Nsw Ahb Xmas Case 2005 - Consumption

[Borret]

Just a small ask guys. I think it was mentioned at the start of the thread, but could everyone please post what yeast they used. If your name is already there with it entered thats fine. I just wanna assemble a good sized yeast bank. Gotta go to the brew shop again to get some more bungs and airloacks so i can drink quicker with the yeast culturing up afterwards.
Is there another good method i can use here where i dont need an airlock? Is it possible to add say 7g dextrose to each bottle and recap, then repeat a few days later?

[post="98741"][/post]​

Berto,
you could pour in your starter/culture wort and use it to suspend the yeast sediment and then tip it into a sanitised PET bottle and shake the crap out of it to aerate as usual. Just keep check on the pressure in the bottle or leave it just cracked once it's active.

On a more important note (I assume by the above you haven't cultured before) don't use just dextrose to culture yeast. It contains no nutrients. Use a malt extract only based wort of gravity between 1030 and 1040 for culturing and it must be boiled for 10 mins and chilled before adding to the bottle to avoid any infection issues. If you want to add extra nutrients to this you can either use a specific nutrient blend or just add a small pinch of dried yeast to the boiling wort (so it kills it)
Do a search on culturing yeast and have a good read before heading down this path as it does take some time and it's better to get it right than have bogus malnourished yeast to ferment your hard earned beer. Cleanliness is the most important factor here.

BTW all the yeasts are listed on the first post now for anyone who hadn't noticed.

Cheers

Borret.

 

[Stuster]

Sorry to hear the beer is no good homebrewworld. It does happen so I suppose it's odds on that it would happen to somebody.

Berto, I always use Oztops with a plastic bottle for my starters. It's a bit pricy for just starters, but could be useful if you want to make up some alcopops for any non-beer drinkers.

 

[Gough]

And another one down...

Duff's Kolsch - Bloody good beer this. Lovely balance, light dry malty aroma. Quite clear with the just the slightest haze on chilling - only probably noticeable because it is a very pale style. Well brewed mate. Clean flavours, lager like but with just a little more oomph. Maybe a touch fuller bodied than I remember drinking in Koln, but only a touch if that. My favourite from the case so far. Top darts Duff :beerbang:

Shawn.

 

[berapnopod]

Twelve Caesers Brewery Amarillo American Pale Ale - I am assuming thats Kungy's.

This one opened with a "pop"!

Aroma: Rich citrusy hop aroma with some underlying candy sweetness. Spicy and earthy. Medium/high esters. After writing down the appearance details, I noticed a very slight celery aroma in there. I vaguely remember celery aroma is indicative of something (oxidation), so I'll look it up and let you know... After a bit of searching I can't find out how you get celery aroma in a beer. Maybe it is DMS, but I am not sure. In any case, its at such a low level that the brewer shouldn't worry about it.

Appearance: Very high carbonation - poured foamy. It almost looked like champagne in the glass when it first got in there. After a minute or two, the head has settled down to a medium/thick layer of medium and fine bubbles, supported by vigorous carbonation in the beer. Excellent clarity - almost brilliant.

Flavour: Rich flavour initially with and equal balance of light and crystal malts against a delicious US hop flavour. Finish is dryish and assertively bitter. The bitterness is just enough to stop this one being cloying in the finish.

Mouthfeel: full body. high carbonation gives a carbonation bite, as well as a bubbly mouth, that is noticeable, but not so bad as to be significantly detracting. Definite alcohol warmth.

Overall: What a great beer, Kungy! I wish I had the whole batch. This has a great hop flavour and aroma, as well as a good level of bitterness, I am definitely going to try Amarillo hops next time I do a US-style beer. The hops are well balanced in the flavour with a nice malt profile. The only problems I see is the carbonation is too high - if you were adding sugar to the bottles, I would say you only need half that amount. The other thing is it tastes like its a little underattenuated. Better attenuation would dry it out a bit more and accentuate the hops. But as it is, I am really enjoying this one - thanks Kungy!

