Collaborative brew and bottle swap

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

bit of backround info re styles
cream ale
https://www.bjcp.org/style/2015/1/1C/cream-ale/

“A clean, well-attenuated, flavorful American “lawnmower” beer. Easily drinkable and refreshing, with more character than typical American lagers.”

What the heck is a lawnmower beer?

 

[moto748]

I'd guess a 'thirst-quencher'? But it seems a clumsy term.

 

[Donegal john]

“A clean, well-attenuated, flavorful American “lawnmower” beer. Easily drinkable and refreshing, with more character than typical American lagers.”

What the heck is a lawnmower beer?

I would imaging it means “generic boring cold thirst quencher Americans like to drink when cutting the grass”

 

[Broken Toe]

I have a small lawn, so that would be ideal! I've always gone for an imp stout to this point for it and the flower beds have taken a hammering.

I can see myself posting out maybe five bottles (£15) but probably not ten… (well not several times a year anyhow)
Maybe by having some sort of regional aspect to the groupings if a lot of people want to participate?

I'd be inclined to agree with TETB with this.

 

[Alastair70]

Just one thought from a practical perspective: might need to keep the ‘rounds’ to a certain size so as to keep the postage costs within reason.
I can see myself posting out maybe five bottles (£15) but probably not ten… (well not several times a year anyhow)
Maybe by having some sort of regional aspect to the groupings if a lot of people want to participate?

To keep it manageable smaller groups would swap, I'd thought 5 would be the maximum, so you're only posting 4 bottles. And if anyone can swap in person it makes sense to have them together.

I'd be tempted, but my issue is that I tend to plan several (probably 5 typically) brews ahead and get a bulk order of ingredients in. How far ahead do you intend to plan - e.g. if doing quarterly you could publish a schedule such as Jan cream ale, Apr Belgian blonde, Jul best bitter, Oct stout?

Let's go with that then. Aim for 4 brews with 1 per quarter in that order.
January - Cream Ale
April - Belgian Blonde
July - Best Bitter
October - Stout

We can sort out swaps once the brews are done.

 

[Donegal john]

I can go with that. Small batch cream ale and bitter though as not my favourite styles.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Works for me too

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Works for me too!

 

[Nottsbeer]

Sounds good. Interestingly, stumbled upon the GH Cream Ale (Pg 196) recipe lastnight whilst looking for a Bock recipe. Before reading this thread I would never have stopped at the page....but it sounds very nice. Will have to get organised so I can brew this in Jan - limited brewing space in my very disorganized shed

 

[Lodinisr]

Came here looking for some people to do a bottle swap with but this sounds like a great idea. The thread went quiet on 26th October, but is this still going ahead?? I’d love to participate if not too late. Is everyone still planning to brew their Cream Ales in Jan?

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Came here looking for some people to do a bottle swap with but this sounds like a great idea. The thread went quiet on 26th October, but is this still going ahead?? I’d love to participate if not too late. Is everyone still planning to brew their Cream Ales in Jan?

I'm hoping my hops arrive tomorrow, I'll hopefully be brewing my cream ale on Thursday.

 

[Broken Toe]

Jan information can be found here.

In case you missed the chat earlier in the year the idea is simple. A few times a year a crowd of us research a recipe for a style of beer that caught our attention and brew it. A couple of months later, the brews are swapped in groups of 4 or 5. Then you get to see how your ideas and execution measure up to some of the other brewers efforts.

First up is Cream Ale, a lighter American Ale; crisp, thirst quenching and refreshing, it’s described by BJCP as a ‘lawnmower’ beer.
Swaps are aiming for last two weeks of February when we can share our thoughts on both the style and what factors made the good beers stand out.

If you want to get involved, there’s plenty of time to think about recipe design, plan a brew day late December or early in the new year and have 6-8 weeks for fermentation and conditioning. Once brewed, post your recipe and we’ll work out swaps once all the brews are in.

Next up will be Belgian Blonde in the springtime.

You can brew however you want as long as the end result is according to style, BJCP style guide here.

Some of us have started. Some are getting there's in for Jan. I'm sure to package mine later this week. Provided I didn't get the temp wrong...

 

[Alastair70]

Cream Ale lends itself to a quick turn around. I brewed on Christmas Eve, and if I wasn't sharing it out to more discerning palates, it would be going into a keg tomorrow!

 

[RichardM]

I've worked on a recipe, have the ingredients but haven't set a brew date yet. It should be soon though.

 

[Lodinisr]

I’m pretty sure I could get a recipe organised and the ingredients in to brew in the 1st week of Jan. I’ll crack on!

 

[Nottsbeer]

Almost forgot about this. Recipe now sorted, so this will be first brew of the new year. Looking forward to the challenge of this, and have no idea how it will turn out!!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Brewed mine on thursday, did we have a definitive date for sending these out?

 

[Lodinisr]

Brewed mine yesterday. Quite a straight forward recipe but having not brewed a cream ale before I wanted to keep it true to style.

I’d be really interested to see the recipes others have gone with, anyone willing to share?

Here’s my Greenbow Cream Ale
Brewfather

Thoughts and comments welcome.

 

[Lodinisr]

Brewed mine yesterday. Quite a straight forward recipe but having not brewed a cream ale before I wanted to keep it true to style.

I’d be really interested to see the recipes others have gone with, anyone willing to share?

Here’s my Greenbow Cream Ale
Brewfather

Thoughts and comments welcome.

Seems the share function on Brewfather is still playing up, here is a screenshot of the recipe.

 

[Alastair70]

I’d be really interested to see the recipes others have gone with, anyone willing to share?

One of the ideas behind this to share both recipes and the beers brewed. We‘ll all get a selection try out then comment back on what seemed to work and what didn’t.
Cream Ale is turning out to be a good first choice for style. I don’t know if any of us have brewed one before, and for an outwardly simple beer there is a wide variety of options in recipe design.