Vic Xmas Case Swap 2008

[reg]

TASTINGS

 

[hairofthedog]

first off the bat
#2 Mark.M Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale nice drop mark interesting mix of malt & winey hop flavors im not a huge fan of nelson but i think it works well in this beer really good clarity & good head retention :chug:

 

[hairofthedog]

#7 Chris Taylor Mild
well made beer Chris lives up to its name mildly hopped & mildly malty but in saying that its a nice smooth brew with some roasty flavour well balanced good colour & carbed just right i probly should have let it warm slightly to get the flavors thanks mate

 

[hairofthedog]

#23 Johnno APA
looks good smells good & you got it tastes good can taste the crystal & the cascade similar to something id make myself could drink it all night thank Johnno :beer:

 

[Barramundi]

you must be thirsty tonight troy ...

 

[hairofthedog]

#16 Brewmeister70 - Pre-prohibition American pilsner

Highly carbed big fluffy head clear as a bell hop bitterness spot on perfect way to finish a hot day cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Kleiny]

#2 MarkM (summer ale)

Sweet caramel taste and smell clear amber ale, Passionfruit notes and fairly fruit tweaked ale, show cases the nelson sauvin hops
enjoyed this ale other than carb was a bit low so keep it out of the fridge for another week at least



#6 Cummins (Imperial Alt) i hope because it was not marked and its the only one i could figure it would be

Malty/ earthy aroma, brown color with hazy clarity and good retention of head, Flavour was malt driven with a spicey/earthy hop character, slightly fruity, balance great with a medium to full body, dry finish, great carb,

I really liked this beer and would have a crack given the recipe.



#9 Hair of the dog (cumquat wheat)
Clove / malty, spicey nobel hop character, appearence gold and cloudy, good head retention, flavour grainy even balance with spicey herbal hop character, dry finish, body is light and mouth feel very characteristic of wheat beer / slightly dry.

Overall a great wheat beer (coming from a wheat beer lover) i will check the recipe out for this !!!


Hate to be a bit tech but if i do the Vicbrew judge sheets at least the brewer gets an idea of what i think about their beers and possible improvements
im not a judge but trying to conform and give relative feedback

 

[Kleiny]

#7 Chris Taylor (mild)

Aroma is choc caramel with no hop presence, but clean malt, brown hazy look with good head retention, caramel/choc/bready taste with little hop character, sweet but fairly balanced flavour, i would expect from a mild, body almost chewy full, mouth feel creamy, carb low but pleasent to match the beer.

overall a nice beer good balance slighty malty and what i would expect for a mild, cheers chris

 

[hairofthedog]

#11 Fents hallutea ale

nice beer mate i like the noble hop with the pale ale for a change well balanced beer good color good head retention nice malty flavor with good bitterness & just enough hop flavor to carry it cheers mate :beerbang:

 

[hairofthedog]

thank for the kind reveiw Klieny normally i use just cumquates bit stocks were low so had to improvise it tastes a heap better with only cumquates normally use 5 medium sized whole per 5kgs of grain glad you liked it :beer:

 

[Kleiny]

thank for the kind reveiw Klieny normally i use just cumquates bit stocks were low so had to improvise it tastes a heap better with only cumquates normally use 5 medium sized whole per 5kgs of grain glad you liked it :beer:

Thought it was a great wheat beer mate and would love to try some with a full compliment of cumquat

 

[Wardhog]

I'd like to know from all you guys who contributed beers
-What you were going for with your beer? What did you want this beer to be? Not necessarily a recognised style, but some sort of description of what you wanted to make. Eg. "A light summer quencher mildly hopped - something to throw down your throat at high speed" or "a kick-you-in-the-face superstrong stout with high bitterness and big whack of coffee"
-What do you, the brewer, think of it? What's good about it? What's not so good?

Knowing all this beforehand will lead to better and more constructive criticism, resulting in improved brewing. Someone who might otherwise keep quiet about what they notice about your beer might be less reticent about speaking up if they have something already there they can expand upon.

21 - The Great Aussie BlandAle(tm)
I made this trying to make as light and inoffensive a beer as I possibly could, something to win over a VB drinker. It is not meant to have any hop flavour or great amounts of malt flavour. It is intentionally a dull beer.
I did manage to succeed in the light body and zero hop flavour, but it has a grainy sort of a taste to it, and some fusel alcohols as if the fermentation temperature got too high at some point - there's definitely some sort of yeast problem with it. It's also cloudy while I was hoping for a clear beer.