Berp.

 

[Doc]

A nice mild 38degC here today, so I opened Sam's #2 Golden Ale when I got home.
Poured nice and clear, good carbonation, nice head. I'm getting a ginger taste that I'm guessing is from the Amarillo, but on a hot day like today in a lighter beer it makes it all nice and refreshing. Good body, and well balanced.
I'm really enjoying it Sam. Even more so in that it is your second AG.

Beers,
Doc

 

[Trent]

Tried a few beers in the last few days
Redbeards APA - I am very sorry to report that I couldnt finish this beer. It looked fine, but there was a strange flavour that I could only describe as a possible infection, though it wasnt overcarbed, so that could rule out a bug. It is quite possible, and more than likely, that I got a dud bottle. Sorry Redbeard, its just the way I found it to be, but I look forward to trying your next brew in the next case swap

Linz's Oz IPA - This was a nice beer, though as others have said, it wasnt as hoppy as I would expect from an IPA. That said, though, the boat trip from Oz to India may well be a bit shorter, therefore less hops are required to keep it good than are required from England ;-). My girlfriend said it tasted like it had some raspberry in it (bet ya never thoguth ya'd hear that!). I could faintly detect it aswell, but I may have been imagining it. Towards the second half of the bottle, I felt I could detect a slightly soapy flavour? Not too sure what it was, as it wasnt there in the first glass, maybe it was a yeast flavour. I dont kow, but it did detract from my enjoyment of second glass. All over though, quite a nice beer, but it could do with a little more bittering hops next time, and some more hop aroma, IMO. Also, maybe the coopers yeast isnt so good for an IPA? Try the same recipe with an english yeast, and see if the results vary. Nice body and good carbonation.

Berapnapods Witbier - Quite a pale colour, and pretty fiery carbonation, though I think this is a hallmark of the style. I could detect a little aroma from the orange peel and coriander seed, and the taste was quite tangy and refreshing. I had only had one witbier before, in the states after a glass each of RIS and a double IPA, so was quite looking forward to this one. Very smooth, quite well balanced and it certainly didnt taste like a 5.5%. Are witbiers fermented at low temps? It was medium to low bodied I think, but full of flavour, and after a hot day at work, I found it to be delicious. Its hard to pick a favourite amongst this lot of beers, but this one is right up there. The girls at my house have decided this is the one they want copied for "their" beer, but I doubt they will get to drink much of it! Perfect summer beer, I reckon, very well done. About to go back through this thread to find the recipe, so if ya havent posted it, could ya please do so?

I am heading away for a few weeks over xmas, but look forward to trying the rest of the brews when I get back (and stealing as much yeast as possible!)
All the best and merry xmas/happy new year
Trent

 

[PostModern]

Is there another good method i can use here where i dont need an airlock? Is it possible to add say 7g dextrose to each bottle and recap, then repeat a few days later?

[post="98741"][/post]​

My method is to sanitise the lid and surrounds, pour the beer leaving the yeast intact, then add about 200ml of cool boiled water to the bottle then recap with a sanitised lid. I then put the bottle into the fridge until I want the strain. Most yeasts can be captured this way, provided there isn't any other wildlife in the bottle already. If there is, you can always tell by the suss smell when you make the starter.

 

[berapnopod]

Berapnapods Witbier - Quite a pale colour, and pretty fiery carbonation, though I think this is a hallmark of the style.

Some of the bottles ended up being overcarbonated and the carbonation shouldn't be that high.

Are witbiers fermented at low temps?

They're fermented at normal belgian temps. My one was at ambient temperature during october/november. That was probably in the low 20s.

The girls at my house have decided this is the one they want copied for "their" beer,

Not wanting to sound sexist or anything, but......

I have found that women tend to prefer the low bitterness beers. I know that my wife likes me to brew this one. So I think the witbier is a good start for trying to get the ladies turned on to good beer :beerbang:

Berp.

