Whats your Beer of the Year?

[HisDudeness]

So thought it might be interesting to hear what peoples favourite brew has been this year, which could also form a list of recommended recipes/kits from members.

If you think that sounds like a good idea post your favourite brew and why and maybe a recipe or link to a thread/recipe with how to make it if applicable.

I will start it off with:

The Dudes Rye IPA

This was a recipe that I came up with myself and I love rye in beers, it was also my first AG brew that I considered a complete success. Its a nice malty slightly spicy IPA with a good fruity kick from the hops. Ticks all the boxes for me!

23l
ABV 6%*
IBU 64
SRM 13
OG 1.054
Fg 1.006*

Grain
Mo 4kg
Rye malt 0.75kg
Crystal 60l 0.3kg
Crystal rye 0.3kg
Caramalt 0.2kg
Torrified wheat 0.2kg

Hops
Nugget 32g @ 60min
Nugget 10g @ 20min
Amarillo 10g @ 20min
Citra 10g @ 10min
Amarillo 10g @ 10min
Cascade 5g @ 10min
Amarillo 25g @ 0min
Citra 25g @ 0min
Cascade 10g @ 0min

Irish moss @ 15min

Yeast: Adnams or US 05

*The Adnams yeast is very attenuative and you will get a higher FG/lower ABV with US05 or similar probably about 5.5%

 

[clibit]

Well I've done 15 AG brews this year, had long busy work periods that were barren. I've enjoyed all my beers I've drunk so far this year (I have two conditioning and two fermenting that are still to be tasted) but I have not really got a stand out, wow! brew amongst them to be perfectly honest.My brewing has been split into two spells, January to April, when I was so hassled at work that my brews were rushed together affairs. And the second spell has been since the end of October, when I left the job.

The beer that I couldn't leave alone, of all the 11 that I've tasted, was the Chinook pale ale. It just worked really well, the blend of UK and US hops, the yeast and the grains. I would have used First Gold instead of EKG if I'd had them, and will make this again with First Gold. The yeast was a revelation to me, a big pleasant surprise. The colour of the beer is lovely. It had a nice sweetness to match the hop bitterness, it was not as bitter as 50+ IBUs suggest, it was well balanced. It was very more-ish, I will use the grain and yeast combo as a base to use different hop combos in future, so here is the recipe:

Batch Size (L): 10.0
Original Gravity (OG): 1.050
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.58 %
Colour (SRM): 8.2 (EBC): 16.2
Bitterness (IBU): 53.0 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 77
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

1.750 kg Maris Otter Malt (84.75%)
0.140 kg Caramalt (6.78%)
0.130 kg Wheat Malt (6.3%)
0.045 kg Crystal 340 EBC Extra Dark (2.18%)

20.0 g Chinook Pellet (12% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes
20.0 g Northdown Leaf (7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes
15.0 g Chinook Pellet (12% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes
15.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes

3 g Irish Moss @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Mashed at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18-20°C with Muntons Standard yeast

If you do use a different yeast, use one that doesn't attenuate much more than about 70%. WLP002/Wyeast1968 for example. WLP005/Wyeast1187. Or Safbrew S-33 dry yeast. Or maybe Windsor.

I have some recent brews that may turn out to be my brew of the year. Just tasted my Fisherman stout, which is a strong contender. The Free Nelson Motueka with WLP006 is developing into a lovely beer. And the Random Red and Random Dark mild will soon be bottled and are tasting promising. I'm hoping the mild will be drinking over Xmas or new year. I've also just bottled a Saison partial mash brew which was tasting promising, used Belle Saison dry yeast.

 

[Joeyriles]

What a great thread idea!

My beer that I couldn't stop supping was the Peter's Particular Stout AG kit from the HBC that I was lucky enough to win. It was absolutely delicious and my grand plans of aging it for winter were short lived!

 

[Dads_Ale]

Favorite of the year has to be my Black IPA.

First attempt at this style and it turned out great IMO.
Only got 2 bottles left :-( so have to brew some more :)

32litre final volume - 5.4%

Pale Malt - 6kg
Cara 3 - 200g
Wheat malt - 800g

90 min mash at 66c

Cara 3 100g cold steep for 30 mins then added to boil with 30 mins to go.

