Scoresheet Saturday: Sierra Nevada Otra Vez

In this post, I’m sipping on one of my favorite summer beer styles, Gose. The Westbrook Gose is one of my all-time favorite summer beers. Lets see how the Otra Vez tastes and compared to the style guidelines in the BJCP.


Judge:
Ron Unz
BJCP ID: F0711
Rank: Certified
Beer Name: Sierra Nevada Beer Otra Vez
Category: 27 Historical Beer – Gose
Special Ingredients: None
Bottle Inspection: Ok.
Comments: None

Aroma: 7/12

Moderate-low bread crust malt and wheat aroma. No hop aroma. Low levels of citrus and fruit. Moderate-low acidity which lends to a brightness to the aroma. No diacetyl. No coriander.

Appearance: 2/3

Sierra-Nevada-Orta-Vez-2Dark hay in color. Moderate haze, but ok for style. White head with large bubbles that quickly falls. Poor head retention.

Flavor: 12/20

Moderate-low bread and bread crust malt flavors. Bright citrus up front with hints of lemons and watermelon. Moderate-lower bitterness with no hop flavor. Relatively clean fermentation. Beer is a little on the sweet balance, especially in the finish. Sweetness is slightly cloying. No coriander. Low levels of salt, but ok for style.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium body. Moderate-low carbonation. No astringency.

Overall Impression:
 6/10

I really enjoy the flavors this beer has to offer. The citrus and watermelon-like flavors makes me think this might be better off in a fruit category. This beer is a little sweet for style and is slightly cloying. Mash lower, use some simple sugars, or increase the carbonation. Carbonation is already too low for style The beer also needs a larger more prominent coriander presence. I perceived no coriander. Solid summer ale.

TOTAL: 31/50

Comments: I really enjoyed this beer. Overall I think it’s a little too sweet and cloying for style. The coriander is an important component to a gose. The beer is labeled as a “gose-style” ale, so I was hoping to have a little more coriander. However, the beer is marketed to have pear cactus and grapefruit. I get a hint of citrus, but the pear fruit really comes across as a watermelon-like flavor which is excellent in this style of beer. If this beer was a little drier and/or higher carbonated and had a more coriander, it would have scored in the high 30s low 40s. Now if this were judged in category Fruit Beer (29A), then this beer would have also scored very well. The fruit character is almost perfect because it allows the base beer to shine while still being present.

Scoresheet Saturday: Biloxi Brewing Black Gold Coffee Stout

I do my best to support local wherever I may be. Living in Mississippi I do my best to support the current 13 craft brewers in the state. Biloxi Brewing was founded by four homebrewers down on the coast. Cheers to these guys for taking the plunge and starting up the brewery.

Judge: Jeremy Wickham
BJCP ID: F0651
Rank: Certified
Beer Name: Black Gold Coffee Stout
Category: 30A – Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer
Special Ingredients: Foreign Extra Stout aged on whole bean coffee
Bottle Inspection: Good
Comments: None

Aroma: 8/12

Moderately-high roasted grain, moderate dark chocolate, low vanilla and coffee notes, low caramel sweetness. img_8399.jpgVery low alcohol presence. No diacetyl.

Appearance: 3/3

Jet black with ruby highlights in the sunlight. Poured a tan, creamy head that has tight bubbles along the edge of the glass that is retaining very well. Opaque, hard to determine the clarity.

Flavor: 12/20

Highly roasted malts dominate the flavor. Moderate dark chocolate. Low green pepper notes, no hop bitterness. Very low coffee flavor present. Low caramel sweetness. A small hint of metal in the finish. Roasted grains are lingering in the finish and turns to a harsh bitterness til the very end. Finishes fairly dry. Alcohol flavors are low.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium bodied, moderately low carbonation, high astringency (from the high use of roasted malts), slight alcohol warming, medium creaminess.

