Australian Amateur Brewing Championship

[Bribie G]

OT... that's why I always use the repacks from a sponsor and pitch both sides, especially with lagers.
On Topic .... Thanks for the fifth place (out of 16) for the dry Stout, fourstar, - great to have done so well in a national comp after only 2 years AG - love my BAG :lol: Hope mine wasn't the one that upset your tum tum

 

[Fourstar]

On Topic .... Thanks for the fifth place (out of 16) for the dry Stout, fourstar, - great to have done so well in a national comp after only 2 years AG - love my BAG :lol: Hope mine wasn't the one that upset your tum tum

no problems i suppose. Unfortunatly i can't remember it. The biggest issue with the drys where poor malt complexity/ balance and lack of creamyness/mouthfeel. alot of them just tasted acrid and roasty. No coffee in particular and a lack lustre aroma which was a little disappointing. A few where also suited to being a FES as they seemed to be abit big for style.

The one that came second overall IMO was a better beer to my plate but lost out to the oatmeal which was simply a better beer style-wise.

 

[raven19]

Congratulations to all the winners, and well done to the organisers, judges and stewards.

 

[Bribie G]

no problems i suppose. Unfortunatly i can't remember it. The biggest issue with the drys where poor malt complexity/ balance and lack of creamyness/mouthfeel. alot of them just tasted acrid and roasty. No coffee in particular and a lack lustre aroma which was a little disappointing. A few where also suited to being a FES as they seemed to be abit big for style.

The one that came second overall IMO was a better beer to my plate but lost out to the oatmeal which was simply a better beer style-wise.

My grain bill was
4000 GP
500 flaked barley
600 RB added at mashout
330 carapils
250 amber
250 choc chit
100 carafa 2 and not a ricez or a sugaz in sight :lol: 65.5 degree mash.

It was brewed on 23 June. In your opinion would a dry stout do better if presented younger? or maybe mashed a tad higher for less dryness? This one was best stout in the BABBs comp, came in third in the State and went somewhat downhill after that :lol:

 

[mxd]

mmm, 40 point drop for Vic Brew, will keep trying and entering

 

[BrenosBrews]

mmm, 40 point drop for Vic Brew, will keep trying and entering

Yeah, my beer that won Specialty at Vicbrew came 3rd last at AABC. Oh well. Will be very interesting to see a judging sheet from Randy Mosher :beerbang: That guy's presentations were COOL :super:

 

[clarkey7]

Congratulations Lyall,Tony,Graeme, Neil and David. Fantastic results and a great effort by all the Qlders. Lyall you must be over the moon, well done.
Thanks to the organizers, Judges and Stewards.
Congrats to all other place getters too.

Andrew

Big Congratulations to you too Andrew,

WD on taking out a category. :icon_chickcheers:

This makes it trophys each of the last 3 years for you.

I take my hat off mate :beerbang:

NOTE - Gordon Strong judged that bitter......Can't wait to try it next time your down this way....

PB

Edit - spelling

 

[Fourstar]

It was brewed on 23 June. In your opinion would a dry stout do better if presented younger? or maybe mashed a tad higher for less dryness?

This, coupled with an appropriate yeast would tick all the boxes i'd say. im also guessing the roast grain character is a little too OTT due to the % people use from the colours observed (jet black in most cases). the next stout i make, i'll ring up a recipe and whatever % of roast barley i think is appropriate, i'll dial it back by 1/3 and add a touch 1%~ of someth else highly kilned for a neuance of complexity.

The style notes that the roast character should be moderate and i think by reducing the % it helps you pickup more of the subtleties in the flavour as well instead of just 'burnt' or 'acrid'. kinda like how you soften a whiskey/whisky with a touch of water to open it up. i think it really helps.

I guess a way you could test this with any beers you have on hand is by blending and thinning it out with something like a english pale ale until it opens up for you.

just throwing around some ideas.

 

[Kodos]

The one that came second overall IMO was a better beer to my plate but lost out to the oatmeal which was simply a better beer style-wise.

Cheers Fourstar! :icon_cheers: (I hope you licked your "plate" clean )

I look forward to reading your comments.

I was pretty stoked with the result given it was my first year of competition and my first-ever stout.
It's such a simple, honest style, the only thing I can suggest to others trying it is keep the recipe simple and look after the yeast/fermentation etc.


And Congrats to all my ACT comrades - you guys rock! Defending our Champion State title by a bigger margin than last year and no-one can suggest it was because of a home-ground advantage.

 

[Fourstar]

Cheers Fourstar! :icon_cheers: (I hope you licked your "plate" clean )

I look forward to reading your comments.

I was pretty stoked with the result given it was my first year of competition and my first-ever stout.
It's such a simple, honest style, the only thing I can suggest to others trying it is keep the recipe simple and look after the yeast/fermentation etc.

Cheers mate, I really enjoyed your beer!

Yes my 'plate' was licked clean, very enjoyable. I would like to see your recipe if you wouldn't mind? (can PM if you want to keep private) Interested on what you used for that balance as you had a little something that just stood out from the rest of the pack. Very nice work indeed.

 

[DanRayner]

slightly :icon_offtopic: but highly relevant.

im sure they handled their yeast and more so prepared it correctly too. :icon_cheers:

This isnt a dry yeast bash and you will see why. Dry yeast is completely fine assuming you handle it correctly and pitch it at correct rates.

I overheard some interesting information that Chris White (whitelabs) was discussing regarding the use of dry yeast. I believe he estimated cell death of dry yeast if not rehydrated of close to 50%. AKA pitching direct to fermenter.

