Nov. 26/27 Ballarat Grog Swap.

[Yob]

Yep was a good evening despite the arctic Ballarat conditions, good work on the fire lads, did well to overcome the shaky start.

it was cold? :blink: ahhh... thank you again beer coat.. kept me dry AND warm... missus reckoned I smelt like the fire even after a shower and change of clothes!!

I think Manticle has a bit of Pyro in him somewhere :lol:

:icon_cheers:

 

[mesa99]

Great night guys.. Thanks to all who travelled, thanks to all that didn't travel far. Thanks to LF for allowing us to run riot around at his place.

4 Beer engines was impressive and dangerous. :beer:

Raffle went down like this:

Colonel - 4 x Punk IPA
Vic45 - 3 x Chimay Blue
Wakkatoo - 6 x SN pack ( minus some LF taxes )

When do we do it all again?

 

[Lecterfan]

When do we do it all again?

I'll do another thread for the 28th December text I sent y'all to think about.... But there is the Jan Ballarat beer fest and then it is up to someone to nominate a date in Feb so we can all lock it in...

I'm drinking that tax right now as I mill grain for tomorrow - sorry wakka, I got a bit pissy I guess and shitty that all my fave beers were on the table and I missed out again haha!!! I'll make it up to you!!!

 

[Lecterfan]

Out of interest I always have these things in the fridge that will most likely be consumed tomorrow (all written on the bottle cap): "B +P 11.11.11", "74" and "77" (or possibly LL in a stubbie - Manticle?)...

 

[manticle]

If I left anything , it was a bottle of 1968 challenger esb that didn't make it to the handpump.

Everything else went down throats.

 

[wakkatoo]

I'm going to host the next one. Will be late feb, early march. Once I get a clearer idea I'll set a firm date. With respect to te beer festival. The general feeling was that a couple of extra tickets would go a long way to making our little area a success. I will send an email to them tomorrow.

 

[vic13]

Great night LF, thanks for the comfy chair, im glad you got a chuckle from my snoring, my wife never laughs :blink: :icon_chickcheers:

 

[herbo]

Out of interest I always have these things in the fridge that will most likely be consumed tomorrow (all written on the bottle cap): "B +P 11.11.11", "74" and "77" (or possibly LL in a stubbie - Manticle?)...

'B + P' is one of mine. Means Bits and Pieces, made it to use up some ingredients. Probably categorised as an American Pale I guess. JW Trad Ale and wheat, nearly all home grown Cascade hops used (guessed what I thought the IBU's would be), about 4.5% from memory. Nottingham yeast used.

Re 28 December. Don't think I'll be around, at this stage I have a date with the Tram Car restaurant in Melb. Will drop of some beers though for you to have a crack at.

 

[Lecterfan]

'B + P' is one of mine. Means Bits and Pieces, made it to use up some ingredients. Probably categorised as an American Pale I guess. JW Trad Ale and wheat, nearly all home grown Cascade hops used (guessed what I thought the IBU's would be), about 4.5% from memory. Nottingham yeast used.

Re 28 December. Don't think I'll be around, at this stage I have a date with the Tram Car restaurant in Melb. Will drop of some beers though for you to have a crack at.

Yep, I drank that one today in my guzzling efforts - not bad, although as they say the old Nott can strip some hop flavour....

A beer for the 28th would be awesome!

 

[manticle]

Was going to send this as a message but it seems appropriate here.

We weren't part of the swap but Lecter was kind enough to send us away with some of his swap beer.

Pours with a tight white head that seems to enjoy my company. Lacing and retention good. Clear amber in the glass.

Aroma of resinous hops, some sweet malt.

Carbonation very low. I'll add that for me it is perfect. I don't really get into lots of fizz and a beer that has good head formation and retention and is not overly fizzy is right up my alley. Just a slight sherbert that coats the tongue.

Bitterness is far under what I would expect given the label/recipe but it's present and it's lingering and it's in balance with the sweeter malts. It's not overly crystally or cloying but there's a distinct malt presence. Body is medium/full.

There's some complexity in the malt profile, maybe a bit less in the hop flavour profile (very aromatic though) but it's a beer that ticks a lot of boxes for me.

If you were entering it into a comp, it would probably lose points for various things out of style - it seems like a beer where you've taken a bit from style a that you enjoy, a bit from style b and a bit from style c. That's the absolute joy of homebrewing - to be able to tailor a beer exactly that way and that's what I like most about it.

