2022 Hunter Homebrew Comp - 4th June 2022

[Cloud Surfer]

Tripel Karmeliet is my favourite Tripel. I haven’t brewed one yet.

I like my big, hoppy IIPA’s. The one I entered last year was my very first all grain beer. It was past its best at judging time. Didn’t stop Mark scoring it very highly though. I learnt a lot from that beer. I do everything with low/zero oxygen now to preserve the hops.

 

[Naboo]

G'day @bcavan - or anyone else who may know
Keen to put in a couple of entries. Are there any other drop off locations?
Cheers

 

[MHB]

Jason from IBC brought a couple of kegs of Tripple Karmeliet in some years ago, 1 keg lasted 90 minutes on tap at a pub. Which was a bummer as I only got 1 glass. Went back for a second and it was sold out...
Unfortunately the keg version is so much better than the bottled offering it sort of spoiled one of my favourite Belgians for me.

If you want to get close to the original get the right yeast, Wyeast offer it as a seasonal once a year, it makes a world of difference.
If you want to brew something close the recipe on the Candi Syrup Inc website is a great start. I probably wouldn’t invest the money required to use Blanc sugar, I think white cane sugar works well enough, maybe if it was aiming at the nationals, the Belgian Candi would be worth the extra but if it’s just for drinking, nah.
Mark

 

[depecid]

If you want to get close to the original get the right yeast, Wyeast offer it as a seasonal once a year, it makes a world of difference.
If you want to brew something close the recipe on the Candi Syrup Inc website is a great start. I probably wouldn’t invest the money required to use Blanc sugar, I think white cane sugar works well enough, maybe if it was aiming at the nationals, the Belgian Candi would be worth the extra but if it’s just for drinking, nah.
Mark

Thanks for the tips! I never use Blanc Candi sugar and always substitute with cane sugar after reading similar suggestions. I have purchased D-90, D-180, and the generic Dark and Dark 2 and have found them pretty similar.

I have brewed about 6 or 7 recipes from Candi Syrup Inc and have found that for me, they don't taste like clones but are nice in their own right. This is probably more to do with my lack of skill though.

I didn't know there was a different Wyeast yeast for the Karmeliet, I was just going to try and source the sweet mead yeast (WLP720) as indicated on the Candi Syrup Inc recipe.

 

[Half-baked]

Hi HUB, pretty keen to enter the comp again this year, from previous experiences it was very well run and well judged.

Like @Naboo I'm pretty keen to know if there are any drop-off locations. In the past there's been one in Sydney. Any chance of that again?

Edit: also, are cans allowed? The conditions of entry indicate bottles and kegs are allowed... If I end up having to send entries via mail, would prefer to send cans.

 

[MHB]

Sorry depecid, there isn’t a specific Karmeliet yeast, I was thinking of Wyeast 3463-PC - Forbidden Fruit Yeast.
Which works very well in this beer. Mind you it’s only available occasionally so if you get some, maybe a Forbidden Fruit clone would be a good call. Probably do a bunch of Belgians back to back to build up enough yeast to do a Triple justice. I would be tempted to start with a Belgian Pale and work up in gravity from there.
Mark

 

[clarkejw]

Is there a list of drop-off points yet? I can't seem to find one.

 

[Cloud Surfer]

I thought the organisers might reply. But here's a list from the website. Needs to be received by 25th May.

Postal Entries
Hunter United Brewers
C/O Thirsty Messiah Brewery
140 Lambton Rd,
Broadmeadow NSW 2292

Newcastle Brew Shop / Noble Barons (02 4962 2442)
91 Maitland Road, Islington

The Brewers Market (02 4945 5333)
453 Pacific Hwy, Belmont

 

[Naboo]

Thanks @Cloud Surfer

 

[clarkejw]

Cheers! You have better eyes than my old ones, couldn't see it! Thanks for that.

 

[Naboo]

Anyone get an entry in?

 

[clarkejw]

I do, 3 categories.

 

[Cloud Surfer]

When I dropped my beers off a few days ago, they were over 100 entries so far. So it’s a bigger comp than last year.

 

[Naboo]

Cool. I ended up posting a couple of entries in. One is a probably a bit early, one a bit past it, but thought I'd get them in anyway. It's good to be part of.

 

[The Mack]

Constructive feedback in a blind tasting environment has been invaluable, the feedback from last years comp was so good I also put a few entries in this year... It seems like a very well ran comp with pretty quick turnaround of results!

 

[DazGore]

How did the comp go yesterday?

I'm sure a great day was had by all whom participated.

Looking forward to the results and especially my feedback. I have a couple of entries that I was really happy with so will be good to see what the official tasters thought.

Daz

 

[Cloud Surfer]

The comp day was great. Over 160 beers were judged, so a very busy day for the judges and stewards. It was a lot of fun again and a great chance to try a lot of different beers. The scores seemed quite a bit lower this year than last year even though I thought the standard was pretty high. The calibration beer at the start got marked quite low, which I think set the tone for the day. So I wouldn’t worry if your beer scored lower than you expected.

 

[depecid]

I'm excited to hear some proper feedback as this is my first comp. I tried both of my entries yesterday and I can't imagine I will score that well, but feedback is what I'm after.

My Orval clone has developed (to my palette) a bit of a soapy taste that wasn't present a few months back. I'm not sure if that is the Brett taking over or something else. My Quad is undercarbed unfortunately as it was my first attempt at bulk priming and it didn't deliver, but it's tasting good.

 

[bcavan]

HUB are very pleased to announce the results from the 2022 Hunter Homebrew Comp held this past weekend at Thirsty Messiah Brewery.

Congratulations to all prize winners and thanks to all Entrants, volunteer Judges & Stewards without whom a great comp like this wouldn't be possible.
Congratulations to Craig Dunbar for taking out the Champion Brewer prize.
This year also saw the introduction of a new prize category being the Hunter Champion Brewer, congrats Andrew Rostas for taking out that prize.
For those interested the methodology for awarding these prizes is outlined on the comp website.

Huge thanks to this year's sponsors who contributed an incredible $5,125 worth of prizes, please show your appreciation by supporting those who support us:
Platinum Sponsors: FogHorn Brewery , Hop Products Australia , Grainfather , Bluestone Yeast & Grainfed Brewing Company
Gold Tier Sponsors: Shout Brewing, Newcastle Brew Shop & Modus Merewether
Silver Tier Sponsors: Six String Brewing Company, BeerCo, Lallemand Brewing & Brewman
Bronze Tier Sponsors: Method Brewing, The Brewers Market, Belmont & Ironbark Hill Brewhouse

 

[Brewman_]

Well done Chaps.

Pete Ptolemy would be Proud.

He is missed in the Home Brewing community. A top bloke, in every sense of the word.

And was an amazing brewer, State Champ, and National Champ.

And a friend of mine and to many here.

Cheers
Steve