Now using that information, see the following. The dry yeast packets state on their spec sheet each packet contains 11.5g of yeast and the viability at packaging is 6 * 10 ^ 9 (6 billion cells per g) which equates to 69 billion cells in a packet.

What do whitelabs and wyeast have as a starting point? Around 31% more viable cells in a fresh smack pack/vial. (wyeast state 100 billion cells, whitelabs between 70 -140 billion cells.)

Now the figures above are assuming you pitch the dry yeast after rehydrating. If not, that figure could be closer to 65% less yeast if you decide to sprinkle the dry yeast directly onto the wort.


Now if we think about correct cell pitching rates, what cell count do you need for a 1.050OG 20L wort?

750000*20000*12.5 = 187.5 billion cells.

At worst, one non-rehydrated dry yeast pack will get you to 18%~ of that recommended cell count.
one smack pack/vial assuming 100% viability of a liquid culture at 100 billion cells = 53% if your cell count.

I know what option i would choose.

Smack pack + 1L starter. For those fond of dry yeast, atleast two rehydrated US05 packets.

Thanks for the info Fourstar - good summation of yeast statistics

I know this is anecdotal, and not the result of a rigorous statistical survey, but my 1st place RIS this year and my 2007 AABC BoS Cali Common were both made with two packs of dry US-05 pitched directly into the fermenter cos I like to keep it simple and dry yeasts are incredibly robust - the way I do it with most beers I make (APAs, A.Brown Ales, IPAs etc). But they are always fresh packs

I understand that many of Richard's beers at the Wig & Pen are also made with unhydrated dry yeast (US-05, S-04 & S-23) - hydrating dry yeast increasing the risk of infection by adding an extra step to a process that doesn't need it.

While Chris & Jamil's book is an excellent resource, it is only one perspective and Chris White is in the business of selling liquid yeast so there is the possibility of just a hint of bias?

cheers!

Dan

 

[Bribie G]

Getting way OT but isn't the attraction of liquid yeasts more in the huge variety available? I actually find that rehydrated dry yeasts pitching both sides of a repack from said sponsor take off way quicker than Wyeasts (don't know about the others, not available to me here).
So if I had, for example, a dried version of Ringwood or a dried version of Irish Ale or even - happy days - a dried version of 1469 I'd be more than happy. As it is we are limited to six core dried yeasts with a few spec ones such as T-58 and Weizen etc. so we need to go out into the liquids to meet our needs for Bopils, Irish, etc etc.

 

[djneli]

I'm absolutely stoked about my 1st in the 6. Pale Ale - especially since it was a beer that I slapped together just so I could reuse the yeast cake from the Sunshine Coast Brewery trip! Can't wait to see the comments on it so I can tweak my recipe and see if I can't take it to the next level.

Sorry I didn't believe you when you called on Saturday night Ben. Some of my mates would be the type that would convince me I had won and then tear me down to reality in hysterical fits of laughter =)

 

[felten]

Now using that information, see the following. The dry yeast packets state on their spec sheet each packet contains 11.5g of yeast and the viability at packaging is 6 * 10 ^ 9 (6 billion cells per g) which equates to 69 billion cells in a packet.

There's a good quote on dried yeast on Jamil's website, I'm don't know whats in the yeast book as I haven't ordered it yet but on this page it says;

"(Recently there have been other numbers mentioned for cells/gram of dry yeast and folks have asked me why I believe there are 20 billion cells. I've actually done cell counts on dry yeast and they're always 20 billion per gram +/- less than a billion. Dr. Clayton Cone has also stated that there are 20 billion per gram, and other folks I trust tell me that 20 billion is correct. Until I see something different, practical experience tells me this number is correct.)"

Now I'm not sure myself but that sounds like it could be accurate, and why pitching directly on top of the wort does work in a multitude of cases, because of the sheer number of cells, but could also be a cause of stalling with a old/lower viability yeast packet.

 

[Bribie G]

Congrats Neil and Starkesbier as well in the pale ales, hope you've got those special release yeasts slanted away :icon_cheers:

 

[djneli]

Congrats Neil and Starkesbier as well in the pale ales, hope you've got those special release yeasts slanted away :icon_cheers:

I got the last one available earlier in the year but I'm hoping I can get some more in the seasonal release next year cause it's a bloody good yeast that worked well and was pretty forgiving.

 

[DanRayner]

BTW: Congrats to all the winners and entrants overall for an awesome AABC!

Canberra Brewers were stoked to see so many of our newer brewers get a place! It is great to see this past-time get new and talented people!

 

[np1962]

OK, so what happened to SA, bottom of the pile.
Looks like only about 2/3 of our qualified brewers entered beers.
Well, look out next year we have some work to do to take the trophies on our own dung heap! :beerbang:

Well done to all that did well and to all that qualified to enter.

Cheers
Nige

 

[Bribie G]

OK, so what happened to SA, bottom of the pile.
Looks like only about 2/3 of our qualified brewers entered beers.
Well, look out next year we have some work to do to take the trophies on our own dung heap! :beerbang:

Well done to all that did well and to all that qualified to enter.

Cheers
Nige

The Eastern States have sent you a good fresh coming down the Murray so you'll be laughing next year

 

[dr K]

Again a well organised and well run comp, congrads to all the organisers, stewards and judges
Of course its easy to say.."Hey I came first at State but last at AABC", even leaving the subjective nature of judging aside, remember you were up against pre-qualified beers, they were judged as worthy, be happy.
K