Hops (leaf)
Chinook - 15g - 60 mins

Amarillo - 25g - 15 mins
Mosaic - 10g - 15 mins
Citra - 15g - 15 mins
Irish moss - 5g - 15 mins

Amarillo - 25g - 0 mins
Mosaic - 15g - 0 mins
Citra - 10g - 0 mins

Dry Hop
Amarillo - 30g
Mosaic - 20g
Citra - 20g

 

[Alexislife]

Only just started drinking it but mines probably an Amber Ale I did which I called Burning Amberition, only my 3rd AG brew and super happy with how it turned out. Over ordered on the Northern Brewer Hops (good job they're cheap) so I'll be able to make plenty more in the new year.

Bottled a Simcoe & Citra light session ale last night (3.4%abv) which I'll be trying on Xmas eve so be good to see how that turns out as it smelt great going in the bottles.

 

[Sandimas]

Been brewing 4 years now, in 2015 I finally ventured into AG thanks to Clibit. This has been my best so far, and a use-up recipe I came up with. Came in for quite a bit of criticism on various forums for daring to use too much Crystal (14%) - "you can't do that""!!!! I thought that was the whole point of brewing, a kinda punk ethos - experiment, try something different? Anyway, here it is if you want to try it, and a solid 2 fingers raised to the traditionalists

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 10.0
Total Grain (kg): 2.100
Total Hops (g): 70.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.047 (°P): 11.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.011 (°P): 2.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.74 %
Colour (SRM): 17.3 (EBC): 34.1
Bitterness (IBU): 59.0 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
1.700 kg Maris Otter Malt (80.95%)
0.300 kg Crystal 120 (14.29%)
0.100 kg Cane Sugar (4.76%)

Hop Bill
----------------
24.0 g Cascade Leaf (7.8% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (2.4 g/L)
18.0 g Cascade Leaf (7.8% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1.8 g/L)
14.0 g Cascade Leaf (7.8% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (1.4 g/L)
14.0 g Cascade Leaf (7.8% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (1.4 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with US-05


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

 

[Hops_and_Dreams]

My favourite of the year is my Falconer's Flight IPA. Really recommend this hop if you haven't tried it and I'm definitely going to make another IPA with Pilsner malt on the strength of this one. Could have been even better with US-05 at non summer temps, but the Workhorse still fermented fairly cleanly.

90min Boil
20ltr Batch
IBU 67
Target OG 1055

2500g Pilsner Malt
1000g Light DME
500g Dextrose
250g Carahell

20g Columbus 60min
20g Falconers Flight 20min
30g Falconers Flight 10min
30g Falconers Flight 5min
120g Falconers Flight 0min
100g Falconers Flight 7 day dry hop

1tsp Irish Moss 15min

Rehydrate 20g Mangrove Jacks Workhorse and pitch at 20c.

 

[stevej]

Well I've done 15 AG brews this year, had long busy work periods that were barren. I've enjoyed all my beers I've drunk so far this year (I have two conditioning and two fermenting that are still to be tasted) but I have not really got a stand out, wow! brew amongst them to be perfectly honest.My brewing has been split into two spells, January to April, when I was so hassled at work that my brews were rushed together affairs. And the second spell has been since the end of October, when I left the job.

The beer that I couldn't leave alone, of all the 11 that I've tasted, was the Chinook pale ale. It just worked really well, the blend of UK and US hops, the yeast and the grains. I would have used First Gold instead of EKG if I'd had them, and will make this again with First Gold. The yeast was a revelation to me, a big pleasant surprise. The colour of the beer is lovely. It had a nice sweetness to match the hop bitterness, it was not as bitter as 50+ IBUs suggest, it was well balanced. It was very more-ish, I will use the grain and yeast combo as a base to use different hop combos in future, so here is the recipe:

Batch Size (L): 10.0
Original Gravity (OG): 1.050
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.58 %
Colour (SRM): 8.2 (EBC): 16.2
Bitterness (IBU): 53.0 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 77
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

1.750 kg Maris Otter Malt (84.75%)
0.140 kg Caramalt (6.78%)
0.130 kg Wheat Malt (6.3%)
0.045 kg Crystal 340 EBC Extra Dark (2.18%)

20.0 g Chinook Pellet (12% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes
20.0 g Northdown Leaf (7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes
15.0 g Chinook Pellet (12% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes
15.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes

3 g Irish Moss @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Mashed at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18-20°C with Muntons Standard yeast

If you do use a different yeast, use one that doesn't attenuate much more than about 70%. WLP002/Wyeast1968 for example. WLP005/Wyeast1187. Or Safbrew S-33 dry yeast. Or maybe Windsor.