 

[redbeard]

a few people have had problems with my xmas case beer. however nothing definitive has been said. couldwe narrow it down a bit:

- the syd water chloromines
- the combination of williamette & cascade
- the yeast was overstressed
- infection
- just dont like the taste
- other

perhaps some (bjcp) judges could put in their 2c worth ?

definitately keeping a bottle for the next comp ;-)

 

[kungy]

Thanks for the feedback berapnopod. Its good to know that despite the stress that i have had about creating a good beer for the Xmas case, that i really can relax about brewing and drinking the resulting beer in the future.

FYI i had a look at http://members.tripod.com/~mksgrist/_vti_h...ff_flavors.html and it could be DMS indeed that your tasting. Nice work, i would have trouble being so eloquent at picking that.

Also i have tried in addition to Kongs beer, Beer Slayers Amber Ale and Docs Kolsch, and they were both very nice beers that to me were very drinkable indeed.

I think the beers we produced are in the big schemes of things quite exceptional and i'm greatly looking forward to unleashing full flavoured and honest beers upon my mates this Friday night. Its something we should be greatly proud of in this online community.

Will

 

[berapnopod]

a few people have had problems with my xmas case beer. however nothing definitive has been said. couldwe narrow it down a bit:

- the syd water chloromines

perhaps some (bjcp) judges could put in their 2c worth ?

[post="98938"][/post]​

Your options have been narrowed down as above - I am 95% sure of this.
Thats 2c from this bjcp judge

Berp.

 

[Trent]

Redbeard
In my opinion only, I would say it was an infection, but then again, I have no real idea of what chloramines taste like, and Berapnapod sounds like he knows what he is talking about, so I will probably go along with his judgement. Last weekend I brewed a double batch (45L) of APA, using an "emergency" stash of dried US-56. Yeast died or something after pitching, and after 36 hours or so I thought I could detect a faint infection taste, at 48 hours it had gotten stronger, there was no krausen, but a strange foam on the surface that the bubbles seemed to burst in slow motion, and the gravity had dropped 3 points. It was gonna get worse, so the whole lot went down the drain. . About 3 hours later, I opened your beer, it had the same aroma and flavour as the beer I had just turfed. That is why I think it was an infection. Whatever it was, there was something fairly wrong with my bottle, I just didnt wanna sound like I was bagging out your effort. You asked for specifics, though, so I found it almost medicinal, extremely tart, but not in a good way, with a flavour that tasted infected. I am sure your sanitiation is up to scratch, and the fact it wasnt overcarbed rules out a gusher bug, so maybe Berp is right. Everyone brews a dodgy batch from time to time (or at least I do), it just sucks it was for the xmas case. I am sure your next addition will be alot better, and I look forward to trying it.
All the best
Trent

EDIT - Redbeard, have you tried it since you read the reviews, and if so, how did you find it? Did it taste OK, meaning some of us got dodgy bottles, or were you asking for specifics so you can avoid that problem for next time? T.

 

[berto]

Gough's Cleanskin Amber Ale

Poured well from the bottle to the glass with a nice head forming. Setlled reasonably quickly, however a solid ring has remained to the bottom of the glass, so pretty good retention there.
Colour seems pretty dark to me. Kind of a Newcastle brown type of colour. Possibly what its supposed to look like im not sure.

At first, had a big bitter hit to the mouth with plenty of hops. Dont know how to describe this, but there was no taste at the back of my mouth. Took another swig, and another just to be sure, but there was nothing. As a result, wasnt enjoying it all that much id have to say. but about a minute after putting it down had a wonderful taste left in my mouth. So took another moutful. Same again. Did this up until now. Nearly at the end, but since it has warmed, that taste is now at the back of my mouth, and it tastes sensational. Obviously the fridge is too cold for this style beer. With it that bit warmer it is a fantastic beer, but it still isnt that warm. SUch a fine line we tread.


