Messages

151

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Anyone receive their copy of IPA yet?

« on: September 19, 2012, 07:31:26 pm »

I still don't have mine. Seems that because I ordered a couple stickers, my order was shipped by the small staff at the BA warehouse, so it'll be a bit behind everyone. It's okay! I can wait for greatness.

obligatory:  "The hops in your copy have faded; it'll be OK but you should have read it last week"   

152

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Tried my first India Black Ale

« on: September 12, 2012, 10:59:11 am »

anyone tried New Glarus Black Top?  (won the category at '11 GABF)

To me this is how the style should be.  It's moderately dark brown, and while I don't know if there is actually molasses in there it tastes like it, and the description says "Brewmaster Dan skillfully weaves molasses and chocolate malt undertones..." so I'm assuming there is.  Could be a descriptor of flavor rather than ingredients though.  The black/roast/chocolate characters are very smooth.

Of course, I made a passable clone attempt a while back and judges said it 1) wasn't dark enough and 2) wasn't roasty enough.     Whatever.

cheers--
--Michael

153

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Lager question

« on: September 11, 2012, 09:43:22 am »

I'm going to crash it today and check tomorrow. Will report back.

What I do know is the 4 liter "sample" drank well besides the slight buttery hint. There's no haze and the beer was bright out of the fermenter. Think I got real close to the economy lagers that I drink.

sounds like a fun night!   
Are you racking to a smaller secondary/keg without enough room for the full batch, or what?

154

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?

« on: September 11, 2012, 09:25:15 am »

off on a tangent, but OK; my fault.
knowing how to look things up = extremely useful.  It's what I call "on the frontier of my knowledge" - I know that I don't know it, and know where it can be found. 
Still, I don't know it, and when someone asks for the "minimum required level of understanding" it seems silly to me to include something you don't know.

I would assume that anyone taking the online exam is preparing for a written/tasting exam, where they will have ZERO reference materials.  Rote memorization can be a waste, but once you pass online you're going to have 12 months to know the material whatever method you use...

If someone answers ALL the questions they (think they) know, and uses the rest of their time to find as many answers to questions they don't know as possible...sounds like a good plan.  jlo and a witty man did this and perhaps the OP did too.

If someone doesn't get a chance to answer certain questions they might know because they were spending too much time looking up other answers, then I call it poor time management.
I am simply stressing that you only have 18 seconds per question including the time to read it and answer it or mark it - don't waste time and possibly miss a single question you knew.

...I should have just avoided this discussion and echoed Mark G:  "It is not an easy exam, and thinking you have time to refer to the BJCP guidelines or any other materials is a mistake."

cheers--
--Michael

155

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?

« on: September 10, 2012, 08:28:25 pm »

It's 10 dollars.
As for the amount of knowledge, you would need a basic knowledge and the ability to look stuff up quickly. I started the exam without any reference material cause I thought that would be cheating but quickly realized that there was no way that anyone could remember all the style differences that they were asking for.

I'm glad you passed, though I certainly don't agree with this statement.
ability to look up things quickly is not knowledge.

156

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: To Share or Not to Share

« on: September 09, 2012, 02:13:50 pm »

"Share it with people who will appreciate it."
+1

haha, I've been there.  Some batches become The Precious and I cannot share.  Considering I did all the work I'm going to drink them myself!
You tell yourself it's only homebrew and you can make more.  Then you have someone that insists they really want to try your beer and are open to new things...and you watch them surreptitiously pouring out 3/4 of your amazing belgian dark strong... 

not surprisingly Charlie was right.  It's mine; make your own.

cheers--
--Michael

157

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Buffalo Wild Wings and home brew

« on: September 04, 2012, 10:21:35 am »

WARNING: RANT
Seriously?  I thought this was about the Buffalo Wild Wings commercial...but any chance to bash the BN I guess ( some people still a little sore about US winning COTY 2 years in a row ). 

In fairness, JP did tweet regarding the commercial.  I'd venture to guess if he didn't call us tubby know-it-alls the topic wouldn't have strayed to the Brewing Network...

<--- yeah, getting a bit tubby in his old age
<--- never claimed or acted like he knows everything
<--- makes ******* amazing beer
<--- sees no point in bashing homebrewers
<--- has never been to a BWW

cheers--
--Michael

158

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Style Guidelines and Judging

« on: August 31, 2012, 08:41:07 am »

I try to imagine that the beer I am judging was made by some high ranking bjcp judge, say Gordon Strong.  This keeps me from making really stupid comments most of the time.

I imagine what I would think if I got that score sheet back. Is it complete? Are they getting their money's worth? Am I offering constructive criticisms (if necessary)? Can they read my handwriting?

Good comments from both of you.  I'd like to say that I follow all of the above.
...Except I'm not so sure about that last part.  *I* can barely read my handwriting.  I definitely owe many many beers to anyone who has had to grade one of my exams.   

159

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What do you think of this commercial

« on: August 29, 2012, 09:58:28 am »

I laughed.  We've all met that guy.  I'm glad that he had a beard too.

The commenters claiming to be "offended" need to lighten up.  It's no different than those old Budweiser "It's not heavy like an import" or "darker heavier beers could hide flaws!" ads.  We're the minority and they're welcome to market their product to the majority.  Why wouldn't they?

I'd venture to guess that any Buffalo Wild Wings marketing exec would love to come over to one of our houses and be served award-winning beer and some of the ridiculous food featured on the Dinner/BBQ threads.

160

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Best AHA Conference Seminars

« on: August 29, 2012, 09:32:21 am »

I'd say Michael Fairbrother's Mead Excellence was my favorite, but some of that is because I was there drinking his awesome mead.   
Best one to read/listen to now?  I'd say Greg Doss' Exploring Fermentation Attenuation is my current vote.  Still have to listen to a few of them though.

161

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Style Guidelines and Judging

« on: August 29, 2012, 05:56:59 am »

I think a big problem with BJCP judges is that some get into it to just rip on other peoples beers. 

you have a lot of good points but I think your argument loses credibility when you say things like this.  Do you honestly think anyone would spend months studying for an exam they might have had to sign up for more than a year in advancce, write an exam for three hours until their hand was completely cramped, and perhaps spend thousands of dollars a year travelling to competitions just so they can "rip on other people's beers"?

come on...

162

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: star san and pbw question

« on: August 28, 2012, 01:05:58 pm »

no, do not rinse.

163

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Style Guidelines and Judging

« on: August 27, 2012, 03:42:24 pm »

FWIW - I like the idea of pushing guidelines a little from time to time.  But, sometimes it happens accidentally - I just had a British Mild sneak beyond its intended ABV, because I mashed a little cooler than expected (that's on me) and the yeast (S-04) just munched their way down a couple points lower than I expected as a result of the higher fermentability.  That would simply cause it to go up to 8B, technically, but I was trying to brew an 8A.  Just over the cusp, I would think I would rightly enter it as an 8B and try to get my mash temp better controlled next time to stick with an 8A that turns out to be to style.

Isn't some of this on the brewers?  Don't enter a beer in a style category that you can objectively calculate to be out of style?

I hear what you're saying, but I put the beer where it comes off impression-wise, not recipe-wise.  I'm a judge, and if I know from tasting it that fellow judges are going to say my best bitter comes across as an 8A, I'm probably not going to put it in 8B.   

cheers--
--Michael

164

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Style Guidelines and Judging

« on: August 27, 2012, 06:28:41 am »

it isn't ideal but it could be worse.  The best beers win, usually.  Alternately, I think it is wrong for beers to win a first round ribbon, for the brewer to be asked to send 3 more bottles at their own expense, and THEN for the beer to be kicked out as out of style.  Which is exactly what happened with a Fruit Beer this year.  That person deserved the gold and if it had been my beer that got screwed I'd be pretty pissed.  Oh, and mini-BOS included a couple coconut beers (21A) and a Belgian (16E).   

If it were out of style then it got lucky to win the first round, not screwed to loose the second. Plus first round beers can be all over the place, maybe it was out of style but still the best example. Then progress to the second round where it is judged against other winners and being out of style is more of a flaw relative to the other entries.

IMO it wasn't out of style.

165

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Style Guidelines and Judging

« on: August 26, 2012, 08:51:44 pm »

it isn't ideal but it could be worse.  The best beers win, usually.  Alternately, I think it is wrong for beers to win a first round ribbon, for the brewer to be asked to send 3 more bottles at their own expense, and THEN for the beer to be kicked out as out of style.  Which is exactly what happened with a Fruit Beer this year.  That person deserved the gold and if it had been my beer that got screwed I'd be pretty pissed.  Oh, and mini-BOS included a couple coconut beers (21A) and a Belgian (16E).   

in the end we do the best we can as judges.  There are a lot of skilled brewers out there, and skillfully made beers can mask alcohol pretty well as Jeff has noted.  If multiple rounds perceive it as in style, nice job.  As long as the best beers keep winning, I can live with it.

cheers--
--Michael