Beer Tasting Near Freo.

[PistolPatch]

[Just got the too many emoticons message so have split this post in two. Ant, see next post!]

Thanks for the additions to the list guys - donya! We will need a few more brewers with unbridled enthusiasm (experience and knowledge level is irrelevant) for this to work as well as it can. I am hoping that some West Coast Brewers, like Ant below (he is in Texas ATM though!) will help us out with advice or participation.

There is a tremendous amount of recipe/brewing knowledge amongst the WCB - I steal heaps of recipes from them . The centre of their activity is based mainly north of the river and the majority of WCB have been brewing for some time so they have a knowledge, explore and brew beers that some of us have never heard of! They also have access to great speakers etc. Their location and focus can make participation in WCB difficult though for fledgling brewers flying south but if you live up north, they will quickly improve your skills. Personally I have found nearly every member of WCB to be totally helpful and good fun (only one I know is frightening!). I have not attended a meeting, partly due to the distance but mainly due to the fact that when I can attend, there always seems to be a focus on a subject I personally am not into such as Framboise/Sour/Wheat beers or a topic I am not familiar with. I know virgin AG brewers though that have attended those meetings and within a short amount of time become consistent medal winners. So, if you live up north, you should look into WCB.

I envisage this Freo thing being mainly for...

1. Fledgling brewers who live within a reasonable proximity of Freo.
2. The experienced brewers living anywhere who enjoy helping others learn how to brew.
3. Those who like brewing a basic beer spectrum - lagers (both pale and dark)/pilsners/pale ales/balanced IPA's/stout.
4. Those who simply like to socialise and talk beer.

Experienced brewers love helping fledgling brewers so, you fledglings, add your name to the list! It will be you guys who give it impetus.


Pat

 

[PistolPatch]

This is a really good idea PP, and there are some styles that lend themselves to it. Something like an APA might be a good start coming into summer; you can do a big (ie full bag of grain) mash with a really simple grain bill, then divvy the wort up and everyone single hop boil and flavour/aroma to same IBUs. It's a good way to find out the difference between Cascade, Centennial, Columbus, Chinook, Northern Brewer, Amarillo, Simcoe, Nelson Sauvin etc. Ferment all with 1056 to the same temps to end up with similarly attenuated beers and voila. If you get enough participants, you can run combos of differing boil/aroma hops. If you get even more, you can add in things like a bit of rye, or use an English base like MO or GP around a tolerant hop strain.

Ant, great to hear from you :icon_cheers:

Good timing as I think I have only just recovered from those last beers you brought me - lol! Man they were strong beers and I have it in mind to ban you from attending any Freo beer meet :angry:. I gave Katie a taste and she didn't drink for a week! Sinkas though, who lives in my street would have loved them. I should have saved them for him - lol!

Hopefully, I'll get to see you on your upcoming visit but please come empty-handed :lol:. I can give you a Pilsner, an Oktoberfest, a Kolsch, an APA, a Munich Dunkell and a Schwartz. I'll get Sinkas to bring a $700 700 IBU beer for you.

Seriously though, thanks for your post. I haven't had a chance to chat to anyone else but I was thinking that when I started brewing, my tastes were at the lager/pilsner end of the scale (funnily enough, they are going back there as I really appreciate the delicacy and, "no words can describe," challenge of these).

I was thinking that even an APA might be too overpowering for a new brewer and even for me who is someone trying to differentiate between a base grain and a floral versus citrusy hop.

I'm a little embarrassed to ask the question, but is it possible for us to brew up mini-batches with different base malts, a neutral yeast and perhaps even no hops so as to understand the flavour of just the base malt and then build up from there?

I was thinking this could be a starting point for people like me. Some people seem to pick all this stuff up straight away. I don't. I am not sure if this is because I have always been able to steal great recipes and therefore just focus on gear/equipment? I think my palate is OK as I managed years ago with the right teacher (John Jens), on a final test, to be able to identify a wine variety (never tasted before) right down to the vineyard. Most of us got it and this was after only about 15 hours of education. JJ is the best and also loves beer!

I have not been taught such skills in beer tasting though. Hopefully I and others just need some good teachers/advice.

Spot,
Pat

 

[ant]

Ant, great to hear from you :icon_cheers:

Good timing as I think I have only just recovered from those last beers you brought me - lol! Man they were strong beers and I have it in mind to ban you from attending any Freo beer meet :angry:. I gave Katie a taste and she didn't drink for a week! Sinkas though, who lives in my street would have loved them. I should have saved them for him - lol!

Hopefully, I'll get to see you on your upcoming visit but please come empty-handed :lol:. I can give you a Pilsner, an Oktoberfest, a Kolsch, an APA, a Munich Dunkell and a Schwartz. I'll get Sinkas to bring a $700 700 IBU beer for you.

Seriously though, thanks for your post. I haven't had a chance to chat to anyone else but I was thinking that when I started brewing, my tastes were at the lager/pilsner end of the scale (funnily enough, they are going back there as I really appreciate the delicacy and, "no words can describe," challenge of these).

I was thinking that even an APA might be too overpowering for a new brewer and even for me who is someone trying to differentiate between a base grain and a floral versus citrusy hop.

I'm a little embarrassed to ask the question, but is it possible for us to brew up mini-batches with different base malts, a neutral yeast and perhaps even no hops so as to understand the flavour of just the base malt and then build up from there?

I was thinking this could be a starting point for people like me. Some people seem to pick all this stuff up straight away. I don't. I am not sure if this is because I have always been able to steal great recipes and therefore just focus on gear/equipment? I think my palate is OK as I managed years ago with the right teacher (John Jens), on a final test, to be able to identify a wine variety (never tasted before) right down to the vineyard. Most of us got it and this was after only about 15 hours of education. JJ is the best and also loves beer!

