Home Brew Competition - February 17

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For me, the whole reason for the competition is to help us all improve our brewing so I think giving tips etc is a good thing and should be encouraged.

That's a good point, and from my perspective as a competitor in other competitions and competitions to come, advice from the judges is welcomed with styles I'm not too experienced in, and those I make often it doesn't make a difference.
 
Well in that case, for those who aren't sure how to make a DIPA or think it needs long conditioning times, it doesn't really. If you've made an IPA before, you can make a DIPA. Because of the higher OG from using more grain, more hops for both bittering and flavour will be needed to balance out the sweet malt flavours. Plus there is a bit of an expectation that DIPAs have more hop character than the standard IPA. I've seen some recipes which use sugar to increase the OG.

If you use an American ale yeast, like US-05, WLP001 etc, it's best to start fermentation slightly cooler than a standard IPA and ferment at 18°C for a few days, then ramp up to 20 if needed. One common off flavour with imperial IPAs is the taste of alcohol in the beer, which should not be present, and is caused by "warm" fermentations. With DIPAs using American ale yeasts, this threshold seems to be lower than usual, hence the cooler temperatures. If you don't have control over brewing temperatures, try to keep it slightly cooler than you normally would keep a FV.

Like in most styles, conditioning can help round off the flavours and also help curb off flavours (like alcohol), but the main flavour of a DIPA comes from the hops, and hops lose their pungency quickly. IF you do condition for a long time, make sure it's during primary or secondary before adding any dry hops. Adding more hops during the brew will give a bigger hop flavour and can help account for any aroma loss.

Happy brewing everyone!
 
There will be 4 of us judging the beer. We all have some experience in beer tasting, one person has had an awful lot of craft beer in their time, another runs brewery tours and tastings in East London etc.

Only received one entry so far, so looks like it won't be a very tough competition! We'll be tasting them first weekend of March on Saturday, and I'll be writing up feedback Sunday.
 
Mines all wrapped up, Just need to run it down the post office in the week:cool:
 
2nd bottle arrived yesterday! In just a day the competition entrants increased by 100%, must be a record.
 
This package has arrived, wondering if it's a homebrew comp entry or something entirely different?

IMG_3331-1.jpeg
 
An entry has come in in a shiny bag and a fliptop bottle, however no details on it. If the entrant could PM me the details that would be great thanks.
 
I have one on the way also. Hopefully it's there. If not should be tomorrow or maybe weds.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
I have one on the way also. Hopefully it's there. If not should be tomorrow or maybe weds.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

I may have received yours, I'll check tonight. Did you send it in a shiny bag with no label?
 
I'll be judging the competition tomorrow afternoon, there will be 6, maybe 7 entries. I'll be giving feedback hopefully Sunday, if not soon after.
 

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