The National.

Well, that was a lot of fun!

This weekend was the National Homebrew Competition in Oxford, the annual contest to find the best homebrews and brewers in the UK. It's all run by volunteers so I went along to help with the judging.

Setting up and organising the categories.

 The day started with a rather early 5:45 alarm! And on a Saturday! But against all probability I got up, showered and got to the train station in time to catch the 7am train to Oxford - thanks in no small part to my girlfriend driving me to the station. Meeting several other dazed Bristol homebrewers on the platform, we boarded the train clutching coffees and headed off.

All the essentials for beer judging.

My first category to judge was British Pale Ales, and while this wasn't the smallest category, it was a much easier start to the day than the poor table with Belgian Strongs. +9% beers at 10am are a test for sure! My category was a mixed bag, with no beers that I felt really stood out as great examples of the style. Quite dissapointing really, but there were a few good ones. I think the problem is that, for competition, brewers tend to focus on the more bombastic styles to create the biggest impact. It's difficult for any Pale Ale to compete with a Double IPA. So I think a lot of the better brewers stayed away from the category.

After lunch I judged the Smoked and Wood Aged category, which was really interesting. A wide range of different styles and some really cracking beers. Though, admittedly, some that were not good! A very good Smoked Imperial Stout, which poured like engine oil, took the category deservedly. It went on to be given second place in best of show.

Getting towards the end of judging now.

I finished off the afternoon judging Hybrid Beers, one of the more boring categories of beer in my opinion! To be fair, some of the beers we judged fitted the style guidelines closely and had been brewed with skill. I just find those styles dull. But following the strong stouts and porters of the earlier round, it was probably good to finish with quite light beers. This was also made more enjoyable because I was judging with a guy I know, Johnny, who brews for a living at Bristol Beer Factory.

So with all the judging finished, it was time for the awards to be given out and I only went a won a medal!!!

YEEEAAAHH!!!!

My Alfresco Saison took second place in the Belgian and French Ales category (Table 12 here). To say I'm happy about this would be understatement of the year! For a start this was one of the largest categories in the competition, with 45 entries. But also, as it's a trendy style and not an obvious one, it was mostly the more experienced brewers who entered beers. I spoke to the judges and they said the standard was really high, so I'm over the moon. The category was won by a hoppy Belgian Wit in the speciality category, so mine was the top rated of all the saisons! Woo!

None of my other beers got placed, which I'm not overly surprised by. I think there were faults/issues with all of them. But mostly due to over-carbonation I think, so it'll be really good to get the judging sheets. As I said before, the feedback and scores is really what I'm after.

So that was competition day. A Long day, yes. A Tiring day, very much so. But a very enjoyable day made even more so by the company of some excellent people. It was great to meet some new brewers and spend a day talking beer! I just need to get planning my beers for next year now...

Saison time again

Summer has finally arrived in Bristol! Or is this just a late spring heatwave? It seems like so long since the sun came out I can't remember what season this weather is most representative of. But whatever the case, yesterday was hot so I brewed OUTSIDE! That's right, alfresco brewing has come to Bristol. Though it was only halfway through the brew day that I decided to move outside, so rather than being a relaxing day in the garden, there was a significant amount of scrabbling around for extension leads and general flapping about to get ready in time!

Ingredients

Amt Name Type # %/IBU 2.64 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.9 EBC) Grain 1 58.3 % 0.88 kg Maris Otter Low Colour Pale Malt (2.5 EBC) Grain 2 19.4 % 0.76 kg Wheat, Flaked (3.2 EBC) Grain 3 16.7 % 0.25 kg Corn, Flaked (2.6 EBC) Grain 4 5.6 % 67.00 g Hallertauer (2012) [2.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 24.4 IBUs 1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 6 - 25.00 g Saaz [4.15 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 3.6 IBUs 33.00 g Saaz [4.15 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 8 3.0 IBUs 46.00 g Saaz (2012) [3.10 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs 8.00 g Saaz [4.15 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs 1.0 pkg French Saison (Wyeast Labs #3711) [50.28 ml] Yeast 11 -

So, it's another saison using the 3711 yeast but this one has no sugar addition. The two recipes I've made so far both had sugar additions, and I'm not sure whether I like this. There's a slightly sharp, cidery taste in the beer that I think might come from the sugar. I've heard from another source that the 3711 doesn't perform too well with sugar additions, so I looked around for a recipe without one. Happily I found this recipe on the mad fermentationist's blog here. It's his Lomaland saison recipe and so I have high hopes! Plus, the flaked corn is not something I've used before, so following this recipe I should be able to put together a recipe of my own that I'm happy with.

Alfresco boiling!