I have not been taught such skills in beer tasting though. Hopefully I and others just need some good teachers/advice.

Spot,
Pat

Back at the tail end of next week for good Pat! Am cramming as much goodness down my throat as it will take at the moment! Looking forward to getting back though.

Now wrt the APA, I don't mean hop the hell out of it; maybe a 30-40 IBU kind of thing. I just thought an APA would be the best vehicle to differentiate hop flavours, because the style accommodates so many types (floral vs citrus vs pine, English v US vs NZ). I personally think hops should be a pretty easy lesson; the biggest problem I normally have with pinpointing hops is that a brewer might use 2-6 varieties in one batch, which makes it difficult to pick what is contributing where. Single hopped beers leave a lasting impression as to what the hop delivers. Plus it's only one mash for all the beers.

Malt is probably better run as it's own experiment I reckon. Imported Seppo 2 row vs domestic 2 row vs MO vs GP etc. I wouldn't leave them completely unhopped - I think you'd get too much bland graininess through with neutral yeast strains, but you can always find a neutral hop that suits them all like a Hallertau hopped to 15 IBU maybe?

I think the difficulty with the malt experiment will be making sure that everyone mashes consistently so you get similar mash temps and therefore similar attenuation. You should probably make these small batches; 5 gallons of bland beer could be a struggle.

You could also do different types of base malts grain, all 2 row vs pils vs wheat/pils vs 2 row & rye, munich, etc.

Once you've done a base malt one, you could step it up with one base malt plus specialties in varying quantities.

This sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[stevem01]

1. PistolPatch (can host a meeting, plan some experiments and participate in a few of them.)
2. NME (can host a meeting, plan some experiments and participate in a few of them.)
3. Churchy (can come and listen and drink your beer and eat your food and also bring some beer along.)
4. Cubbie (as above but I would also bring food - I have limited availability over the next month)
5. Stevem01 (can host a meeting, plan some experiments and participate most of them.)

 

[cdbrown]

1. PistolPatch (can host a meeting, plan some experiments and participate in a few of them.)
2. NME (can host a meeting, plan some experiments and participate in a few of them.)
3. Churchy (can come and listen and drink your beer and eat your food and also bring some beer along.)
4. Cubbie (as above but I would also bring food - I have limited availability over the next month)
5. Stevem01 (can host a meeting, plan some experiments and participate most of them.)
6. cdbrown (very interested in meeting fellow brewers, availability is limited, currently can't host but hopefully change when find new house)

 

[CDJ]

1. PistolPatch (can host a meeting, plan some experiments and participate in a few of them.)
2. NME (can host a meeting, plan some experiments and participate in a few of them.)
3. Churchy (can come and listen and drink your beer and eat your food and also bring some beer along.)
4. Cubbie (as above but I would also bring food - I have limited availability over the next month)
5. Stevem01 (can host a meeting, plan some experiments and participate most of them.)
6. cdbrown (very interested in meeting fellow brewers, availability is limited, currently can't host but hopefully change when find new house)
7. CDJ (can host a meeting and participate in some. Not available during November though.)

 

[PistolPatch]

Looks like the list above is growing to a workable size. Excellent :super:

Back at the tail end of next week for good Pat! Am cramming as much goodness down my throat as it will take at the moment! Looking forward to getting back though....

That is great news Ant. Remember to take a few sleeping pills for the trip. Oh no, hold on, just drink one of those beers you brought me last time. That should knock you out for the entire flight . Will look forward to a beer when you come back and if you don't have your brew gear readily available, feel free to come over here. We can do some double batches so you can take a few fermenters home for your fridge.

And thanks again for your post above. Your plan sounds spot on.

I'm hoping I can think of say 5 x 3lt containers that will fit into a large kettle like my 70lt one so as five variations can be mashed and boiled identically. No container is popping into mind just yet. Maybe some others have an idea? Something like a coffee plunger would be great but I imagine they are quite expensive. Really would only need the one plunger though.

I must re-read this experiment done by jjeffrey and a few of his mates in Victoria to see what they used. This was extremely well-written and well worth a read.

Safe trip Ant and by the time you get back there might be another few names on the list above.

:icon_cheers:
Pat

 

[sinkas]

dont forget to get ahold of one of each of the Mikkller single hop IPA's as its might save you a bit of arsing around if you can work out which hops you dont want to try

 

[churchy]

And it would be great if someone can show me how to use this freakin Beer Smith program!!

 

[PistolPatch]

Saw Sinkas the other day as he is my chiropractor (a very good one!.) His suggestion is a good one and maybe one that should be followed through on the next meeting. He has told me where we can buy this stuff from.

And, churchy, I have finally found an AHB member that I think can help all of us with BeerSmith. He has recently straightened me out on many issues I had. If you want his contact details, email me.

I am heading to Gold Coast and Northern NSW for a few weeks.

Churchy, can you look after the thread while I am away? It started with Lloyd. I carried it on, now I think it is up to you Bump it on mate

I have two experiments worked out but maybe if you pursue the single hop beers sinkas suggested for now. This would be good,

I am happy to do the next meet here anytime from 21/10/09 on.

So, churchy, can I hand the ball to you for the next meeting?

????
Pat

Edit: By, hand the ball, I mean keeping the thread bumped and seeing who is a definite for the next meeting (which I can hold). Go get 'em!

 

[churchy]

The responsibility is going to be huge.lol I can keep it going, we just need a definate date that everyone can attend.After Pats meeting we can have one at my joint maybe after the new decade.



Andrew