Xmas In July Tasting - VIC

[Nullnvoid]

Pretty sure I haven't got around drinking it yet either. Pickup could be Cockatoo or Clayton if either of those was convenient.

Willing to give it up for the good cause

 

[MartinOC]

Thanks, Guys. I need to get it to another Committee member in Boronia, so Paul's offer would seem to be the perfect solution.

Paul, I'll PM you.

 

[Grainer]

If I have mine, you can grab it.. there are more comps soon that could be entered..ill check for u, Porters get better as they age

 

[AJ80]

I know it's kind of selfish Martin, but I'm glad I drank mine weeks ago - it was a very delicious drop!

 

[MartinOC]

I know it's kind of selfish Martin, but I'm glad I drank mine weeks ago - it was a very delicious drop!

No problems, sport! I intended for it to be drunk. It was only that I found a bottle in my own swap crate (& being convinced to become a WortHog to score points for the "Barney" that I entered it at all. My own stupid fault for not holding onto more bottles for myself...

Glad you enjoyed it

 

[AJ80]

Sorry - should have added good luck for the nationals!!

 

[Grainer]

Sorry must have drunk it

 

[AJ80]

7. Mick (mofox1) - Citra APA.

Nice beer mate. Very slight fruit on the nose and am concerned I might have left this one too long to drink (faded hops?). For me, this tastes and looks more like an English amber ale than an APA and I wouldn't be surprised if you went reasonably heavy with the speciality grains (both colour and flavour lead me to this). Carb was a little high on opening, but settled down quickly. Still, a very tasty brew.

 

[mofox1]

7. Mick (mofox1) - Citra APA.

Nice beer mate. Very slight fruit on the nose and am concerned I might have left this one too long to drink (faded hops?). For me, this tastes and looks more like an English amber ale than an APA and I wouldn't be surprised if you went reasonably heavy with the speciality grains (both colour and flavour lead me to this). Carb was a little high on opening, but settled down quickly. Still, a very tasty brew.

Spot on... I'm gradually learning restraint! The last couple of brews have have only a dash of crystal.

I'm drinking the very last one at the moment, and loving it.

 

[Mardoo]

I concur. I really enjoyed your beer Mofox1. Easy drinking and moreish. Could have easily had a couple pints. There was this great spiciness to it to my palate. Do you know what that was and how you got it?

 

[Grainer]

Love Citra hops

 

[AJ80]

Spot on... I'm gradually learning restraint! The last couple of brews have have only a dash of crystal.

I'm drinking the very last one at the moment, and loving it.

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As per your photo, this was a very pretty beer. Quite sessionable too...shame I only had one

 

[DU99]

Recipe

 

[mofox1]

Certainly.

50L batch, split between two fermenters. One dosed with clarity ferm, the other not. You got the not.

Batch: 50L
OG: 1.050 (actual)
FG: 1.016 (actual)
ABV: 5.0% (bottled)
SRM: 13
IBU: 45
Yeast: WPL008 - East Coast Ale.

3.0kg Briess Bavarian Wheat LME
3.0kg Briess Pilsen LME
1.5kg Briess Golden Light LME
425g Caramunich III
325g Caramalt
300g Crystal 30
100g Roasted Barley (Simpsons)

15g Citra (14% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
25g Cascade (US) (6.9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
20g Citra (14% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
20g Cascade (US) (6.9% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
15g Citra (14% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
15g Cascade (US) (6.9% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
5g Citra (14% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
5g Cascade (US) (6.9% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
30g Citra (14% Alpha) @ 10 Days (Dry Hop)

Grains were steeped @ 70 deg for 30 min.
Hops boiled in 6(?)L sweet wort from grains and 1.5kg extract.

 

[technobabble66]

Finally getting around to posting some of the reviews i've done:

#1 - Yob’s APA

Appearance
Tight fluffy white head.
Deep golden
Fine lacing

Aroma
Nice light, full tropical fruit aroma. Maybe a slight resin element.

Flavour
Dry, full flavour. Heavily carbonated.
Decent hoppy flavour - tropical elements again, with possibly a slight hint of piney resin.
Golden grainy malt flavour. Interesting hint of sweetness from the malts or hops, maybe, but still has that crisp dryness
No yeast elements, but that could be me.
Strong bitterness, but nice and smooth. Somewhat lingering bitterness.

Mouthfeel
Light & dry, but a full, thorough flavour throughout the experience

Overall
Great beer. Bang-on for an APA i would’ve thought. Light but full, crisp malt flavour (bit of munich poking through there?), with a great tropical fruit aroma. A whisker high on the bitterness for my preferences (expected!). Highly sessionable. Would love to see the recipe as a guide to APAs.

 

[Grainer]

PHEW.. Just got through 24 bottles of my brew club swap..now for the rest of the AHB ones...

 

[Grainer]

Hopefully the right beer...

13. Damn - English IPA

Gorgeous golden beer with great head retention ..just right..
Light for an IPA, was expecting a little more substance. although very sessionable beer with medium bitterness and good carbonation and slight citrus notes.