Brew day went smoothly but boiling outside may have resulted in greater boil off, as the final volume was down one litre on expected to 22L. Actually, this may also be down to the amount of hop material in the boiler. I used a total 179g of hops, so this probably absorbed quite a bit of wort. Minor panic with hops again as I didn't have the correct alfa acid percentages in beersmith. Had to re-jig the amounts to take account of this, but worked it all out in time.

The only other problem was that one of the extension leads I was using tripped out. I hadn't unwound it fully and I think it overheated or something. Switched to the other element for the rest of the boil, but don't think the extension lead has recovered. Might be time to get a new one!

Post boil, the wort went into the fermenter with O.G. 1.046, which is only one point above expected.

And if you're interested in such things as water treatment:
Lactic Acid: 9ml to mash to bring pH down to 5.46.
Gypsum: 4g to mash water, 4g to sparge water.
Epsom salts: 2g to mash water, 2g to sparge water.
Water left out overnight for chlorine to evaporate. Campden tablet added to drive off any chloramine.

Saison #1

A while back I decided I would have a bash at making a saison. I can't say I've got a great deal of knowledge on the style, but I've liked the ones I've tried. Not having much of a background to draw on, I found a recipe online and decided to use that.

The recipe can be found here on the wiki for the American Homebrewers Association. It very helpfully pulls together all the prize-winning recipes from their national homebrew competition. It's a great resource because they are proven recipes and so logically, if you don't get great beer it's you, not the recipe! 

However, I decided to use a different yeast, and I altered some of the quantities, which you might say defeats the object! But anyway, here's the recipe I ended up brewing:

Ingredients

Amt Name Type # %/IBU 3.40 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.9 EBC) Grain 1 70.8 % 1.15 kg Munich Malt - 10L (19.7 EBC) Grain 2 24.0 % 30.00 g Bobek 2011 [5.17 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 20.2 IBUs 1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 4 - 15.00 g Bobek 2011 [5.17 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 2.7 IBUs 4.00 g Ginger Root (Boil 5.0 mins) Herb 6 - 15.00 Peppercorns (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 7 - 1.00 tbsp Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 8 - Red Grapefruit peel (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 9 - 20.00 g Willamette [6.30 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs 1.0 pkg French Saison (Wyeast Labs #3711) [50.28 ml] Yeast 11 - 0.25 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (2.0 EBC) Sugar 12 5.2 %

I wanted to use Wyeast 3711 for another couple of saison recipes I had, so I decided to use it here as well, rather than WLP565. I wanted something a bit fresher and fruitier. I added the sugar in after four days, when the ferment had passed it's peak.

I was initially quite disappointed by how this turned out. There was some yeast character to it, but there was a dry aftertaste and a bit of sharpness to it. The yeast also fermented it down to 1.004, so it's dry as hell, which might account for some of the sharpness. The body is better than you would expect for a beer with such a low S.G. I didn't really get much character from the spices and fruit I put in.

On balance, I think I would be better trying this recipe with the WLP565 strain, as I think it would work better with the flavours. There is a slight cidery-ness to the beer that I think is coming from the sugar addition. I would try this recipe again with that yeast though.

I'm going to leave the beer to condition for a couple of months before I write off this experiment, though, as I have noticed an improvement over the few weeks that it's been bottled. It'll be interesting to see how it ages.

Saison thoughts...

So, having bought ingredients for my next two brews and having another still bubbling away, clearly my thoughts turn to what I should brew next!

All of my brews thus far have been quite dark, rich, fairly heavyweight affairs. All beers that I like to drink or that I want to have a go at, but probably my choices have been influenced by the season. Comforting drinks for cold nights. 

They're also mostly drinks for people who are already fans of beer and my girlfriend is not one of these people! So I'd like to brew something that is a little lighter and more accessible. Something that she might enjoy too (I know, boyfriend of the year, right?!). So I'm thinking about brewing a saison next. I can't say I have a lot of knowledge about the style, and I've only tried a couple of examples - Dupont on draft, Bristol Beer Factory's saison, and a couple of efforts from homebrew buddies. I really like the fizzy sherbert flavour, which is different to other beer styles, so I think I'll give it a whirl.

So today at work I'll be listening to the saison discussion on the Brewing Network Sunday Show, to get a bit more of a handle on the style and what's involved in brewing one. Then I think I'd probably be best off buying a few different examples to try, all in the name of research of course! Then I can start looking for a good recipe. To be honest, I've got a good month before I'll have a chance to brew this, so there's plenty of time to plan...

I've also got an american amber ale recipe to try (from John Palmer's excellent How To Brew), so I'll need to fit that in somewhere too!