I like it, I like it a lot and it doesn't make me burp. I think playing with the balance (balance has wide parameters) would give some interesting (not necessarily better) results. Could up the bitterness or elucidate the hop profile a touch with some gypsum additions.

Great beer Rich. I'll send you a bottle of my house apa next time I brew one because I think there's some similarities (big sticky, toffee fruity type thing with a touch of piney resin).

 

[manticle]

I will add that I'm surprised there's so much galaxy in there. I generally don't like galaxy on account of the passionfruit character - I get none in this beer.

First gold and galxy eh?

 

[Lecterfan]

Thanks mate. I'm super proud of that concoction, it is roughly my 56th AG brew (can't be fucked scrawling thru beersmith to work it out) and is a conglomeration of a lot of things that I like - as you say, different styles. It isn't really an AIPA but that is what I call it as that is the closest 'style' (even though there's no dry hops and the malt/hop is not exaggerated one way or the other).

Ever since messing with Argon's LFPA I've been very keen on mixing American styled 'big' hops with more trad hops. The First Gold and galaxy combo is an unlikely one but is a ripper - the earthiness, spiciness and full-on apricot of the first gold mixes with the fruity, nutty wy1272 and the galaxy just sits nicely in the background (rather than being the big star of the show it usually is).

I do love a big dry hopped AIPA, but sometimes the nice balance (bearing in mind the harmony vs balance idea) between malt complexity and resiny mouthfeel belies the need for ridiculous quantities of hop aroma/flavour. The low initial bitterness (but yet it lingers and is defintiely there) I put down to the FWH with the relatively low alpha first gold.

Cheers again, nice to get feedback on a recipe that is %100 mine and is a beer that, for my tastes, is reason enough to justify AG brewing over anything else haha.

Also, I kicked arse at the symposium yesterday (hope you didn't wear your knees out standing up/sitting down/standing up etc), so all's well that ends well.


edit: Just dug one out for a sample after all this talk - I think the bitterness is definitely there, but the upfront flavour is all the crystal and the aromatic malt. Aroma is def galaxy IMHO, but the bitterness is certainly 'lingering'. I'm just wrapping my head around BU:GU (let alone that other article that offers a slightly more advanced calculation), so 70 IBU in a 1.070 beer with shitloads of heavy malts just doesn't stand out the way it would in a less malty beer...at least that's my take on it... I'll do this again but with less crystal (replaced with victory), and rye instead of aromatic. It'll be a hell of a beast. I look forward to your APA...as an aside I've got a hell of a dvd full of odd doom/stoner and other stuff for you for next week! Cheers again.

 

[mesa99]

Well guys, so far I've been quite happy with all my samples. Either I'm easy to please (that's not licence to comment on) or the standard is very high here fellas.

Beastie - Very clear, belgainy? fruity something? that tasted pretty good. It was so clear. Relatively light in colour for the nice caramel malt and alcohol that came through. What was it?

Lecterfan - You know what I think.. Very well balanced beer with a lovely upfront hop aroma and a nice bitterness at the back of the mouth. Malt profile was also great. Chill Haze, Meh.. Tasted great.

Herbo - Saison was good. I ain't had any of these so hard for me to comment. It definitely had that french fruitiness to it. I'm not sure I could get through a whole 23L of it though.

I hope mine is up to standard now.

Mesa

 

[Lecterfan]

If mine was hazy (I'm assuming it must be chill haze), it just needs/needed to warm up. It is among the clearest beers I've produced, and pours clear for me generally. Anyway, it is 'big' enough for most of the flavours to still come through even when chilled.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback Mesa!

 

[mesa99]

If mine was hazy (I'm assuming it must be chill haze), it just needs/needed to warm up. It is among the clearest beers I've produced, and pours clear for me generally. Anyway, it is 'big' enough for most of the flavours to still come through even when chilled.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback Mesa!

Yeah Chill Haze for sure, had been at 4C for 48 hours.. hehe.

