2014 Vic Christmas Case Swap - Recipe

[technobabble66]

The Party-Guile sounds tempting and doable.

These or Dark versions spring to mind:
DIPA + light PA or quaffer [or maybe an RIPA & a quaffer red]
Doppelweizen + light quaffer
ESB + Mild

My 2c: Gotta watch the IBUs on the 2nd one though - i thought the Pliny the Younger was a bit too bitter for a light beer (You re-used the hops from the Elder on that didn't you, Yob/Idzy?).

OTOH, it makes for a loooong day of brewing if we're doing a partigyle. Maybe just Keep It Simple.
I'd happily just brew a Red Ale (word on the street is that Wolfman's got a recipe that pretty OK).

Maybe we have a loose agreement that anyone who takes a cube must reserve at least 1 bottle for the next swap meet, if they can make the next one. That way we can compare the impact of different hops/yeast

 

[MartinOC]

Bear with me whilst I brainstorm......

Idzy, I acknowledge/applaud your desire to produce multiple beers from the single mash, but you need to understand that the practice of parti-gyling only became "practice" by multiple "practices" (if you get what I mean...?). Commercial breweries would only get it right by doing it time & again until they got it right (ie. lots of trial & error & brewing daily). It's not the kind of thing that you'd want to experiment with on a Case Swap beer of your current available magnitude with too many variables involved.

I'm definitely with Techno. on this, that the Pliny (Younger) was way too bitter. That's because the flavour/aroma additions to the "Elder" were boiled with the "Younger" runnings (something they were never intended for) & hence were isomerised. You can always add bitterness, but you can't take it out.

To do this successfully, you'd need a beer style that doesn't rely on late additions to the "biggie". That way, the reduced utilisation (above 1060) in the first beer can be reclaimed in the second as a simple "dump & boil". You're looking for something that only needs a bittering addition for the first-runnings. You can then add character-hops to the second beer (since it's probably going to need it, or end-up piss-weak & insipid).

Off the top of my head, that means Stout (but we've already done that), a Weizen (no additional hops required?), or a Barley Wine, which would mean stopping the 1st runnings at about 1060, then continue for the 2nd beer (raffle-off the 1st cubes?) & everyone else gets the "bulk" beer with appropriate flavour/aroma additions.

Lots of things to think about before we get there.....

 

[Mardoo]

Sounds totally weizen-able, as long as we can muster enough crazy for the batch. AFAI have READ weizen needs neither a large bittering charge nor a large flavor charge (although I wouldn't mind having a go at a Mandarina weizen). Not having brewed any weizen or parti-gyled I actually know NOTHING. Anyone with actual experience weigh in?

 

[MartinOC]

He he...! Right, Mardoo, so since you have NO experience, I hereby declare you apprentice/associate brewer for this one (no food-related excuse for you this time!).

In a kinda perverse universe, I'd like to see you deal with a Weizen stuck runoff (a definite Kodak moment, if ever there was one h34r: ).

You DO realise we're talking about a double/triple decoction regime, right??

 

[Mardoo]

Screw decoction, let's do three additions of hot stones to raise to the different steps!

Or else run three separate mash tuns with one at each step, as Yob came up with for the last brew. I know it won't give that decocted goodness - which I may not actually be able to detect although I imagine I can - but it's a very interesting solution to the problem of step infusion mashing.

And dear god, please, please, free me from the food. I'll happily go buy as much right-hand striped paint as we need on brew day.

 

[manticle]

Porter
Altbier
Old ale
300 litres of gose.

 

[Midnight Brew]

There has been about 15 suggestions so far with more to come. As a collaboration of brewers what do we want our goal to be?

Do we want a beer for summer consumption or something to ferment and bring to the Winter swap?
Do we want to cube hop again? (providing everyone is happy with what it brings to the beer) (I think its a clear winner but Im biased)
Does the recipe need Vietnamese rubber?
Do we want to stick to a style or make our own?
Are we willing to partigyle?

 

[technobabble66]

I'd def vote on one of those MB:
I think it's pretty obviously the best idea is to get the main hops impact from cube hopping.
Whatever style option(s) we choose, do 10-30% bittering from kettle additions and the rest from cube hopping - that way we can make a generic grain base that everyone can then personalse with their preferred hops. Eg: Weizen can become Euro or American in style quite easily.

