Vicbrew 2010

[Siborg]

speaking of which: (out of curiosity) when and where is the national comp?

 

[brendo]

speaking of which: (out of curiosity) when and where is the national comp?

Morning of 28/10 - right before ANHC gets going, at William Angliss.

As far as I am aware, I don't think it is an open session - could be wrong.

 

[Maple]

Morning of 28/10 - right before ANHC gets going, at William Angliss.

As far as I am aware, I don't think it is an open session - could be wrong.

It wasn't in 2008, don't imagine that would have changed.

 

[brettprevans]

compared to when i had it lastt ime it was driz-a-bone! (assuming its the same product.)

shit was it? (dry that is). yeah it was the same batch. i better crack open the 2 remaining bottles as they are glass. the keg still tastes the same so it must have refermented. bloody considering it was fine in QLD. no wonder it didnt score as high as I was expecting. it wouldnt have matched the extra info i sent and the flavours would have been off balance.

anyways..

 

[pk.sax]

shit was it? (dry that is). yeah it was the same batch. i better crack open the 2 remaining bottles as they are glass. the keg still tastes the same so it must have refermented. bloody considering it was fine in QLD. no wonder it didnt score as high as I was expecting. it wouldnt have matched the extra info i sent and the flavours would have been off balance.

anyways..

If you will share the recipe, I am sure it would be a big hit at my place! they love bundaberg ginger beer, ginger in their tea.. blah blah... well... I'd love to have a crack at it If nothing else, it smelt oh so gingery (in a great way).

 

[brettprevans]

If you will share the recipe, I am sure it would be a big hit at my place! they love bundaberg ginger beer, ginger in their tea.. blah blah... well... I'd love to have a crack at it If nothing else, it smelt oh so gingery (in a great way).

based on Chappos recipe here - my notes/alterations are here

edit:. just remember that i entered it not as a dry ginger beer but as a mow/med sweet ginger beer. it just didnt turn out that way. it was made during winter and the extra body and sweetness worked a trat. here are my extra entry notes for vicbrew -

This is a Ginger beer with Birdseye chilli added to accentuate the ‘burn’ of ginger and cut through the bigger sweeter ginger beer than traditionally made. This is also a winter version of the beer where the gravity has purposely been halted before terminal FG to leave behind some malt sweetness instead of a dry finishing ginger beer. The use of iron bark honey, brown and dark brown sugars also adds to the ‘malt’ depth making it a more full bodied winter ginger beer.
The beer is made from scratch using 1.6 kilos of fresh ginger, with lemons, bush limes, cinnamon providing the bitterness. The iron bark honey also adds a particular aroma and background flavour that comes from such a strong honey. The higher than normal alcohol content (6%) also contributes to its suitability for cooler weather drinking.
If an underlying base beer style was needed then 18.2 is still the base style as it’s a vegetable beer (ginger) with added spice (ie chilli).

 

[Pennywise]

Bummer - have you got something else that fits in the category that you can enter? You do not have to enter the same beer, just something in that category.

If you have nothing to enter - let the Vicbrew comittee know so that they can invite the fourth placed brewer to enter in your place - need to make sure that the Vics are well represented in the Nationals.

Hope you have something you can put in!!

Brendo

Unfortunatly there is no way I'll get an IPA in, in that time frame, and it still be decent. I'm really pissed with myself because I knew it was a good beer, I just didn't think it was THAT good. Live and learn, always have a few bottles stashed away. I'll send off an e-mail to the comittee and let them know so next spot can enter, we can't have any wasted spots that's for sure. I really can't stop kicking myself. Thanks for the heads up about letting 4th through Brendo, I didn't even think of it :icon_cheers:

 

[brendo]

Unfortunatly there is no way I'll get an IPA in, in that time frame, and it still be decent. I'm really pissed with myself because I knew it was a good beer, I just didn't think it was THAT good. Live and learn, always have a few bottles stashed away. I'll send off an e-mail to the comittee and let them know so next spot can enter, we can't have any wasted spots that's for sure. I really can't stop kicking myself. Thanks for the heads up about letting 4th through Brendo, I didn't even think of it :icon_cheers:

Damn - lessons learnt for next time. Sorry you miss out, but at least another vic will get a crack.