 

[Lecterfan]

Yeah Chill Haze for sure, had been at 4C for 48 hours.. hehe.

h34r:

The three longnecks we drank of it on the night were pulled straight from the cupboard! I find around 8-10c for those big beers keeps you honest when sipping them haha

 

[pommie_granite]

Hi guys - so far i have tried:

Lecterfan - really interesting beer, loved it. I'm intrigued enough to take a look at the first gold hops when i'm next doing a g&g run - definitely got the apricot from it. Was a real mixed EIPA / AIPA flavour for me, a new experience! Agree with manticle that the bitterness was below what i expected given the IBUs, i think you could get away with bringing that out a little bit more to make it that bit moreish for me. trying the rye with it may be a good way of balancing the maltiness out a bit more (not that i think it's particularly unbalanced), based on that rye beer i had at yours on the Saturday. I think also keeping some held back for a while will really play some games with that hop profile, as long as you can keep your hands off it. That Janets Brown Ale from last year peaked at around 6 months and the hop profile really transformed over time.

Mesa99 - Man, never had a vienna lager before but sold on what you pitched in for the swap. When i started this brewing lark i was very much the hop head, but as time has gone on i'm really starting to appreciate the use of malts and malty beers e.g. milds, oktoberfest lager etc. Wasn't sure what to expect when i cracked yours open but i'm sold on these, really nice drinking beer, malt without too much sweetness, great aftertaste. sign me up for a case!

Beastie - Enjoyed your 'nana beer (as i did last Saturday ), good malty taste and for me is one that i could have a few of which for belgian beers is a change as sometimes they can be a bit too big for me. One thing for me was the carbonation - seemed like it got a head quite quickly but lost it really quickly too, although the overall carbonation and mouthfeel was fine for me. What do you use to carb?

That is as far as i've got, some top beers lads, a pleasure to take part in the swap.


As noted on the caps of mine, i would really recommend keeping mine under wraps til after Chrimbo...

Cheers

Dan

 

[Beastie]

Hi Dan,

I used icing sugar. We had run out of normal table sugar, it was the only sugar I had at hand.

Clive

 

[Lecterfan]

Righto naysayers - here is my review of my own swap beer, been in the fridge for 45 mins:

Aroma is huge, hints of citrus and stone fruit.

Pours a bit cloudy but with a solid head.

Mouthfeel is lovely - cooled down in the fridge a bit the huge amount of crystal and aromatic malt is subdued which allows the crisp/dry/bitterness to come through.

For my palate I am super proud of this beer!!!

I'm sure there is more to be said but i've just eaten 3 odd kilos of two tooth and POR based Aussie ale and can't be bothered. hope you all enjoy this beer, I still think it is the best I've done so far...

I can understand why the 70IBU seems questionable, but with the 400gms of crystal and the aromatic of malt on top of the FWH hops it makes things a bit different. Viva La homebrew!!!

In future put something on the bottle that says who made it, what it is and when it's ready to be drunk!!!

 

[Lecterfan]

Pommie Granites APA - Fantastic hop aroma, pours with good head that dissipates quickly, good lacing. Fairly hazy, but no more than the average AG brew I have drunk. Mouthfeel is great, bitterness is just right, I get lots of hops when I burp, I suspect there is centennial in this beer? There is the slightest touch of vegetal flavour mingled with the bitterness at the end, but to some degree that is par for the course with a nice big hoppy APA I suppose. Incredibly loose yeast - by the third pour it was very murky.


Billygoats ESB - clarity about average for AG beers that Ive encountered - pretty clear but not bright. Big English hoppy aromanot game to guess but I would suggest there is something similar to the target/challenger/ekg approach going on. I imagine this beer (due to style) would be spectacular through a beer pump. I was drinking from small glasses so didnt give it the pocket sparkler treatment although I think it would have benefitted from it. Good malt, light to medium mouthfeel (expected more, but that would have come with serving system), very drinkable though!


Vic13s -Oz pale ale. Cloudy, didnt clear after a few days in the fridge (but was warned of this), the aroma is spot on - a bit of fruit, a bit of sweetness. Not much head, but still reasonable bracing. The re-cultured yeast is doing its jobbut is less fruity than when Ive used it. Good solid bittering, crisp enough taste, no probs other than aesthetics. Good one.


Wakkatoos vienna lager - lovely colour, bit hazy but nothing too bad. Nice crisp/fresh aroma, beautiful quaffer - lightish body, crisp on the palate, not too heavy or being weighed down by excessive maltiness. Ive had it before and I look forward to having it again (tomorrow with Taschris to be precise).