Norwich Amateur Brewers - Brew Like A Monk (14 October 2023)

[Deadhead]

Congratulations..good work

Thank you! You too!!! Congrats!!

Congrats @Agentgonzo too!

 

[Deadhead]

Top work @MartinHaworth - scoresheets up already!

 

[Stu's Brews]

Congratulations @Deadhead and @dave_77 - great results

Hat tip to @MartinHaworth too for great organisation and comms throughout and super speedy feedback!

 

[MartinHaworth]

A good day. Thanks to all. Results and score sheets all available

Time for beer and bed

 

[MartinHaworth]

We all had a great day. Grateful to all entrants and judges. And of course or sponsors. And the club....

What a joy to work with Dan, the head brewer at adnams, and discuss why that triple tasted of strawberry jam....

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Well done everyone, and a superbly organised comp.
Very useful feedback despite being disappointed with my score. Plenty to learn from!

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Thank you organisers and judges, great job all round.

For my first comp I am pretty pleased with my score, the only thing I'm sad about is they thought my tripel was sweet and under-attenuated when it actually finished at 1.004. It was full-bodied as they said but that doesn't mean it can't be dry too, as my beer proves.

All in all happy though and glad I entered.

Thanks again.

 

[Stu's Brews]

Thank you organisers and judges, great job all round.

For my first comp I am pretty pleased with my score, the only thing I'm sad about is they thought my tripel was sweet when it actually finished at 1.004. It was full-bodied as they said but that doesn't mean it can't be dry too, as my beer proves.

All in all happy though and glad I entered.

Thanks again.

Did you use caramel or crystal malts? Could be that it's a perceived sweetness from those rather than residual sugars.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Did you use caramel or crystal malts? Could be that it's a perceived sweetness from those rather than residual sugars.

No caramel or crystal malt Stu. The only thing I can think of is I used too much malt and not enough candi sugar. Similarly, when using a high malt bill in say an imperial stout, you also get lots of body.

I totally understand the confusion as it's very odd to get a dry, full-bodied beer. But mine is one of them.

Less malt I guess next time and more candi sugar to thin it out a bit.

They said to mash lower next time but it was step mashed at 60, 65, 69. I agree with everything else they said.

If there's something I'm misunderstanding, please let me know.

@Hazelwood Brewery please can I have your two-pence worth?

 

[Stu's Brews]

No caramel or crystal malt Stu. The only thing I can think of is I used too much malt and not enough candi sugar. Similarly, when using a high malt bill in say an imperial stout, you also get lots of body.

I totally understand the confusion as it's very odd to get a dry, full-bodied beer. But mine is one of them.

Less malt I guess next time and more candi sugar to thin it out a bit.

They said to mash lower next time but it was step mashed at 60, 65, 69. I agree with everything else they said.

If there's something I'm misunderstanding, please let me know.

@Hazelwood Brewery please can I have your two-pence worth?

Hmm... Odd then as if it finished at 1.004 it shouldn't have been sweet. If anything that is too dry for a Tripel.

Out of interest, why the triple step mash? I'd have expected a single step at approx. 65degC would have worked fine.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Hmm... Odd then as if it finished at 1.004 it shouldn't have been sweet. If anything that is too dry for a Tripel.

Out of interest, why the triple step mash? I'd have expected a single step at approx. 65degC would have worked fine.

I followed David Heath's advice from his YT video. It's supposed to add complexity. I didn't use the same malt and hop bill though.

Yes I couldn't figure out why that happened, and my hydrometer isn't faulty lol.

Maybe it was the 8kg malt bill

I've sent two bottles out to members and I've three more to send for the belgian swap, so I'll be interested to see what the other members think. Hopefully they'll stick their hydrometers in for me to check.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I followed David Heath's advice from his YT video. It's supposed to add complexity. I didn't use the same malt and hop bill though.

Yes I couldn't figure out why that happened, and my hydrometer isn't faulty lol.

Maybe it was the 8kg malt bill

I've sent two bottles out to members and I've three more to send for the belgian swap, so I'll be interested to see what the other members think. Hopefully they'll stick their hydrometers in for me to check.