 

[brettprevans]

I havent picked my case up from Maple yet (will have to do that this weekend!).

ok Wardy here's what I was shooting for with mine.

mongrel black bavarian/Schwarzbier - I did a mongrel brown bavarian lager a while ago. ace stuff. more body to it than an ordinary lager and the saaz cleaned the flavours of the darker grain which meant it was great for summer drinking. So I decided to shoot for the Schwarzbier style this time. first batch was infected so this actually turned out to be a real mongrel as I didnt have enough time for a lager. SO ive upped the carbonation in hope of tricking the palate into thinking its lighter/cleaner like a lager even though its an ale. Ive also upped the late saaz hops as i ran out of saaz so i used another noble hop early to add some kick. see if you can guess what hop.

it still needs another 2 weeks I recon before drinking. It was aiming to be something a little out of the box but still within a style

PS - ive only tasted mine out of the fermentor as yet and it tasted good then.....so fingers crossed......

 

[Brewmeister70]

I had never tried to make a CAP before but always wanted to and thought it would be brilliant if I could nail it first shot. Unfortunately, I didn't nail it. This beer was intended to be crisp and hoppy with a sweet corn character to the malt simular to Grolsch but bigger in alcohol and hop character. My efficiency was way down and it is a far smaller beer than the style requires.

The first snag I think was the choice of yeast. Not having used the 2035 and choosing it for freshness from Ross, I got completely the wrong character for a pilsener: This one makes a lot of diacetyl and has a woody finish about it. The second difficulty was using flaked corn for the first time. I don't think it gave the right fresh corn flavours as expected and would probably go with a cereal mash to capture these if I tried to improve this beer.

Still, it's all about learning to make something closer to what's in your mind's eye (or your mind's tongue, to be more specific) I'm glad it went down well with one taster already.

 

[Cummins]

Cheers Kleiny for the positive review, I haven't tried it yet so thats a good sign! And yes, I did forget to number them. I'll try and post the recipe soon.

 

[Quintrex]

Cheers Kleiny for the positive review, I haven't tried it yet so thats a good sign! And yes, I did forget to number them. I'll try and post the recipe soon.

I stuck on numbers for ya, however the sticker could have come off.
:S

 

[tim_mortensen]

12: Australian Pale Ale.

This is my attempt at a Coopers Sparkling ale, so basically a nice bitter quaffer that has a 5.8% kick! I've made a few of them now, so this where it has evolved to.

I was aiming for a beer that is fairly pale, (CSA is a very pale beer when you do a clear pour) so used 98% Joe White Pilsener malt with 2% Caramalt to add a bit of body. Ale malt I found is too dark for the style, and too much crystal adds a sweetness that is not to style.

I wanted good attenuation (CSA is about 1.004), so mashed low, 63C for 90min (single infusion, no protein rest). Ended up with about 1.006 I think, from an OG of 1.049. With this level of attenuation you really need to up the bitterness. (CSA is about 40IBU i think). In previous attempts I was too low on the bitterness, and too sweet. Tried 28, 33 and 36 IBU before settling on 40IBU. Single addition of Pride of Ringwood hops, 60min.

It was no-chilled, and was in the cube about a week before pitching whilst I was building up the starter.

I used the CSA recultured yeast, made up to a 2L starter (poured off and slurry pitched). I fermented at between 18-19C, raising up to 20C for the last few points. I was aiming to get some of the fruityness (pear, bananna) of the yeast without being overpowering.

No fining or polyclar were used (other than whirlfloc), so hopefully the yeast settles (though I mix it up when i pour it anyway!)

I've only tried one bottle of this a few weeks ago, thought it was a bit low on the carbonation, but maybe that's improved now.

Cheers,
Tim

 

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14 - Belgian Pale Ale

I wasn't aiming for much apart from:

a. Try Something New, b. Not Stuffing Up, c. Making Something Drainkable

As this was only my 5th AG (and 9th brew all up) I didn't want to mess around too much. I also used it as a big starter for my Belgian Golden Strong Ale, but I'll have to wait some months to see if that worked out.

Mal

 

[Cummins]

I stuck on numbers for ya, however the sticker could have come off.
:S

I hope that it came off then!

 

[Wardhog]

9 - Hairofthedog - Cumquat wheat

I liked this beer a lot.

Cumquats weren't prominent, no banana or bubblegum to be found, just mild clove and nice spiciness. WB-06? I'd love to taste this beer when made with one of the liquid wheat strains.

Very very easy to drink and highly enjoyable. Well done.