Paddy's Brewery Challenge

[Gerard_M]

Remember when you did a lap of Mount Panorama in the family Tarago & wondered what it would be like to take a spot on the grid in the big race?

Have you ever screamed down the sideline in a game of Wednesday night touch footy, & thought you could make it in the NRL?

You crack a perfect 7 iron to inches from the flag to take out the nearest to the pin in the RSL Social Club golf day? Pack your bags; next its Tour School and a crack at the Pro-Circuit!

Have you ever brewed a beer that you reckon should be on tap at the local for all your mates to rave about?

This is the ALL GRAIN BREWING comp for you!!

Welcome to the inaugural Paddys Challenge. The aim of this competition is to find an amateur brewer that has a beer that is not only a great beer, but will be attractive in a commercial environment. The beer will be judged on flavour, balance, appearance, & sessionability. The brewer of this precious drop will be rewarded with endless bragging rights. The winning beer will be brewed at Paddy's Brewery in a 600-litre batch & will be added to our range. If you live in Sydney or are willing to travel then you are welcome to be present on brew day. We will crack the first keg on a Saturday night with all your mates paying for the privilege of drinking your beer & listening to you brag.

What are you going to brew?
You are trying to produce a commercially viable beer. The best way to tell if a beer is any good is how many kegs are we selling per week? We are not going to replace a beer that is already on tap. We don't have a Stout, Belgian Ale, Irish Red, Australian Lager, Pale or Sparkling style ale, Kolsch, IPA, Vienna the list is endless. We are looking for a beer of 4.6 - 5% alc/vol.
You can do some homework by coming in & trying a few of our beers. If you need some help just email: [email protected]

Ingredients
Joe White Malts -We are looking for a 100% Aussie grown grain bill!
Hops - Pellets only
White Labs Yeasts only- No dried yeast or cultures from a Coopers bottle etc
We DO NOT use any adjuncts.

Judging
Judging will take place in three [3] stages. Firstly your paperwork. Get ready to fill out a brew & fermentation log. You don't have to fill in every square & if you don't have a ph meter don't worry. Single Infusion mash only. Neatest correct entries will make it through to the next stage, please stay between the lines.
Two tasting sessions will follow. All entrants will have their brew & fermentation log returned with the judges comments attached.
No judges will be allowed to enter the competition.

Bottling
All entries must be in long-neck (640-750-800ml) bottles.
Glass or PET Bottles are fine. Two [2] must be provided.
All entries will be bagged & refrigerated until required for judging


Entries are to be dropped off at
Paddys Bar & Brewery at The Markets Hotel
268 Parramatta Road
Flemington NSW 2129

If you are trusting Australia Post send your entry to
Gerard Meares C/O
Markets Hotel
PO Box 358
Sydney Markets NSW 2129

Entries Close Sat June 25th

Entry forms will be up on the ndbrewing website soon

 

[nonicman]

Would you accept Wyeast?

 

[johnno]

Would you accept Wyeast?

[post="52931"][/post]​

And Powells malts?

 

[Gerard_M]

The reason I have stated which grains & yeasts we use is to avoid a situation where a guy says "Yeah but they used the wrong yeast & ruined my beer".
We don't use Powells Malts at Paddy's. Nothing against their grains, I have used the stuff Grant has sent me for some pilot brews at home. They just don't have a distributer up here. This makes it difficult for us.
We use JW Malts because we have a very good set up where we only order in grain as we need it. We do not have a suitable grain storage area, so we get a delivery the day before we brew.
We use White Labs Yeasts. We are happy with the results we get, and have a great supply of fresh vials available when we need them.
Cheers
Gerard

 

[Ross]

Surely for the sake of the entry a wyeast could be used??

Nothing to stop the brewery using the Whitelabs equivalent - Surely, you wouldn't know the difference anyway?...

 

[kungy]

Why not compromise. How about using Wyeast which have a relatively clear Whitelabs alternative.

Eg WLP001 American Ale and Wy1056

Whilst this is clearly a logical match, i think it would be possible to find a match for some of them. So possibly limit the range of Wyeast to those with a worthy Whitelab substitute and allow the entire Whitelabs yeast to be used.

Will

 

[Gulf Brewery]

Folks

I think you are missing the point here. Gerard is looking at doing a commercial beer with the ingredients that he has ready access to. Just a small variation is going to prevent him repeating your beer. As in all competitions, there are restrictions, and in this one, the ingredients have been specified.

I don't think it would be too hard to brew with the ingredients specified.

Cheers
Pedro

 

[Tony]

JW malts ans WL yeast it is

Can we enter more than one beer?

This sounds like more of a chalenge than the mash paddle.......... what to brew :blink:

I like it.

im going to ring NDBS tomorrow about the entry forms

I love brewin

 

[Gerard_M]

Great to see some interest in our comp. All the entry details, forms etc are on our website for you to print off
Cheers
Gerard

www.ndbrewing.com.au

 

[jgriffin]

QUick Q, the comp says that you don't have "We don't have a Stout, Belgian Ale, Irish Red, Australian Lager, Pale or Sparkling style ale, Kolsch, IPA, Vienna"

So what do you have on tap exactly? Maybe we could think of something not in that list.

 

[Gerard_M]

We have on tap Pilsner, APA, Amber,Wheat,2 different Choc porters, the Summer Ale best described as a junior IPA, currently our best seller, particularly with guys trying our beers for the first time. In the next few weeks we are brewing a Light beer and an Organic.