Overall good but a little underdone for an IPA I think..

 

[AJ80]

Alrighty, time for some belated tasting notes plus one I'm savouring right now:

3. Mardoo (3b) - golden ale:

Wow - really nice and fruity hop aroma and flavour. Slight haze (meh), but refreshing and dangerously drinkable at 6.5ish percent. Very clean ferment and a well balanced beer. Recipe?

4. Technobabble66 - Old Ale:

Unfortunately this was overcarbed, but once it had died down was really nice. To my tastes was more 'stouty' than 'old ale ish', but a nice bitterness and quite enjoyable. Lovely crimson highlights when held to the light.

8. Relaxed brewer - ESB:

Really nice and fruity with plenty of malt backbone. A bit hazy (again, not really fussed by this), but very tasty.

14. DJ_L3ThAL - Chestnut Pilsner:

Delightful fruity new world lager. Really enjoyed this mate. Didn't pick up much chestnut to my tastebuds, but nonetheless this was a really nice beer (I do have a soft spot for these fruity lagers - will have one at the case swap I'm keen for feedback on!).

18. JB - Imperial ESB:

Wow - what a smoooooooooth beer. Tight creamy head which lasted and lasted. Dark and malty, this was a really enjoyable beer (what was the ABV on this??). Perfect balance between bitterness and malt sweetness.

20. Whiteferret - Irish Red Ale:

Another malty beast. Perfect carbonation and great malt flavour - this was really enjoyable.

23. Black n Tan- "The Witches Cauldron" American Imperial Red Ale (partial stein beer):

For me, this was the beer of the swap. Malty and bitter with hints of dark chocolate on the nose. A beer of beauty and I thoroughly enjoyed every last drop.

And right now:

22. Breakbeer - Chai spiced Milk Stout:

Very impressive mate. Tastes like a chai latte crossed with a stout, but done in perfect balance. The spices work really well with the stout. Could I drink a full batch of this? Probably not. Am I enjoying this as a left-field case swap beer? Hell yes. Well brewed.



And that's me done. Took a few months to get through them all, but I have to say gents...every single one of these was enjoyable (not a single glass was tipped down the sink) and I'm very much looking forward to the next swap.

Cheers,
AJ

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Cheers AJ! Agree nut flavour is not apparent at all, was being cautious due to unknown sugars provided by the chestnut meal, would there be any from chestnuts unroasted??
Will brew again next weekend and up from 5% to 20% to see the impact, just had the bridge rd version at the brewery yesterday and you can definitely detect nuts in theirs.

 

[Mardoo]

Well now I'm all blushing AJ80.

Glad to oblige. My computer died and I haven’t yet gotten a new one to mount my backup so I’m working off notes. This’ll be close but some of the specs might be slightly different, but not by much.

I’d back off the dry hopping if I were to make this again. and I would also just use US and NZ Cascade. The NZ gave a floral aspect. I’d also probably cut the dry hopping by at least a third to a half, as the beer had to condition for about 3 months before it lost that chemical astringency from the dry hops. I did hop a bit to excess expecting some aging. I diluted a bit but merely because of system size. As it was a rather minor dilution I don’t think it would affect flavour at all to do full volume.

OG 1.065
FG 1.012
IBU’s 50
90 minute boil

Water specs after mineral additions:
Ca = 80 ppm
Mg = 15 ppm
Na = 20 ppm
SO4 = 140 ppm
C l = 100 ppm
HCO3 = 0.0 ppm

3.25k Maris Otter
3.25k Wey Boh Pils
0.5 k Simpson’s Crystal 40

Mash pH adjusted with acidulated malt
Mashed at 66 for 75 minutes, 72 for 15 minutes, 78 for 10 minutes.

Roughly 2/5 of IBU’s as FWH
Roughly 3/5 of IBU’s as late addition

10 gr. Each NZ, US and Oz Cascade as FWH

10 gr. Each NZ, US and Oz Cascade at 20 minutes

10 gr. Each NZ, US and Oz Cascade at 15 minutes

10 gr. Each NZ, US and Oz Cascade at 10 minutes

Brewbrite and nutrient at 10 minutes

10 gr. Each NZ, US and Oz Cascade at 5 minutes

30 gr. Each NZ, US and Oz Cascade for a 15 minute steep

Added 4.75l frozen boiled water at end of steep and chilled by IC

Wyeast 1056

350 gr. Golden Syrup (boiled) added about 10 points before finish.

PItched at 16 degrees, free rise to 18 and hold. Raise to 20 degrees, hold three days at 20 for cleanup. Slow drop from 20 to 4 degrees (1.5 degrees/day IIRC), dry hops pitched at 10 degrees and then left for 4 days once temp reached 4 degrees.

35 gr. Each NZ, US and Oz Cascade cold dry hopped for 4 days

Racked and bulk primed with Golden Syrup (boiled). I didn't use any clarifiers other than Brewbrite as I didn’t want to chance any hop flavour or aroma being stripped.

I really like this malt bill and am working with it further, FWIW.