Overall Impression:
 6/10

If this were entered into just the Foreign Extra Stout category (16D) this would score a bit better. The coffee flavor seems to have dissipated and is difficult to pick up behind all of the roasted malts. The roasted harshness in the finish is a bit off putting and leaves the mouth feeling the roasty bitterness. There are some small things I would do to help this beer, first the metal flavors could come from your water profile, sparging with water hotter tha 170 degrees or from simply over sparging by extracting roasted tannins. So very close to being an excellent Foreign Extra.

TOTAL: 33/50

Comments: I’ve had this beer before and I don’t recall the dominating roasted flavor that I’m getting today. Is this because I am evaluating this beer and not just simply having a beer. Probably so, that tends to happen when you are judging beers unfortunately. I do try to not “judge” beers when I’m with others simply because that can take away from the fun of enjoying beers. I know had this beer 4-6 weeks ago and the coffee flavor was totally there. Maybe because this sat in my kegerator for a few weeks before today. Who knows? Go drink one and tell me what you think.

Cheers!

Scoresheet Saturday: Yalobusha Copperhead Amber Ale

Yalobusha Brewing in Water Valley, Mississippi is among the breweries of the recent Mississippi craft beer explosion. They came on the scene a couple of years ago along with several other up and coming breweries in the Magnolia State, and have been a welcome addition along with all the others.

One of my favorite Mississippi brews is Yalobusha’s Coperhead. Described by the brewery as a “unique copper colored ale with nutty toasted malt” and “amber ale.” When constructing a BJCP score sheet for it, I found it could be more fairly evaluated using the Red IPA style. The beer comes in at 65 IBU and 5.6% ABV. This is more in line with the Red IPA style than the American Amber Ale style, so I decided to use the guidelines for Red IPA.

Judge: Richard Bryant
Beer Name: Yalobusha Copperhead Amber Ale
Category: 21B Specialty IPA – Red IPA
Special Ingredients: None

Aroma: 9/12

Grainy sweet malt, light toasted bread with moderate piney hops. Low level of caramel aroma. Very low esters.

Appearance: 3/3

Copperhead Amber AleDeep copper color and clear with a large cream colored foamy head that last for the whole glass.

Flavor: 17/20

Balanced well toward the hop flavors and bitterness. Hop flavor is moderately high with a very piney note. Clean fermentation with a low caramel malt sweetness that is barely perceptible and a very low dark toast flavor. Finishes clean and dry with a lingering bitterness,

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Medium body with a moderately high carbonation. Slightly creamy due to the head and very slightly astringent.

Overall Impression:
 7/10

Highly hopped and clean Red IPA. Somewhat dry. The hoppy balance tends to overpower the caramel and toast flavors that are relegated to the background. Overall a pleasant beer drinking experience especially for lovers of hoppier ambers. This beer sits on the fence between American Amber Ale and Red IPA coming in at 65 IBU and5.6% ABV it fits with Red IPA, but the drinking experience sits in the middle.

TOTAL: 39/50

Comments: This beer is one of those beers that are much more enjoyable to drink and enjoy than to try to evaluate. I really love to drink this beer after a day of work while cooking dinner or going through some other task. This score sheet goes to show how difficult it is to evaluate a beer you have already decided you like especially using the BJCP guidelines which were designed for homebrew competitions. Of course this beer is not a home brew, and has no reason to comply with the guidelines. In any case Copperhead is a very nice drinkable ale. Try it! You’ll like it!

Scoresheet Saturday: Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Tropical IPA

In this post, I dabble with the newest Sierra Nevada Beer Camp beer. This year, Sierra Nevada is releasing a Tropical IPA with an ABV of 6.7%. This IPA features Citra, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops. Lets dive in and see how this beer compares to the BJCP style guideline as an American IPA.

