Hi guys,
So I've recently been aiming for absolutely clean fermentations, and in that effort I've been making all kinds of beers with all kinds of yeasts, to try and find out what happens with what yeast, and at what temperatures. As I became more and more happy with my yeast's performance, I decided to, at this weekend's Cactus Craft Homebrew Competition, to enter my Irish Red (the one I tried to get bright red with just Crisp malts), to the BJCP judges on site.
Now, to be clear, the beer was made using just Crisp malts, in other words, not my own recipe and not to my liking. The beer had some issues that I identified before even entering the beer for the judges, the most prominent being "too light" in body. This specific Irish Red was very light, both in mouthfeel, body and finish. It was a 4.7% ABV beer, on the lighter side of the colour spectrum, and while the flavours, bitterness, colour and head were are good, the judges' comments on the beer mimicked mine - disappointingly light.
The final comment was positive, though, with a note to make it richer in mouthfeel and finish, to really improve the beer. I scored an overall 34/50 with the beer, which, to me, for my first ever BJCP scored beer and a recipe that I wouldn't have made that way if I would have used some other malts, is fantastic.
What stood out for me, though, was during the day I went around and tasted a lot of beers. I also had a lot of people pop over to taste mine, and the general consensus (even from the winner of the day), was that my beer deserves the win purely on the fact that it's absolutely spotless on the fermentation front - and I can agree with them. It was made with Nottingham, I believe, but not even on the cold side of things.
That spurred me to create this thread. Similar to Snyper's Micro Batches, I want to post my next recipes here, with notes on how they turn out, depending on the yeast I'm using for the beer. So, here goes, with my first entry being the Irish Red Ale:
The Lazy Irish (20l):
Grainbill
All malts are Crisp Malting's malts
3.5kg Extra Pale Malt
0.25kg Rye Malt
0.2kg Dark Munich Malt
0.2kg Light Munich Malt
0.09kg Roasted Barley
0.2kg Dextrin Malt
Hops
12g Nugget @ 60min for 19 IBU
Numbers
Mash: 60min @ 66°COG: 1.045
FG: 1.009
ABV: 4.7% ABV
Yeast
Nottingham, fermented for 14 days @ 19°C (room temperature). Pitched direct, no rehydrating, no nothing.
Notes
The notes I could make on the fermentation, body and mouthfeel of the beer mimics the BJCP notes perfectly. The beer was clean, with absolutely no off flavours present. Malt was present and well balanced with the slight bitterness and absolutely no hop flavour or aroma. The impact that the Rye made was absolutely spot on. I'm not a fan of spice in my Irish Reds (although it is very in line with the style), but I have to say as the day progressed that spicy note really came into its own. It's present, but quite subtle, to the point where other (more experienced) homebrewers even asked me "what's that I'm tasting? Hops?" and only when I mention the rye you can see their lightbulbs go on.
Overall though, the mash temp definitely brought me down. I'll adjust the batch slightly, keeping the same amount of all malts except the Light Munich. I'll bump the Light Munich up to 300gr to improve on the sweetness, and then to boot, I'll add in a 150gr dose of Melanoidin malt. To finish it off, I'll mash 3 degrees higher at 69°C just to get to those unfermentables.
On the yeast side, I have no notes because there was no yeast influence. The beer was pretty clear for a shaken keg, and even with the slight cloudiness there was absolutely no yeast flavours, aromas, or any off flavours. I got numerous compliments throughout the day regarding the clean fermentation, and that's what triggered this thread.
Next up I hope to use Oslo to see if I can get a similar clean profile on other beers. I'll be making a pilsner soon, alongside the adjusted Irish Red as mentioned above, and I can't wait.
For now though, my 50l whisky wash is cooling down and I'm pitching that yeast today. Fermentation's going nuts at my place...
Oh yes, and I came in 2nd place overall at the event for my beer, from the crowd's feedback. Pretty chuffed about that.
