Home Brew Forum Competition Winners 2019. (first, second and third placed)

[Ghillie]

Thanks for the feedback @Oneflewover, delighted with it! And a very well done to @BeerCat and @IainM!

Here is the judging comments:

"Aroma:
Sweet, fragrant, fruity, citrusy. A delight. 10.5/12

Appearance:
Beautiful amber colour. Crystal clear. Lovely fluffy white head and lacing. 3/3

Flavour:
Fruity, flowery, citrus. You got the malt to really sing too - hints of toffee and caramel. Touch of sweetness and a bit of tartness. Balanced bitterness. Delicious. 16.5/20

Mouthfeel: ( sorry, we marked out of 3 rather than 5)
My co-judge described it "gentle on the palate". I get what he means. Carbonation perfect. Body balanced excellently with other aspects of the beer. 3/3

Overall impression:
Excellent, really drinkable. Very well liked by everyone who sampled it. Congratulations! 9/10"

And the recipe:

**Note, the recipe I made for the comp never had lager malt in it, this is a change I have made for the next batch. It was 5.3kg pale malt and 0.2kg caramalt only for this competition's beer.**

Mash temp: 66C for 60 minutes.

Mash out temp: 76C for 10 minutes.

Fermentation temp: 19.5C (0.5C differential) for 3 weeks.

Carbonation: 2.7vols (kegged).

Fined with gelatin at -1C for 3 days.

This was my first time making such an aggressive S04/Cl- ratio, and I think it helps the hops come through a lot more. I'm certain DH adds flavour too, maybe it's the old "an onion is tasteless whilst holding your nose" carry on. But, anyway...

Ca: 119
Mg: 2 (did not adjust)
Na: 25
S04: 250
Cl-: 50

Mash pH: 5.25

Thanks a lot again, delighted with the result

 

[IainM]

Black IPA
21.5L
Mash at 66C, 60 mins
6.5kg Pale
250g Midnight Wheat
100g Dark crystal
45 minute boil
20g Admiral leaf 16.7%AA 45 mins
10g Simcoe pellet 12.8%AA 15 mins
10g Centennial pellet 9.7%AA 15 mins
10g Amarillo pellet 8.9%AA 15 mins
20g Simcoe 5 mins
20g Centennial 5 mins
20g Amarillo 5 mins
15g Citra pellet 9.5%AA 5 mins
64g Simcoe flameout
20g Centennial flameout
20g Amarillo flameout
15g Citra flameout
50g Amarillo dry hop, day 3
30g Citra dry hop, day 3
25g Centannial dry hop, day 3
20g Nelson Sauvin dry hop, day 3
100g Amarillo dry hop, day 7
40g Citra dry hop, day 7
25g Centennial dry hop, day 7
30g Nelson Sauvin dy hop, day 7
28g Cascade lupulin cryo powder, day 7
US-05 x2
1/2 campden, 1g salt, 5g gypsum for a hop-forward beer. 10ml lactic acid to get the pH into the sweet spot.
19L dough in, 16L sparge.
0.9mm gap size for the barley, 0.7mm for the wheat. Added in a good couple of handfuls of rice husks, and I'm glad I did otherwise the sparge would have stuck.
19C ferment

 

[BeerCat]

Lost the recipe but this is it from memory.

No boil hoppy wheat
About 4.2% should finish at 1010.
A permanent haze, crisp, slightly tart, floral , hints of lemon, massive aroma from the keg hop, easy drinking beer.

25l batch
2.5kg Maris Otter
2.5kg UK wheat

mashed at 65c for 1 hour
mashout at 75c 10 minutes
Boil 20g of 7AA hops for 20 minutes in 1.5l of water and add to with wort
Heat combined wort to 75c for 20 minutes and recirculate, Steep 50g of EKG during this time
ferment at 37c with voss yeast for 3 days, drop temp to 14c to dry hop with 75g citra & 75g eldorado for 2 days.
Cold crash for a few days then keg with 50g of citra and eldorado in a hop tube.
Takes about a week for the intense bitterness to mellow and become drinkable.
I carb this up quite high, should have a big fluffy head and lacing. Had no oxidisation problems brewing in a bucket even when using oats.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Results for January - judged by Oneflewover

In third place:
IainM with a Black IPA.
33/48
Lovely complex beer.

In second place:
Beercat with 'Hoppy Nob' a no boil wheat.
36/48
Wonderfully refreshing

And in first place.....drumroll.....:
Ghillie with an IPA
42/48
This was unanimously voted no.1. Even our non beer drinking partners enjoyed it.
I think 'balance' is the key to this beer. Everything works beautifully together. Would love to see the recipe, in particular the water profile .