FWIW, i'd personally go for one of these combos for the grain bill (if we do a partigyle, or any of them if we do a single): (R.)IPA + PA, Brown/Amber/ESB + Mild, or Stout + Mild Porter - i just think there's a greater diversity of flavours to be achieved from a variety of hops with these styles. Whereas i kinda think a weizen is a weizen. I guess i'm thinking that with the first lot of Ale options, you have the variables of both yeast and hops, whereas with weizens the yeast is more of a constant. I'm happy to be educated on that, though; as i don't really have much experience with weizens. I guess the weizen could be just dry hopped w Galaxy & done with 1056 to make a S&W PA clone...

In terms of what we want for the consumption time, i'm happy either way: something to age or something to consume quickly. We could still save a bottle & take it to the July Swap even if we do a weizen and it's a little less than ideal. And i drink all types of beer at all time of year. Could be a plus for weizens though - fermented out by early January, ready for the hot summer days!

 

[breakbeer]

Does the recipe need Vietnamese rubber?

Most definitely!

Vietnamese Saison aged in rubber barrels for 7 years.

I'll bring a bottle to the 2021 case swap

 

[MartinOC]

Vietnamese Saison aged in rubber barrels for 7 years.

Please excuse me whilst I have a jolly-good BARF!! :icon_vomit:
I agree with Techno. that a Weizen is a Weizen (in regard to what Idzy wants to achieve) & leaves little room for individual expression on the base-wort, so I'll back-off on the suggestion ('though Mardoo might not be too happy with that.. :blink: ).

 

[Mardoo]

Pumpkin Weizen! Holy crap, I'm American. :blush:

 

[Grainer]

Imperial stout..followed with a Porter .. just get ready for the grain expense LOL...

 

[pedleyr]

My 2c: the last brew went well. That involved 4 months of planning, 2 or more days of preparation, and ZERO kinks on brew day.

Even with that confluence of factors, I understand that it was a pretty full on brew day.
Imagine if something didn't go to plan.

With that in mind my suggestion would be to keep it as simple as we can without drifting to to being too boring. It'll be summer so easy drinking would also be nice...

What's that leave us? In terms of ales, APA, IPA(?), Kolsch, what's wrong with a weizen (although not my first choice, there's some wriggle room in a weizen - cube hops for individuality, different yeast, can end up with an American wheat and a hefeweizen from the same brew)?

If someone has any ideas on fruit tree fermentation please let me know

I just get the feeling like trying to parti-gyle or something similar, with this sized brew, introduces more variables and unknowns than is worthwhile.

 

[Mardoo]

Vienna lager?

 

[idzy]

Hey guys, I have been MIA for a few months, been really busy / sick / away. We probably need to look at getting cracking on the selection of recipe and dividing off the provision of ingredients.

I don't really mind too much what we choose. Maybe we should collate suggestions and then vote? Maybe try and get a style selected by the end of the week and then get a recipe for that style decided in the next couple?

Thoughts?

 

[Mardoo]

Are we going for a big (as in volume) brew? Might affect what's chosen.

 

[GrumpyPaul]

I reckon all Cubers should undertake to do their own thing yeast and fermentation wise to their cube and then submit a bottle of their version of swap beer in the next big comp (Beerfest).

To make improve our chances of getting a placing amongst us- pick a category that didn't get a lot of entries last year (Dark Ales only got 15 entries) and flood it with our entries.

It adds an extra element to the swap - some healthy competition to see who can make the best beer out of the same base wort.

 

[Yob]

Hey guys, I have been MIA for a few months, been really busy / sick / away. We probably need to look at getting cracking on the selection of recipe and dividing off the provision of ingredients.

I don't really mind too much what we choose. Maybe we should collate suggestions and then vote? Maybe try and get a style selected by the end of the week and then get a recipe for that style decided in the next couple?

Thoughts?

Ive still got ya lid at my joint Idzy if youre looking for it

 

[GrumpyPaul]

oh....and what about an American Brown?

leaves room for folks to play with dry hopping and yeast selection.

 

[mofox1]

No points for originality, but a DSGA would be an extremely sessionable beer for the festive season.