25536879035_4da909400b_bJudge: Ron Unz
BJCP ID: F0711
Rank: Certified
Beer Name: Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Tropical IPA
Category: 21A – American IPA
Special Ingredients: None
Bottle Inspection: Ok.
Comments: None

Aroma: 10/12

Moderate-high hop aroma with notes of orange, tangerine, pine, resin, with low levels of spice. Moderate-low malt sweetness with no distinct notes. No esters. No diacetyl.

Appearance: 3/3

Gold in color. Low haze, but ok for style. Off-white heat with small tight bubbles. Great head retention.

Flavor: 10/20

25418346022_f0be7054c8_bModerate toasty malt flavor with low levels of malt sweetness. Moderate-high dank, pine, resin, and spice hop flavors. Very high bitterness. Low levels of citrus in the finish. No esters or diacetyl. Balance is very hop forward. The finish is dry. The dryness and bitterness produces a very astringent character that lingers for a long time that is harsh, unpleasant, and . The hop flavor comes across as soapy. More citrus and fruity hop character comes through as the beer warms.

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Medium body. Medium carbonation. Moderate-high astringency that lingers for a long time and is unpleasant. No alcohol heat.

Overall Impression:
 5/10

The initial toasty malt profile was exceptional but was quickly over run by hop bitterness. Beer was also fermented well. After two or three sips my palate was destroyed and the malt character was barely perceived. The biterness was astringent and unpleasant. Try experimenting with different hop varieties, back off on the bittering hops, or shift more of the bittering hops to later in the boil. Also, if using tap water, blend with some RO water as some ions and brewing salts can boost perceived bitterness/harshness. More citrus notes do come through as the beer warms, which is nice.

TOTAL: 31/50

Comments: I stopped drinking this beer 10 minutes ago and I can still taste the bitterness. If you like tongue shredding IPAs, this one will do the trick. Just don’t plan on drinking anything else the rest of the evening. The hop aroma is great and I really enjoyed the initial toasty malt character, but that flavor quickly got smashed by the hop bitterness and astringency. Sierra Nevada uses Citra, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops, all of which have pretty prominent citrus/fruit character. For some reason I don’t get much citrus except in the finish and after the beer warms. Other reviews of this beer say the beer has an intense citrus and fruit character with a subdued bitterness. Maybe my palate is jacked today… well, it is now after finishing that beer.

Scoresheet Saturday: New Belgium Citradelic

So, I thought it would it would be fun to add a weekly blog post called Scoresheet Saturday. The goal of these posts is to force us to spend more time studying for the BJCP proficiency exam by regularly writing score sheets and evaluating beers. My goal is to publish one or more score sheets every Saturday. I am hoping my other SFF cohorts join me on occasion in writing score sheets. These posts will also give us an opportunity to receive feedback from each other and other experienced judges. All three of us have scored high enough on the tasting exam to attempt taking the written proficiency exam. However, since we have taken our tasting exams, the BJCP has switched to the 2015 guidelines, so things have changed a bit in terms of judging. To be consistent with what we would experience during an exam or a judging session, we’ll keep to a 20 minute evaluation and writing period. I hope these posts will help you and us prepare for future BJCP exams.

25239356240_47577a21d2_bJudge: Ron Unz
BJCP ID: F0711
Rank: Certified
Beer Name: New Belgium Citradelic
Category: 21A – American IPA
Special Ingredients: None
Bottle Inspection: Ok.
Comments: None

Aroma: 8/12

Moderate hop aroma. Mostly notes of orange and a hint of lemon and tangerine. Moderate-low caramel malt sweetness with hints of toast. Very lower pear-like fruity esters. No diacetyl.

Appearance: 3/3

Deep gold in color. Slight off-white heat with tiny tight bubbles. Very clear. Good head retention.

25239356930_3bc25ac835_bFlavor:
14/20

Moderate orange, lemon, and tangerine hop flavor that gives the beer a boost of brightness. Moderate bitterness. Medium-low malt sweetness with low caramel and toasted bread notes. Very low fruity esters. Balance is slightly leaning toward the hops. Bitterness and tangerine fruitiness followings into the finish. Bitterness sticks around long into the finish, but is not unpleasant. No diacetyl.

