Not so Robust, but Pretty Brown.

A few weeks ago I posted about a Porter I brewed. I think the beer came out well and folks who've tried it have enjoyed it. But its not as robust as I expected based on a previously batch. The first time I made this beer it was pretty roasty and even borderline stoutish. As it aged the roastiness faded some and it became a truer robust porter. A nice beer overall.

To compensate for some of that roastiness this last batch, I decided to add the roasted grains toward the end of my mash to extract the color but maybe not as much roastiness. Mission accomplished. However, I don't believe I have a robust porter anymore.

I plan to enter this beer in my club's next competition . To see if it fit the Robust Porter category, I did a side by side comparision with Smuttynose's Robust Porter. Right off the bat, I can smell that the Smuttynose was much roastier. The head was also much tanner even though the color of the beer was near identiccal. To the BJCP guidelines I went.

On reading the Robust Porter guidelines it was clear to me I should not enter this beer as a Robust Porter. The Brown Porter guidelines though seemed very close. In reading the Comments section of the Brown Porter, it actually highlighted the differences I was seeing in the two beers side by side.

I've learned two very important things from this batch of beer.

1. Minor tweeks in your mash schedule can have signficant impacts especially when using dark grains.
2. If entering a competition, be sure to enter a beer into the category of the style the beer finished as, not as the style it was intended .

Having judged several competition, I've seen how people ignore #2 because of either, not knowing, not caring or just being flat out being stubborn since they planned their beer to be a certain style. I've put in the comments section, "would be better in 'X' style category". I've seen it in Porters and with IPAs. Either the Porters are more brown than robust (like in my case) or the IPA's come up short on hop aroma (maybe Pale Ale vs. IPA?).

I know if I entered this beer as a robust porter I'd get dinged for not being roasty enough. So as a competition tip, enter your beer in the category the finished beer as, not in the style you may have intended to brew. Some categories have fine line.

Awards in Back to Back Competitions!

Coming off of my third place medal for my Cream Ale in the light hybrids category at Dayton Draft's Brewfest, I got another 3rd place award for my Munich Helles in the light lagers category and Honorable Mention for my Black Lager in the dark lager category at CMI's Oktobersbest competition. I was happy to be able to place in my clubs competition!

The funny thing about the Munich Helles is that a day after the competition I went to take a pint off the tap, I was able to get 1 pint and another few drops out before the keg was kicked! I was so close to not being able to enter that beer. I'm glad I did!

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
----------------
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!

BJCP Tasting Exam

Today I took the BCJP tasting portion of the exam. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I feel we were lucky in the fact that we got all beers that were reasonable and you can take a good guess if they are in style even if you didn't know all the specs from the style guidelines.

Gordon Strong was one of the two proctors/graders. So yes, my score has to be in line with Gordon's score for me to pass.....ugh. The proctors spent time with us after to discuss what they thought of the beers and their scores. I think I did fair. I wrote a lot on each one, so even on the 1 that I didn't score in line with them with I hope that I'll get a fair amount of credit for talking about various aspects on what I did pick up.

My issue is diacetyl. I have a blind spot for it. While other folks in the room thought this Irish Red was a diacetyl bomb, I just picked up mainly caramel. I actually found it nice and scored the beer pretty high. The proctors did say it went back and forth for them as the beer sat between too much diacetyl and caramel. I'm hoping I get some credit for talking about the caramel.

Oh well. Its done now. Now I wait for months to get scores back.

Either way, this entire experience has been great. I've learn a lot about the brewing process and mainly about controlling flaws. Pass or fail, I'll be able to take that knowledge into the brew sessions and that is exactly why I did this process.

CMI Oktobersbest 2011

Last night was my first CMI Oktobersbest Competition. I entered 3 beers (Cream Ale, APA & Milk Stout) and unfortunately I didn't place with any of them. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed after coming off my first place Amber Ale at Dayton DRAFT's BrewFest. However, the real reason I enter is to get feedback. And so far that feedback has paid off. I've entered that Cream Ale into two competition now and my score increased from 29 to 35. I'll keep working that recipe until I either win something or my score doesn't improve.

The highlights of the evening were the special guests. Three time Ninkaski winner and author Gordon Strong stopped by to judge the competition as well as hang out for the award ceremony. I wish I would brought my copy of "Brewing Better Beer" for him to sign.

(Gordon Strong - center)

Besides Gordon Strong, Greg Koch, CEO of Stone Brewing company was in town on this book signing tour and stopped by to give out some of the awards. He was there only a short time but it was pretty neat for him to stop out. We took a CMI group picture with him and I hope to get a copy of that.

Overall a good evening. Another great competition to enter if you are looking for one. It continues to grow and I can't wait to see what they do next year!

Learning from Critiques

Finally got a hold of my scores from the Dayton DRAFT Brewfest '11.

I received a 32 for my flight winning Amber Ale. The highest score a 34, the lowest a 30. Both judges seemed to really like the beer. One said he would have liked a little more hop aroma, the other a little more malt aroma. You can't please everyone...hehe.

My Cream Ale, which didn't place, got a 29.6, with a 32 for the highest score and a 28 for the lowest. They all seem to like the beer, but I got dinged for little to no carbonation. I'm actually OK with that. Since the flavor was liked, that tells me I brewed the beer well. I can always fix carbonation for future contests. I actually plan to reenter this one in CMI's Zinzinnati Oktobersbest and make sure have better carbonation. I have high hopes for it!

Overall, I'm very happy with the scores and critiques I got from my first competition. I'm hooked to compete more!!

Winner, Winner Amber Dinner!

Today is a very proud day for me in my efforts to become a better brewer. I found out today that I came in first place in the "Amber Ale" flight at the Dayton DRAFT's 2011 BrewFest! I'm so excited! I also entered a Cream Ale, but unfortunately that didn't place. But to have my first contest end with at least one beer in a first place finish is so rewarding!

The interesting thing about this win is that I won on the Amber Ale, previously posted, which I considered dumping early in its life. Again, it teaches me and it should teach you that as long as a beer is not infected that you should give it time to see how it turns out.

I'll get my score sheets this weekend. I'm excited to read the critiques on both beers.

I'm already planning to enter another competition next month with two different beers.