about in Wild Brews?

It was just about the Brettanomyces genus in general. The alcohol tolerance for Saccharomyces was listed at 25% ABV, so its more than likely the maximum tolerance for any known strain since not all S. cerevisiae can live to 25% (obviously).

94

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Style Guidelines and Judging

« on: August 26, 2012, 04:48:22 pm »

Many commercial beers have been getting bigger and bolder. Maybe this is just a response to make something like they can buy?

Definitely. Anything you can do I can do bigger and stronger.

95

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Style Guidelines and Judging

« on: August 26, 2012, 10:02:30 am »

When I judge I try to keep the style guidelines in mind, but some things are really hard to determine. As mentioned, alcohol can be hard, especially if the brewer  is able to kept it smooth. IBUs can be tough too if they marry well with the malt and give the impression of being smooth. There is certainly some "bigger is better" bias when judging, even when beers are to style, and I'm sure most of us aren't immune to it.

But to your [Alewyfe] point, I noticed that the IPA winner is a "standard" American IPA with over 1 1/2 pounds of hops is to my eyes is definitely imperial IPA territory even if the OG is a bit low. It's just really hard to tell if a beer should have been judged in of out of style without actually tasting it.

96

The Pub / Re: song title game

« on: August 25, 2012, 06:53:06 pm »

Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5

97

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Alcohol Tolerance of Brett

« on: August 24, 2012, 07:00:40 am »

"Wild Brews" lists the alcohol tolerance of Brettanomyces at 18%, seems like it would be worth a shot.

98

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Dry moss?

« on: August 23, 2012, 01:41:48 pm »

That's what I was thinking. It seems like the Irish moss needs to be boiled to extract the k-carrageenan from the plant material, but the interact between it and proteins maybe doesn't have to occur in a hot enviroment?

I like the experiment idea (a, maybe?) provided that you can somehow ensure a less-than-clear beer.

99

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Dry moss?

« on: August 23, 2012, 11:37:46 am »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan

I'm not too well versed in Irish moss, but maybe it just needs to boiled somewhere in the process and not necessarily in the wort? It seems like the active ingredient is similar to gelatin.

100

Beer Recipes / Re: What's your favorite X-mas beer style/recipe?

« on: August 23, 2012, 10:36:57 am »

Id actually suggest not boiling it at all. Get a good Grade A amber maple syrup and toss it in the primary after most of fermentation is complete. I do this with a good locally raised organic honey and it comes through really well.

I've never tried maple syrup in beer, but I think Grade B has a stronger flavor (at least on waffles) and would provide a stronger maple flavor in lower amounts. You might need to try a few different grades from different producers and see which one has the best maple flavor.

http://www.vermontmaple.org/grades.php

101

Beer Recipes / Re: What's your favorite X-mas beer style/recipe?

« on: August 23, 2012, 08:02:41 am »

I'm currently a slave a to seasonal temps, so I also like to do my strong beers in the winter. I probably will end up doing a BDS and a strong Scotch ale this fall to be ready for X-mas time. If my brewing schedule allows I'd like to fit a Baltic porter in there somewhere, but we'll see if that actually happens.

102

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Dry moss?

« on: August 22, 2012, 06:50:35 pm »

Assuming that the problem is protein haze, you might be stuck. If it is the yeast, you might just need to wait it out or bottle a little cloudy. My IPA wasn't clear at bottling so I just had a little extra lees in the bottle, but the beer poured to perfectly clear into the glass.

103

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Diacetyl Blindness

« on: August 22, 2012, 01:14:06 pm »

Yeah, only one of the two judges' ticked the diacetyl box on the scoresheet. The grain bill was roughly 82% pale malt, 12% honey malt, and 6% Victory malt. There's a definite honey-like (shocking!) malty sweetness to it, but nothing I would describe as "caramelly" and I didn't notice any type of slickness associated with diacetyl. Luckily, I have one bottle of it left so I can look for it one last time.

104

General Homebrew Discussion / Diacetyl Blindness

« on: August 22, 2012, 12:35:34 pm »

This morning I received an email with some judges' comments from a competition (an APA, it did okay). One of the comments was "diacetyl", which I don't find at all when I taste it. Nor did I detect diacetyl when I took the BJCP exam where they doctored the one of the test beers with it. Is there a widely available commercial beer that just screams DIACETYL that will let me know once and for all if I'm "diacetyl blind"?

105

The Pub / Re: song title game

« on: August 22, 2012, 09:01:39 am »

You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi