Recent Posts

1

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Bias in BJCP judging?

« Last post by denny on Today at 09:11:08 AM »

IMO, it doesn't really matter of the BJCP guidelines are historically accurate or not.  They are the standards that homebrew beers get judged to and if you want to do well in a comp you brew to those standards...historically accurate or not.  If you want to brew a beer that you think is more historically accurate, then don't enter it in a comp unless it fits the guidelines.

2

Events / Re: NHC Hotels filled up already?

« Last post by bonjour on Today at 09:10:28 AM »

FWIW - some of us never got the hotel email. Luckily it was forwarded from a club member.

Sorry to hear that Mike but I seriously want to know.

Dumb question, did you check your spam folder etc.?

And did this happen to anyone else?  Please be specific.

This is a first time doing it this way and with Altitude Tickets and we really want to know about the glitches.

3

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Bias in BJCP judging?

« Last post by MDixon on Today at 09:07:13 AM »

I'm guessing your focus is only yeast and the beer is much, much more than that. You will never convincing me that Bo Pils and German Pils have any of the corny and grainy nature of a well crafted CAP.

The BJCP style guidelines for homebrewing a CAP are set at no diacetyl in aroma and flavor and you should brew a beer to style to excel in homebrewing competitions.

Jeff Renner did much of the research on the CAP style as did George Fix. IIRC his goal back in 1995 was to create the beers he remembered from the 1950's, not necessarily what was seen at the turn of the century. Unfortunately Wahl & Henius don't really describe the flavors of the beers, they spent more time on the composition. It would certainly be interesting to see where you find historical references for a Pre-prohibition CAP which details diacetyl in the flavor, but I'm doubtful the guidelines will change to include diacetyl with a style which mostly exists in the homebrew world and has been brewed clean for almost 20 years.

4

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Berline r Wiesse Beer?

« Last post by reverseapachemaster on Today at 09:07:08 AM »

Acid malt is sprayed with lactic acid so sure, it's going to add acid to the mash. However, acid malt is designed for minor ph correction in the mash, not adding perceivable acidity. As Jim points out, you would have to add an enormous amount to have any serious effect on the acidity of your BW. No need for acid malt if you are sour mashing.

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Bias in BJCP judging?

« Last post by hopfenundmalz on Today at 09:05:46 AM »

How about where the style guidelines are historically inaccurate?  Classic American Pilsner is the only beer that I attempt to brew to style.  I probably have more experience with the style than most amateur brewers, especially brewing it with heirloom, period correct yeast strains.  If brewed correctly, CAP resembles Bohemian Pilsener more than it does German Pils.  The immigrant brewers in the Mid-Atlantic states that created this style were attempting to replicate Bohemian Pilsener (which is reflected in names such as National Bohemian).  The surviving period-correct yeast strains are weakly attenuating, Saaz-type diploids that are anything but neutral and leave residual diacetyl because they are so flocculent (e.g.,  Christian Schmidt, August Schell, Leopold Schmidt).  Brewing this style of beer with a Frohberg triploid lager strain should be considered to be a fault; however, the style guideline is written such that a clean fermenting Frohberg-type yeast strain should be used. Updating the CAP style guideline to make it more historically accurate is one of the reasons why I am attempting to join the club.

Learned the new items for the day, re the yeast and the chromosome numbers. Back a while, I knew there were differences in lager yeasts, and then it was termed Carlsberg or Tuborg types.

I would think that some of the Midwestern breweries would have strains brought from Germany, as many of those were established at or around the big immigration wave in the 1870s. Any thoughts on German strains used?

Jeff Renner mentions August Schell and Christian Schmidt in his article. Jeff is extremely sensitive to Diacetyl, and does not like it. Maybe that influenced the guidelines.
 http://578499.cache1.evolutionhosting.com/attachments/0000/1298/SOzym00-Pilsner.pdf

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Bias in BJCP judging?

« Last post by reverseapachemaster on Today at 09:03:20 AM »

I judged all day yesterday for our club's competition (the Bluebonnet) and judged an ESB that had huge concord grape flavors. Made me think of this thread.

7

Kegging and Bottling / Details of Nitro ?

« Last post by quattlebaum on Today at 08:51:08 AM »

So There seems to be way to many different ways to "get a nitro setup working" and i would like to know so details. I have all that is needed nitro faucet, 75%/25% beer gas mix and correct regulator. Questions are:

1. Do i need to get nitro into solution? I know it is "not very soluble in solution".

2. Does a nitro setup push both C02 and nitrogen out of solution?

3. What are suggestions on "how to" with a nitro setup?

I currently carb to about 1.5 vol then hook up to beer/gas mix and dispense. It seems that the very first pour has a little cascading but the next poor does not and seems to have just normal carb levels of 1.5 vol with more of a head. I do notice that if i leave it hooked up to beer/gas over time it seems to start pouring correctly. 

 

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Bias in BJCP judging?

« Last post by alestateyall on Today at 08:02:12 AM »

How about where the style guidelines are historically inaccurate?  Classic American Pilsner is the only beer that I attempt to brew to style.  I probably have more experience with the style than most amateur brewers, especially brewing it with heirloom, period correct yeast strains.  If brewed correctly, CAP resembles Bohemian Pilsener more than it does German Pils.  The immigrant brewers in the Mid-Atlantic states that created this style were attempting to replicate Bohemian Pilsener (which is reflected in names such as National Bohemian).  The surviving period-correct yeast strains are weakly attenuating, Saaz-type diploids that are anything but neutral and leave residual diacetyl because they are so flocculent (e.g.,  Christian Schmidt, August Schell, Leopold Schmidt).  Brewing this style of beer with a Frohberg triploid lager strain should be considered to be a fault; however, the style guideline is written such that a clean fermenting Frohberg-type yeast strain should be used. Updating the CAP style guideline to make it more historically accurate is one of the reasons why I am attempting to join the club.

I think the style guideline authors have a difficult challenge balancing between modern interpretations of a style and historical versions. At some point I imagine it becomes necessary to split a sub category if the modern and historical drift to far from one another.

In the case of your CAP if it doesn't do well in the CAP sub category due to your adhering to a historical interpretation of the style then you might try 23A. It would be a shame if you had to do that though.

9

Events / Re: NHC Hotels filled up already?

« Last post by mr_bob on Today at 07:52:15 AM »

All the Hotels near the conference quickly sold out. The one available now is at the airport which is 10+ miles away.

Should have booked long ago and not waited for the official AHA release of hotels.

10

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Bias in BJCP judging?

« Last post by ynotbrusum on Today at 07:50:18 AM »

The judge could have been wrong about the alcohol, but let's suppose for a second he was right. You fermented at a controlled temp, but did you have it to that temp before you pitched? It's possible the judge is sensitive to alcohols and you are not, it's also possible the bottle submitted to the competition was mishandled along the way.

I judged yesterday and the best in our flight was a Dubble which got a 45.5 average score. At the BOS table it tasted like soap...my guess, the bottle was not cleaned well and had soap residue. So at the judging table they got a 45.5 and should have been a contender for 1st place in the BOS. If I had gotten the BOS bottle in the flight it would have done well to score 30. There is and can be bottle variability so keep that in mind.

Agreed.  If there had been oxidation issues, for example, I would certainly understand, since it was bottled off the keg.  I think I must have done something in the bottling process to change the perception in some way...and maybe the judges were particularly low scorers - I have no way of knowing the scores received by the rest of the style grouping. 

For now I am fine with the results and look forward to seeing if the NHC first round judges concur.