So I've recently been aiming for absolutely clean fermentations, and in that effort I've been making all kinds of beers with all kinds of yeasts, to try and find out what happens with what yeast, and at what temperatures. As I became more and more happy with my yeast's performance, I decided to, at this weekend's Cactus Craft Homebrew Competition, to enter my Irish Red (the one I tried to get bright red with just Crisp malts), to the BJCP judges on site.
Now, to be clear, the beer was made using just Crisp malts, in other words, not my own recipe and not to my liking. The beer had some issues that I identified before even entering the beer for the judges, the most prominent being "too light" in body. This specific Irish Red was very light, both in mouthfeel, body and finish. It was a 4.7% ABV beer, on the lighter side of the colour spectrum, and while the flavours, bitterness, colour and head were are good, the judges' comments on the beer mimicked mine - disappointingly light.
The final comment was positive, though, with a note to make it richer in mouthfeel and finish, to really improve the beer. I scored an overall 34/50 with the beer, which, to me, for my first ever BJCP scored beer and a recipe that I wouldn't have made that way if I would have used some other malts, is fantastic.
What stood out for me, though, was during the day I went around and tasted a lot of beers. I also had a lot of people pop over to taste mine, and the general consensus (even from the winner of the day), was that my beer deserves the win purely on the fact that it's absolutely spotless on the fermentation front - and I can agree with them. It was made with Nottingham, I believe, but not even on the cold side of things.
That spurred me to create this thread. Similar to Snyper's Micro Batches, I want to post my next recipes here, with notes on how they turn out, depending on the yeast I'm using for the beer. So, here goes, with my first entry being the Irish Red Ale:
The Lazy Irish (20l):
Grainbill
All malts are Crisp Malting's malts
3.5kg Extra Pale Malt
0.25kg Rye Malt
0.2kg Dark Munich Malt
0.2kg Light Munich Malt
0.09kg Roasted Barley
0.2kg Dextrin Malt
Hops
12g Nugget @ 60min for 19 IBU
Numbers
Mash: 60min @ 66°COG: 1.045
FG: 1.009
ABV: 4.7% ABV
Yeast
Nottingham, fermented for 14 days @ 19°C (room temperature). Pitched direct, no rehydrating, no nothing.
Notes
The notes I could make on the fermentation, body and mouthfeel of the beer mimics the BJCP notes perfectly. The beer was clean, with absolutely no off flavours present. Malt was present and well balanced with the slight bitterness and absolutely no hop flavour or aroma. The impact that the Rye made was absolutely spot on. I'm not a fan of spice in my Irish Reds (although it is very in line with the style), but I have to say as the day progressed that spicy note really came into its own. It's present, but quite subtle, to the point where other (more experienced) homebrewers even asked me "what's that I'm tasting? Hops?" and only when I mention the rye you can see their lightbulbs go on.
Overall though, the mash temp definitely brought me down. I'll adjust the batch slightly, keeping the same amount of all malts except the Light Munich. I'll bump the Light Munich up to 300gr to improve on the sweetness, and then to boot, I'll add in a 150gr dose of Melanoidin malt. To finish it off, I'll mash 3 degrees higher at 69°C just to get to those unfermentables.
On the yeast side, I have no notes because there was no yeast influence. The beer was pretty clear for a shaken keg, and even with the slight cloudiness there was absolutely no yeast flavours, aromas, or any off flavours. I got numerous compliments throughout the day regarding the clean fermentation, and that's what triggered this thread.
Next up I hope to use Oslo to see if I can get a similar clean profile on other beers. I'll be making a pilsner soon, alongside the adjusted Irish Red as mentioned above, and I can't wait.
For now though, my 50l whisky wash is cooling down and I'm pitching that yeast today. Fermentation's going nuts at my place...
Oh yes, and I came in 2nd place overall at the event for my beer, from the crowd's feedback. Pretty chuffed about that.
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