15 BREWS? i have lost count of how many of your recipes i have brewed :lol:

 

[clibit]

Yeah just 15. I don't think I did any between the end of April and the middle of October. Maybe one or two. Things were a bit mad on the work and home fronts!

 

[Covrich]

This was the year I went AG (only started last year anyway) and I have been really pleased with quite a lot.. Every brew I am taking more steps into other things and learning various styles and hops.. hard to say but the one I am going to just pip ahead of others is my HBC prize teh American DIPA , great kit.. I will certainly revisit that recipe/ or even that kit again..

 

[HisDudeness]

My favourite of the year is my Falconer's Flight IPA. Really recommend this hop if you haven't tried it and I'm definitely going to make another IPA with Pilsner malt on the strength of this one.

Just ordered some Falconers Flight on the basis of this, didn't realise you could get hop blends like this it sounds great!

An honourable mention for my Beer of the year also has to go to Clibits American IRA, its not fully conditioned yet but I have had a couple of cheeky samples and its already an absolute stonker of a beer that I HIGHLY recommend! I made it with Nugget and Simcoe following the recipe here:

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53561 :thumb::thumb::thumb:

 

[TheRedDarren]

Great thread, I will be shortlisting these recipes for the future.
I have to add this one, I hate to sound like a stuck record but it is a blinder!
Merry Christmas and happy new year everyone!

 

[ManseMasher]

An absolute belter. What a difference a yeast makes!!

 

[Hops_and_Dreams]

Just ordered some Falconers Flight on the basis of this, didn't realise you could get hop blends like this it sounds great!

An honourable mention for my Beer of the year also has to go to Clibits American IRA, its not fully conditioned yet but I have had a couple of cheeky samples and its already an absolute stonker of a beer that I HIGHLY recommend! I made it with Nugget and Simcoe following the recipe here:

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53561 :thumb::thumb::thumb:

Yeah, they seem like a bit of a cheat, but they made a cracking beer, so I can't grumble. There's a Falconer's Flight 7 Cs (which is made up of seven hops beginning with c!) that I will definitely try at some point. So many hops, so little time!

 

[clibit]

Yeah, they seem like a bit of a cheat, but they made a cracking beer, so I can't grumble. There's a Falconer's Flight 7 Cs (which is made up of seven hops beginning with c!) that I will definitely try at some point. So many hops, so little time!

Zythos is another American hop blend that gets great reviews. TnT is a German blend that goes for big flavour, and there's currently an English blend called Fusion which uses several experimental hops which aren't being continued.

 

[brisboy]

My best this year has probably been my simplest. Actually, it occurs to me I've been trying to have too much going on in every brew I've made since this one (ie. new malt, new hops, new yeast all at once) and they've all been lacklustre.

"Kiwi Blonde Ale"

4.5 L Batch

1 kg Heidleberg (Kolsch) Malt
10 g Medium Crystal

90 min mash at 65 C

9 g Kohatu First Wort Hop with 60 min boil

BRY-97 fermented at 19 C

OG: 13 P FG: 1.8 P ABV: 6.1% IBU: 23 SRM: 4.39
Ended up having higher OG and lower FG than intended so came out just over 6% ABV but still plenty of malty flavour. Actually had a bit of a hint of honey flavour to my palate which was lovely. I must brew it again when the weather settles down in my part of the world.

 

[Hops_and_Dreams]

Zythos is another American hop blend that gets great reviews. TnT is a German blend that goes for big flavour, and there's currently an English blend called Fusion which uses several experimental hops which aren't being continued.

I'd heard of Zythos, but not the others. Will have to keep an eye out for them, although I do wonder if some of the experimental ones means that they're just not very good on their own. There's an Aussie one too I think?

 

[clibit]

I'm not aware of an Aussie one, but could be.

 

[Hops_and_Dreams]

I was thinking of Fantasia, but clearly dreamt the Aussie part!

 

[clibit]

I was thinking of Fantasia, but clearly dreamt the Aussie part!

Not heard of them before, German apparently. Anyway, soz for thread hijack.