Cheers, Rob

 

[Darren]

Nothingf like a bit of hops in the mouth. Can hide anything

 

[Trent]

Borretts Mild
Poured a nice dark colour, but was overcarbed for the style, as others have pointed out. Suited the term mild in nearly all facets, there was nothing overpowering about the beer, quite a nuetral taste, but still plenty of flavour (if that makes sense). Very full bodied for a low alcohol beer, my only complaint would be (like I have noted on some of the other beers) is the yeast flavour seems to be a little strong, but that is most likely my sensitivity to a certain type of yeast, it only ever seems to happen to English ale strains (1968, WLP 013, and now this). That said though, it is much les predominant that it was in Jase's APA or my strong ale that I tried tonight. I must admit, that I made a mild a few weeks ago that is very average (and thats being really nice about it), this one is the only other mild I have tasted, and I find it to be excellent. I think that mild's just arent gonna be quite my cup of tea, but this was a really good beer, and I enjoyed it alot. I think this was one of your first few attempts at AG Borret? Very well done, mate. And thanks also for the extra ya threw in the case.
Thanks also to Doc for his extra aswell, though I havent downloaded the software that will let me view anything, I look forward to checking it out after I get home.
All the best
Trent

 

[Darren]

Great to see the philanthropy of home brewers. Wish I had the patience to bottle and contribute to the SA case.
good work guys

cheers

Darren

 

[berapnopod]

Borret's Mild

Aroma: Malty nose, a hint of roasted grains, a hint of chocolate. Some hops in there as well.

Appearance: Beautifully clear, deep rich red colour, thick lasting head of tan bubbles.

Flavour: Initially a hint of hops in the flavour but quickly turns into a decidedly malty flavour which is caramelly and creamy. Finish is not too dry and just short of being cloying, as it should be. Low bitterness is just right for this style, it keeps the beer from being too sweet, but does not play an upfront role.

Mouthfeel: light body - quite thin, but thats what you expect for a mild. Very creamy mouthfeel.

Overall: A good example of a mild, with the rich malty backbone and well balanced thin body and light hops. Perhaps the carbonation is too high for this style, but I don't feel it detracts from this beer. Nice one Borret!

Berp.

 

[Stuster]

I also had your beer tonight, Redbeard, or at least a few sips of it. I recognised the taste immediately as I have recently made a beer which tastes exactly the same.

In my case, I am pretty sure it is not chloramines. I made a 30L batch and split it into two fermenters, 3L starter was split between them. One batch came out fine, the other had that medicinal taste which yours has. Sorry that this happened to be your Xmas case, but you are not alone.

 

[berapnopod]

I also had your beer tonight, Redbeard, or at least a few sips of it. I recognised the taste immediately as I have recently made a beer which tastes exactly the same.

In my case, I am pretty sure it is not chloramines. I made a 30L batch and split it into two fermenters, 3L starter was split between them. One batch came out fine, the other had that medicinal taste which yours has. Sorry that this happened to be your Xmas case, but you are not alone.

[post="99168"][/post]​

Hmmm. You'll note that I did leave my self a 5% squirm-out clause. h34r:
I guess theres no way to explain how you would get cloramines in one wort and not the other. So it must be an infection. But the aroma is very similar to chloramines.
The other confusing thing was that it only happened to me with cascades. Stuster, can you tell me what sort of beer you made that had the problem?

Berp.

 

[Weizguy]

Just advising that the Medowie Weisse from the Teninch brewery is now carbonated (as of this morning).

There is a slightly cheese-like aroma that I will blame on the Lactobacillus, but the flavour is OK. Slightly tart, dry and spritzy, and quite pale.

Serve it in a wide chalice, if U have one. Maybe test a small portion with some raspberry or other syrup (GI Lime, ? ha ha ha)

I look forward to how everyone reacts to this beer. I got feedback from the the State comp that I had phenolics in it. I couldn't taste 'em, but there was plenty of sour or tart lactic flavour on a dry background.

Let me know what u get out of it.

Big Seasonal cheers to all, and especially case contributors.
Big ups to Doc, whose gift plays well in my new DivX-supporting DVD player on the big telly. Just great!

Santa Seth