I'm willing to test it for you. You know... For science

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

No caramel or crystal malt Stu. The only thing I can think of is I used too much malt and not enough candi sugar. Similarly, when using a high malt bill in say an imperial stout, you also get lots of body.

I totally understand the confusion as it's very odd to get a dry, full-bodied beer. But mine is one of them.

Less malt I guess next time and more candi sugar to thin it out a bit.

They said to mash lower next time but it was step mashed at 60, 65, 69. I agree with everything else they said.

If there's something I'm misunderstanding, please let me know.

@Hazelwood Brewery please can I have your two-pence worth?

Hi Tess. Sorry to not get back to you before now we were all out at the pub yesterday and last night for our youngest’s birthday

OK, if this is the same beer I tasted I thought you might get feedback about it being too sweet in a competition, though it’s a perfectly nice beer.

We already looked into things like mash temps, attenuation, and final gravity so unless your hydrometer is faulty I think you’re left with three things (unless anyone has anything else to add); the malt, Maillard reactions, and the balance of the beer.

I think you used Pilsner and aromatic malt. Assuming the Pilsner malt has not been mislabelled that shouldn’t be sweet. Aromatic malt / melanoidin malt is sweet though and that could contribute to the beer being sweet. You can also get sweetness from a long hard boil through the Maillard reaction. Bitterness is used in part to balance the residual sweetness in beer so if you don’t have enough bitterness you can produce a beer that is perceived as sweet even when it’s dry.

It may of course be a combination of factors. I think I suggested replacing some of the malt with candy sugar and adding some additional bitterness. Did the feedback sheets provide any other thoughts and suggestions we haven’t covered?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I had a shocker. Apparently my beer had notes of burnt rubber from one judge and burnt plastic from the other. WTF!

Obviously, those were not flavours I was trying to develop and weren’t present in the beer I sent off to a competition so something went badly wrong and I need to do some investigation / testing where bottling is concerned.

They did give me a generous 22 points though I suspect that was more out of sympathy - it’s them I feel sorry for if that’s how it tasted! Sorry guys

 

[Agentgonzo]

Burnt rubber is normally an indication of infection? Do you have more in bottles you could try yourself or do you only have it on tap?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Congratulations to everyone that got a placing and particularly @Stu's Brews for a best in show placing - brilliant!

Great effort and organisation @MartinHaworth

Commiserations to those that entered and didn’t get a place, just look at my score to lift your spirits! We’ll get ‘em next time

 

[Agentgonzo]

A while ago @Tess Tickle's Brewery (I think) started a thread about a virtual homebrew club. (Given in not a member of a club I put down thbf as my club )

Looking at the results in the thread above, I think the forum members between us had
1x1st
2x2nd
3x3rd

Which I think would have given us 22 points and put the forum virtual club in 3rd place overall!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Burnt rubber is normally an indication of infection? Do you have more in bottles you could try yourself or do you only have it on tap?

Yes it is but these were new bottles and I washed and sanitised them before use. I also cleaned and sanitised my Boel itap before use. I do tend to flush through with tap water after and although I can’t see that being a problem, I am beginning to wonder.

I only bottled some for this competition, I drank the rest from the keg and it was nice to the end so this is (almost) definitely a bottling issue.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Again, I echo the comments above. Excellent organisation @MartinHaworth. Livestream of results started bang on queue (which I did not expect given you'd all been drinking all day!) And score sheets available within hours (if not sooner!).

 

[Agentgonzo]

Yes it is but these were new bottles and I washed and sanitised them before use. I also cleaned and sanitised my Boel itap before use. I do tend to flush through with tap water after and although I can’t see that being a problem, I am beginning to wonder.

I only bottled some for this competition, I drank the rest from the keg and it was nice to the end do this is (almost) definitely a bottling issue.

That's a shame. Did both judges pick up on the burnt flavours? It does sound like you did everything right. Maybe bottle a fourth next comp just in case so you can compare what they get.

(Just checking... Did you sanitise the caps too?)

I wonder if there was something ready in the beer that could have spoiled it in the few days of warm temperature and agitation whilst it was in the post that you didn't get when it was in your cooled keg?