Rich and Dave's Old Speckled Hen Challenge

[Dave1970]

I was going to go for Old Spectacled Ken but it turns out that neither Ken Dodd, Ken Livingstone or Ken Russell are ever photographed wearing glasses...some sort of conspiracy :wha:

 

[rich27500]

See...very boring, in a morland bottle though!

 

[rich27500]

Also I feel the need to point out our different thermometer approach...

 

[Dave1970]

I have one of those too, used it on my first AG & got fed up of squinting at it. Decided that one with nice big numbers was the way forward

 

[Dave1970]

Mine has gone in the bottle today, just need to wait 8 weeks until the taste off. Sample tastes strong, not bad, but needs a bit of maturation time. Label is ready to be printed.

 

[rich27500]

Love that label mate

 

[BrotherMalice]

Have you guys done the taste test yet? How did it go?

 

[rickthebrew]

great post - love to hear the results

 

[rich27500]

We are now waiting for the swmbo's to fix a date...usually very tricky

 

[BrotherMalice]

I see your point :)

let us know how it go's when you do get together :)

 

[puravida]

Well then?? Any follow up gents??

 

[rich27500]

Dave's in France the Leicester school holidays started this week and I think they go away for the duration. Need to sort something in September. Never easy to co-ordinate. The good news is the beer only gets better. I had a bottle that was 8 month conditioned the other day and wished all my beer got that old.

 

[lovelldr]

Dave's in France the Leicester school holidays started this week and I think they go away for the duration. Need to sort something in September. Never easy to co-ordinate. The good news is the beer only gets better. I had a bottle that was 8 month conditioned the other day and wished all my beer got that old.

Lmao.

My name's Dave (prefer David tho), and I'm from Leicester, currently in France too! Small world, hehe

 

[rich27500]

The big taste off is happening this Wednesday

 

[BrotherMalice]

Excellent, will be good to know the results :thumb:

 

[cnelsonplumber]

When Dave's bottles are at 8 weeks maturity we're going to have a taste off.

Sounds like two candidates for the Spring Thing 2013 competition. :

 

[Dave1970]

The taste off has happened!

We compared a bottle of mine, one of Rich's and a bottle of shop bought Speckled Hen.

Results?

Differences between the 2 home brewed versions were, to us very small. On first mouthful damn near identical. If someone swapped one for the other halfway down a pint I wouldn't have noticed. Possibly a slightly stronger, longer lasting aftertaste on my version, but wouldn't say it's better or worse because of it. Our main conclusion was that we're not good enough at beer tasting to tell the difference or properly articulate what differences we can detect.

Given all the differences in the brewday and in temp control during the ferment it's amazing how little difference there is between the finished brews.

On a positive note, the shop bought tasted bland & over sweet compared to either of the home brewed versions.

In summary a score draw between Rich & myself. A victory for home brewing! :thumb:

 

[Good Ed]

how many did you sample? :drunk: :drunk: :drunk: :drunk:

well done :thumb:

 

[Dave1970]

well....there was the 3 pints (between us) for the testing....then Rich was kind enough to bring out a few other brews, all good! Sleepy now though, can't take me afternoon drinking :drink:

 

[rich27500]

Picture's to follow. My conclusion and frankly for me it's 'myth confirmed' is that whatever AG method you use the result is usually great beer and beer shared is always nicer than beer consumed alone!