There is a heap of beers we don't have, you just have to ask yourself "Can I sell 600 litres of that?"

Best advise I can offer is KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!

Cheers
Gerard

 

[Doc]

Gerard,

You can close the comp and call all entries right now if you like.
I've just racked and taste tested the first beer I've brewed for your comp and she is a ripper.
Fits all the guidelines for the comp which is pretty amazing for the way I normally brew. I don't remember the last time I brewed a beer that was under 5% :lol:

Beers,
Doc

 

[Gerard_M]

Then me & Baldrick miss out on trying all those free beers. June 25 still looks good. We might need to have a tasting night in a few weeks time though as I have had quite a few enquiries.
The Pale Ale, formerly known as The American Pale is back on tap and very popular. Seems that fairly basic ales are popular at the moment.
Cheers
Gerard

 

[Tony]

Ge wiz doc i was thinking the same thing

Just racked "it" from cc and will bottle "it" very soon.

It........... well "its" a secret h34r:

 

[Jim_Levet]

A few questions about the different styles of beers you have & don't have. So I can better understand what I should enter

You have two Choc Porters, one very dark, almost black & the other not really dark. Isn't the darker one pretty close to a Stout anyway?Would you consider a Schwartz Beer?

What happened to the Strong Scottish Ale that is advertised out on the board on Pmatta Rd?

Your Amber is a nice drop, how far away from an Irish Red is it?

The Summer Ale is still on tap in the middle of winter??!! You say it is an IPA, yet its not dominated by strong hop flavours like the 5 Islands IPA. Do you really want another of the same type of thing?

I look forward to your answers
James

 

[Gerard_M]

Gday everyone

Jim has some good questions. As I have stated all along, you need to look at a beer that is commercially viable. Our best selling beers at the moment would be the Pale Ale & the Porter. The Pilz goes a bit slower in winter.

"The Summer Ale is still on tap in the middle of winter??!! You say it is an IPA, yet its not dominated by strong hop flavours like the 5 Islands IPA. Do you really want another of the same type of thing?"

Our Summer Ale has been very popular with people trying our beers for the first time. We aimed for 45 IBU's and kept the whole process very simple. When it came time to send the beers off to the AIBA in Melb we entered it as an IPA and it scored a prize. I have tried quite a few IPA's around the place, and quite enjoy the big hop flavours that some have. Whilst there might be better examples of IPA out there, our version is selling very nicely.

"Your Amber is a nice drop, how far away from an Irish Red is it?"

I would expect a much brighter reddish finish to for this style. I also think our Amber is too heavy on the hops to be thought of as an Irish Red. As the winning brew will be ready to put on tap in late winter/early spring, an Irish Red could be a good bet.

"What happened to the Strong Scottish Ale that is advertised out on the board on Pmatta Rd?"

The Scottish Ale was a great beer. Unfortunately no-one drank it.At 6.5%Alc/Vol it was too heavy on excise. The dark beer drinkers went for the choc porter as it is more user friendly.

"You have two Choc Porters, one very dark, almost black & the other not really dark. Isn't the darker one pretty close to a Stout anyway?Would you consider a Schwartz Beer?"

We usually only have the Choc Porter on tap at Paddy's. The darker version is brewed for Gearins Hotel at Katoomba.It isn't roasty enough in my book to call it a Stout. If I dropped the Crystal, & upped the Roast Barley it would go close.
Schwartz Beer: Go to the Macquarie for that, I couldn't beat their version!


Any other questions just drop me an email, or post them up here.

We will be having a tasting night on June 25th, see you by the Giraffes!
Cheers
Gerard
www.ndbrewing.com.au

 

[jgriffin]

Oh sugar! I just realised that i put a small amount of sugar in my mash paddle beer that i was going to submit, is this classed as an adjunct?

 

[Doc]

The comp got some more publicity today.
The Brew section of the Good Living supplement of the SMH today had the call to all AG Craftbrewers with the comp details.
Looks like Gerard and Baldrick will be doing a few days worth of tasting :lol:

Beers,
Doc

 

[Gerard_M]

Greetings All
Well a few entries have already turned up. Baldrick hasn't been sighted for a few weeks, could be time to go rattle his cage.
On the topic of adjuncts, Sugar is a no-no. I realise that Australian Lager or Ale styles allow for the use of sugar , but we brew all-malt beers so it won't get a run unfortunately. Remember we are looking for a great beer that is commercially viable, that doesn't mean it has to fall inside any style guidelines.
Keep it simple!
Gerard

 

[Gerard_M]

Gentlemen
Saturday June 25th has turned up very quickly & its time to get those entries in for The Paddy's Brewing Challenge. We will be having a $1 middy session at the Brewery this Saturday evening from 7.30pm so you can drop off your entries then!
It is a great chance to catch up with other brewers for a chat & a laugh. :beer:
On tap we will have
Paddy's Pilsner (Special Batch)
Paddy's Choc Porter
Paddy's Summer Ale (IPA)
Paddy's Wheat (Filtered)
Paddy's Pale Ale
Paddy's Amber Ale
Gearins' Dark
Paddy's Chilli Beer - Maybe!
Gerard's Lazy Narfa
In the past we have served Chocolate Mousse or Double Belgian Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwichs with our dark beers, expect more of the same, along with plenty of finger food.

See ya next to the Giraffes!

Paddys Bar & Brewery at The Markets Hotel
268 Parramatta Road
Flemington NSW 2129
(02) 97643500