Mouthfeel: 5/5

Medium body. Medium carbonation. No warmth. No creaminess. Low astringency.

Overall Impression:
7/10

Very tasty beer with solid citrus/american hop flavor. Very easy to drink IPA. The hop flavors and aroma are within style, but borderline on the upper end of the APA category. If the malt bill was a little smaller, I would consider this more of an APA. I would recommend increasing the hops near the end of boil and/or in the dry hop. Overall a very good beer.

TOTAL: 37/50

Comments: I really did enjoy this beer. I personally feel that this beer almost borders the line between styles. I’d consider the hop profile to be on the very low end of the spectrum for an IPA. I took a look at New Belgium’s website after writing my score sheet and saw they are using citra hopes (not a surprise based on the name) and tangerine peels. The tangerine notes add a bit of brightness I really enjoy. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a solid hoppy beer.

Product Review: Blichmann BrewEasy Turnkey 10 Gallon Gas System

BrewEasyPost-2In this post, I am going to discuss my 10 gallon gas fired Blichmann BrewEasy Turnkey system. You are probably wondering why and the hell I even bought it. Well, I’ve been looking to upgrade my brew system to something more automated for some time now. Nailing my mash temperatures has something I’ve always kind of struggled with. I’m always within about two degrees, but I wanted more control and I wanted to be able to do step mashes as well.

My decision to buy the BrewEasy is based primarily on how lazy I am. This also includes having to design a new system, build it, and then fix the bugs in it.  So I wanted to be able to purchase something that was turnkey and would give me the control I wanted. After a lot of research, I settled on the Blichammn Breweasy. The biggest struggle I had when choosing my system was trying to decide on going electric or propane. I choose to go with propane because I like to drag my system around to brew at other locations besides my garage. This route also didn’t require me to have a 240 v GFCI circuit run out to my garage. A local electrician gave me a minor stroke when he wanted $1,600 to run the power I wanted to my garage. I decided to go with the 10 gallon system because it utilizes a 15 gallon mash tun. My previous 10 gallon mash tun was used at capacity pretty frequently, so I wanted something larger. The 15 gallon mash tun will also allow me to do very high gravity beers with 5 gallon batches. So anyway, let’s start discussing the specific components of the system.

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Leftover Ingredients? Brew with Them!

This weekend as I was cleaning my Man Cave (really it’s just a musty basement) I walked by the 5 gallon bucket where I throw all the leftover grain from ingredient orders. You know the deal. Partial bags of specialty malts, some crystal 40 here, black patent there. When I saw the bucket, I thought, I better do something with this before all this goes bad. So I sat down to do an inventory. When you inventory your leftover grain be thinking in terms of recipe. Ask yourself, “If I was reading this list of ingredients in a recipe, what style of beer would I be looking at?” If you have English pale malts and some crystal, for example, you may think, “bitter.” You can brew good bitter with either American or English hops, so don’t worry about pairing it up with English hops only. If you are looking at a bunch of Vienna malt (like I was) you may think something along the lines of a Vienna lager (or a faux lager with neutral ale yeast) or some other toasty malty beer.

I had a lot of Vienna, but I had no Munich with which to pair it, so the Oktoberfest was out. I had a few pounds of base grains left from previous batches. I saw some Golden Promise, pilsner, 2 row, various crystal malts,  and various and sundry other items. I already have 5 gallons of bitter in the beer fridge, and I have been brewing those a lot lately, so I kept thinking. A quick check of the freezer revealed partial hop packets of Warrior, Horizon, and Amarillo. I had a few full packets of Centennial and Simcoe. It should be obvious what my next thought was. . .IPA, of course.

