Award Drought is Over!

I don't brew to win awards, but when I do it feels good! Though it was a few weeks ago already, my Cream Ale took 3rd Place for the Light Hybrid flight at the Dayton Draft's Brewfest! It was this same competition that I took my first (and only) award with last year and I haven't placed since. So its nice to have the drought over.

Funny thing is that the Cream Ale was my lowest scoring of the 3 beers I entered. I don't have score sheets back yet, but I was able to get a sneak peak into the final scores to see how the other beers scored. I can't wait to see the feedback I got to see how I can improve. I enter competitions to get feedback!

The other funny part about this cream ale is that it was the first time with this recipe. I tried to take on the SMaSH approach. Cream Ale's are supposed to be "simple" yet flavorful. My previous recipe had some crystal malts for color, etc and those are not really needed. So I really trimmed the recipe down to the basics. I was really happy with the results. It was a slighty variation of a Jamil recipe.

Here is what I did for a 5 gal batch

Grain Bill
----------------
4.25 lb American 2-Row (42.5%)
4.25 lb Pilsner (42.5%)
1.50 lb Flaked Corn (15%)

Hop Bill
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0.50 oz Cluster Pellet @ 60 Minutes
0.50 oz Hallertau Pellet @ 5 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 150°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 63°F with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale

I'm now a BJCP Judge!

After nearly 5 months of waiting, I finally got my BJCP tasting score and I passed. Barely, but I passed. So I'm now a Recognized BJCP judge. I have a big problem detecting diacetyl and I know I got dinged heavy one beer for that.

Not going to have to wait too long to break in the new rank as I'm heading up to Dayton, OH this weekend to judge in the Dayton Drafts Brewfest. I won my first award at this competition last year so I'm excited to be a part of the judging this year.

Hopefully I can blog this weekend that I took another award!

First Hop Harvest

So after 2 years of growing I had my first hop harvest. It was a very small amount, just 0.4 ounces of Cascade after being dried, but I'll take it. Just enough to add to a beer and say I used my own hops to suppliment.

 

I had a few hop cones on my US Tettnag, but they ended up dying in the heat. I'm hopefully that what I learned about the plants this year that I can do much better next year!

DIY Stud Finder - I Know, Not Homebrew

Ok, so I know that this post isn't related to homebrewing, but I came up with the idea because of homebrewing so I figured I'd share.

A few years ago while putting up some baseboards I put a nail right through a water line (which homebuilder had WAY to close to dry wall) and I had water shooting into my bathroom. Calling a plumber on a Sunday wasn't cheap. Since then, I've been a little gun shy about putting nails in the wall where I suspect pipes may be. Well I just replaced all the floors in my house so I also had to replace all the baseboards. I debated going out and buying a stud finder but I didn't want to spend the money.

I then had the idea that maybe I could just use a magnet to find the nails in the studs. The stronger the magnet the better. Then the light bulb when off. I had the earth magnets that I took out of hard drives to build stir plates (yes, here is the homebrew connection). They worked perfect. I'd pass them over the wall and the magnets would have a strong pull to the nails in the drywall and just hang there.

So if you got an old harddrive laying around, take out the earth magents and you'd have yourself a free stud finder.