Good luck next year and make sure you drink less

 

[BrenosBrews]

I have one sole bottle left that I was saving to drink while reading the notes on it. Turns out it won 1st in Speciality & now my last bottle is off to the nationals. Oh well. I have plenty of the beer that got 2nd

One last bottle of Saison which got 5th place in Farmhouse/Wild. We won't talk about the others.....

For anyone who is a bit disheartened by low scores don't be. I entered one beer in 2008, an American IPA which came 36th out of 56 with a score of 84, 2009 entered 4 with my best being an American IPA which got 102.5 to get 9th out of 19 in India Pale Ale that. This year it got 9th out of 15 with a score of 96.
The 1st & 2nd placings in speciality were probably in part some luck but it's worth sticking to entering comps to get unbiased feedback. Sometimes the judges sheets are worthless but other times fantastic.

Thanks to the organisers, the judges (espeically the speciality judges), the stewards & everyone who entered. Hope Victoria does well at the AABC!

 

[haysie]

Damn - lessons learnt for next time. Sorry you miss out, but at least another vic will get a crack.

I wish there was a better way. I have to give my spot up to a moonlighter :angry:

 

[haysie]

You obviously didnt see where my hefeweizen placed. :blink:

Very interested to see what the issue was. I had a bottle to compare with whats in the keg atm and they are near identical. The only diff was higher carbonation in the bottled example. I sure as hell didnt think it deserved a score that low. All i can assume is some serious bottle infection going on in my vicbrew entry. 2 weeks out of the fermenter to comp day so it should have been perfect.

Not to worry, always next year. :icon_cheers:

That was the strangest spread of scores I have seen. They either loved it 3-4 times or hated it. Some good brewers got a spanking in that one.. me too.

edit, why all the o/g and f/g details? Its not presented to judges so I dont get it?

 

[manticle]

I wish there was a better way. I have to give my spot up to a moonlighter :angry:

Something along the lines you have already suggested - host the comp well in advance of the Nats.

Otherwise I guess all entrants should put aside two bottles of everything they enter for Justin.

 

[koongara]

well **** me first time in Vicbrew and I got 1st in IPA and 3rd in strong stout. Off to the nationals!

Stout will be ok but the IPA is peaking now and there is no way enough time to rebrew. Any ideas - more dry hops?

Cheers to all the judges, big job done by talented people

 

[brettprevans]

Crap. Just went to have a bottle of my vicbrew Scottish heavy.... Crap it's a RIS! Mislabeled. Hoping I entered the right beer into vicbrew! Lesson to all about labeling properly.

 

[brendo]

Crap. Just went to have a bottle of my vicbrew Scottish heavy.... Crap it's a RIS! Mislabeled. Hoping I entered the right beer into vicbrew! Lesson to all about labeling properly.

We did get a "hoppy Irish Red" entered as a Aust/FES - so if you entered as a RIS then you should have been OK - that was the only beer really out of style in a clear manner.

 

[brettprevans]

We did get a "hoppy Irish Red" entered as a Aust/FES - so if you entered as a RIS then you should have been OK - that was the only beer really out of style in a clear manner.

Ahh that's right u did that cat. You'd know you've tasted my Scottish heavy before. Hanging for the svoresheets.

 

[brendo]

Ahh that's right u did that cat. You'd know you've tasted my Scottish heavy before. Hanging for the svoresheets.

Yeah... your Scottish Heavy is pretty good mate.... for a RIS h34r:

 

[mxd]

We did get a "hoppy Irish Red" entered as a Aust/FES - so if you entered as a RIS then you should have been OK - that was the only beer really out of style in a clear manner.

I think you also started tasting one of the Bocks before it got bought over to the correct table, hopefully it wasn't the Traditional Bock that was 2nd in the category

 

[brettprevans]

compared to when i had it lastt ime it was driz-a-bone! (assuming its the same product.)

Ashoka a thread as any to discuss...

Tried the keg of chilli GB... It's dry. Or just lost the sweetness. Fkn weird and i recon no where near as good as it was when it was younger.... Another lesson for young players.... Gb is a young entry...

Brendo... Screw u!

 

[pk.sax]

I think you also started tasting one of the Bocks before it got bought over to the correct table, hopefully it wasn't the Traditional Bock that was 2nd in the category

Wha Matt??!! I served all the beers on that table, no mixups for the brown ales as far as I remember. Hmnnnnn. I did serve the pilsner ppl a wrong one (too many poured jugs there at the one point :S) by mistake so I was being EXTRA careful