The guys in the brewing class I am teaching with Jeremy had talked about how much they love IPA. A small batch could probably be ready to drink before the 5 class sessions over the next month and a half end. Since I didn’t have quite enough base grain to to a full 5.5 gallon batch, I quickly scaled down to 3 gallons and improvised a recipe. Here is what I came up with:

4lbs 12 oz Golden Promise

1 lb 5 oz Pilsner

8 oz Crystal 15

4 oz Dark Wheat

3 oz Crystal 40

3 oz 2 Row

3 oz White Wheat

0.2 oz Horison 11.5%AA @ 60 minutes

0.2 oz Warrior 16%AA @60 minutes

0.6 oz Centennial 9.5%AA @ 10 minutes

0.6 oz Simcoe 12.5%AA @ 5 minutes

0.6 oz Amarillo 8.2%AA@ Flameout

Mash at 149F for 90 minutes, 90 minute boil, Safale US-05 Yeast fermented at 67F.

That gave me the following specs in BeerSmith:  Batch Size-3 gallons, OG of 1.066, IBU-65, FG of 1.012, ABV-7.1%, 7.6 SRM.

What came next was a frenzy of compiling and crushing all the grains and a quick small batch brew day. While I was at it, I had a Super Bowl gathering to attend later in the day, so I decided I’d dry some of my spent grains and whip up some of Jeremy’s Spent Grain Buttermilk Biscuits that he blogged about here earlier. They would go well with a backwoods Super Bowl party.

Be right back after brewing. . .

Well, sometimes the brew gods give, and sometimes they take away. I missed by original gravity on this recipe by a long way. It was supposed to be 1.066, but I ended up at 1.052. I imagine the small batch size and different equipment profile threw off my BeerSmith calculations. Not to worry, it will just be one of those “session ipas” I keep hearing about. In any case, relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.

My 90 minute boil may not been vigorous enough, but the volume hit pretty spot on. With the early Mississippi February daytime temperature today at about normal at 57F, and night time temps hitting near freezing, my groundwater is pretty cold. I was able to chill this small 3 gallon batch well below 70F with my copper  immersion chiller in no time at all (ok. really about 15 minutes). That’s my favorite thing about winter brewing in the South. Quick chilling but still not bone chilling cold on the patio. There is no way you can chill with an immersion chiller and ground water in under 45 minutes or so in summer time here.

Anyway, I went straight to the fermenter, straight away pitched my US-05 yeast, and  then straight to the fermentation chamber. The wort smelled fantastic, and it foreshadows a wonderful “session” IPA. I will let you know how it turns out in a couple of weeks.

 

 

Stupid Easy Rustic Beer Bread

Ok, I love all things bread, but I’m a fatty, so that’s to be expected. My mother recently taught me a rustic beer bread she’s been making for my step father. The recipe was stupid easy and tasts great. This recipe is also very forgiving and requires no kneading. I made some tweaks to the recipe to include beer, specifically homebrew!

RusticBreadThis recipe only calls for four ingredients:

  • 6.5 cups bread flour
  • 1.5 tbsp. instant yeast
  • 1 tbsp. kosher salt
  • 3 cups pale ale

Whisk together the flour, yeast, and kosher salt in the largest mixing bowl you have. Then add the beer. Using a spatula, pull the bread dough together and be sure the liquid is mixedRusticBread-2 throughout. If the bread dough looks too dry, add a splash of water or more beer. You want a moist, pliable dough. It’s ok if your dough looks too wet. Again, this dough is super forgiving, you just don’t want it too dry.

Spray another bowl large enough to hold 2-3 times the volume of your dough with cooking spray. Place RusticBread-3the dough in the bowl and cover with a damp towel and place in warm place (I use my oven with the light on) and let the dough rise for 4-5 hours. The dough should at least double in size, how long it will take to rise will vary.

