Iron Brewer

[stephen]

This post is more aimed at brewers in the Hunter region though anyone is welcome.

A couple of regular Hunter drewers were recently discussing starting an "Iron Brewer" style of fun brewing competition (Based on the TV show Iron Chef).

Basically it will invlove having a key ingredient named and then brewing a beer that highlights the key ingredients characterisitics. Brewers will then have a set time frame to produce the brew, typically three months. The key ingredient could be a grain type or a hop - with the odd yeast thrown in for fun. I am thinking of posting a key ingredient once a month - starting the comp in the new year.

The rules are very broad at the moment, though seem quite workable and not restrictive.

Who would be interested in partaking of this fun event? Judging details are sketchy at this point in time, however I would endeavour to use impartial judges (eg. customers at Marks Homebrew - note this is only an example!!)

Please indicate your interest or any ideas how to run this better.

Regards

Stephen

 

[Adamt]

Tip #1: Try and steer clear of the gourmet seafood ingredients like "Salmon Fins", or "Goldfish Roe"

Sounds fun though

 

[Josh]

Sounds fun. I'd like to give it a go.

 

[craig maher]

Stephen

I'll give it a go - sounds like it could be interesting??!!

:blink:

Craig

 

[neonmeate]

iron filings? could be good for that satisfying blood taste in flemish reds.

 

[DJR]

How about Rye, just to screw everyone up. And people thought wheat was bad...

Or peated malt?
Or smoked malt?
Or debittered hops?
Or Brettanomyces?

I think it should be kept simple as possible, perhaps we can run a vote for the secret ingredient each time?

What would the qualification involve? 2 bottles? If we kept the bottle count low then it would be fairly easy to create a bunch of small batches to trial different ways of doing it (i might have just said too much..)

 

[shotduck]

I think something similar to the AHB case swaps would be the go, with each person who enters getting to taste the other entrants brews and giving feedback. Love the idea of a Brett. ingredient, DJR... but that may just be the Belgian-lover in me.

Hell, this is an idea even I might be convinced to participate in...

Cheers,
TSD

 

[Stuster]

Sounds fun. I'd be in for that. If it's too much hassle/money to send bottles up to the Hunter, we could run the contest in parallel and then have a taste off between the winners of Sydney and the Hunter. I'm sure we can let you lot win from time to time.

 

[Borret]

iron filings? could be good for that satisfying blood taste in flemish reds.

Rustic Red perhaps?

Brent

 

[sah]

It does sound like a lot of fun. I'd probably get involved. It'll be a good way to "force" me to try something I haven't tried before.

Scott

 

[mikem108]

I'll be in ! ...if memory serves me correctly I wanted to do something like this for a while, should be fun.

So all recipients ingredients are the same it could be a "bulk buy" situation and we break up the ingredients or a participating shop could bag it up for us and we pay for the Iron brew "kit" of ingredients.

 

[Weizguy]

I see the (future) new post on AHB:

" Nationwide shortage of acidulated malt, as homebrewers go crazy for the new Iron Brewer fad".

Hmmm, acidulated malt. Wouldn't that give an unfair advantage to sour beer brewers?

Seth

 

[goatherder]

sounds great Stephen, I'm in.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Sounds interesting; I'd be in it if only I was in NSW. Post my contributions maybe? Or could there be 'chapters' in each state?

 

[Brewtus]

I'll be in ! ...if memory serves me correctly I wanted to do something like this for a while, should be fun.

So all recipients ingredients are the same it could be a "bulk buy" situation and we break up the ingredients or a participating shop could bag it up for us and we pay for the Iron brew "kit" of ingredients.

Mike,

You are missing the iron chef concept. Iron chefs get an ingredient like 'broccoli' and have to make four or more dishes so can use any ingredients they like as long as there is plenty of broccoli. One chef did fresh broccoli ice cream. Specifying all the ingredients is not the idea in this contest, it is what you do with the main ingredient. I.e. if it is Saaz Hops than you pick the grain, water and yeast to work with the hops. If you can get away with a saaz maple porter, all power to you. If you are conservative you will do bohemian pilsner, that should work well but it is not so creative.

 

[MHB]

Plans for this are already well under way; we had intended to start in the New Year, when it has slowed down a bit after silly season.

What we had in mind was choosing a style using the BJCP style guides.
Giving a free sample of the key ingredient to each participant.
Getting the bottles back in a couple of months
Then having a BJCP registered judging session so that judges could gain judging points and experience (and a BBQ and a few more beers).

Ideally we were hoping to do this three or four times a year.

As Stephen has decided to kick it off on his own - any one want 2 bags of Peated Distilling Malt, at a bargain price, looks like I wont be needing as much shock as I had planed.

MHB

 

[DJR]

I think even if it doesn't get off the ground state-wide it could definitely add some spice to homebrew club meets. I think it is an excellent idea that us crazy guys from ISB could definitely get up and running with at least a couple of the members.

I think in terms of the judging keep it simple - write up as much information as you can about the said ingredient to make the judging easier, and then just allow people to use already used scoring standards but allow an extra 30-50% of points to come from the originality/difficulty/technique/execution that the brewer has chosen, allow the judges to make that decision with the information the brewer has chosen to submit, such as the recipe used, what style they were aiming for and everything. That way, as Brewtus said, if the brewer chooses to do something completely weird but works beatifully, apply a big originality modifier. If you leave it up to normal judging, everyone will just pick the styles that the ingredient works in without looking further and thinking what can be done outside the square, you want to make it just like Iron Chef really....

As long as it's kept fairly informal (since it really is just a fun way to get brewing experimentally in a controlled way), i don't think people are going to complain about the judging process and rules... but should i be so optimistic??? h34r:

 

[DJR]

As Stephen has decided to kick it off on his own - any one want 2 bags of Peated Distilling Malt, at a bargain price, looks like I wont be needing as much shock as I had planed.

MHB

Good stuff MHB - but what would i use the peated malt in? Should i start up the water purifier? :lol:

 

[Stuster]

I'm with you on the scoring, DJR. I think that the originality of the beer made should count for something. This is how the Iron Chef scores it.

Then, a panel of three (later expanded to four and, later still, five) judges, of which typically one is a professional critic, tastes the dishes and judges them based on taste, presentation, and originality. Each chef may be awarded up to 20 points by each judge, with ten given for taste and five each for presentation and originality. The chef with the plurality of judges in support (not necessarily the chef with the greatest score) wins the competition.

Presentation is included in the normal judging, so maybe we could use the BJCP scoring out of 50 and add on 20 (?) for originality. :unsure:

 

[MHB]

Or you could be making some 90 shilling.
That was the point, an ingredient that there are recipes out there for, something not too well known, but one that allows plenty of scope for individual interpretation.

Besides I am partial to wee heavy.
On second thoughts maybe I should keep the Peated, I have a 500g block of Saf W1 whiskey yeast in the fridge, and a water purifier.

MHB

P.S. we werent talking about an exact copy of the Iron Chef TV show, just an idea to have some fun with odd/obscure ingredients and to broaden the range of beers we are familiar with.

Mark