After your dough has doubled in size, carefully transfer the dough to a 9 or 12 inch cast iron skillet. I used a 12 inch skillet for this post. Using 9 inch skillet will give you a thicker loaf. If your skillet is well seasoned, RusticBread-4you shouldn’t need to spray it down with anything. If your skillet isn’t well seasoned, go a head and spray it down with some cooking spray. Let the bread rise another 2-3 hours. Another note, if you want to use loaf pans instead in place of a cast iron skillet, go a head. Just cut the loaf in half and place the two pieces into two different loaf pans.

Preheat your oven to 425° F. Place your cast iron skillet in the oven and bake your bread for 45-60 minutes. RusticBread-5Pierce the bread with a skewer after 45 minutes and remove. If the there is nothing sticking to the skewer, your bread is done. Continue checking the bread every 5-10 minutes until the skewer can be removed cleanly. If you have an instant read thermometer, like a themapen, you can check the bread’s doneness by checking it’s temperature. Cook the bread until the interior temp reaches 210° F.

Once your bread is done, remove from the oven and carefully remove from the cast iron skillet. RusticBread-6Place on a cooling rack until the bread is cool enough to handle. Cut the bread up however you’d like and enjoy.

In this recipe, I used pale ale, but you can really use any beer you like. Lighter beers work well and so do hoppy beers. Just about any beer will work. However, I have found that stout and porters do work, but I find that the darker malt flavors clash with the bread and make it almost bitter. Herbs work very well in this bread as well. Rosemary in this bread is fricken awesome. Just chop it finely and add it to your dry ingredients before you add your liquids. It’s that easy.

Hazards in the Homebrewery

Part of my responsibility during my day job is to keep an eye on folks in a research environment and to make sure everyone is doing their jobs safely. I often times find my role of keeping an eye on folks at work bleeding over to my family and personal life. I often see things or situations that are a bit risky and dangerous. This blog was sparked because Wick had a minor accident with a brew hauler and it made me think it was time to remind folks that homebrewing has some risks. Some hazards can cause bodily injuries, damage personal belongings, or ruin your brewday.

Every hobby has their inherent risks. Homebrewing is no different and the hazards range from mundane to potentially life threatening. In this post I will discuss some of the most common hazards you might encounter as a homebrewer. I will go also into detail a little about how to negate these hazards. The goal of this post is to not scare folks, but to remind folks that this hobby does have some hazards. Injuries are rare in homebrewing, but accidents do happen on occasion and it’s best to avoid or at least prepare for them. This post might be a little on the long side, but I feel this topic is important and should be shared. Please share this post with your fellow homebrewers.

Hot Surface and Liquids

Whether you are an all-grain or an extract brewer, you will have no choice but to deal with hot surfaces and boiling liquids.  From my experience, burns are the most common type of injury in the home-brewery. Having to boil your wort has its risks. First, surfaces exceeding 140° F can produce second degree burns in approximately three seconds and third degree burns in five seconds of contact. This is usually enough time let go if it’s something you picked up or touched. However, if you were splashed by a hot liquid and it saturated your clothes, it might take a few seconds for you to remove your clothes and an injury can occur. The highest potential for burn injuries is during the boil. The surface of your kettle and the wort inside is at least at 212° F, potentialy higher depending on the sugar concentration. At this temperature, third degree burns are almost immediate if you are splashed with wort or if you touch the kettle or burner.

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Spent Grain Buttermilk Biscuits

I brewed a Northern English Brown ale, and as I was cleaning out my mash tun, a light bulb light popped on in my head. I went inside, grabbed a few cookie sheets, and turned on the ovens to 200 degrees. That light bulb had my brain processing what I can do with these spent grains. I had about 1/3 of my spent grains drying in the oven. Every so often I would stir the grains around and let the hot steam escape from underneath the almost dried top layer.

As the wheels were still turning in my head, I knew I wanted to make biscuits for breakfast in the morning. Boom! I told my wife that is what I was going to do. I got that response that I knew she was worried. Even with the skeptical wifey, I moved onward and adapted my normal buttermilk biscuit recipe.
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